My heart beats …pip pip pip !!

Why, I wonder !! HAve I gotten into this habit of writing #nostalgic series of posts.

I hate to miss stuff in life… Even If it is overriden by yet another series of events, which I might end up feeling nostalgic for, Later Not sure if anyone understood the previous sentence. But It just poses such big questions in me, of which I have no answers.

My internship at UBS lasted for about 10 weeks. Nevertheless, 10 weeks was just enough to grow in love with the place, the office, the one raffles quay, the people, mmgui, onetool,  my buddies, my eight monitor workstation hanging above the turret from which brokers scream all day, the frequent rants over markets by traders all day, the cab drive at 2 A.M , the random chats with traders all over the world, occasional drinks at harry’s… last but not the least.. i enjoyed even the weekends and public holiday at work..

The early morning, research talk…. Mansoor, Gareth barry and his accentuated yet not so dramatic soothsayings about Markets for the rest of the day. He is the ORacle of UBS 46th floor, One raffles Quay.  The morning routine of writing up a quick forex report and sending it to my buddies, followed by the short walk to Spinelli to get the black coffee, cappucino for anshuman and a hazel nut latte for myself. I miss the hazel nut latte

The chore takes exactly about 15 mins, and I come back just in time when China opens… I never missed the action… Whoa… I miss even calling out the fixes for the day.. Talkin to the day traders and Most often(Almost all the time), being addressed by the day traders as if am a guy… all those “no prob mate” ” thanks mate”… “no worries mate… ” — Man , I miss those too…

I swear , they dint have a  clue that I was a girl, esp traders from outside singapore whom I only chat with. I enjoyed that too…  PErks of having a name like “bharathi thangamani ” ranges from your boss addressing u as “baraaaaati” when he sees you for the first time… to being called as “t(h)anga” (from the login username ) from those who chat. I had no cribbings. I enjoyed every bit of the new culture I was in.

And post lunch, when its time for London market to open.,,, I  wait for jon to come online from zurich., Sometimes, hoping he doesn’t pass critical remarks on the forex report i send him in the morning. But often, its just a casual chat over it… I liked it too. Jon is a great guy….

Sometimes, I get given some work by my buddy… like booking up an internal trade… which he explains veyr patiently to me.. .Which I scribble over a spinelli tissue haphazardly to make sure the calculations tally out…and No matter how much I did… I end up screwing one or the other of those internal trades.. Yet my buddy, being the most patient guy he is… gets back at me with a funny remark and GETs it right out of me. I miss the internal trades.

Often I do enjoy staying up late… At about 6, I take a short walk to Lau pasat , grab a quick ice tea or something and get back to my desk.. chat up a little with the GTP’s… laugh over the mistakes we did over the day… Man… I enjoyed those chats with ramandeep and narang too… Ibanking is indeed so much fun…. esp. when a new GTP when asked to punt(term to quick sell/buy in the market… non serious stuff..ppl do it just for manking quick money) usdsgd, kept selling low and buying high and later boasted to his boss on the profit he made to the desk.. Man,, sent roars of laughter to the desk ppl. ?Yes , Ofcourse there was a few 1000$ loss… but common, even this is a learning experience…I miss the goofed up trades

And the lengthy chats with Jon, turns the day even more productive… General IQ chats, Forex chats, Why markets work they are chats, Why we lost the one touch chats, and Go home early chats. I ENJOYED EVERY BIT OF IT.  And at about 10 or 11, after some contant shooin from Jon, I get the energy to get up from my seat … clear off the used up tissues from the desk… and leave for the day. On the way back home, I usually stop at  the Central mall subway(just when they are about to close) and grab a quick egg mayo sub and ice tea and head back home reflecting on how good/bad the day has gone…

I had indeed messed up my routine in lots of days… like doing the wrong trade and getting shouted at (ITS A TRADING FLOOR) for taking the wrong dealing call…Overall I took away soo much of learning and a wholesome 10 weeks of my life that I could recount every second of it…I enjoyed the people the most. Jon, Yan , anshu …Working with young intellectuals can be sooo cool…Every bit of it

Old is Gold – Life is beautiful

Man, Writing becomes tough . Esp, when one is trying to write a blog post after aeons of time.

Nevertheless, to the uninformed about me , Here comes yet another post in the #nostalgic series .  I’ve never really appreciated my stay incity of chennai, until my recent trip… when I began to realise that I loveeee sooo much about the city I’ve lived almost a 8 years…

Term V in B successfully turns most of us who are immersed in the world of vettiness, craving for some sort of adventure… While the exchange students had their own share of euro trips and oktoberfests  … I decided to make a trip to chennai for a 6 day break … Credits due to the subjects which had no midterms.

The very morning, I step foot into my house . … as early as 5:30 AM… after a quick hi’s and hello’s… I plead mom for a whole big tumblr of filter coffee… Sipping the coffee, and occupying the favourite side of my sofa, I rumble with the remote for familiar local tv channels… wow… the early morning tamil.. that fills ur ears after soo many months… even if it happens to be Amutha Mozhigal or Rasipalan

A quick shower follows.. and random chats with mom and dad. Saw my dad , all smiles for all of the morning…. And the extra niceness of my parents to each other kinda told me that they’;ve given a break to their bickering , atleast my arrival does mean something #happy couple I say…

I quickly get on my scooty, to drop dad at work. Its been years since I did that. #Bliss

Changed my mind, On way back home and I take a slight detour to grandma’s place (which is like 10 mins away from ours in guindy)

The routine of “enna dee…. ipdi elachittaa” comments follow … first from aachi, then from thatha….And then thatha, in his early morning josh goes on to enquire about my studies.

Thatha: “innum ethana varsham irukku”

Me: “just naaalu maasam dhan”

Thatha : “Avlodhaaan… illammma MBA moonu varsham padipaanga…neee thappa solre”

Me: “ayooo…ila thaatha.. course mudiya podhu(Mindvoice says..thatha might be right.. u are doing a PGP after all)” — And I quickly walk away before the talk progresses to placements and jobs. Uff, even mentioning the word is depressing I say…

Vignesh and Poo (My cousins are at home) and I chat away till 10 AM … and If not for the #promptpowershutdown at 10, I would have joyfully chatted away till the rest of the morning…. Anyways the promptness of our area electricty board(Ivainga mattum dhan velaiya olunga paakraainunga ), forced the new found bang chick in me to get back home…

“Young GenX population” —> Visiting home , after nearly 3 months gives this GenX this virtuous right to change TV channels even when Athi pookal is on. I exercised every bit of that right. Watching Masterchef Australia, TLC and savouring mom made lunch of puli kulambu +parruppu rice +vadagam +sunda vathal  , was #blissagain.  Followed by a 3 hour afternoon nap… and getting up again to mom’s coffeee….Wow…

Man, What more does one want in life? 

Evening , I took my Scooty again to pick up dad and decided to roam off the city on the pretext of buying a helmet. We went to  the Rainbow helmet store in Greams road.. (Rainbow is this helmet manufacture who makes it a point to stick bright red stickers of his company logo on every piece that he sells, so much so that one can count rainbow’s on prominent traffic signals in Chennai)…

On the way back, I get this crazy thought of having an ice cream… And Dad entertains my idea by taking me to Gangotree #opposite stella marris. (Flashback  )I’ve spent like every other weekend during my 12th, getting the ChocoNuttyDip from Gangotree while on the way back from coaching classes. Well, I was taking some useless classes for PMPD (#useless me) and only the icecream part of the day was worth looking forward to(/Flashback ). Chatting away merrily with dad, I realise ChocoNuttyDip tastes just the same, though its price has increased by an approx 45% in 5 years. #BlissAgain

Again follows a crazy tot, of visiting the neighbourhood where we stayed for 5 yrs. Gopalapuram. And What use is a visit to old house , if none is made to the nearby temple. (Flashback )Gopalapuram Krishnan Temple , Oppositie kalaignar house(Which just has 2 policekaars, now that he is no more the C.M, was an amusing part of me-and-dad conversation. Innocent bystanders are often victims to our mokka jokes) (/Flashback ) . In we enter, Gopalapuram temple and I find myself in the company of lots of familiar faces. Right from the guy from the shoestand. Couple of iyers have aged a little and most of them greeted us…  (Flashback ) Ivlo nyabagam vechirkaanga. Pinna irukaadhaa, Enna maari, kashtappattu DAV’la padicha aalungalaam…  Kovillukku pogaama enga povaanga… (/Flashback ) .

And then we returned back home.. Me(sitting pillion) munching the tulasi leaves one by one… like a dutiful kid… With so much of a sense of fulfillment as the end of day approached…. ..Which is when I began to think,

Why did I ever want to go abroad? Do I still want to? If at all, What would I even be willing to trade this amazing life with?

There are some things in life, which are so very inconsequential when it happens, yet so very beautiful when we look back and experience it again .

P.s As for the rest of the 5-day break. I fell sick (Chang of climate/Gango tree Icecream or the stupid Electricty power outs for making be sweat a lot).  Anyways Well, If you have all the fun in one day. Then there is nothing much left anyway. #They say #No Regrets

P.s 2: End of post. Overall I had an awesome time. Every bit of it !