A Special Visit By A Little Friend!

Yesterday, we had a special visitor at our home. I was all pious and am reading a hindu religious tome called Gurucharitra (Courtesy: Mom) and then there she is, gracing my bed corner and sitting royally on my pillow. I went hesitantly by her side and she breezily jumped on to my fingers. Such a tender little young sparrow… I loved the feel of her on my hand!

I called out for my sister to shut all the fans off in the house. She rushed by my side with a name ready for my little friend. She called her Bittu over the name of her lost friend and bought Kaju Barfi and a bowl of water to greet her. Me and my sister were really fussing over this little visitor and my mom rushed in with loads of warm advice.

‘Let her go, her family would find her’

‘Place her in front of mirror so that she would preen’

‘Hunt for her parents, they must be searching for her’ and so on..

I felt a lot of swirling emotions inside me. I know that its a cruel thing to hold her and that it may damage her plumage. I let her go and then I realized that she is a proper kiddo and cant fly more than a short distance. I was concerned and scared for her. Well, that particular childhood memory of a little sparrow getting hurt due to a fan while flying didn’t comfort me either. I scooped her on my palm and went out to take a walk around the home. Hey, her parents are waiting for her on the big fat tree thats in front of my home. Bittu flew to her parents side and the whole family is squeaking again! Capturing that tender moment, me and my sis ran inside and gave a real bear hug to Mamma.

Finally everybody is home to their loved ones!

A Visit To A Local Seamstress!

Well, that only happens when I am home! Though am a great fan of ready-mades: especially those of select, don and pay category which offers instant gratification, at times I just love picking up material.. Probably I like the lazy way in which u choose that fabric for how that can look, ponder over design, discuss with your tailor, await delivery like a kid for candy and then fret over tiny things for alterations.. Since I had a lot of time at disposal and a couple of material that would require a stitch job, I thought I would pay a visit to Taruni for my dresses. Taruni is the most famous boutique kind of store in Rajamundry.. She started off as a specialty tailor some 7 years back and is doing pretty well as a designer tailoring joint.

Me and my sis landed up there (at her boutique in Prakash Nagar) only to find ourselves in a huge queue. At times, its not the number of people who count but the number of dresses they have for the job.. I was playing a silent observer and was wondering at the loyalty of the people who came from faraway places like Nidadavolu for a visit to the tailor. I was wondering whether I am impressed by their fashion sense or their desire to engage the best. It’s not as if they have a list of specialized preferences or some exotic designs in their mind. Guess its same everywhere. Find an expert and give him free way! Or is it related to brand experience? Finally my turn came after an hour of waiting and impatient wandering around the store. I have always thought that stitching is a mindless job. That’s the most ridiculous opinion that I have ever held. It does demand a lot of creativity, visualization, attention for detail and an eye for sense. Guess this little visit served as an eye opener for me! I handed over my dresses and came home. Am almost expectantly waiting for them!

P.S. : She did a fairly decent job.

My Short Trip to Mumbai and A Deluge of Memories!

So finally I made it.. I have been longing to make a trip to the Amchi Mumbai, just to meet my friends out there.. A warm touch, a cozy chat, a quiet dinner and a good companionship.. I almost jumped at a training session organized by TCS. Well, the session proved worth the visit too. Well, that’s my first flight experience too. The whole world seems so serene and small from top. Awesome sight! I reached there on Sunday Afternoon, planning to catch up with lots of friends in that short span of 6 hours. It turned out to be better than what I have expected. I felt great catching up with pals and their stories of Mumbai and Work.

Coming to the business of the visit, I went to Mumbai for training on creative brainstorming and innovation techniques. At least, that’s what I thought at the first. I ended up being in a train the trainer session for an organizational effectiveness initiative of TCS called Propel which helps in creating a change platform. Sounds complex, right? It is.

The training was conducted by Tao Knoware Pvt Ltd. When the first 2 days of training concentrated on making people more human and resolving value dilemmas in organizations, the rest 2 focused on enhancing productivity by addressing specific issues at the organizational level. The training session was an awesome learning experience as I could relate those issues in the current organizational context. The whole training is focused on organizational culture as for TCS, “means are more important than the ends.” I met with so many sharp minds who are mature and sensitive. I guess that enhances the appeal of these sessions.

Unfortunately I was hit by viral fever so I was kind of a passive participant there. Added to that, our training was organized at Hotel Retreat at Madh Island, a real godforsaken place! Actually it’s a perfect place for honeymooners and definitely not for corporate conferences.

Its time to get back to Chennai again! Hoping to catch the morning flight, I landed up at 8:00 AM on Saturday only to realize that the flight is booked by mistake at 8:00 PM. Now, the feeling was of pure jubilation! So, I got enough time to catch up with my buddies after all! I asked my friend to pick me up at airport and landed up at her flat again! It’s so long since I had a quiet chat with my dear college friend. She is getting married this December and is trying to train herself to be a traditional lady! Her life got changed from jeans to suits, and I just loved watching her taking charge of her life! Glad that I could spend some time with the “to be married” gang!

Thanks to my friend’s sweet roomie’s suggestion, I met up with my ILP gang TCS colleagues in Mumbai. Life was back to projects, bosses, and profiles again! It was glad to see them back after one year! Lots of catching up and so little time! All good things come to an end finally and so does this trip…

Factory Visit to Pravin Masale

This weekend we went to visit the Pravin Masale factory, which is into a variety of products like turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, chatpata masala, Biryani masala, chaat masala, etc. We saw the processing of base raw materials like turmeric, chilli and coriander. Each spice is processed in a separate division and each has its own set of workers, dressed in the corresponding coloured uniforms, Coriander ones wear green uniforms, Turmeric ones wear yellow and the Chilli ones wear Red.

The raw material is fed into machines and there are several steps where the dusty particles, stones and adulterants are filtered by the machines like pneumatic blowers,shakers, vibraters, sorters etc. Then the clean rawmaterial is roasted and grinded and then sent to packing. The printed flat plastic roll through the machine, making a cylindrical shape along the way, where it is filled by the required spice and sealed after specific intervals using form, fill and seal type of packaging.

And then moved to the quality control section. Here shelf life analysis, raw material testing and grading is done. The parameters for which the testing is done are: moisture content, flavor, ash content etc. The whole visit reminded me of my graduation days, and bought me back memories of our food technology labs..