The Countdown begins.....

13th Oct 2014
6:55 PM

I came out of the room after a long meeting. A meeting that I called for. I felt something in my stomach. I had another meeting to attend in 5 minutes.
I returned to my desk, unlocked my laptop and dialed into the bridge to attend the meeting.

I was still thinking back about the conversation I had with my manager 5 minutes ago in that room. I was trying to remember the last time I did this. I was trying to remember the words I used last time. Things were different then. People told me I was too strong in my email. They said my manager would have definitely not liked that email. I didn't care, I was glad I did it. I felt relieved.

This time though, it was different. I didn't feel the joy I felt last time, I didn't feel the relief, I was anxious.

I sat quietly with my headset on, thinking, trying not to take in anything I was hearing.

I opened my inbox and started a new e-mail.

Words didn't come naturally. I typed, edited and deleted.......lot of times.

Finally, I decided what I was going to write, I started


"Hello XXX,

I wish to inform you that I would like to........."

I finished it finally, read and re-read it, made sure that there were no mistakes.I had to get this right. Make it sound like I am doing this for the right reasons.

I thought hard, what should the subject be? Should I be creative and put something funny? No, this had to be professional, I finally decided that it had to be simple, no fancy stuff.

So I typed in the subject field, "Vikram Mannava Resignation"

I finally clicked the Send button and thought, "The Countdown begins.."

Undavalli Caves

4KM from the Vijayawada Kanaka Durga Temple is a village called Undavalli. A village you probably will not take notice if you did not knew it existed.

This small and little known Village, on the banks of the river Krishna is home to caves built in 3rd Century AD for Buddhist Bhikshus. Most of the people(including the locals) do not seem to know about these caves. We had to ask quite a few people to get there.
The caves are very old and they are carved in stone from small hills surrounding the site.

One of the most interesting things in these caves is the presence of a a 17foot statue of "Anantha Sayana" (one of the many forms of Lord Vishnu) on the 3rd floor.



The information provided by ASI also mentions that there used to be a 9 KM underground tunnel from this site to the Mangalagiri Temple.
This place is definately worth a visit and there seems to be little information about these caves on the internet.
The Archaelogical Survey Of India is doing a good job maintaining this place. The place is usually empty with very little visitors.

6 Years On!!!!

It was a cold day with intermittent rain. I looked at the faces around me. There were groups of people and most of them seemed to know each other, while I along with very few others sat alone in our chairs waiting for our names to be called out. There was an unsual feeling in the stomach, the kind you get when you are about to do something that you know you don't want to, but still have to do it. Finally my name was called - "Venkata Sai Charu Vikram Mannava" (Yes, a long name. blame my parents for that), I got up and walked towards the gate, The security guard checked my credentials, asked me if I had any "media" items, I replied "Bomb". He made me stand aside for a more thorough check. After a second round of checking, he let me inside the building. Straight ahead there was a hoarding, Although I have seen it many times, it felt special this time. There was a Rainbow colored flower on a White background and the text below the flower read "Applying Thought". This was a different world I was stepping into.
This was about to become the place I would spend the next 3 and half years of my professional life. A place where I became an "IT Professional" from a College Student. The date was 22nd June 2007.

After spending more than 6 years in this industry, I realized, that I really love what I do. Unlike many others who curse their jobs, I love my job but not necessarily the company that I work for or the projects that I am on.

After all these years, I learnt

1. Politics - it doesnt mean just BJP and Congress
2. Lying...effectively
3. How to spend money on unnecessary things
4. Sit at one place and do nothing
5. Networking means more than just wires and computers
6. Going above and beyond means screwing your personal life and working extra hours
7. "You did good" doesn't always mean you are the best and doesn't guarantee a good hike
8. How to say NO
9. Why you shouldn't have your wife working for the same company
10. Going Green doesn't mean you are jealous
11. Life is measured from weekend to weekend
12. Surviving in a cubicle
13. To Sleep in conference rooms 
14. To survive arctic like conditions
15. That people complaining of back pains were not just making it up to escape work.
16. Sometimes you have to ask for a day off on a holiday
17. No matter how much you earn, people will always ask you if you've gone to US, and if you didn't, it means you are not good enough

and the best.....
THERE IS NO FREAKIN BOX TO THINK OUTSIDE OF


After all this, I still love the industry that I am part of.