The Infosys, Mysore Diaries: "Coffee & Crushes" : #BlogChatterA2Z

 Last night was confusing. Why was Chetan so rude to me? Clearly, he despised me as much as I despised him. Pushing away that thought, I looked across the street. Arjun was on a bicycle - red color this time.

“I managed to find a Hero cycle”, he smiled.

“Finally! Let’s hurry up, we've got a long way to go”, Myra said peddling her Ladybird.

The three of us had successfully managed to find bicycles. The cool Mysore breeze felt nice while going down the slope. 

We parked our bicycles near Arena (food court) and headed to Café Coffee Day. 

“Let’s have cold coffee?”, I suggested, scanning the menu.

In the past, we were never interested in coffee and hardly ever explored the various options in Coffee Day.

“Kaapi Nirvana?”, Myra said dubiously. 

“What?  It sounds like a sexual position!”, I replied. We both started guffawing while Arjun looked away pointedly. Arjun was very “decent” like that, he pretended not to listen. 

Myra and I both ordered one Kaapi Nirvana each and Arjun ordered Devil’s Own. There were other interesting drinks such as Frappes and refreshers too.

The cold coffee had the blended taste of coffee and chocolate; the icing on the top was the yummy vanilla ice cream.

“Can’t imagine we were missing out on Kaapi Nirvana all these days”, I winked after a sip.

“Kaapi Nirvana can make even a depressed person happy”, Myra continued in a poetic tone.

Arjun just smiled at our innuendos. Told you, he was “decent”!

“So, how’s it going Arjun?”, I teased.

“Shall we go out this Saturday, Priya? Just the two of us?”, Arjun said.

Myra choked on her Kaapi Nirvana.

 “Wait a second. What ??”, she said to Arjun.

“Yes”, he replied in a casual tone, “Well?”, he said to me.

 I was taken aback. “Let me think about it”, I replied. My answer surprised me.

Myra looked at the two of us incredulously. 

“What?? Have you gone mad?”, she exclaimed.

When neither of us replied, she laughed out aloud. She did not stop smiling for the rest of the evening. 

"Clearly, a lot can happen over coffee", she said in a sing-song voice, quoting the Cafe Coffee Day tagline.

We reached our hostel and I was just about to go into my room when Myra said,

“Priya, what’s happening? Were you serious when you said you’ll think about it?”, she asked.

“It's so sudden”, I replied, “I didn’t know what to say.”

“Well, think about it. Good night.”, she said after a moment. This is something that I love about Myra, she does not hover. While other friends make a big deal about such things, she gives you space when you need it.

The next day passed on quickly with more sessions. The following day was Friday and the last day of ILI training. 

Myra and I were late again and started jogging to our class. Arjun was sending us “hurry up” messages from the class. He was early to classes because he loved the breakfast spread in Arena and never missed it. We, on the other hand, hogged on corn flakes and milk (made from milk powder using a kettle, Infosys did not have kitchens in the residential blocks). 

“Am planning to go out with Arjun, I’ll tell him today”, I said.

She stopped walking. 

“Are you serious?”, she asked. I nodded.

“Are you guys kidding me? We are friends for 4 years. You don’t want to spoil it.”, she said.

“Let’s talk later”, I resumed walking.

I started thinking about it, this was all unexpected. Over the past, I would overthink and magnify every little aspect related to romance or dating. For some reason, I wanted to simplify things. 

We reached class and I waved to Arjun which for some reason annoyed Myra. 

The ILI session finished in a blur. 

We had lunch at the Magna food court with our college group. Myra ignored the two of us and started talking to others. Somehow, this whole thing made things awkward with her and not Arjun. I did not feel a tad uncomfortable with him, nor did he. 

 

On Saturday morning, I knocked on Myra’s room.

“Do I look okay?”, I asked. I wore a cute green top and jeans.

“So, you’re really doing this!”, she said quietly.

“Sorry if this surprised you. I am confused too. But let me give it a try.”, I said, “We’ll be back by evening. You should be okay by yourselves, right?”

“Of course, maybe I’ll say yes to Amit and go out with him. You two have fun”, she winked. Amit as well??? Her fan list was growing at a quick pace.  I sighed and left her room.

Arjun was already waiting for me at the bicycle stand. I increased my pace. 

“You’re late, we were supposed to leave 10 mins back!”, he said impatiently.

“Sorry, I had to manage her.”, I snapped.

“Big Bazaar is always busy, we have to buy so many things for her birthday.”, he said.

“We’ll manage it within time.”, I replied.

So, the cat’s out of the bag! We were just putting an act together for Myra’s birthday which was 2 weeks away. We’d prepared a list of things to gift her for her first birthday away from home. We chose Big bazaar because it was a one-stop for most of our purchases and we did not trust the local stores somehow. There were no malls at that time.

“Let’s walk fast, no cycles again today”, Arjun said. 

 We started jogging, which we were used to these days. We came out of the campus, took an RTC bus to CBS (Central Bus Station), and then took an auto to Big Bazaar. 

Meanwhile, back in her room, Myra was talking to a friend of hers, “Those idiots are planning something for my birthday. Let’s see how far they take it. I’ll also play along.”, she said. 

-- To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.

#BlogChatterA2Z: "Bicycles & Bowling Alley": The Infosys, Mysore Diaries

One of the main attractions of the Infosys, Mysore campus is the countless number of bicycles with parking stations located every few meters. Employees can use bicycles at all stations, free of charge.  Finding a bicycle when you really need one is highly impossible. We’d go to any extent for finding one in order to avoid the long walks. 

“Hurry up Priya, we’ve to walk. I don’t see a cycle in view”, Myra said to me.

“Look who found one”, I replied.

Arjun was on a pink Ladybird, looking annoyed. 

“I hate riding this pink bicycle, I wish I could rip off this basket.”, he said, slowing down. Myra and I laughed. Ladybird cycles were always in excess and the boys hated them. 

“At least, you have a bicycle. We’ve to walk for 20 mins. It’s already 8.40, we need to be in class by 9:00”, I said, increasing my pace to a jog.

“Wait, I’ll walk too”, Arjun said and parked his cycle. Another trainee immediately took the cycle and thanked him. 

 “It’s fine, I prefer walking. I feel stupid riding it”, he replied to my glare.

We managed to reach the building where Infosys conducted an induction program. This program lasted for about 6 days, 4 days of which were dedicated to ILI sessions (Infosys Leadership Institute). 

 ILI focuses on group discussions, public speaking, and such. We were divided into different groups in a session; each group was allotted a color and we all got ID tags of that color.  I got an orange tag, so did Myra. Arjun got a green one. 

The ILI sessions passed on quickly, one wouldn’t call them engaging. The interesting aspect of these sessions was meeting people from all over India. I did not travel much before and it was nice to interact with people from the farther end of our country, say, Punjab. Also, we got to hang out with people from our own college. On the whole, there were about 25 trainees from my college and we all had lunch together every day. Obviously, ours was a very noisy table.

“Shall we go to the bowling alley tonight?”, Manish, one of our college mates suggested one day. 

“Does the campus have a bowling alley as well? ", someone replied. I was surprised too.

“Yes, it does and the alley is quite crowded. Let’s make the best out of our free evenings before we run out of these Honeymoon days.  How about we go today? “, Manish suggested. 

It was not a bad idea. We decided to meet at Multiplex, a dome-shaped building which I’ll talk about in one of my future blogs. The three of us, along with some of our friends from the same hostel started together and met everybody else at Multiplex. There was an amazing swimming pool behind the multiplex. We crossed it, entered an adjoining building, which was buzzing with noise. 

“The gym is also here”, Manish said, he was leading us and took us into a large room. 

The bowling alley was not very big like the food courts but it had about 10 bowling lanes. There were screens for reporting scores and a seating area. 

We booked 3 lanes and were surprised with the reasonable pricing. With just the 12 of us in the hall and all the empty space, we started having a good time when suddenly called loudly, 

“Myra”…..

We turned around. It was Chetan, followed by his friend, Suraj. Myra and I looked at each other.

“Can we join you guys for a game?”, he addressed Myra. He had the same intense gaze while looking at her. 

“Maybe another time, we are here with our college friends”, she replied.

“Okay, another time then.”, he said and sat down on one of the sofas. “Please carry on”, he added.

Our college friends enquired about him, but we did not disclose much. We continued playing but something did not feel right and I turned back to look at Chetan. He was staring at us but then caught my eye and smiled at me as if saying, “mind your business”. I immediately turned away; I wanted him to leave.

It started getting busy in the alley and we decided to leave. We were picking our belongings when Chetan started walking towards me, instead of Myra.  He stopped in front of me and leered, “See you soon” and left without saying another word.

Arjun and Myra were furious. I was speechless. What was his problem???

 -- To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge.

Infosys, Mysore - "A" - Arena

Here's my first post in the #BlogchatterA2Z challenge. 

Please read my theme reveal post before reading the blog:

https://padminichilappagari.blogspot.com/2021/04/blogchattera2z-a2z-blogging-challenge.html

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“Let’s go to Arena?”, Myra asked. 

“What is that?”, I replied. 

“You’ll see”, she said.

Arenas, in general, remind us of big gatherings and I expected it to be a cricket ground. 

By the way, let me introduce myself. I am Priya and I am a trainee at Infosys, Mysore. For all the college hires of Infosys, it is mandatory to be trained at Mysore for a few months before being posted at a job location. Working for Infosys has always been my dream and it was even more special to have my two close friends from college, Myra & Arjun by my side. 

Okay, where were we? Aaah, yes. It was our first day on campus. We had just checked in to our allotted rooms in hostels and wanted to explore the area, maybe get some lunch. We started from our buildings and were almost panting by the time we reached the cricket ground (supposedly, Arena) that was 30 mins away.  

“Wow, Arena looks great”, I said looking at the cricket ground. 

Arjun shook his head and pointed me to a huge building. 

“OMG, what’s this place !! ”, I said, entering the building. The sheer size of the hall inside the building was intimidating.

“Arena’s a multilevel food court”, Arjun replied. 

True to his word, Arena was an open food court that could seat over 1000 people at a time and had many food stalls. I spotted Cafe Coffee Day right away. Options for breakfast, lunch, dessert, juice, tea, coffee were umpteen; you name it, you’d find it. Now, we were posed with a problem - Where do we start? What would you choose to eat in such a place!

“Biryani is supposedly popular here”, Myra helped.

“Okay, let’s have Biryani then”. 

We picked our order and chose a place overviewing the amphitheater. The biryani was indeed good, but it was not the food we were interested in. We couldn’t stop gaping at our surroundings - we could see the cricket ground as well. Arena was located cleverly between the ground and the magnificent amphitheater which made it an ideal location to hang out after a match or concert. With perfect ventilation, a nice view, and a sparse crowd, we were completely amazed by this place. Arjun was also pleased with the beautiful women around us and for a short while, he became the human version of a table fan, on swing mode. 

"Hey, there”, someone called. I looked away from “Juice Junction”. Two strangers were at our table. They introduced themselves as Chetan and Suraj. The guy named Chetan, specifically asked Myra: “We are in the same induction class as you three. Today, there’s a concert in the amphitheater. Care to join us? “, he said, pointing at the amphitheater. 

I was not surprised by this invitation, Myra got asked out a lot. I turned around to get a better look at Chetan - you could call him handsome but he had a steady gaze that made me uncomfortable. I immediately looked at Arjun who confirmed this. 

“Sorry, we have plans”, Myra said instantly. She must have felt it too.

“Come on, you’ll miss the concert, we don’t have another one in weeks. ”, he persisted. 

We politely refused and before they got chairs to join us at the table, we took our leave. 

“Too bad that we had to leave soon, I wanted to try the Juice Junction.”, I said.

“We have 6 more months to explore this place. Moreover, we don’t want to go to concerts with complete strangers on our very first day here”, Myra said, to which we agreed and started walking back. I suddenly had an inkling and looked back. Chetan was staring at us from the first floor of Arena. His expression was very intense and he had the same steady gaze as before. I increased my pace and did not turn back….

--To be continued

This post is a part of the Blogchatter A2Z Challenge

#BlogChatterA2Z: A2Z BLOGGING CHALLENGE 2021: THEME REVEAL

 April is here, and it's the time for the A2Z Blogging challenge conducted by BlogChatter. For those who don't know, this challenge involves writing one blog a day (except Sundays), throughout the month of April. This means writing 26 posts in April which is daunting. It's my first time participating in this challenge and I am excited, nervous, and also curious to know if I'll be able to do creative writing for an entire month! 

Now, writing one blog every day would be challenging, because what new would you come up with every day??! This made me do some research on the past challenges and I came across this cool idea of choosing a theme for all the posts. With a theme in place, there will be a flow of ideas and relevance in all 26 posts. 

After a lot of thinking, I came up with a theme that is very special to my heart. Here is my theme reveal:

Drum rolls......

My theme for #BlogChatterA2Z, 2021 is:

My experiences in INFOSYS, MYSORE

I am a Software Engineer by profession and I had the deemed opportunity to work for Infosys. It had always been my dream company and when I was hired to work for it through campus placements, I was ecstatic. For all the college hires of Infosys, it is mandatory to undergo training at Mysore for a few months before being posted to a job location. And this is where all the magic happens! The campus is an architectural marvel that spans over 350 acres. Here, learning is endless, and the whirlwind of emotions or experiences that one goes through lasts a lifetime. Ask anybody who's been at Infosys Mysore for training, they'll tell you the same. Rightly, the tag line of Infosys - Mysore is "Beginning of good days" and I couldn't agree more. People also call it a "5-star jail", which is also true sometimes.

In my 26 posts to follow, I am going to take you through some of my favorite places on the campus, a few places in and around Mysore, and most importantly, the experiences that I had with my close friends, all weaved into a beautiful story. 

Can't wait to write!

Book Review: Of Literature and Lattes by Katherine Reay

I've tried a different style of writing for this book review. Hope you like it.

What is the book about? 

The story is based in a fictional town called Winsome, near Chicago. Winsome is a small town with a lot of community bonding, where everybody-knows-everyone.

The story revolves around Alyssa, a former resident of Winsome, who comes back to her hometown after a series of unfortunate incidents at her work place. “Why did she leave Winsome in the first place? What happens at her work place? “ form the crux of the story.

Another protagonist in this book is Jeremy, who moves from Seattle to Winsome, for his 7-year old daughter, Becka. Jeremy, a coffee lover, buys a popular local coffee shop called “The Daily Brew” , remodels it with latest equipment and renames it to Andante. How the remodeled, former-popular coffee shop fares in a small town that does not welcome drastic changes, forms a major part of the plot.

This book also has some recurring characters from the book, “The Printer Letter Bookshop”, written by the same author.

More details about the book?

The book primarily talks about bottled emotions with your loved ones and the art of letting go. It explores the sensitivity of human relationships, especially, of troubled mother-daughter relationships. It also narrates a budding relationship between a father-daughter duo. Apart from this, the story speaks a lot about communal harmony, local businesses and change.

How is the title related to the book?

Hint: A major part of the story is about “Andante”, the new local coffee shop which serves Lattes, among other things.

Don’t want to give away too much!

What’s your rating of the book?

I would give 2.5/5 stars for this book. The story seems quite relatable but there’s something missing in the flow which makes it a slow read. I could not read more than two chapters per day, even though I wanted to finish it in one go. It took me over 10 days to finish reading it.

What did you like/dislike about the book?

This book follows the conventional Sidney Sheldon pattern of writing, where each chapter narrates the plot from one of the protagonists’ point of view. While this narration style works for Sidney Sheldon’s books, it does not work for this book. 

Each chapter is mildly interesting in the beginning, slows down to a moderate-dead pan and picks up pace by ending with a twist. But by the time you've enjoyed the turn of events and want to read more, there’s an abrupt end to it. Then begins the next chapter, which is from a different protagonist’s point of view, with a slow beginning which does not do justice to the lovely ending from the previous chapter.  

For example, one of the chapters in this book is about the business of the coffee store and it ends with a brilliant touch which leaves the readers anxious to know more. But the next chapter begins with a funeral scene from a relatively forgotten side-story. This happens a lot in the book. Although there are some good plot twists in the story, they do not get their due because of this style of narration.

I also found problems with the lead character, Alyssa. She is extremely hard to like. In many notable novels, we've come across some lead characters with flaws. But, usually, there is some vulnerability to these characters that makes the readers care for them. This lacks in this book and by the time I reached the end of the book, I did not care about Alyssa or the plot and just wanted to finish the book.

Having said all, some emotions are extremely well-captured in the book and parts of the story are interesting. For example: the book explores the mother-daughter relationship from two generations, which is novel. If you’ve read “The Printer Letter bookshop”, this book definitely connects some dots and the two books when combined make a well-rounded story. The character of Jane, a recurring character from the “The Printer Letter bookshop” is well portrayed.
Furthermore, the book reinforces the benefits of living in closely knit communities and makes the reader long to stay in one.

Any takeaways from the book?

The protagonist of this book is a Software developer who builds algorithms and works in a Silicon valley startup. So, there's some info on her nature of work and the IT industry. 

Other than that, there are some takeaways and relatability if you have recently set up your own business. This book deals with a new coffee business and there’s some information on how to handle accounts. There’s also a mention of a successful restaurant business, which is nice.

As a coffee lover, I expected some info on coffee beans/machines, but there’s not much info on it. However, there’s a mention of some new coffee flavors. There are some ideas on interior décor, baking etc. It doesn’t seem like a thoroughly researched book like Sophie Kinsella’s, “I owe you one” or the “The Undomestic Goddess”, where the reader gets plethora of knowledge on setting up a local business.

Finally, if you haven’t grown up in a closely knit community, this book definitely gives an essence of it and you can experience it too.

Book Review: Padmini: The Spirited Queen of Chittor by Mridula Behari

I am reviewing this book in 2020 and there's a high chance that by now, most people in India are acquainted with this story because of the Bollywood movie, Padmavat. In my case, I'd also done some online research on this story before and after watching the movie. So, I was not too enthusiastic about reading this book.

What new could I be reading in this book was my question when I started reading it. However, right from page one, this book completely bowled me over with its beautiful and engaging narrative because the whole story is from Rani Padmini's point of view. This is a very clever idea because, had it been a third-person narrative, it wouldn't be so interesting as the story is well known.

It was a new experience reading this book because it felt as if I got the opportunity to read the diary of the most beautiful person. Interesting questions such as below were tackled in this book:

What is it to be the most beautiful person? Can you find true love despite being so beautiful? How do beautiful women tackle the hatred and jealousy of other women? Are they confident and secure? How did it feel to be the Second queen to a King? How does it feel to be blamed by the whole kingdom without any fault of yours? What are the complaints of beautiful people? And lastly, is beauty a boon or bane?

Trust me, this is not everything that's covered in the book. There's a lot more to Rani Padmini than just her physical beauty and the book justifies it. I emphasize on “beauty” in my questions because the book is about a renowned beauty and this is my tribute to her.

Through this book, we also get to know more about the history of Chittor and the values with which a Rajput is born and bred. The glories of heroes: Gora and Badal are depicted with pride. The reader will come across some never-heard-before concepts, one of them being: the segregation of women by their physical features, Jauhar, etc. References to ancient literature, poetry, scripts, and the customs of India are plenty.

Highly recommend it.

P.S: I thank my niece, Krisha Maroju for gifting me this book. I absolutely loved reading it and will always cherish this precious gift.

A tribute to Draupadi (द्रौपदी)

I recently read a book called "The Palace of Illusions" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and it gave me a new perspective on the Mahabharat. This blog is inspired by the book:

Who is Draupadi?

   The first thing that comes to one’s mind is - She is a woman with five husbands. But this was not her choice as she was forced into this predicament. Then why did the society call her names?

  The second thing that strikes us is the manner in which she was disrobed in a court full of Kings, Ministers, and Sages whilst all her five husbands watched helplessly. Once again, why punish a woman in the most atrocious way possible? 

   The next thing that Draupadi is well known for is her revenge. Where she avenges to tie her hair only after she’s washed it with the blood of her enemy. And she achieves it at a huge cost: The Kurukshetra battle. Is the revenge of a mere Queen the only reason for one of the greatest battles of Indian History?

These three questions sum up The Mahabharat. And one cannot explain it all without mentioning Her: Draupadi, the synonym of power, confidence, revenge, pride, and love.

Some background on the Mahabharat:

   The Kingdom of Hastinapur, in northern India, was ruled by a blind King who had 100 sons called the Kauravas. The blind King was a trophy King, filling in for his dead brother, the father of 5 sons also called the Pandavas. Yudhisthir, the elder most of the Pandavas was the lawful heir to the throne of Hastinapur once he came off age. However, Duryodhan (the elder most son of the Kauravas), also claimed the throne because his father was the current ruling King. Draupadi was the wife of the Pandavas. 

Draupadi:

   Also known as Panchali, she’s an unusual woman because of her unusual birth. You see, she was not born from a mother’s womb. She was born but out of Fire along with her brother but only she held the prophecy to change the country's history.

   While growing up, Draupadi was never a stereotypical princess who was interested to sing, dance or marry her Prince charming. She was more interested in learning what her brother was taught: statesmanship, politics, and warcraft. She was not a conventional beauty either, for, she was as dark as the night. But she grew up believing that “Others perceive you the way you project yourself” and this helped her in becoming the most sought-after princess of her time.

    Her curiosity in the ways of the world brought her very close to Lord Krishna, the human avatar of God himself. Krishna found her self-belief and confidence appealing, and he couldn't stop admiring her restlessness and a never-ending longing to fulfill the prophecy. She was very fond of Krishna and their frequent encounters made her worldly-wise, mature. And she was ready to face the real world.

    Her life indeed changed with her marriage to Arjun (one of the Pandavas). One can call her marriage unusual too.  Because, when Arjun took her home to surprise his family, Kunti (his mother) who had no clue about his wedding, asked him to share anything that he had brought home with the rest of his brothers. Thus started her conflicting marital life getting unwanted attention and tarring her character forever.

   The frequent ups and downs in the lives of her husbands made her life a roller coaster ride. While she lived in huge palaces and enjoyed the privileges of being a Queen, she also dwelled in forests: cooking, serving, cleaning and taking care of her husbands. And when the infamous disrobing happened, she lost everything that she'd built over the years.

  Despite these puddles in her life, Draupadi drew strength in the form of revenge to destroy the people who've insulted her. Also, her husbands wanted their fair share of the Kingdom and this led to one of the most iconic battles in the history of India, The Kurukshetra. The battle can also be translated as the fight for dharma: the truth. At the end of an extremely crucifying battle, the Pandavas won and so did She! 

    Draupadi was destined to change history but it came with a heavy cost. She gained accolades for her strength but also lost her self-respect in the worst way a woman can ever imagine. Today, she remains in history as the woman who was disrobed in a full-court. But in reality, she's a Phoenix who rose from ashes.

Such was the life of a Queen who was born from Fire, made of Fire and breathed Fire!!

Learning about her has led me to several questions ...

• Draupadi's father prayed for an heir who would take revenge for him. And the Fire God presented him with a son and a daughter. Why then did the Father choose only the son for his revenge, though both his children had equal powers? Was she considered less serious because she was a girl child?

• After her marriage, she was supposed to spend one year each with a husband and had the "boon" to become a virgin for her next husband. Isn't this boon tailor-made for a patriarchal society? What about her feelings, memories and all the awkwardness that came with the whole arrangement?

• One of her husbands gambled her during the game of dice after he had already lost everything. How can a man who's already lost himself still own his wife and gamble her?

• History projects the war mostly as Draupadi's revenge. Was she solely responsible?? Wasn't it the greedy Kauravas who refused to share the Kingdom with Pandavas?? Or is it too easy to blame a woman for anything bad that happens anywhere in the world??

• Sita, a light-skinned, effeminate and doting wife of a monogamist is considered an ideal woman by society. On the contrary, Draupadi, an independent, unconventional and ambitious lady is not your "ideal woman"?