Testing Times

This was during the rains in 2005.
Medical Test - Everytime u travel abroad, u have to. I was in no mood to go for a medical test. I end up having at least 2-3 full medical tests in a year. Some because of travel and some because my doctor wants to fill his wallet by asking me to get a Cardiogram or Chest X-ray because i am having some headache. I was not happy with all these. This time, i had to go. No other way out.

I reported to Ranbaxy at 7.30 AM. At first sight they gave me the urine and stool containers, expecting me to do it right there. I informed, i have got it from home :-) They had to accept the shi*, cause i had taken everything in pre-cleansed containers, provided by them to my Travels department.

Everything was so very looking normal, until the Nurse came along with 6 test tubes and a tourniquet-like thing. Apparently, it looked as if she had changed roles with a Vampire. Women have an ill-reputation of having vampire-like traits. No, offences, but i have only heard. :-) She told me that she was there for blood test. I was so insistent on giving only 1 tube of blood, not more than 1, i can settle for 2, cry out loud and give 3, but definitely not 6. Somehow she forced her way to 6 tubes.

3 hrs was past, since i came in. All the tests were done. Only the post-glucose tests were left. For those who don't know what a post-glucose test is, here is an eye opener. They 'ADMINISTER' (Very rarely are you not treated like a specimen :-) ) you with some food and 30 mins after having the food, they do some tests to make sure that the post-glucose levels were also within the acceptable limits. I do not have very good memories of my previous Medical Tests, so I assumed that it would be a blood test. So i went to toilet, had my breakfast and then pee'ed again. I was waiting for the 30 mins to get over me. And then the attendant over the desk shrieked out my name. I noticed the agony in her face, as though something untoward had been detected in my previous tests. :-) I was only trying to be funny. She asked me if i had food. On a YES note from me, she handed me with the Urine kit again. I was not willing to take it from her, but she kept on insisting. I informed that i had already given my urine sample. Then she said something, listening to which i fell from the clouds. She said "have u given post-glucose urine sample". I was like, god. What is this? Why on earth has this to happen with me. I had just been to the Toilet. I debated with the attendant that its not possible for me to give samples because i was not pre-informed about a post-glucose urine test.

The people sitting around had already started giving dirty stares at us, as if fighting over pee'ing was something very insignificant to them. Well to them may be less significant, but when i am asked to Pee within 10 mins of going to the Toilet, its a real "Big Issue". I had no resort, but to take the container and then go to the Toilet. I had just opened my fly, when someone else barged in a hurry. He was having inquisitive eyes, as if hunting for something. In the Toilet, above the urinals, at the level of the eye, there was a continuous rack. Vertically above my urinal pan, I see that someone has kept a sample on the rack. I was not sure, if it was a mistake or intentional. On looking at this guy, one can make out that people doesn't do these mistakes intentionally. At the first sight, i wondered, if i could use this sample to fill in for me. But who knows, the other person might have just any disease. uff, i might get held up for nothing. I had to drop the plan and try something realistic.

This guy has already got in to his job. He was frantically searching for something. Meanwhile, i was busy praying to god for a few drops of Pee. I would sacrifice every possession in life for these few drops, such was the state. I have a strange problem everytime. Probably my voluntary muscles are sensitive towards presence of 'External' bodies. Its then, when i stop micturating. I cannot continue if i get concious that i am peeing with people around. Strange, but true. I have lived with this for ages. Now, this guy was literally searching even besides me. He was looking in to trash bins, beneath Urinals, On the Basin top, he was looking everywhere. The only place where he spared was between my legs. Thank God!! At least i felt so, who knows, he might have also searched there to his heart's content.

I had to chip in to his search. Excuse me, "are you looking for this?", with the sample (the one i picked up from the overhead rack) in one hand and maintaining my posture with the other hand. He gave a positive nod. To his glory, as if a Kid has been given a Toy for a gift. He was all smiles. I was too, cause at least i could concentrate on my bigtime job now.

All the dark clouds were gone, i could feel the silver lining behind them, as my Renal system was responding towards my 'ADHOC' request. The Container was filling in gradually. The ambience was full of joy, hope and delight. Like as if 79 Pigeons are being released to commemorate an independence. You can't enjoy this feeling unless you are a part of it. Do you fancy being in one?

Back with a Blow

I am back, still alive and kicking better than before. Its been long. I can't say that "Its been a long wait", cause i know no one waits for anyone. I meant, who gives a shi* if i write or not, if i blog or not. Its always good to have a fair assesment of how much you are wanted by others, or else you end up running after the wrong girl, who doesn't care even if you give up your life :-)

Well, i tried to look a bit funny. I don't know if its my lack of Humour or your sense of understanding that you couldn't understand me :-) Easy folks!! I am not gonna victimise you. Well i pull legs a lot, a load, i should have said.

Where was i? Oh yeah, i recall, "coming back to blog after long, and who gives a shi*" kind of discussion, wasn't i? I can hear you say "YES". I feel as if, i were a Rock Star on stage and you cheering for me. Ok, now don't start analysing my dreams. Its a sheer wastage of time.

Yes, i wanted to let you know that i am back and with full vigour. Several things have changed over the past few months. Let me try examplify and then lets try figure out if these changes are quantifiable, just to volumnise the impact of the change :-) ahemmm!! I mean it. Ok, now that you agree/believe now, lets start :-)

Last time since i wrote, loads of things changed. It started snowing here in Budapest much before the season. The impact of my presence. You see?
We Played Snowball on the first day of snow. The very second day, it snowed again. Guess what we did? Yes, right. We played Snowball again. and then, We kept on playing snowball happily ever after. I believe, its exageration, it was not so happy after all.

I had to return from Budapest, cause my visa had expired. I hope people from the Western Countries do not know much about what a Visa is, or how it looks like :-) Sorry, no offenses, i am not under-estimating. This is just giving an idea to others that people in the west are a bit more privileged to move around freely around without the pre-condition of having a VISA to enter a country. Does that make you happy now? I guess so. Ok, lets continue. Where was i?

Yeah, and then i travelled back to Mumbai. It was so very hot there. Not much though, i am used to more. But the transition from - 4 Degrees to 28 Degrees in less than 14 hours caused a bad cold to me. I got over it with a few drinks (pronounce Whisky and Rum). December 2nd 2005, I drank the whole evening, then had food and then again drank and then went to Marine drive with a group of Hungarian friends. We had way too much fun till the late hours of night untill the local Mumbai police dragged us out of the coast. My friends were too imbibed and alien to understand the gravity of the situation. When one of the Police said "Dhakeloon kya samundaar mein", as in "Do i push you in to the sea", i could realise that the Police were on to tasting blood that night.

The next two days followed really bad. I had a bloated stomach and a congested lungs. I neglected food. Unfortunately, I took to Diarrhea instantly. So much so, that i was bedridden in the Hospital for 5 days all by myself. One of my female colleague, Nishida(an Indian would have got a name Nishita. She sounds more like Japanese. Well, she has her share of this crap very often :-) ) and her husband helped me reach the hospital and get admitted when i was still at work. After that, for the next 5 days, there was no one who reached out to me. Out of the blue, i had a saviour. She was a very charming and beautiful damsel (I spoke to her first, realised later :-) ). She spoke to me on those lonely days. and even later and later. I don't know how she is now, or where she is, but she definitely meant a lot to me. I am not sure, if she ever realised that.

I was there at home with my parents for during the new year. A load of goodies happened to me then, i was not believing my fate. I visited Jaipur in between for a friend's Wedding. For a change, i continued with my work at Mumbai :-)
Usual Bullshi* at the workplace. Your manager telling you how you can improve, or what you are supposed to do. Nothing new to me. I have taken this crap for 6 years now, i am sort of immuned to this.

I was doing photography for so many years now, but had no online space. Now i can flaunt some of them, cause i burnt some of my paper photos to CDs (I would ideally like to take a lesson on burning CDs. But for now, i will try to enlighten everyone in this short time and space. Well, this is a very unusual process. if you are in to high level Organic chemistry, you understand it. You burn the paper photos with certain oxidants under fixed temperature and pressure constraints in an adiabatic environment, and the end-result is, you get the photos copied in CDs). Here are only some of photos from the huge collection that i have in Paper.


My parents wanted to get me married. Think, they want to have grandkids. Dunno how to contribute towards that. I am single and desparately looking, not to have kids though :-)

Met a lot of new colleagues, reconcilled with old ones. Changed three rented apartments. Met my old-time college buddy-Roomie Ujjal after about 6 years of a hostile relationship. We had a gala time during the weekends while in Mumbai this time. I still remember the days when our duo used to be the terror of the Hostel.

I bought a new apartment for myself in Mumbai. I am planning to go back this time to ornate my home with the best of my all collections.

And here i am back in Budapest since the past 1.5 months, doing nothing much. Eating-sleeping(alone)-Eating.

Things didn't change much in the past few months. The trees had come up with new leaves after they shedded in late autumn. It was all colorful last year, now the trees look all green. What else? Vijay became the project lead after Archana, Seema smiled as always, Sagar learnt Dotnet, Nishida's Husband joined her company, Prasanth became a guaranteer for my loan(people are indeed courageous), Rajneesh decided on a transfer, Asif changed location, Harsha never wrote back to me, Some eyes always were fishy, Someone special called to say "Helluuuu", Panda put on more weight, so has Rinkle, Rinkle left for the UK, Bhombol got married, Piklu changed company, Satish got a job after fighting for 3 years, Most of my folks in US got to their last year of PHD and i am still in that old crammed workplace. The hatcheries close to you all might have bred 17379309.. or more number of chickens, cause we just started having more chicken after the bird flu confusion died out; the Girl-Cow next door has a new calf. Its still a suckling; The hens have been laying incessantly; Its Spring now, the girl next door has started to bloom like the flowers in the fields. Everyday she tries out new outfits with lesser amount of clothings in them; The artics are melting, ozone is depleting, dunno what else to discuss. Dunno, if you have changed, i didn't. Over the past few months, i Loved, i Conquered(don't get ideas), i Lost, I Learnt, But i am still Loving. I won't stop. Fancy joining me? Yes, i am asking you, dumb as*?

Travel to Masuri

Hello
This post is in progress.
Ciao
Pras

A late "Evening" movie in Budapest

Wondered what "my head is swimming" could mean? Well, i did. I was watching a Govinda movie in a DVD (we pirated it from an indian store in Southall, London) with english subtitles. There was a sequence where some jerk was relating to Govinda, i quote, "Mera Saar Chakra raha hai", and the subtitle to it was, what we just had as the hot topic for now. :-)

Speaking about subtitles, Ever fancied watching an english movie with hungarian subtitles :-) Come to Budapest and feel the thrill of this incomparable extravaganza. An experience worth hair-raising. Easy Folks!! Not so fast, there are loads more in store. So here we start off with the joyride.

Most of the posters of english movies that hang around near the theatres have hungarian names to the movies. Its like the hindi version of the movie ERASER (Arnold Schwarzenegger, i am sure, i din get the spelling of the name correct) being called 'Mita dunga Naam o Nisaan' (Man, seriously that movie was called like this in the hindi dubbing).So the suspense continues, even when you have bought the tickets and got in to your screen. Now if someone is smart enough to browse the IMDB (For those who are less familiar with this acronym, its International Movie Database) website and look out for new releases by actors or Genres, then may be its a different story with the name of the movie.To make things better, Trailors start. Oh, my god!! I just love trailers. I can see so many movies in just 10 mins, that too paying money only for 1 movie :-)Past Few movies, i have been watching the trailor of the New Harry Potter movie. Can someone tell me the name to it? I always see a hungarian title to that movie in the cinemas here and even the website that they display in the movie trailer is hungarian. I really really want to see the movie. If someone can please help letting me know the name. One more thing, if any of you have not seen the trailors as yet, then this will break the ice to a good extent. Dunno, what it is exactly about. But this time, it seems like they have spent even more; more violence; i think i saw a few dinosaur kind of a thing several times; and Harry and his folks do not look like kids anymore, they look like they have hit their late Teens :-)

One of the most hilarious evenings in Theatres have been yesterday. I am sorry to say it as 'evening', but i think custom says that we have to keep it as 'evening' however late it is; may be, we can use 'Night' when we depart. :-) But yes, back to the story. This was me, got home after 8.30 PM in the 'evening' (no puns intended), got a call from my roomie that they had planned for a movie at 10.45 PM in the 'evening' (evening, again? Oh, yeah. I am not joking). Holy cow!! show starts at 10.45 PM? Crazy people!! 10.45 PM show on a week day?? I would say, "YES". If the last show can start after 12 AM in the weekends, then 10.45 Pm in the 'evening' (gimme a break, 10.45 PM in the night is not evening) in the weekdays is just ok. Believe me or not, the DVD shop from where i rent whole lot of movies (social movies, i mean :-) ) is open till 11 Pm in the 'evening' everyday. Such is Budapest. Man, if you are a nocturnal animal you would make the most out of this place. The discos start after 10 PM, nightclubs start after 9 PM (not that i frequent discos and nightclubs, but i had to get the information for you, so that you can all relish this rich information sitting back in your couch. Doing a tough job,huh!! need a pat on my back). Sorry, i have this problem of straying away from the topic, you folks are nothing but distractions :-) Sorry, i am back. Yeah, Discs, Pubs, nightclubs all start very late here. The city is up till very late. I think you can conveniently run around in the city enjoying the nightlife till 4 AM. And moreover its very safe in Budapest, its not like in London where you may get lucky to be shot dead on your way back :-)Ah!! i think i was somewhere else. Yes, got it!! I was speaking about the movie. Yes, this guy tells me that he had booked for a comedy movie. 10 PM in the 'evening' i call this guy and tell him that it would not be possible for me to make it to the movie, till then i din have my food yet, i was only in the process of preparing it. I barely could have anything, reached late and to my misfortune this guy tells me that its a romantic movie with patches of comedy in it. I was so upset(These days i am keeping away from Romance :-) ), he knew that he had to tell me that we were on to a comedy movie, or else i won't turn up. But i never even had a nightmare that he would lie to me to get me in to their company (This statement hints that my company is very much liked by friends :-). I am serious). But it was ok, i had come a long way, almost missed my dinner and i din want to go back, moreover the "TRAILORS" had started, how could have i walked out of such a wonderful situation? We sat back, saw a few movies (ahem!! Trailors :-)) and then the movie started. Somehow, we missed the title of the movie. We speak so much when we go cinema, that we miss a lot of things. Now 10 mins down the line, its all about baseball and other stuffs, i have a glance at this guy. He says, well i bought the ticket for the romantic movie, how are we here? Wonderful!! This guy doesn't even know which screen we have to enter. 30 mins down the line, i do not even know the name of the movie we are watching. Forget me, this guy doesn't even know if he is in the right theatre or if he is seeing the right movie for which he has booked the tickets for. It was a late 'evening' show, din have many people around to have asked the name of the movie. Then, oh my goodness, who was that? Drew Barrymore, not out of nowhere. She was in the movie, Damn!! She had slimmed almost to half of her size (pronounce, previous size). and my god, she was in the best of her acting in this movie. It was a nice movie, romantic, comic. Bit of everything to spice it up. Drew Barrymore has never been better before.

It has been more than 12 hours now, i still do not know the name of the movie. But the guys told me something like a 'Perfect Match'. You can see it (if at all, there is some movie by that name), its worth seeing.

Our Way back home was much predictable. In Budapest, commuting is very affordable. There has not been a single day when i din roam around in Cabs. So did the same, yesterday night too. Had a good night's sleep and i am back to office to relate you the wonderful reality show that i am experiencing every moment of my stay here.
Honestly, its not that bad here, as it sounds. Its my cynical way of looking at things. Sorry, did i say cynical? It should been 'my way to look at lighter side of things', that sounds more suave.

But you know the fun part? Its the weekend!! My god!! 2 days of uninterrupted Mess!! Goodness, you din know it, i told it to you all. See, i am getting in the habit of discovering and inventing new and newer things.

Its been a while that i had written anything big. I used to write my london diaries to some of you when i was there. I am not sure if i will be able to continue with my Budapest Diaries. But i know, u folks give a shi* to that. Will try penning down something, as and when something comes up in mind. Oh, yes, someone told me yesterday that i am 29 now and not 28 :-) Well, i am still young, i have not completed 29 yet, i am riding on it :-) Sorry folks, i know u all are in ur mid 30s, won't give you blues about that.

Live happy through the weekend till i catch you some other time, soooooooooooooooooooon. Then somebody taught me to me ecstatic about saying a bye, saying it like "byeeeeeeeeee".