Trade Off

“Its life my friend, sometimes you ought to choose one, we call it trade off”, this is what one of my friend told me when I expressed that I couldn’t attend the offsite planned by my company due to my brother’s marriage. My brother’s marriage was planned on April 18, 2008 at Ghotki city and I was out of office for 11 days (6 working days) on behalf of this. On my last working day before leave, it was announced that we are going to have offsite in Karachi for our department 

It was hell lot of fun being at my brother’s wedding. I was feeling so good to be with the family. I enjoyed seeing all the relatives together after such a long time. I enjoyed, I danced (forced to), I worked and I didn’t sleep for almost 2 days as told in Managing Shadi post below.

Whereas I missed to be with another family, P&G family where they all had very nice time together, having a 3 hours boat ride from Kemari -> Sanspit Beach, stay at beach with lot of fun and jokes along with Bar B Q dinner, dancing, firework, singing, water scooter riding along with unending games (cricket, football, volley ball, fuze ball etc) not forgetting the group discussion on first day. Second day, they had tons of fun activities to do at beach, lunch at pizza hut, adventure at Go Aish (paint ball shooting, hanging on rope and passing above the water etc), gaming at Playdium (gaming zone), dinner at burns road and ending the second day by staying at Marriot Hotel. Third day, they had a training in Marriot and return to home along with two gifts. One was Ipod Nano (4GB) and other one was a packet containing wallet + key chain + card holder.

I made the choice to attend my brother’s wedding, because my brother is marrying for the first and last time whereas offsite is going to happen next year again; I chose to be with family at my native town, I am glad with that, but I do sometimes miss the fun my colleagues had at offsite.

Managing Shadi

Managing a Shadi especially in interior is hell lot of tough job. I experienced this in April 2008. Though I was given very few responsibilities but my father and groom himself took LOT OF RESPONSIBILITIES. One thing which irritated me the most was Absence of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). There is no SOP for managing the shadi, every one does it as per his/her wish though many things are common but again if we had SOP we might not have worried a lot and could have focused on some other things.

In interior, you are the whole sole responsible for managing the shadi. You yourself have to arrange the place for treat, tent, food stuff, return of stuff, transport for guests, decoration stuff and transport of food to your relatives in near by cities. You have to fulfill the requirements by Pandit, ensure the availability of stuff at right time, follow the traditions, follow the religion for sure.

On the other part, it was wonderful to enjoy the brother’s marriage. Funny chit chat with the family on arrangements, pin pointing cousins to wash the plates, dancing with and without music, getting comments on dressing, taking snaps on funny moments, demand of 5000/= for entry into home for bride & groom. One astonishing moment was when my two brothers picked me up with their single hand, Amazing na

I worked straight for 72 hours by sleeping only 6 hours in between and I am sure my father and groom slept less than me. Thanks to my friends especially Rakesh, Vishal & Jairam who showed up on Shadi day and helped me in arranging the Ring Ceremony of my Sister planned on the same day.

“No matter whatever you do, people are going to find some shortcomings in the marriage arrangements and pin point this after the marriage” told by one of my relative and I had a very clear answer on that “We are trying our best but even that doesn’t satisfy them, Who cares”.

We recently got this blessing of having a marriage lawn in Ghotki but unfortunately that was booked on that day. After this experience, I am planning to open two more marriage lawns in Ghotki to serve the people and earn the money If I faced any issue in getting Australian visa for my Masters . Any one who is interested in investing, I have lot of options like these

A Visit to India

I was in India for 10 days to attend IEEE R10 Student Congress 2008 at Chennai and IEEE R10 meet at Ahmadabad, Gujarat. Blog is written in points like a summary because 10 days in India were wonderful. Neither I can forget that experience nor can I write that down here because it will take additional 10 days since every moment of that time was fantastic.

26th Jan – 31st Feb (Karachi -> Mumbai -> Chennai)

- Mishandling by PIA authorities at Karachi Airport. They removed my ticket “Mumbai->Chennai” instead of “Karachi->Mumbai” besides my saying “Madam, I think you are tearing wrong ticket, can you please re-check”. She had some proof of being the right, so I ignored.

- Rickshaws of Bombay are wider than ours.

- Indian Airline’s staff was very supportive. They called P.I.A to resolve the issue and didn’t let me say few words to them since I was very happy with the performance of P.I.A

- I liked the south Indian food on first day but later on I started feeling like I am in China since In china “language and food were the only issues for me” same goes for Chennai.

- Enjoyed a lot at Ice-breaking activity in lawn where every one introduced in a group activity and I could remember more than 30 students in first meet, few people started calling me KOOL guy. Probably they were mistaken

- First day was wonderful, activities were good and 95% of the participants knew me with name.

- Many were willing to have a snap with representatives of a peaceful country (Pakistan), People were curious to know more about Pakistan and specially my life in Pakistan being from the minority.

- My announcement of being IEEE Regional Student Representative (RSR) by R10 Student Activities Chair (SAC) surprised almost 70% of the participants.

- Interaction with students from different countries was cheering me up, Chinese were yet again the attraction point for me

- Congress third day was horrible for Pakistanis. We Pakistani get the Indian visa city wise and we have to report at POLICE station within 24 hours of arrival. Fortunately, 3 Karachites were exempted but 4 from Lahore had to report and they faced lot of issues on it.

- Interview with IEEE.TV went very good and interviewer feedback was good about Pakistan after getting some information about it. While I was at interview organizing committee was searching me as I was to be at stage for some good that I did with my team in July 2007 (Pakistan Student Congress 2007)

- Chit Chat with Bhavika, Ravendar, Namita, Shoaib lasted for 6 hours Out of 6, 3 hours were utilized in Khichae of Ravendar on a step he took that morning

- Hari was also a good friend. He accompanied us for whole day to visit Chennai. Beach was same as ours but we had to walk around 10 minutes before reaching there, buffet was cheaper than ours and shopping there was costing more than it should

1st Feb – 4th Feb (Chennai->Ahmadabad->Mumbai->Karachi)

- Visiting Ahmadabad was fun, Historical places were good, Gandhi Nagar was a nice place and well maintained but Kirshna Mandir was exceptionally good

- Shopping with few friends from Madras and Australia was a nice experience. Shopping Mall was very good like we have in Karachi. But I was amazed to see that kind of shopping mall in a city like Ahmadabad.

- First time in my life, I was attending a professional meeting which was for 2 days. Environment was very good. Accommodation was more than satisfactory. I was enjoying the weather and was feeling like flying

- In Bombay, I stayed at friend’s relatives. Their hospitality was outstanding. They were caring same as my family does . I didn’t feel for a minute that I am not in Ghotki. Hats off to them. Every member of the family was tremendously good and caring.

- Even after 10 days one P.I.A guy remember me for being the victim of their outstanding service so he didn’t bother to say anything to me for 25 KGS over weighted baggage than allowed (because I was carrying 30KGs of a friend )

In short, memorable trip, No office calls, No office tension, only fun. Special Thanks to Dr. Ashwin Sahoo (Organizing Committee) who cared a lot for all of Pakistani delegates and gave them special privileges after POLICE teased 4 Pakistani delegates for whole day. A few pictures of my visit are available at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/opbatra2kn/AVisitToIndia

3 Days full of happiness :)

Last week has been very lucky for me. I have some good news to share with friends, below is the summary of them. No doubt, it took lot of efforts but finally I am happy to see the results.

Day 1:

I was sitting in my office, when my manager came to me and took me to huddle room, I was expecting some business discussion but he said “Congratulations, Now you are permanent employee and you have got 45% increment in salary effective January 2008, which is the highest possible increment and needs approval from functional lead”.

I was on probation for 6 months and was glad to hear this news.

Day 2:
I reached office on 9:00am as usual. After an hour I was informed to be in OND (October, November, and December) business update, all employees of the company are supposed to be there. It also includes the awards part. In last, my functional lead came on stage and told every one that “In December, one guy has been working twice than his job responsibilities and leading the team in his manager’s absence, I am happy to announce an outstanding performance award for Mr. Om Batra”.

I was pretty good experience to get the award in front of whole organization. I will also get some money for it.

Day 3:
I was sitting at home around 7pm, Electricity was off but Internet was working in my laptop due to electricity back-up provided by building management to switches. That time an email update popped up in my Google Talk informing that I have got an addition to email conversation from IEEE Region 10 director which announced that “Effective today, I am appointed as IEEE Region 10 Student Representative (RSR) and part of the IEEE regional committee. My job responsibilities are to attend the regional executive committee meetings, student activities meeting and increase student activities in region 10 by helping regional student activities chair around the globe”.

I am going to India this month to attend the first meeting of this year.

That’s it for now. I will surely like to share the journey from IEEE student member to IEEE RSR.

Rules & Compensation

Few days back, I ordered some sensors ICs and receptacles which are supposed to be used in our project from a USA based electronic component distributor called “Digi Key”. I was very much annoyed while ordering because it took 4 hours for me to place an order and get that processed. Sales reprehensive was having lots of queries in her mind, like “Why you need these sensors? Why you are getting those sensors shipped in USA and then brought to Pakistan via a person, Last time you got your sensors and kit shipped to another address? What is the date of birth and complete name of the person who is going to receive this package?” I was like Why are you asking such questions? I got a reply “Sir, We are following the rules, these details are must for us to export the package.’

Actually my friend’s father was supposed to bring the package from USA to Pakistan, who is going to leave USA in morning on May 21. At that moment, my cell phone credit was over, my Go-CDMA credit approached to zero; I couldn’t get my credit card activated for online use and electricity was off. It took three hours to go on the right path and after that my Internet was not working, damn…! I was so much annoyed and after struggling for 4 hours and getting my task done, I went to sleep.

Next day, when I reached university, I was startled to see that by mistake Digi Key guys have selected shipping by 2 business days ( I selected this package earlier) where as I have requested for overnight shipment (Via chat and email), in this case my friend’s dad was not able to take the stuff with himself. I talked to Digi Key customer care representative regarding this and told them I needed this stuff in Pakistan on May 23, 2007 then she replied “Sir, You are absolutely right, Its our mistake, I am going to talk with my supervisor and we will resolve this matter soon”, After few hours, I got an email in which Digi Keys has resent the same stuff as compensation to me in Pakistan taking zero charges from me and they have apologized in written. The total payment they received from me was “$88” and resending the stuff to Pakistan took their “$150” including shipping.

I was feeling sorry for Digi Key guys but was happy to see that the response of customer care department.

Holi, Festival of Colors

Holi is the religious and social event of hindus, It comes every year near March month. We play with colors, pray and eat a lot on Holi which continues for 2 days. To know why we celebrate this, Kindly visit http://www.indiaexpress.com/rangoli/holi.html

Well for past 2 years, I have been celebrating this event at Karachi, couldn’t go to my hometown because of mid-terms. But, this year I got the chance to celebrate this festival with my family and hometown friends. It was fun being there.

Start of the holi was good, when my younger brother asked me there is someone for you outside waiting, I said who is there early in the morning, he said No its 9am. With sleepy eyes I went outside and my siblings were supposed to target me, one of them was having water and other was having dry color in his hands, one was ready to tear my cloths, all just attacked at once on me and I was Ooh God what happened? And all said Happy Holi 

Then my father asked me to get ready with white dress for temple. I followed and it was around 11am, we reached at the temple and saw hundreds of people over there having different colors on their face, some faces were giving white; some were giving red color look. I was feeling good, every one around was happy and busy in dancing, putting colors on friends, eating the food and playing with water. After playing for 3 hours with color and water, I came back and tried a lot to remove color from my body especially face, it took an hour and finally my family could recognize me then.

I took some snaps from the mobile of my brother and I was shocked to see myself, I was similar to Dracula. Those photos can be used to scare kids. I can provide you those photos on demand. Each costs $10

FASTian Picnic at Beach

Well it was 7am in morning when I woke up for the Picnic arranged by DECS and was worried about my dressing, after discussion with roommates finally I decided to have T-Shirt and shot with a cap. Well the reporting time was 9:30am at the city campus and I was on time, but this annoyed me when points left for beach at 10:30am though in that hour I was meeting, teasing friends but still….

Here we go, soul of Telecods in one point, journey started and sophomores at the back started singing, we at front did the same and I was the first person to sing a song in Sindhi language and believe me at that time my throat was hell, but…… Finally we reached at beach and fun started, we enjoyed playing with water, here comes the break-fast time at 12:00 noon, we went for the breakfast and surprised to know it is over. Finally I saw DECS President and asked her its really bad and she asked me to wait and after sometime she had some breakfast for me and some of my friends with tissues J…Now that good. Again back playing with water and at 3pm it was lunch time, well for lunch we had enough food and disposable supply… they kept on supplying food and it was not a problem….Then a band came to entertain us, that was not a good part but the way DECS volunteer told us about Ice-cream is ready was really good… he took Ice-cream in his hand and started eating in front of all and all rushed saying “Ice Cream, Ice Cream”…

Again I went in water to have fun; suddenly I heard an announcement saying “A Life-guard is required to save a drowning FASTian and all the happy faces turned into sadness, All were praying God please save him and finally the person was saved, after that every one was happy and came back to home happily.

Over all picnic was a fun, had a great time…Thanks to DECS, I was surprised to see their dedication for work; they were working as we may enjoy the Picnic…. Hats off for DECS

My Birthday, 20th September

It was 19th September 2006 11:50pm when a gang arrived to my room to wish me my birthday and they were having plans to wish me my bday by beating me.. Thank God I got saved and they just took my class for 20 minutes….

On 20th September, when I was going to campus by point (bus), I was listening FM radio and suddenly I heard a freshmen announcing that “Today is some one’s birthday, he will give u treat and wish him birthday loudly”, It was like all asking for treat and me saying “Whose bday is today??”… then a 3 pound cake was in Cafe for me to cut… I saw there were only 7 people around me to celebrate my bday and have cake and suddently around 40 people came (I dont know from where) and Cafe was full of shouts and I was crying like Leave me, Leave me coz all of my friends were pasting the cake on my face, hair and shirt… finally all got together to hold a 100KG guy and through him down.. Thank God meesam was below me and they didnt …. we have some photos of that day at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21613588@N00/250351171/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21613588@N00/250351173/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21613588@N00/250351175/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21613588@N00/250351176/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21613588@N00/250351178/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21613588@N00/250351180/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21613588@N00/250365130/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21613588@N00/250365133/

That Day was good for me, I got some gifts from friends and getting warm wishes from friends via mobile and in person at flat, in point and in university was too good… I loved it

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!