The Glass Factory !

In My experiences so far, this was unique. I had seen the entire layout of a Glass Factory.

Its divided into Five parts

a) The Batch Mixing unit ( The place where raw materials are mixed, and sent over on a conveyer belt to the furnace)

b) The Furnace, its a pull manufacturing system, although typical, this furnace had a capacity of 22o Tonnes, and was operating at 210 to 215 tonnes at a given point in time. The furnace pull sequence decides how much material gets into the furnace. Once the Raw material is converted to molten glass, it flows through a glass leveler.

c) The third is the mould unit, where molten glass takes shape via moulds of several sizes and shapes (Often provided by the customer) and the glass bottle takes shape. (Its all automated operation, usually 2 to 3 glasses in a single swipe get created)

d) After this, the bottles are sent to annealing process, where they are cooled, followed by some coating to enhance the strenghth of the bottle, also it acts like an scratch resistant coating. Immediately its inspected, and after the testing is done (There are over 6 machines for testing alone) the bottles are moved to Packaging area.

e) Packaging Process involves labeling (Coke or pepsi stickers) also in some cases, the person told me 'Beautification' of the bottle is done, perhaps he meant designing. Post which a set of 420 bottles are packed into what is called as a pallet. Seven such pallets make a layer (Placed one over the other) and packed using a plastic cover, leading their way to dispatch.

It was an amazing experience, considering my inclination towards manufacturing processes.

Btw, I leaned quite too much towards the furnace to see molten glass, the Prod Engr, told me its 1500 Deg's a little more leaning and parts of you would be in bottles down below... That was fun indeed.

Will post my other adventures going forward, hope I dont get into consulting for Furniture business though ;)

Luv & Magic
Abhi

Last Day in Dog's own Country

Finally the D Day, Have my flight @ 8: 45 PM today.

Btw, dog's own country is a key tag line in this post, as dogs here were killed by the local's until recently, and one could not have had a puppy pet @ home. (Some thing again religious about this).

FYI: There are professional dog grooming centers and pet houses, where you can find all the breeds ranging from a Labrador to a Great Den, just saw one of them when I was riding back home yesterday. The Irony continues.

All said and done, there was one take away, now I can hold my breath and swim from one end to another of the pool. Have to thank Chandra Sir for this. He was my guru ;) (I know Chandra, if you are reading this, you must be chuckling)

I hope not to fool around this place again. Signing off, my next post would be from the Emirates lounge @ Dubai Airport... Wait for it

Luv & Magic
Abhi

Do it Now !

He slept beneath the moon
He basked beneath the sun
He lived a life of going to do
And died with nothing done.
-James Albery

PS: Not like the Tiger, who "Just Did it".. (If you know what I mean)

Returning for Good

Yipppie... Got my return tickets.

I would be back to India on 31st May. I am missing home so much. Its gonna be a busy day with loads of shopping for Shreya, Aariya (Chocolates and Stuffed Toys)..

Last time @ McD


Feel that all izz well now..

Luv & Magic
Abhi

Missing out a Good Friend's Wedding.

Hi Boss,

Can I travel back on 24th May to India, have to attend a friend wedding. Pls confirm, my visa expires on 1st June............


Boss Replies

Dear Abhishek,

We are in deep soup with the project, It would be required that you continue till 1st June............

I am sorry Kanchan, there are things, which are out of my control. Thanks to my job, its never consistent when I would return back.

I wonder is it same with all the folks in Consulting world? There are people who plan out the resource schedule well. In my case, the Organization had a genuine reason. The person who was supposed to take over from me had his visa rejected, and I ended up overstaying out here.

But all in all, missed out on the wedding of one of my good friend. I hope you have a great life ahead, and may the Good God of the heavens shower all the happiness in your life. Keep that precious smile on your face as always, that's one of the many things that makes you special :)

Sorry Ramya, and all the other friends, who would have loved to see me out there, I missed out on loads of fun and a special meet up after so many years..

I will make up for it some other time...

Luv and Magic
Abhi

Bas aise hi...

Aaj Ek Khwab mein,
Kuch purane rishton ko dekha,

Kuch chehre the,
Jo waqt ke saath dhundle ho gaye the

Kuch baatein bhi thi,
Jo kai dinon zehan mein aayi nahi thi

Kuch dost purane the,
jinke saath ek lamba Waqt bitaya

Achanak Aankh khuli,
Aur apne aap ko hamesha ki tarah tanha hi paya

Khwaab ache hote hain.

Wake up Sid !

Day 21

Got up late today... Working in a Glass factory can be trouble.. If 5:45 AM is late, whats early?
I ask this question to myself everyday.

Today I was supposed to visit the factory, but the Prod Manager did not turn up..

Resting in the ERP Room :) Feeling homesick..

A Few More Days

Day 20

Was told today, that I will have to wait for a few more days till I return home.

I am being patient. Hopefully this week, I will be back.. God are you listening.. read mah blog !!!

The Monetory value of Emotional Loss

Today is one of the sad days of my life, I came to know that 160 Passengers of aboard the AI flight from Dubai to Mangalore died in an unfortunate crash.

My views about this subject are no different than the aam aadmi. In all certainty, a technical fault or a decision mistake by the pilot would be attributed as a reason by our Govt. The exact statement was,

" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the families of those killed in Mangalore air crash and Rs 50,000 for the injured from the PM's National Relief Fund."

Please look at the photograph below and decide for yourself, is this the compensation for a loss of life of a person. The concerned Govt authority deserves to first seek an apology for this mistake, take the ownership, investigate the root cause and let the citizens of India know why this happened, and what measures have been taken to avoid such incidents (Guess it would be accidents, as there are causalities, a/c to aviation terminology) in future, now that would be a compensation.



Screw the PM relief fund, it adds to agony more than providing relief, given the stats of my flying hours in a year, and had I been a part of that unfortunate flight, even my life would have been valued @ INR 200,000. Is that all being born in this country? No apology, empathy by the Govt authorities to the families who have lost their loved one's. No concrete measures would be taken, Indian travelers would continue to fly scared till they eventually meet with their fate and their life being valued for the some double decimal percentage of whats in the swiss bank account of most unsuccessful of our politicians.

Jai Hind. Jai Praful Patel.

The Sand Storm....

Thanks to my boss who extended my stay for a few more days, I am battling sand storm here...

Women can’t drive?

My continued stint in Saudi Arabia makes me aware of new stupid policies every day. The women here are not allowed to drive a vehicle. Meaning, a female needs to be either accompanied by her husband (Who is busy with three other wives in the same way) or take a cab. Again, if the woman chooses to take a cab, she is not allowed to sit in the front. It’s a routine site to see 4 Saudi women traveling in two cabs, while they could have done it with one.

Anyway, speaking about the drivers who stare at the women from the rear view mirror, I had come across a story told to me by a good friend. One fine day, one of the drivers who had driven him to office for some time, came running into his apartment, and fell on his feet. He asked SAR 500 so that he can leave back to his home land Srilanka (Yup, the place of Sangakara and Jaywardene).

Out of curiosity my buddy asked him what is the reason, considering that he came into ‘the kingdom‘only a month back, and he had a lot of plans to save money and return only after couple of years.

Saddened by the question, the driver narrated his story. His employer, a rich Saudi had 4 wives and he was appointed as a driver to one of his eldest wife. As a usual procedure, the passport was with held by his employer.

Remember the herbs that I talked about in my last post, as a rule, the nature does not distinguish the male and the female, and even the females have the same effect. Our poor driver had to face the herbal effect, the lady of the house assaulted him sexually for over a week. Followed by her daughter. (!!!)

And then, the daughter had few friends, who were really happy to know that she had a good driver. So the saga continued, the guy who was supposed to drive the car for the lady was put in the overdrive mode and drained out. This continued for over a month, and the poor driver was raped continuously by more than one women multiple times a day. (Although how? For a man, his will is necessary, I am still confused..!)

The Law of Diminishing utility in Economics is valid in every aspect of life, at first what our driver thought as paradise, became a hell in just over a month. I heard that women and cars drive men crazy; it’s true in this case.

So a question? What about the employer, the Husband? Answer is simple; he continues to have a good time with his youngest and second youngest wife.

The driver, a smart guy, somehow managed to convince the lady of the house, and picked up his passport, and the very next moment he was at my buddy’s place to ask for little run-away money. He is in some part of Srilanka now.

Coming back to the point, its time that the king here allows women to drive, so that a Srilankan or a Bangladeshi driver will get saved from going through what is narrated. :

The Kingdom !

Its Riyadh

Traveling across the length and breadth of this city makes me wonder what mankind is capable of. This was supposed to be a desert, and look at it now. Well with places like Dubai and LA, this stands as a very small example though.

The issues here are complicated as a barbwire, the locals have preserved (If at all its worthy) a culture, that gives you a feeler of what could have been the thought process man kind in stone age. This is a sex driven society. At any grocery store you can walk in and pick any edible, right from coffee to oil, all have some herbs in them to enhance a man’s sexual desire.

No. of Wives are a demonstration of how filthy rich you are. An average Saudi spends around 100K SAR (USD 30K) to get married (A kind of dowry that is given to the bride), and can have a maximum of 4 wives at a given time (Yup, it’s a govt regulation as per the Religion, you got documents, god has no problems) so when the eldest of all wives gets older, he divorces her and gets a new one by spending some more, all in all resulting in 500 divorces a week (This number is only from Court of Justice in Riyadh).

Net result, most of the oldies (A Saudi is called oldie after 60) here are married to 18 yr old girls from Syria (They come cheaper SAR 70K) or Jordon or Sudanese or some even are Filipino. This perhaps also this explains the reasons for those herbs in edible stuff @ grocery store.

PS: Prostitution is a crime here; you are not even allowed to talk. Ironical?
Ok, so you what was said was ironical, how about this. The Govt here permits the local to engage in what is known as a Holiday marriage, in case a Saudi decides to go on a vacation to relieve himself from his herbal hard-ons and wants a ‘Fresh’ (Term used by one of the local) bride, he can marry a girl by paying some money (30K SAR?) and take her along for the vacation. This contract marriage ends with the end of the vacation which is usually 20 or may be 30 Days.

Now that’s nothing less to prostitution, I mean a contract for couple of hours or couple of months, still makes it prostitution.

Alcohol is strictly prohibited in the entire Kingdom, even talking of an alcoholic beverage is considered offensive (Yup I had my moments). Well local law does not allow you to posses any kind of commodity which may have alcohol in it, meaning cough syrup, or even perfumes here should be alcohol free.

PS: All brands of whiskey/ Scotch and other beverages are available in Compound Accommodations.

Now watz that? Ok, with increasing number of expats, its difficult to maintain this rule. So god here permits to sin in closed circle accommodations which are guarded by armed security personnel. Inside these so called compound accommodations, you would see bikny clad women by the pool having some gossip over a beer while few drunk white boys are gazing at them. Makes you feel you are in some part of Amsterdam (if you know what I mean).

Ironical again? Rather lets be honest and say Hypocritical.

So these are few twists and curls of the Barbwire in Dogs own country. Some more to come in my next post.

Two drunken brothers

They walk holding each other by arms
They have a story to tell
Praising each other all the way they walk
All the roads lead to the same they say
They stop by to watch each other in the eyes
They see the truth of life and no lies

They watch the guys sleeping on the footpath
They see the broken branches of once a green tree
They listen to the silence of the usual busy roads
They see the tales told by the city’s glow boards

Life is like a peg which just finished moments back
Emptiness eventually prevails in each filled whiskey glass
The drunken brothers in arms see different perspective of life
Watching all the way as they go, they live these moments in the flow

The cry of a child at night, awakens the mother distant at sight
At a distance on the footpath, life stares at them
Death comes equal to all they say
Why life comes in sizes they ask, the drunken brothers in arms


The drunken brothers in arms see life
And the sober us, seek life

Prathi ! Thanks for being there :)

Today, I remember you. The warmth of the half cup coffee on my hands, your smile (Not to mention the eh eeew), the lush green lawn on which we sat and spoke for hours. You were my best friend. The times, I was angry, times when I was weak, times when I was tired (Gymming on the 6th Floor) you calmed me, supported me, shouldered me.

I owe you a lot, but you never asked for a thing. I missed you at times, in weaker moments. The emotion we shared, was unique, was unknown. Had traveled miles since you left, sometimes I still see no destination.
Times when we had the snacks in the cafeteria, times when I was feeling asleep working late hours, times when we sat over at the reception and made career plans, all seem like yesterday.

The fun we had in training, the games we played, the passwords we shared, seem to be as fresh in memory as the last moment which passed by.
You have gone a long way since we last met, so did I, and perhaps the distance we have, has come between a little.

Still sometimes when I sit in a movie hall, I remember the day we had gone together for a movie. Still sometimes over a casual snack break in cafeteria, I remember the day we sat in the front cafeteria and ‘ahem’ I licked the sauce over my palm followed by a gentle hand shake to someone. Still sometimes when I swipe in to enter the office, I remember your laughter when I used to hug the walls to get in the office. (Even after all that my retractor broke and yours didn’t)

Still sometimes I feel lonely, like the day if you remember, I felt, and you came all the way to meet me in the office.

I know, time has its own course, and it sails only once, but if I had a wish to ask for, would like to live the old life, all the fun once again, even if it’s just for a day.

You are the best, as you are and always will be my best friend.

The New face of this Blog

So Far, I have written short stories, pages from Diary of the character of my novel (God help me complete it before this year ends)...

Now I want to make this as a blogging space of all my experiences. I am gonna close down all other blogs that I have, but Frozen in time would continue...

My thoughts would be words here.. Keep reading !

Luv & Magic
Abhi

The Journey has begun

The Journey has begun

Travel like you live for it
Seek what you have never known
Get what you always wanted
Live without being haunted.

From dusk to the dawn
I feel as weak as a Pawn
On the Chess Board of life
The Journey has begun

Few moments to sever
Trade the old for the newer
Lose the ‘Small’ to win the ‘Big’
The Journey has begun

The cold shoulders of the known
The warm of emotions of the unknown
Leave all of it behind to move on
The Journey has begun

I saw myself in you
You were my mirror image
Diffused into reality, the image is gone
The Journey has begun

Emotions broken in pieces, along the road
Pick up quick, all that you can
Someday if we cross paths, ignore me if you can
The Journey has begun….

(From my word press Blog.. closing it off.. I hate Word Press)