TRIVANDRUM

I hated Trivandrum at first. Why would I? It was nothing like Bangalore. Also I went there at the wrong time. What added to that was I went there alone, usually batches from a college are called together. The fact that there is a very schoolish atmosphere at TCS there with rules everywhere did not help. I also went during peak summer and was given really lousy accomodation there. So I guess the first month and half at Trivandrum I became a loner. Preferred staying alone.

This was the absolute rejection phase where I could not like anything about the place. But the surprising thing was when I came down to Bangalore- and I did try coming as much as I could- I missed the peace I had there. Nobody to bother you, away from the problems, so close to nature everything.

Gradually I started accepting the place as it is, without any comparison. Started making new friends. I actually started like it. Soon it was like I was finding excuses to not go back during long weekends.

The best part about Trivandrum is that though it is the capital, it is such a laid back city. The place I was staying at is just a km and a half from the sea. There is this fisherman’s beach called which is completely empty. Much better than the commercial Kovalam beach which was just 2 kms away from where I stayed. The view from CLC( Corporate Learning Centre, TCS) is just amazing. Just coconut trees which looks like grass from the distance and the Arabian sea. The view from top is beautiful, the sea on one side and the start of the western ghats on the other.

My favourite place is varkala, where I’ve had so many fond memories. Sleeping on the beach, all night, drunk; going swimming pretty far into sea, standing on the cliff viewing the sea on one side and hills and greenery on one side while drinking beer. This has to be one of my favourite places in the whole world - not that I have travelled much- but still.

The place I stayed at is called TCS Executive Hostel. There is this little stream flowing just behind it- you could go sit there for hours and not hear anything other birds chirping and frogs croaking. There was this bar called B6 just close by where almost everybody from TCS would be there on Friday nights – they had to be there- there were no other bars nearby.

I came there during a really really tough period in my life, and I changed, and matured and learnt a lot. I made a lot of good friends – Rohith, Mamatha, Umar, Liza, Mansa, Rajath, Pawan, Ashok, Malli, Pooja, Bhanu, Chivu, Manohar, Harsha, Lovepreet ( yes that’s a name), Mindri, Praveen, Sameer, of course our HR Shafiq and Finance guy Ashutosh and Cheta from the Nayar shop and anybody else I might have missed out on. You made my stay awesome. Especially Rohith, Mansa and Umar

Thank you Trivandrum- my favourite place in the world( along with Bangalore that is)

Primary Secondary and Tertiary

People, with respect to social interactions can be broadly classified as either Primary, Secondary or Tertiary.
Primaries.. are those who have fun irrespective of the type of group they are in. They are the fun part of the group, so the fun goes with them. They are bubbly, excitable, energetic and sometimes hyper.
Secondaries ..are those people who need to have primaries to have fun. But when in the company of a primary become energetic and bubbly and energized. Though they can also be sober and quiet when in company of non-primary people.
Then comes the Tertiaries.. these guys are sober all the time, irrespective of the group they are with or the people they are with.. you can pretty much be sure that they won’t be too involved in the wild side nor will they be a source of any fun.
The primary can’t understand why the tertiary is soo tertiary compared to his own energetic self. He doesn’t mind the secondary as the secondary becomes Primary in company of a Primary. But the primary needs tertiaries around him to satisfy his bloated ego. The primary needs to be source of fun and the cynosure of the group .If there is more than one primary and the chemistry between them not good, things can get fiercely competitive and it rarely ends up with 2 primaries bonding, rather the lesser primary ends up sulking.
The Tertiaries cant hang out with themselves as they find each other boring. Nor can secondaries hang out by themselves or with tertiaries as they don’t know where to start.
So for a group of friends who hang out, the optimal combination is something like this
1-2 primaries(depending on the size of the group).
4-6 secondaries( they add to the fun with out the competitiveness of the primaries).
3-4 tertiaries( they add to the stability and sanity of the group. The group led by a wild primary and followed by the secondaries needs a sounding board).
So after reading this, What are you? Primary, Secondary or Tertiary?