F-R-I-E-N-D-S

I was not a very friends-oriented person up until I came to Chennai. My conception used to be "Friends come in friends go out, nobody stays with you forever". I did have many friends. Some from school and some from college. But never did I feel that they were so important to always have with you. I did have contacts with many of my friends way after I parted from them. But never did it strike to me that I would need friends at any time. For me, my family was more important. But now, staying away from home, my heart tells me the real necessity of friends. And another thing that I have learnt is that, when it comes to friends, its not about the physical existence, but about the existence in heart. Its not about talking with each other all the time, but about being at cloud nine when your friends give you a call or sends you and sms or an email.

I am happy that God has blessed me with a good group of friends. And I am very selective with friends. I want friends whom I can trust and rely on. Whom I can tell the biggest secret and completely believe that they wouldn't open their mouth. Whom I can go and cry to when in pain. But truly, I dont know on what criteria or basis I select friends. Coz all my friends are different. There is no connection between two friends with which I can give a set of criteria for friends. Though I have mentioned about the philosophy of existence in heart and being at cloud nine, you are always closer to the group of friends you are with right now. They know all your secrets, they know all your recent problems and your recent happiness. But that does not make your old friends any different. Still when I get a call from my old friends or when I call them, its nice to talk about the good old days, old friends, what they do, what they have done good, what they have done wrong.

No matter how long you have not seen your friend, you are always happy for them when they are happy. Like when I met Fathima after 6 years, when she gave birth to a girl child, I was so happy to see her being happy. And when I met Jasmine again after six long years, I was happy to see her and say.... how you look, how much you have changed, what a miracle that we are meeting again... and all those senti stuffs. And Jancy - Receiving the first mail from Jancy - Cant explain how happy I was - Now that has become a habit to keep sending mails all through the day.

I know... I know.. this blog is becoming very philosophical and Ideologistic. But the question of what made me write down this blog has an interesting answer - Lack of friends. My new office(Elnet). Here I have only one Rose with whom I go for coffee break. There is no one I talk with, there is no one I can comment to, there is no one I can send a message saying hey its damn boring come lets go for a walk. Also, this blog is the effect of frustration being in this office and missing all that I had at Tidel office.

The long coffee breaks, the interesting comments about almost everyone in floor, the chats that I have with Preethi in AIM though we sit in the same bay, shouting to each other for no reasons, crowding at the middle of the bay and pulling each others legs, the late lunch... therez lot more to explain. Only thing that keeps me happy now is going to that floor every afternoon, with an excuse - Lunch - and spending two hours with my friends.

Abhi, Avi, Soni - Missing you guys.. I cant give reasons.. but I definitely miss you. Thank God Tidel and Elnet are close by I get to meet you atleast during lunch. Preeths - I miss sitting next to you. I dont have anybody, whom I can turn right and disturb.
Valli - Oh! No more projects to give you. :-(
Gee, Sathya - Missing you too much - right time when I should be there to make fun of Sathya. :-(
Anju - Darling, trust me, I dont miss you. ;-) But I miss walking to ur desk once in a while for conveying the slightest happiness or the slightest sadness I have in office.

Thanks guys for being there always... (Until I have started missing you). I know I can get along well in this office, but its a matter of time. Now it feels good after typing so much in my blog. Though I miss all my friends, I am happy that I have so many friends.

"AJ024"

Am back with another blog. Thanks Roselin for your comment. Gave me the encouragement to put in a new entry.
Chennai Kickstart is over... So whats next? "AJ024"... Wondering what this encrypted code mean??? Its.. "Advanced Java 024". The name of our batch at Cognizant and by the words of my batchmate Sriram, "The" Batch. Comprising of 24 people, though we shrunk to 22 at the end of two months long training period, our batch was a community of enthusiastic youngsters put together in a single classroom for the mere reason of... "Celebrating Work"(Cognizant's Ex-Caption).
I still remember day one, sitting at a corner wondering how it would be to spent two months with these 21 people I didn't know (I had introduced two of my batchmates, Sathya and Anjali in my previous blog) who come from different place. But at the and of our training, we became one big group of friends.
Our batch can be called a prototype of our sub-continent. Albeit at Chennai, we had people from different states and different languages. First among them, our Rep.. Sandip Chandarana (Rappai, as we call him). He knows.. well, I dont exactly know how many languages he knows. A Banglore born, Tamil Nadu brought up, Gujarathi. Next is Sriram, Gujarathi brought up Tamilian. Not to mention, Mallu Anju, Telugu Srini, Chaithu, Srikanth and Geddada, Urdu Hasi, Kannada Goje, Chennai born and brought up Mallu Ani, "Vat are u speaking Naansense" Ammu, Chennai born brought up Telugu Sathyendra(appu as said by Anju), Jharkandhi Praveen Kumar Singh, Sourashtran Sathosh and the rest Tamilians Sudar, Lakshmi, Sathya, Mohan Raj, Dinesh, Anu, Gnanavel, Bhavani, Vignesh.
Two months went away in no time, just happy and happening. Starting from the boring sessions to the online tests and the fourth floor lunch in hot sun and MFRP and the movie "Kisna", we had the most of fun. And the round of treats, viz., Sriram's B'day treat, First Salary Dutch treat, McRennett Pasteries and so on. Above all these was the fun we had during the last closure treat at Ravi Resort. Can't forget those good times we had together. In a single word our batch can be described to be always "Rocking".
I had all the fun that anybody can have during a training period. May be it was because of the realisation that fun cannot be repeated the same way again. After eighteen months now, those days stay as pleasant and beautiful days in my memory. Today Chennai is not a foreign land, but a place with a big group of known people called "friends". All thanks to my training. Thanks Cognizant for "AJ024" and thanks to my batchmates for being there.
I can keep going on and on.. but I prefer my entries to be small. So Will come up soon with another blog.