Little above a year back, a young man of 20 something, having finished a year at his new job, received the good news of his secondment to London. In preparation for his six weeks in London, the young man set out to a few shops in the city to buy the necessary attire for the new job profile that he would be in.

On 3 May 2010, this young man took his first long haul flight from Bangalore to London. As he walked out of the airplane and took the cab to his apartment, he fell in love with the city and hoped that those six weeks would be a lot more. Little did he know that his wish would come true. However, his work was recognised and he was given an offer he could not refuse. And, he didn’t.

The six weeks turned to six months and the six months turned to nine, as he waited for his visa. After a brief visit in Bangalore, he packed up his belongings and returned home to Mumbai. In Mumbai, as he struggled to adjust to the time zone difference, he tried to put his affairs in order and met a few friends. He was back to London in early March to begin his new job in a role where his friends would refer to him as “Banker”.

I don’t need to tell you that the young man is me and am happy to say that I have completed my first year in London, in a job I grew to love!

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. This isn’t the case with Ajay (yes, sad joke!), who is perfectly at home at his work place. But, I do go out and have my share of fun and this included a wardrobe improvement with the help of his new found friend Sveccha (introduced by the great Idea-smithy.

We went to Westfield mall, which is one of the largest malls in Europe (view on Google Maps). I picked up a few shirts at the T.M.Lewin store and at Marks & Spencer, a pair of shoes and something that makes me smell real good!

Some Vietnamese food, pastries and Starbucks completed the rest of the day. This was the first day of the long two weekends, the Easter weekend and the Royal Wedding weekend, most of which were spent in the confines of my super sexy apartment!

What use is a good, well furnished kitchen (courtesy Tesco Direct), when you don’t put it to use. Met up with Sveccha on Saturday and we decided to cook at home. She did the cooking and we did the eating. The prawns turned out to be super awesome and the rice and the dal were yum! Need, I say, I need to take up cooking as a hobby!

And, work continues as usual…

I managed to watch Transformers last week, making it my first movie in Bangalore since I came here more than three months back. My initial plan was to work on Saturday morning from home, but al my hopes were dashed when the electricity out here conked off at 10am and didn’t return till 5pm!

If I thought that Pune was bad with its power problems, then Bangalore has started to win! The compromise was that I had to work the whole of Sunday. The good part was I caught up on much needed sleep.

Vincent and me went over to the BSNL office in the afternoon to apply for a new broadband connection. Airtel turned out to be a really crappy alternative, when they found it “not feasible” to give us a new connection. We were surprised at the efficiency and speed of BSNL, which, despite being a government firm, has some very efficient staff.

Airtel has turned out to be a rather painful connection when I received a message a few days back billing me 50 bucks for downloading some game that I didn’t even know existed. Calling up the helpline is rather useless, nor is visiting their help center. I’ve been asked to check back on the day of the new billing cycle! I’m well aware of others in the past as well of being incorrectly billed by Airtel.

We had plans to catch the movie in the evening. However, before that we headed off to Garuda mall and spent sometime in the Barista out there. It has been a while since I went to a Barista and every time I go there, I realize that I prefer it anytime over Cafe Coffee Day. Will make sure I go off to a Barista when I go to Mumbai next.

We caught the movie at that place. 200 bucks was worth it for Transformers, however, it just isn’t fair when Lil white mouse watches it at half the price in Mumbai!

We headed home after the “late” night show and crashed rather immediately, since both Vincent and me had to go to work the next day. Spent a long long long week in office with several late nights. Friday was the only relatively light day.

Today was spent at home. The persons from BSNL came over today and fixed the phone line. The modem should be here in a few days and we’ll be hooked onto a 512kbps unlimited internet connection!

We initially at plans to go shopping, but laziness and sleep won over it. So, possibly next week, I’ll target a few shops that are offering sales.

Tomorrow shall be yet another lazy day. However, I do need to put in a few hours of work. May also work on some more of my WordPress plugins. I already released an update of Ajax Edit Comments today.

Even before I came down to Bangalore, I was warned and scared into understanding that finding a house in Bangalore is one of the toughest things I could encounter.

So, as I landed in Bangalore, I made all the necessary plans to begin the house hunt from last Tuesday itself, but work doesn?t allow us the luxury of the same.

Hence, the entire house hunting experience was postponed to Saturday and three of us contacted brokers and owners and hunted all through Koramangala. Aditya came down from Mysore and met up with me in the evening as he joined me in hunting a place in 4th Block and 7th Block. I liked the house in 7th Block, however, the availability is only from May 1. So, after hanging out at a coffee shop in the area, Aditya dropped me back to the guesthouse, before going off to meet his friends.

Sunday began with the same purpose of finding a house. We headed off to 4th Block of Koramangala once again to meet the broker who would be showing us a few houses.

The area has some flats that are really beautiful and well beyond our budget, while others were not places I would even think of living in. Then, we stumbled upon a flat…

This one is located in one of the few apartment buildings of Koramangala. When Vincent and me walked into the flat we realized this is one place we would love to stay in. It also made us change our mind from staying alone, to sharing a house. Sharing turned out to be a good idea, as we end up splitting the rent and the cost of other appliances. We sign the agreement on 16th along with the advance and other details.

Having closed the deal, we went to Forum to meet Aditya. Forum is one of Bangalore?s larger malls. It wasn?t that large, but definitely quite old and way too crowded on a Sunday. But, well, crowds aren?t something new to me!

We had lunch there and hung out for quite a while, before heading back to the guesthouse. And, yesterday I began a new work week. I?ll be moving my things on Saturday. Also, need to get all my things from Mumbai transported out here.

Lil white mouse came over last Saturday, as well as this.

It’s been a while since I had a pizza, so we ordered two pizzas from PizzaWay, which is where I normally ordered because they are tasty and cheap. This time I was told there was no deal available, but bargained my way into it. Hey! I am a regular customer when I am in town!

Went for morning mass on Sunday. It was a surprise because I normally don’t wake up in time.

Lil white mouse wanted to go shopping. I hate shoppping! But, …

Went over to her place in the afternoon. The place to shop: Bandra

Caught a bus back to Bandra. First destination was Hill Road. We roamed along the streets hunting for shoes and clothes for her. Finally zeroed in on two shops an picked up two.

We decided to visit the Reliance Trendz out there, which opened a little over a month back. The deals are amazing. I picked up a tshirt from there from just 199/- which was well worth it. I am surprised they are still giving deals like this despite running at a loss.

The week at work has been good. My work on the first project has been well appreciated so I am happy. My second project which is in the field of Operations has taken off well. It isn’t something I expected, but it helps me learn other processes at eClerx.

There have been a lot of immediate small tasks which come up on and off so the pace of my second project isn’t as good as I hoped. Have to work really fast in the next two weeks to complete it.

Elective selection is going on at SCMHRD. The entire batch is confused about what to select. I’m taking Finance and Operations subjects mainly, however am still not completely clear on which to take. Don’t want to take on too much of a load.

Foreign language also seems to be compulsory. I really wonder how I am going to manage Spanish

Yesterday and today have been quiet days at home. Lil white mouse came over yesterday. Grabbed a small lunch and then went over to Lucky’s for dinner. Decided to eat tandoori chicken and kababs. The food and the service wasn’t up to the mark yesterday. Went over to Natural Ice Cream on Hill Road

Woke up well past 10.30am this morning, and have been taking it easy at home today. Have to go for mass in the evening and have decided to head back home instead of wandering about the city

Tomorrow is Monday.

It’s official. In order to achieve our targets for the coming year, we will now have to work for five Saturdays starting 25th.

Am glad that tommorrow isn’t working as I need the rest.

Update: Saturdays will be working till 5.15 (thankfully not 6.15)

Spent the day with Madam C watching movies. Had lunch. Well, I’m not well stocked for the next few days!
Dropped her home in the afternoon.

Filled petrol on my way back home. My pulsar is giving me 52Km/litre which is really sexy for a one year old 150cc bike

Spent the day watching movies that my Dad sent. Got some Friends episodes on DVD but they throw up an incorrect region code on my player. Will have to watch them on the comp

Was working whole of yesterday. With project deadlines nearing it has become compulsory for me to work on a Saturday. And, I do not regret it!

Though getting to work by bike is a project in itself, and getting back is a nightmare, work itself is good. Well it’s considerably comfortable as we have the air-conditioner in this heat. I’m enjoying the job and it is also very very peaceful on Saturday. Lunch is also taken care of.

As for work, that happens mainly because I don’t need to think of anything else but work. And yet again I end up working later than 6pm on the Saturday

On the negative side ofcourse I can’t go out on my usual weekend outings, but ofcourse since I don’t have plans on working permanently on Saturdays, I can live with it.

Had a good afternoon nap before I went to meet Madam C.

Picked her up near Lucky’s and after withdrawing some cash and filling petrol, we went to Biona’s (it used to be Hot Bread’s).

The Chicken Tikka Plait (or plate or whatever) there was ok, but the chocolate milkshake was really delicious. So was the shwarma that she ordered.

After this we went to Reclamation (this seems to be our new haunt) to spend some quality time.

I sometimes do not understand how time really flies when I am with this girl. (All hail Albert Einstein!)

Anyway, dropped her home around 7.30pm and headed back home.

Wanted to go to bed early, but went to bed rather late because my brother was busy watching yet another Hindi movie on TV and I was busy completing the graphic for Canossa.