Destiny Calling...

Seventy one articles, summing up nearly every landmark event that has crossed my path and every cerebration that has ever crossed my mind... I guess out of all things, this blog comes the closest to defining who I really am today! Sometimes, when I've nothing else to do and read some of my previous articles, it is like going through a psychological case study on yourself. It just makes me sit back and think about how each one of us is molded by time and altered bit by bit with every happening in our lives...

Now, as people of my age group slowly begin to settle down, getting into the groove professionally and personally, establishing ourselves in the world, I feel we should never let go of the ladder which brought us to this pedestal. Carrying all our past experiences not as a burden but as a passive shield, helps take on the future head on. The hereafter that awaits is an active playground open to all possibilities, and needs to be taken by the horns.

I've learned so much... Folks usually get a wind of how the world works may be by going through certain upheavals first hand, but I'm glad to say that there isn't much that I regret doing or having not done. If the world sees you how you would like to perceive yourself, then you are where you need to be. How the world treats you however depends on how you perceive the world.

I once asked a friend of mine how to make something special... His answer was simple: "You don't make something special; it simply becomes special". That really was an eye-opener, as I had always held the opinion that what makes something exceptional was exclusivity and uniqueness, and although that might play a part, doesn't a simple dinner shared with someone dear usually taste better than an expensive five-star one had alone? Also, remember that blank scroll in the Kung Fu Panda movie? Oh well! Enough rummaging for answers already... A quarter of a century worth of knowhow ought to be enough for a decent start.

So, what now? Destiny calling? As far as my current bearings here at Panipat go, the stage is all set for fate to reveal itself. As I convert my leased accommodation into a home away from home, even the landlord and landlady seem to be getting used to the idea of having me around, inviting me to marriage parties and a lot more. Even at the workplace, as I get acclimated to aligning my thoughts and actions in tune with IOC's vision, I hope in the long run I make a quantifiable impact on the oil and gas sector at large. A few more crucial elements added to this unending process of discovery called life over the next year or so, and I'll be ready to take it to the next level... Until then, three cheers and good luck to all!

Home away from home...

Final Juvenile Odyssey

There are some things that words simple cannot describe... When you’re possibly on your concluding juvenile trip in the wake of your 25th birthday, off to the southernmost corner of India on an official tour and yet end up visiting a total of not one, not two, but no less than six cities with some of your closest friends and colleagues, along with meeting up with some old buddies, then that’s really something else! Marked by vigorous energy, puerile jokes and a lot more, this was one experience I’m glad not to have missed out on.

Our journey took us from Panipat to New Delhi and then through Bangalore, on our way to Trichy, where we had a two week IOC-sponsored training programme at the Welding Research Institute of BHEL. Our half-day halt at Bangalore enabled us to pay a brief visit to Mysore, better known as the City of Palaces, which is where our real escapade begun... Returning to a place that I had visited at a very tender age with my family, it felt nostalgic to tread the hallways of the Mysore Palace once again as a young adult. The memories although vague and the recollections inaccurate helped me quietly time travel for a while. There were tonnes of other sites to travel to, but due to a tight schedule the only other place we could visit was the Sand Museum, showcasing complex sculptures ranging from ancient, medieval to modern times, that left us mesmerized.

Arriving at Trichy the day after, I was pleasantly shocked to find a birthday cake awaiting me in my hotel room at 4 am in the morning. I was supremely amazed by the hospitality showed by Hotel Sangam although I was to later discover that the surprise was partly my father’s handy work. Nonetheless, it really made my day and proved once again that there’s truly nothing that compares to having loved ones! After attending classes for the rest of the week it was the weekend that provided us with another opportunity to ramble.

We started early in the morning taking a few winks on the way, to reach Madurai, also known as the City of Festivals or the Temple City, at day break. First up was the famous Meenakshi Devi Temple! The prayers, although offered in an ungraspable tongue, truly ignite a spiritual vibe within... The towers that surround the temple in all four directions form an intricate lacework, with a lake at its heart and gold adorning its pillars. There wasn’t a square inch on any surface of the layered architecture that characterizes this place, left unsculpted. There were deities, artwork and carvings wherever the eye would gaze. The entire aura of the temple left us speechless and spellbound!

After visiting some more of the lesser known temples in the region that I feel share the DNA of the Meenakshi Temple, and having a typically South Indian breakfast served on banana leaves, we made our way to Rameswaram, where legend has it that the Ramsetu was constructed. We were fortunate enough to take a look at the house of late Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the highly respected ‘missile man’ and former president of India, who is a shining inspiration to many including myself. We followed this up with a visit to the Rameswaram Temple, where unfortunately photography was not permitted and spent the rest of our time until sundown watching a beautiful sunset at the beach.

For the next few days, after returning to Trichy, we managed to squeeze a few hours out of our daily schedule to visit some nearby tourist destinations including Thanjavur, and the local Srirangam and Rockfort Temples. The uploaded photos I think would do a better justice to these awe-inspiring places, as a picture speaks more than a thousand words, in fact some of which haven’t even been invented yet! As we bid farewell to Trichy I was faced with a unique chance to meet some of my dearest pals in Bangalore and bring the curtain down on a chapter that I felt I had left unfinished due to my unannounced departure from Flipkart a year back. Never the less, as we slowly traced our steps back to Panipat, I dreamily pondered upon the enigmatic expedition we had been lucky to be a part of...

For the Enthusiast in You!

With all the growing festivities including Vishwakarma Puja and Durga Puja right round the corner, the ongoing parties interjected by work (or was it the other way round?) having barely subsided and an official tour to Trichy scheduled a month forth, I thought I’d just step back for a while and write on something a little off-course, but nonetheless something I’m deeply interested in and researching which I’ve taken up as a serious hobby since quite a while... There are tonnes of topics out there, starting from the mysteries and complexities of the human mind to the possibility of finding extraterrestrial life in the universe that is one of the holy grails of modern science, which can instantly get me riled up and talking. But very few of those connect to me as much as... CARS!

It might sound a bit anticlimactic but imagine where we would all be without the science and engineering behind commuting. Don’t get me wrong! It’s of course not just about commuting but also about speed, torque, power, acceleration... Hoof! I just love uttering those words... One can find these elsewhere too, including spacecrafts, aero planes, trains and in a myriad of other exotic machines, but there’s only one that all (or at least most of) us have been behind the wheel of! Cars!

So what is it that makes a car a car? Of course it’ll have an engine, a drivetrain, a chassis and a set of wheels, but aren’t the intangible things as important as the tangible ones? So before we get into the scientific jargon in automobiles, let’s talk about style... The exterior design, or let’s say looks, of a car is the first thing that catches the common gaze and defines a car’s personality. Now, why is it that we attach human traits like style and persona to a vehicle? May be because the traits of the vehicle define the owner’s identity as well? So other than practical aspects of style like aerodynamics and LED lamps, the flowing curves and the muscular contours really get our adrenaline pumping!

Audi Q3 Quattro Test Drive!

I’ve been fortunate enough to have driven a wide variety of cars over the last couple of years, starting right from low end Maruti Suzuki hatchbacks to high performance SUVs like the Audi Q3 Quattro, and of course everything in between that was accessible to me including sedans from the house of Toyota, Chevy and Honda. The cars themselves offer an insight into their companies’ philosophies, which in itself should be a subject of study. For example, some brands use turbo- or super-chargers to deliver higher power from smaller engines while others prefer larger naturally aspirated ones to deliver uniformly high power throughout the rev-range. Some have an SOHC while others a DOHC. And then there’s the eternal debate over an auto transmission known for shifting efficiency and straight-out speed and acceleration versus the good old manual tranny with stick shift, loved by auto enthusiasts for the complete control it offers.

Moreover, nowadays as fossil fuels gradually become a thing of the past and gasoline engines obsolete, car technology is being pushed into the future by revolutionary companies like Tesla with their all-electric hyper-cars like the Model S which can go from naught to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds, thereby shattering the 'toy car' image of the electric vehicle! Other prominent developments include a self-healing coating for cars, which uses chitosan that is derived from chitin, the main component of exoskeletons of crustaceans, that heals its own scratches when exposed to sunlight. Also, BMW promises the world's first completely self-driving car by 2020.    

Indian manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki swap out a few extra horses for a few extra miles per gallon, offering maximum features in their vehicles at a relatively budget price, in tune with the economy oriented Indian mentality. On the other hand, the Volkswagen Vento is a torque monster in its segment with a solid German build, though the design being a bit Plain Jane. Soft sprung Hyundai cars offer good ride quality and a handsome fluidic sculpture but have poor handling and minimal steering feedback. Honda cars not only have good driving dynamics but are also comfortable, although they lose out on high-speed stability like the City with its skinny 175/R15 tyres. I myself was in a dilemma over my first car, so I thought of going for the Ciaz while my parents buy the City. So, for all the motor-heads out there... Good luck car hunting and cheers!

**A word of caution: Drive only AFASP i.e. 'A's 'F'ast 'A's 'S'afely 'P'ossible!

Ciaz & City! #Rivals united

The Soul

The 'soul'... A simple word with massive implications! Does it really exist? If it does, then is it the answer to life's origins? But before we jump to any staggering conclusions, let's ask ourselves this... What is the soul really? Although till date I've thought of it as nothing but merely the energy in living cells, is there something more to it than that? The definition of the soul varies from religion to religion, region to region and person to person, but is it really that complicated?

Right from ancient times generations after generations of people and gurus have tried to unravel the mystery of the soul, never fully giving a scientific base to it. Some say that the soul preserves our true identity using the body only as a vessel to manifest itself in a tangible form. And when the current vessel is no longer able to contain the soul, it simply changes vessels, thus explaining life and death with a cycle of reincarnation. It is an interesting theory that is more akin to science fiction than science, unless backed by some hard evidence and solid data.

There have been cases where people have seemingly remembered who they were in their past births or those who have spoken in languages they've never been taught. Well, keeping the authenticity of such reports aside, can't these be explained in simple medical terms? How about hallucination or paranoia? The mind does work in strange ways and we are just beginning to scratch the surface when it comes down to understanding how the brain works.

In fact, people are so intrigued by the concept of the soul that an experiment was carried out in 1901 by Dr. Duncan MacDougall, who sought to measure the mass lost by a human when the soul presumably departed the body at death. Although his subject did lose about 21 grams, the results as later pointed out, could easily have been explained by fluid loss. A brave attempt nonetheless!

So what are my thoughts on the matter? Looking at it from a layman's perspective, there is one thing that pricks me... All life started from a single cell, for which there should have been a single soul (assuming it to be a little more than just energy). That means as the number of species grew and their populations increased, more and more souls were created... But from where? Divine intervention? Getting past that, logic dictates that whatever can be created can also be destroyed, which goes against the common notion that souls can never be eradicated.

Oh wait! May be some souls just freely float in the vacuum of space! If so, what is their purpose? Can souls fuse or do they split like cells? At this point, I really wonder whether I should call myself spiritual or an atheist. There is no way that we can prove or disprove any of this unless we can grasp the physical significance (if any) of the soul and come up with some sort of measure for it. Until then it is all just wild conjecture and so the goose chase continues... But as far as I'm concerned, we live only once, so let's put our lives to the best use possible!

The Foodie's Guide to India

Although a great foodie, to be honest I've never been much of a cook (barring some basic stuff like tea and maggi of course)... But nothing ventured, nothing gained! All it takes is a few handy recipes, all the special ingredients and spices you can lay your hands on, and of course good old-fashioned ingenuity. So light the gas, pick up those pans, arm your mixers and let's get to it...

Attempt #1: Chicken Biryani

It was one of those fine Sundays where all other ideas exhausted gave way to this crazy notion. It is not bad to sometimes taste the fruits of your own labour... Literally! First off, take some yogurt, salt, red chilli powder, biryani masala, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, cardamom powder, etc. and mix them well to make a paste, which is then used to marinate the chicken for at least 1.5 hrs. Easy-peasy! Then add rice and fried onions, chillies and extra masala in alternating layers on top of the marinated chicken and heat it in an air-tight utensil for 0.5 to 1 hr. And wallah! Your taste buds are ready to feel scintillated.

Attempt #2: Chicken Curry

Another Sunday, another experiment... Well, in this case, the steps remain similar till marination. Heat some oil with onions and chillies, and after it turns brownish, add some garam masala and haldi powder with a little water. Cook on a low flame till the oil begins to separate and add the marinated chicken. Cook for about 10 mins. and get ready for a mouth-watering bite of authentic Indian cuisine!

Attempt #3: ???

So what's next? What about kebabs? Or let's say something different... Taking some cues from YouTube recipes, how about replicating KFC in an Indianized way? Or maybe go a step further with Indo-Chinese cuisines? Well, until next time... 

A Weekend Getaway

Among all the humdrum, it feels good to take a day off and what's better than a weekend getaway to the holy city of Amritsar? Waking up at four in the morning itself sets the stage for a wicked day ahead. We started our journey and the road shined with the glory of the destination itself! So after some quick titbits at a tourist dhaba, we made our way to India's Golden City.

First up was obviously the one and only famous Golden Temple, considered to be the holiest place for all Sikhs. On our way there, we would have loved to take in the beauty of the city as well if we were not busy taking in all the dust and pollution generated by the bumper to bumper traffic which delayed us by more than an hour. But alas when we arrived, it was truly a sight to behold!

Over one lakh people visit this Gurudwara, founded in 1604 by Guru Arjan that was built at the centre of a holy tank, on a daily basis. After its construction, the Adi Granth was installed inside the temple, which is also home to the Akal Takht. After a moment or two of true inner peace (yeah! the thought of Kung Fu Panda makes me giggle too!), we partook the yummy Langar.

Moving on to the Jalianwala Bagh just adjacent to the Golden Temple, pretty much every Indian must have read or at least heard about the infamous massacre that took place here. With walls still adorned by bullet holes and the Martyr's Well still concealing the remains of those who plunged into it as a last resort, we tried to visualize the gravity of the events that unfolded here ages ago. It really sends a chill down your spine, cursing the ones responsible!

Our next and final stop before returning would be the Indo-Pak Wagha Border, another terrorist... oh! sorry... tourist destination for obvious reasons... hehe... Well, jokes apart, for those of you who haven't watched the associated videos on YouTube or elsewhere, do watch! For others, the grandeur of the few hours we spent there simply cannot be comprehended through a video, and a couple of pics would surely do no justice. It is not just about taking down the flags of the two countries at sunset, but making a statement each and every single evening. The flag marches, performances, display of strength and the immense patriotic vibe with the crowd jeering at the top of their voices really made quite the impression. All this followed by dinner (or should I say breakfast?) at one thirty in the morning before retracing our steps back to our abode, gave us the essential boost needed for the days to come!

The Deepening Incertitude

Just when you think you've begun to wrap your head around your qualms and have it all figured out, life shows you that you still have a ways to go. Assimilating no amount of knowhow is enough; there is always something which can still surprise or bother you! Nearly half a calendar year detached from having left Flipkart and beginning a career at IOCL, I seem to have more questions than answers...

The differences in the working philosophy of a public and a private sector are not just huge but insanely immense. It can't just be termed as a clichéd different ball game as it's the same as comparing something like cricket with boxing with no correlation whatsoever. The first thing that hits you right off the bat is the goal differentia; while privates are largely lucre oriented, PSUs are mostly all about responsibility to the masses, though profit does become a factor when it boils down to long term survival. This contributes to fuss-free working of privates where you can easily push your brain-child through if worthwhile; for example, drone inspection is carried out annually at Reliance but all such initiatives taken in IOCL thus far have failed simply due to the difficulty in obtaining security clearances!

Another glaring difference is the way new entrants into the firm are trained (or rather not trained). In a private org, it is solely up to the individual to get himself up to speed as one is handed direct responsibility to play a major hand in revenue generation of the firm from day one itself. It is very simple; if you deliver you are handsomely rewarded or else you get laid off. On the other hand, in a PSU, getting fired is as far from the rule books as anything can be. So the company shoulders a major chunk of the responsibility for getting the newbies trained.

One of the most important things in the private world is a practical approach meeting deadlines and being accountable for your own actions, while the public sector adopts a more theoretical approach where trainees are quizzed and tested day after day, month after month, although I do acknowledge its need in IOCL to some extent as human lives are at stake and margin for error is close to nil. The latter also incorporates quite a bit of unnecessary formalities like multiple daily meetings where the focus is to have an elaborate chit-chat session with snacks rather than a quick work briefing; periodic external audits too point out jobs that can be reviewed and acted upon internally itself. In privates, your deadline might force you to work after-hours thereby exploiting you to the fullest, while in PSUs you might need to stay back once in a while sometimes even without any real work, fruitlessly sacrificing life outside of your office, as an eyewash to portray the illusion of hard work, trying to elevate your image in your bosses' thankless eyes, call it either strategy or an extra time for fawning.

Few aspects may be common to both the public and private sectors viz. favouritism and politics, though more prevalent in the former many a times taking the shape of communal lobbying. Truth be told, people working in the private world hardly have the time to engage in such nonsensical bulls**t, not to mention that their days in a particular firm are usually numbered, which serves as an added incentive to focus on self rather than surroundings. Also, while delegation of work is quite uniform and very objective in the latter, it's totally subjective in the former, where few may get both the work and the limelight. Although this might be of little to no consequence as performance is not the only factor guiding growth in the public sector and getting you in the top 25% of that silly bell curve, that distinguishes between individuals who make equal contributions and someone ends up as the sacrificial lamb.

On a personal note, as I've had the opportunity of working in each of these starkly varied worlds, I'm still trying to find an optimum middle ground between certain avenues. For example, the one thing that I loved in Flipkart was the feeling of doing something new every single day no matter how small, but too much of that increases pressure and plays havoc with long term planning. My day-to-day work at IOCL although relatively routine and boring, provides me with an opportunity to refine my technical knowledge, not to mention giving me a daily natural workout too... haha... It lays down a clear itinerary of what is to be done to achieve success in the long run, whether in IOCL or elsewhere. PSUs, if nothing else, are a good place to learn and achieve expertise in your field of work. So I guess I'll just focus on self-development and profile-building until the next best opportunity comes along! 

The Anticipated Reunion



PADC, IOCL Panipat

The cogs keep working as the wheels keep turning, but a few out-of-the-ordinary experiences are the ones that add flavour to life and make it worth living. So whether it was the grand Republic Day jubilations here at Panipat or simply some birthday celebrations, the weeks leading up to the assemblage certainly set the stage for the reunion of our entire IOCL'15 batch in the second week of February.

Republic Day 2016!

Catching up with old friends, nothing seemed to have changed in the few months everyone was away! We explored new places like Murthal near Panipat, played the sports we engaged in at BGR and a lot more. Training is always an excellent pretext for quenching our social yearnings. Hehe, this journey of ours seems to have picked up pace... I wish we could have had reunions like this more often!

A Reunion of Sorts

Odds-on Terminus?

The good times at Panipat...

Ever wake-up in the morning and get that weird sensation? All the flurries subsided; I guess our innermost thoughts get a chance to float to the surface... Even stranger is the fact that our latest memories seem to take a backseat as we are flooded with obscure flashbacks we never realized we still possessed! Past antics and trivial barbs seem to take on a life of their own giving you an occasional smile or an odd frown. We might blissfully live parallel lives with our past chums and aspersers, not vexed in the least by their presence sometimes at our very doorstep!

But at the end of the day, I guess it is all part and parcel of settling down at a new place. It has been nearly a month since most of my colleagues and I left Bongaigaon and the allures of the North-East, to report to our respective postings, mine being at Panipat. The ride continues, though just a little differently! But this time it might be for the long haul... Whatever the case may be, I guess it is all about finding and fulfilling a sense of purpose by bringing our various aspirations to fruition.

As for me, whether it is something professional like suggesting some updates to the softwares being used or watching some important official documents getting published in my name, or something personal like gifting a ring to my granny, I think I've started driving down the right path. No matter what the field, I believe each one of us can play a contributory role in our own capacity, leaving a permanent imprint on the business in the long run.

On the fun side, I'm glad that seven of us have been posted together at Panipat which makes the weekends all the more convivial. Shopping, movies and most importantly getting a chance to welcome the new year together was marvellous! I hope this adventure continues in the right spirit, the only question being is this the odds-on terminus or are greener pastures just waiting to be probed? Let's find out!

Welcome 2016!