Chapter 5: Luurv storie

This was the time of the project when things were going on smoothly.
The usual discussion on Friday evening.
Nimit: kal mere ghar aajaao subah 10 am.
Sid;Atlee;Andy: ok


later at 11Pm.
tring tring...tring tring

Atlee: huloo
Andy: kal kab jaana hai...
Atlee: 10 baje milte hai Andheri station.
Andy: thoda late kar re...1030
Atlee: done... Sid ko tu bol
phone disconnect.


tring tring...tring tring
Sid: ehho
Andy: kal 11 baje Nimit ke gahr
Sid: par woh to dus bola tha na
Andy: woh saala Atul ko kuch kaam hai.
Sid: saala serious hi nahi be koi tumlog mein se. dekh mujhko kaisa yaad tha dus baje milkena karke.
Andy: tu pahuch dus baje. hum aate hain
disconnect.


Nimit's place.
Time: 10 am. Nimit is ready and already doing some code on his machine. His was a small makeshift room all for himself, with a table and a bed. Nimit is getting restless..."where r these guys"
Time: 11 Pm: No sign

Time 12 : No sign.

Time 1245 pm.
Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
Atlee and Andy arrive.
Nimit: (frowning)itna jaldi aaye be tumlog.
Andy: saala yeh...1130 ko aaya. humesha late.
Atlee: Andy ki galti hai...bola paiir dukh raha hai...teen train chodda uske wajah se.
Nimit: disgusted!
Atlee: aur uske baad bola bus se jaate hain. Isliye late hua.
Andy: par Sid to aane wala tha na?
Nimit: uska phone aaya subah. Kuch Swaminarayan ka kaam hai. Dupahar ko aayega
Andy: saala #$%^. Kal bahut shaana bannn raha tha
Atlee: waise Nimit...woh book issual ka screen ho gaya kya?
Nimit: haan..ab maine hi kar diya...tum log to aane se rahe.


Its close to lunch time. Nimit ki mom ke haath ka khaana...lajawaab.
Aunty: chalo...pehle khaa lo...baadme kaam kar lena.
They always have an impression that we 4 guys are doing some brilliant work inside that small room.
After hving another lavish lunch we move to the small room.
10 mins past lunch.

Atlee: zzzz....zzzz....zzzz....zzzz
Andy: opens up the book. ASP for beginners.
Nimit: Abey Atul uthh be! Sone ke liye aaya kya.
After 15 mins , the door bell rings and Sid comes in...with a sheepish smile.
Andy: ab aa raha ahi tu!
Sid: aaya na mai...kitna mushkil se nikla malumm kya.
Nimit: chal chal...ab atul ke saath baithkar database table dekho for the other module.
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Thoda kaam kar liya...then we decided to take a break!

Sid: chal yaar 15 min. ka break lete hai.

Sid: Nimit...mujhe bata...teri item kidhar hai?

Andy: ITEM! yeh kya hai ganda word. Girlfriend bol!

Sid: haan be , tu samjhaa na

Nimit: koi girlfriend nahi hai be

Atul: fir woh kon hai koi jisko tu mila tha koi picnic pe.

Nimit: haan woh...jaane do yaar.

Andy: nahi bol na...

Nimit: rehne de

Andy: arre nahi...tu bol na

Nimit: abey der ho gayi hai...

Andy: kya der?

Nimit: ab woh chali gayi yaar...Main usse mila tha ek picnic ke...apne 12th ke class ke. We used to talk to each other. Par jyaada nahi...uske dad ka cable network business tha...borivli chodd kar Andhri side kahin shift ho gaye.

Atul: zzzzzz

Sid: hmm...

Nimit: wasie bhi yaar woh muslim thi...to kuch hone nahi wala tha.

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We played a few sad songs on WINAMP.

Ajab hai ishq yaaaaaraaaaaaa

pal do pal ki khushiyaaaaannnnnn....

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end of project day work...we leave for home at 7 pm.

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Next week, we were at Andy's place in Lokhandwala ( the residence of TV actors and flopped Bollywood stars, in Andheri West). After doing some work on the code, we decided to take a walk and babe watch on the streets of Lokhandwala.

Atlee: Andy tere hi ghar pe kaam karna chiye. Kaam ka kaam...aur masti ki masti

Sid: haan be...sahi jagah hai yeh

Andy: tere Vasai ke saamne to jannat

Nimit: abey woh dekh Sheeba!!

Nimit was excitedly peeping into the car trying to catch a glimpse of the heroine of duds like Boyfriend and that song...Aaja meri gaadi mein baith jaa...of some baba sehgal film.

Andy: abey aise roz dikhte hai...kya dekh raha hai.

Nimit: sahi hai yaar...

Andy: mere building main Akki aata hai...(Andy starts bragging his filmy gyan). Har week nayi girlfriend ko laata hai...current Raveena hai.

We decided to sit in the nearest restaurant for a light dinner.

Sid opens up a topic of terror prone Vasai.

Sid: pata hai kya...apun ke area main sirf bhai log hai. Ek cable wale ko maardiya.

Atlee: maar diya...hialaa kaaiku

Sid: ek naya aadmi aaya area main. Sab jagah brochure baata...cable monthly rent 100/- only jab ki baaki log 200/- main dete hain

Atlee: to sahi hai na...fir kya hua.

Sid: buss...bhai log ko gussa aaya...aise kaise aadha rate pe de raha hai...to maar daala usko.

Nimit: haila!!

Andy and Atlee glanced at each other...and smiled mischeviously.

Atlee: Yaar Andy, tu us din kuch bata raha tha na...tere cable wale ke baare main.

Andy: haan be...naya aadmi aagaya cableman. Naam yaad nahi hai

Nimit who was sipping his pepsi is slightly attentive.

Atlee: nahi be...tu kuch bata raha tha na musulmaan hai woh.

Andy: haan be...bhool hi gaya...woh us bus stop pe mujhe mile they to baat kiya main...woh namaaz padh ke aa rahey they...aur mereko hello bola

Nimit: hello bola yeh humlog kokyu bol raha hai

Andy: aage sun na...to main poochaki aap naye aaye is area main...to he said haan...abhi kuch mahine pehle...pehle woh Borivli main business karte theyy...ab sab chodd ke idhar aaye

Nimit: Kya!! yaar unka naam kya hai?

Atlee: ABEY ANDY...kahin yeh wahi to nahi

Andy: kaun

Atlee: Abey woh NIMIT - ladki - muslim - cable...

Nimit: haan re...

Andy: arre...

Sid: haan be...sahi

Atlee: Nimit unka naam kya hai

Nimit: Mr. Ismail Shaikh

Andy: abey!!! yahi to naam hai unkaa...abhi yaad aaya....ditto wahi naam...

Sid: Nimit hailaa...yeh to poora filmy story ho gaya be...tera "sasur" idharich mil gaya.

Nimit: sahi yaar...Andy number nikaal na cable wale ka...please please

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Number to Nimit ko mila nahi...par paanch minute baad Andy and Atlee started laughing...itni zor se ki Sheeba ne bhi dekh liya. Nimit slowly realized it was a prank played on his heart.

Nimit: saaala ##$%###$*******.... meri haay lagegi tum log ko dekh lena.

Us din se ajun tak Nimit ko Lokhanwala ke cable wale ke naam se chidaate hai hum!

My last few days

Indian Hockey finally surprises itself!
After the corruption charges and change of leadership, India did well to finish second in the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament ahead of arch rivals Pakistan. Although I hardly could get to see the matches live...it was heartening to read the giant strides of Adrain Dsouza, my good freind Ashley's bro and India's daredevil goalkeeper.
Congrats! Adrain...if you read this...wishing you greater deeds for the future.

Moving on to a different stream altogether...saw a play after a while...one of Naseerudin Shah's MOTLEY festival. This one was called"Ismat Apa ke naam" a collection of 3 stories written by Ismat something....way back in the '30s and '40s. The uniqueness of this play...was that it was simply a story telling session. But the manner in which the lead actors narrate the story to the audience makes the play enjoyable, inspite of the pre-independance setup stories and the high octane urdu dialect.
And the icing on the cake was meeting Naseer saab and Ratna Pathak Shah once again and getting to chat with them for a decent time :)
As Dhivya said recently, there isnt much on the entertainment plate these days...with the IPL murdering all TV shows around..esp. the exciting Paanchi Pass..err..Fail. SRK I felt was much much lively and rejuvinated as compared to his previous experience in KBC 2 or 3. But unfortunately...poor timing and a direct competition with IPL has hurt Paanchvi Pass a big way.

So, its now the final leg of the MBA chapter...another 20 days and corporate life is waiting to suck my soul. NITIE was an awesome pitstop in this journey called life...and Im getting a bit nostalgic so, the next post will surely be on my days at NITIE.

Scribblings for a change...

Finally caught up with the movie Johnny Gaddar.
Crisp and fastpaced, and as Vijit said...probably one of the best edited movies in recent times. I liked the reference to Parwana (the Amitabh flick) and the vintage Dharamendra shooting in english lingo "stop acting like a kid".

Im still reading Maximum City - Suketu Mehta's detailed version on the underworld, the dance bars, the cops...of Mumbai. Frankly, this book needs editing! Sriram Raghavan, please send ur editor to Suketu. But, must say..this book is an eye opener to me! To all the people in Mumbai, who have never visited a police station, never brushed a "bhai" the wrong side.

Its Friday...to finally some movies calling! Probably Bhootnath..the star cast luring me to the booking office. There is "Jannat" releasing as well, but Emran Hashmi flicks! on the big screen! Naay! They are best as late night movies on Zee Cinema.

And once I have finished off with my usual gala time...I wl have to pick up the books or the ppts of Advance Supply Chain Management once again!!!
:(((

Chapter 4: Project Guide bhadak gaya

Recap:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
We started with some coding sessions, mostly at Nimit's place. He used to head the coding sessions, simply coz he knew how to code.
The rest?
Andy: competent at best.
Sid: Never there
Atlee: Coding...rehne hi do
We had done some work on the inital screens and had to meet Mr. R for the demo session. We reached LTITL, got away with the security formalities and headed to R's cubicle. We were given a computer and a cramped space for 4 people to sit somehow shifting the chairs every 2 mins to let people pass. However, setting up your application on a new machine requires some basic knowledge on computers,server settings and the ilk. So, Nimit took the hot seat, Andy his deputy, me and Sid were almost close to the next guy, and were watching his actions closely.
5 min. observation of this new guy:

Window 1: Hotmail
Window 2: Chat; a lot of smileys...so assumption...its a girl
Window 3: Winamp
Window 4: Office Email
Wow! isnt that awesome as an occupation. Poora din listening to songs, chatting with the girl next seat and getting paid 20k.! I am dying to work in the IT industry now.

Coming back to Nimit... he tried for a while to set the application.
Nimit: Yeh PWS (Personal Web Server) ka ek setting hai....usme gadbad hai
Andy: dekh na...advanced options main.
Nimit: hmm
after a while...
Nimit: nahi ho raha
Sid: saala kuch kaam ka nahi hai tu...
Atlee: haa be...itna simple to hai
Nimit: dimaak kharab mat karo...itna hi pata hai to khud karo...aa baith mere seat par.
Sid: Chal Atul, hum karte hai

Sid and Atlee sit and do some irreparable damage to the settings that nothing works after their "midas touch".

Andy: Ek kaam karte hai...Mr. R se poochte hai...kaise karneka.
Now, Mr. R had a crush on Ms. P (we 4 had one as well...I doubt abt Sid though...). And Ms. P had just invited him for a coffee break. So, after we asked him how to setup...Mr. R left his computer for us...and asked us to setup the files on his machine.

Sid: Hero hai be yeh...us item ke saath bhag gaya.
Atlee: dheere bol saale.
Andy: chal Nimit...ab tu poor mast kar ke ready kar de. 5 ko baj gaya...530 tak nikalte hai. Mereko kisi ko milna hai 630 ko.
Atlee: kahan...Siddivinayak temple?
Sid: mereko bhi jaana hai Swaminarayan.
Nimit: saala...sab ko kahin na kahin jaana hota hai prject ka kisi ko padi nahi. Tum log jaao...Main aur Atul kar lenge
Atlee: err...Main bhi bolne hi wala tha ki mujhe mere DJ friends ko milna hai.
Sid: ha ha ha...saala tu bhi.
Andy: chal yaar...abhi seriously kaam kar lete hia
Atlee: haan...cummon
Nimit, started to find similar settings as his home PC and started transfering files on Mr. R's machine. All seemed fine for a while.
He changed the machine port and typed the url on the IE browser.

Andy: sahi...1st page aagaya...kool
Sid: data ka problem hai...Database change nahi kiya kya.
Nimit: arre haan re...par ab naya database setup karte hai
Atlee: MS-SQL khol ke dekh le
Andy: wahan new database main export kuch hoga...to floppy se export kar denge. ( As I said, we were in the era of floppy drives.) For some reason, it didnt work,
Statutory Warning: The following incident is completely Nimit's responsibility and holds no legal binding on Atul, Sid and Andy
Nimit: Ek kaam karte hai...yahin pe database bana ke test karte hai.
Andy ; Atlee; Sid :( all 3 look at the time in their watches..whispering) Its getting late.
Nimit, opened the MS SQL client...There was already some application data running. He added some table , put some data in...saved the setting and tried the application again.

Atlee and Sid were almost sleeping.
Andy was on his mobile phone. He used to carry this giant sized wireless device as if stolen from the traffic policeman at SV Road. But his phone was the link to ppl outside LTITL. More on the phone later.

Nimit: Sahi!! It worked. See, I added a new book table and that shows on the screen.
Andy: waah, sahi hai
Atlee: Nimit, tu to great hai
Sid: ditto

Mr.R is back after a mini-date with Ms. P, who is looking absolutely stunning. Ek din iske saath lunch karne ka mann kar raha hai. Probably through Mr. R.

Mr R: so, are u guys done with the setup.
Nimit: Yes sir. U can have a look
Nimit browses through the 1st page and all seems well.
Mr. R: Nice, nice...so how did you manage the data. Did u export it from your floppy.
Andy: S-Sir...we tried doing that, but that didnt work out, so we created a new table in the existing MySQL client on your machine.

Mr. R: Ok...(slightly suspicious look.) Theek hai...I wl have a look...You can move to your seats, and I will call you in a while.
We move to our original cramped seats. We are almot preparing to leave now... End of days play...and a good start to the project as well. Now, the same code to be replicated with a few changed as that should be it.
Suddenly, Mr. R calls us to his seat.
Mr R: Guys...did you delete any existing database.
Atlee: delete , err...no sir.
Sid: Nimit...
Andy is also looking at Nimit.
Nimit: sir... I I opened a new instance...
Mr.R : but did you get a message to save the database XXX
FLASHBACK
While we were working on Mr. R's machine
Nimit: abey yeh message aaya hai
Some 4 line message about application XXX finally asking a yes and a No.
Andy: Yes kar.
Sid:nahi be no kar
Atlee: ek koi bolo
Nimit read the message again and said..No karna hoga...
Andy: theek hai no kar.
End of flashback
Nimit: No sir...we got another message about the permissions and we clicked on No.
Mr R: almost in a furious mood, but calming himself. Yeh kya kiya...you ahve deleted the database I was working on! I tried to open it and I see your library tables instead

Nimit: OH
Noone else even close to opening their mouths. Silence for a while.
Mr R realises he is talking to technology angootha chaaps...
Mr R: Its ok now...but please be careful next time. I wl try to fix it.
Okie sir (in unison).

We move out of his cubicle and come back to our seats. Suddenly all eyes are pointing towards Nimit.
Atlee: maine bola tha Yes karne
ANdy: tune nahi maine bola tha...
Sid: ek baar theek se dekhna tha na.
Nimit is obviously irritated by now.
Atlee:Nimit sab gadbad karta hai...
Sid: Kuch nahi aata usku
Nimit: (almost red...) bus ho gaya...ab se main kuch nahi karne wala...tumlog karo...project

Andy: yaar...bahar chalke jhagadte hai...mereko der ho raha hai...chalo.