Wrapping up

So finally my days in Delhi (or rather Noida) have come to an end. Just another 3 days to go. The project work finally got completed. Though we kept thinking about improvements, but nothing seemed to make it any better. I completed documenting it in doxygen, commenting the code and also a general writeup about the whole thing. Since about two days, I’ve been looking for work to do. There is really nothing left now. I’ve to still keep coming to office for the next 3 days from 10 to 6.

Independent for the first time

Past two months have been great. Landing in a new city alone for the first time, looking for a place to live without dad to help me out, roaming in unknown places using maps, asking people around, etc. Then, in the middle came the big tension of being extravagent. So from 21st of May, I decided to write down every transaction and expenditure, be it as less as 1 INR. Now, not only do I have a log of the expenditures till 17 June, but also a log of the places I went to, where did I eat, from where to where did I travel and by what means. This log isn’t of much importance in the sense of money matters, but I’ll still go through it once to recall everything.

Places I visited

I saw some new places in Delhi. I had visited Delhi before this only once, and I remember to have visited India Gate and Qutub Minar. This time I went to see public places like Cannaught place, Palika Bazar, Metro, Lotus temple, India Gate, Appu ghar and Oysters park, PVR Priyas, PVR Spice, and CS Mall in Noida. I also went to a pub for the first time in my life, namely TGI Fridays and Aliens Foot. I also went to a disc for the first time in my life here. Its named RPM.

I didn’t go to

Well, even this time I didn’t see Delhi completely. I missed seeing Akhshardham temple, Gurgaon, Red fort, Chandni chauk, and whatever places I didn’t mention in the above list. I’ll come here soon. Lets see.

People I met

I met quite a number of new people in this place. One of them is my dear net friend, sms friend, phone friend and now a friend-in-person, Snopy aka Alvy. She is a nice girl, too bindaas and all. Sometimes forgets me for weeks in her careless attitude. But thats okay, shes expected to act dumb and careless hehe.

I came to know some students from IITs who are interns here. They are Sandeep and Rohit. Most of my interaction in this office has been confined to Sandeep since a few days. He is a nice simple guy with no worries in life. He can be naughty at times, and irritating. But he is nice. And well he is good at maths too. At least faster than me in algebra. He has been a great help in solving some of the complex equation which play a major role in my project.

I came to know Phanindra aka Phani. He is one of my seniors from IIIT and my project lead too. He is too nice and friendly to be called a project leader. He has been working on this project of mine as a partner rather. And its so easy to approach him, talk to him, roam around, eat bhuttas, sit adjacent in movies (company outing… movie: Fanaa). Nikhil keeps teasing him all the time, hehe. He is a great guy and I like him as well as respect him.

I met Piyush sir again. He is as he was, nice, friendly and with a great voice. Even here he is a bond and people approach him for tricky problems. Though I didn’t interact much on the project front, but he has been a help in some of the problems I faced.

I met another great guy called Gautam. Another Linux lover like me. Actually a pure linux user unlike me. He is also nice, friendly, casual, jovial natured. Sits right behind me and keeps talking about Linux and related stuff. He has suggested me to try out Gentoo. Lets see if I get my hands on it sometime. We also went to a movie together.

Though I didn’t meet Dipinder (whos the head here), but still all of us admire his communication skills and the way he makes everyone feel comfortable. It has been a nice experience to work with him. Also I met our HR manager, Miss Rakhi. She has been more like a school teacher, pushing small kids to work. But then now when I think about it, I can only smile about it.

Other people I came into contact, which were again employees of Kritikal are Tarun, NS sir, NT sir, Deepak sir, and others. They all have been nice and friendly too.

I didn’t meet

I didn’t meet the only person who knew me from back home in Delhi. That is Anurag bhaiya. He is one of our neighbours back home and works in Airtel here. He was supposed to be the first one to be contacted after landing in Delhi. But I haven’t met him yet, though we talked on phone as late as June! I haven’t ever seen him in my lifetime though.

What did I get

I got a new experience of being independent. I learnt how to manage money and maybe sometimes spending it mindlessly. I learnt how to bargain in Palika bazar. I learnt to be punctual, come on time, keep working during working hours and leave on time.

I understood some new concepts in opencv, doxygen and linux. I came to use NFS which I hadn’t seen anywhere in college. I learnt from Phani, how to plan and work, instead of working in any random direction.

Whats next?

Now, I am returning home on 1 July by Intercity express. I’ll reach there by 2nd noon. Then I’ll meet friends and family, fill up my GRE form, and leave for IIIT by 5th or so. I’ve to rebegin my Computer Vision project there. And I have to complete my J2ME project. I’ve to talk to Jawahar sir for leaving in the middle and restart work on the BTP too. Next semester is going to be light. Less subjects, less working days. I might be able to sneak out to home in the middle if the schedule is less busy. Lets see.

Conclusion

These days in Noida have been wonderful. Some of them were somewhere in the dreamworld. Some of them were sad and rude. But most have been good, full of energy, zeal to work, some fun days with friends, and what not. I am going to leave Noida in a happy note. Three cheers for Noida, Kritikal, these days and me.

Hip hip hurray !! Hip hip hurray !! Hip hip hurray !!

Ciao.

Noida and me

Actually there is nothing to write today and as some people mentioned, you shouldn't write when you have nothing to write about. But then, its all your fault, yes, YOUR fault. Today, the hit count dropped to 50 and I got worried, lol. Finally, I've decided to write this post, which contains almost no content. Read it if you still care to.

Noida

Now that I am writing about nothing, let begin with Noida. How does Noida look like, what is the whole thing about, how are the people, etc. Well, I haven't roamed a lot in this place, but still. Noida is basically a city very close to Delhi. You just need to cross Yamuna river (and change of state from Delhi to UP), and you are in Noida. Its about 40 mins by bus from Hazrat Nizamuddin station and about 100 mins from Connought place. The whole place is like a big developed city with clean broad roads and loads of traffic, offices, company buildings, malls, gardens, and I heard there is a stadium too.

Every colony in this place is called a sector and each one is not very big. I mean, sectors change at each crossing, so basically you can say every small part of the city is one sector. Generally people travel by 'Cycle Rickshaws' to go across sectors and use the bus for going to Delhi. I personally feel Rickshaws are a great help to the environment friendlyness and give employment to a huge bunch of people who ride these rickshaws to earn their livelihood.

Thieves and safety

As people said that Delhi is a place where you can get looted, at least I was told this. Its not so, or maybe I haven't been looted yet. People here are the same like other places and not all are looking out to rob you. Some places like Palika bazar need great bargaining skills but thats about it. No one will actually pull out money from your pockets if you are not willing to.

No, its not that safe, and more so for females. The other day Nikhil saw some men on a bike snatch away a female's bag and run. She also got hurt badly as she got dragged along with the bike. But then, such incidents don't happen much.

Power problems

As you people must have read in the newspapers and seen on television, Delhi is facing major power problems these days. Noida is no different and every office/home has a generator or inverter to cope with the challenge. The powercuts are random and unannounced, and range from 1 hour to 4 hours. I guess this is the worst part of being in Noida. I really miss the uninterrupted power supply at my college.

Spending a lot

Well, Noida is a costly place, but its more of the options that one gets. Mc Donalds, Pizza Hut, Pizza Corner, Dominos, Waves theatre, Barista, … you name it and its there. Generally eating here costs a lot if you don't have a permanent tiffin system or something. There is a place called Logix Park, which is basically for employees of a set of companies, but generally almost all employees have some of their meals there. Its really cheap and provides good, hygenic and sometimes delicious food. Rest of the spending is all about roaming in the rickshaws which requires good enough bargaining skills.

Accomodation

As most of the major companies are here, accomodation is really costly here. Most PG rooms cost around 2500 per head per month and don't provide any food either. It has been a really tough job to actually get a room here, and for kind of cheaper rates. Thank god.

Conclusion

All in all, today I described how Noida is and how am I living here. The company is good, but I don't like the strict time constraints. Can't help it though, I guess these will be there in any company I join. I have to learn to live with it.

Last night

Last night, I came to the office to check mail and talk to friends or something. Nikhil had some coding job. I didn't realize that all people except us have left the office. We called up some employees to get keys so that we can lock the place and leave. But, it was too late for anyone to come. Finally, we had to sleep on the sofa in the office till it was morning and some other people arrived. It wasn't bad though, sleeping in the AC, but then my room is my room, the free-minded-ness and the comfort, hehe.

Take care, ciao.