Shaken but not stirred

Earthquake: The possibility of experiencing it in india(bangalore) is very less, so I am in japan to get a hang of it (infact i have already experienced my 4th earthquakes & counting.....).

First one: (5 days ago) It was right in Tokyo, about 4.2 on Richter scale ... all I can remember about this was a next room girl screaming at 5:00 am in the morning. Sleep deprivation didnot allow me to experience that.

Second One: The Big One: (yesterday) This is an amazing, scary, not for the light-hearted kinda experience. That morning I was really feeling sleepy coz previous day I had bought a canon camera and was testing it whole night. I was working on my comp, i felt sleepy .... so I just kinda slept on my desk.. when i got up it was already 10:10 am, so i was getting ready for office.

Suddenly it struck, first i thought the building is swaying because of strong gust of wind(happens sometimes), but when it started to sway even more and more ... i started getting scary .... I went to my window and just looked down. ... man if I had shot that, it would have been an amazing video ... hotel was literally swaying like a train! Then I just came out of my room and saw people ... even japanese hotel staff running. That was not the end, the hotel itself was creaking like hell.... I thought the hotel would collapse. Luckily, the quake was not strong enough for me to tell this story another day. The hotel kept on swaying for 2 mins .... even if the quake lasted for 30 secs, the hotel sways just counter balance the forces. That made me think i should immediately leave for office ... or rather get out of this big building. So I immediately packed off and left for office.

Third One: (yesterday afternoon) I was chatting / explaining how I experienced a M6.8 earthquake .... the dizzy experience. I am still feeling that while i am typing this, earth quakes kinda upset your equilibrium ... you always feel that earth is swaying. Suddenly it strikes again .... this time it was M5.6 quake or rather aftershock. I was in office (4th floor) ... so it was not as magnified or powerful as previous one, but it was enough to scare us in office.

Fourth One: (yesterday night) We were about to round up a days work, we were doing some functionality tests. It struck again, this time it was a midrange quake about .... M6.6 on richter scale. Again it was powerful than previous one, lasted about 10-20 seconds .... that set the tone for the night.

The whole night i felt my hotel or ground beneath me was cheating US. It just kept swinging or my balance was lost.... i dont know! Finally I had to have couple of beers to console my self. Luckily no quakes & hence i survived one more day to write this.

Stunned !

Yes, thats what I am whilst writing this blog. I went to breakfast as usual in KEIO(pronounced as Kai-o) PLAZA Hotel. No one from my team stays here except for one guy from Oracle, all along I have been interacting with him and the impressions he created for himself was like he was very simple man. Going by his habits it seemed to me like that he is a simple chap.

He had told me that his wife will be coming this week and probably he will go for sightseeing this weekend, yes it happened. From the impression I had of this guy, I thought the wife will be respectable kind of stuff, etc.

As usual, the hotel staff guided me as I went into "Breakfast & Cocktail Restaurant" for breakfast. I was about to sit a designated place, I heard cries of che(n)tan. It was not a surprise to see oracle guy with his wife and 2 kids. But the stunning part was his wife was extremely sexy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was like total rude shock to me, she was wearning shorts and spoke better english than oracle guy. She was more sociable than oracle chap. Kids were cute(so are all chinki kids), but there are not the subject of discussion here.

This made me think a lot and eat a lot lesser, I really felt indian males should get a better deal. Observation made was that my admiration for japanese women was getting stronger and I wonder what should be my next course of action ;-)

Kenji-San

It was a memorable day in Japan, a rather joyous day amongst dark spells. I spoke to my parents + had good lunch & dinner + met Kenji-san + had to decent stint in office. Highlight of the day was meeting our ex ONC WTEC engineer Kenji Shibatani. I met Kenji-san today at Ajantha (an elitist indian restaurant), I always wonder Indian restaurant in japan caters to japanese and not indians. It was really wonderful to meet Kenji-san, he is really nice & had welcomed me warmly to japan. We met at HP Ichigaya office ( imagine he travelled almost an hour just to meet me, I am extremely honoured kenji-san.) , since he had come there for the first time I took him to an indian restaurant. We talked about life, HP & Indians/Japanese stuff.

I ordered a naan & dal for him, it was spicy(not for indians) and I guess he had it just to please me, he was sweating for the amount of spice in that. We talked about life, like he goes for hiking with his wife (he had been highest mountain in south-east asia in malaysia circa 2000). He showed a photo of that & a recent photo of his sisters daughter. I explained him the indian custom of having naming ceremonies.

Later came the gift giving ceremony, I heaped praises on him that how much ONC indians valued him. It was no dikhava, all true feedback received from people in ONC. He also reciprocated that we are doing a wonderful job. I gave him the gift of peacock engraved on a wooden plank. He said he felt honoured, to receive gift from me. He apologized that he doesnt have any gift (In japanese custom people exchange gifts generally).
This meeting was really important, i saw his face radiate with enormous joy.. japanese are such wonderfully expressive people. I got a feel good feeling for the first time in japan, that i had done something good ... felt it was worth coming here. I noticed one good thing in me, i had become more nicer .... well mannered after staying just one week in japan.

The feeling lasted only till i came back to office, work resumed & everything was forgotten. This world has neither place nor importance for such feelings.

CHEN TAN ?

Yes, I got a new name ... its CHEN-TAN. I have decided to keep this as my name for ASIAPACIFIC Region, It helps a lot :).

Origins: This name was given to me by a south-korean colleague whose mispronunciation, made it chentan. He even started using it and is using the same name now :(.

Meaning:

Chen: is one of the most popular surnames in mainland china, its used almost everywhere in oriental world. Its also a family name in Israel.

Tan: means "Straight + Adhere/Be Proximate" ( Actually its a variation of chen itself)



Signifies Chen.

Work Work Work ....

Its been a week after I landed here, I am living a pathetic life ... Work Work Work .... I am made to slog. I had to wait for weekend to get a good nights sleep( till today I had hardly slept 4 hrs a day).

Yesterday, I had been to akihabara ... It was just like roaming around in SP road .. but with a difference of second hand/used goods to be sold along with brand new ones. Second hands/used ones are a big business there. I bought a time pass watch here (300 indian rupees wala .... but was amazed was a superb functionality)... I had forgotten my timex expedition in india :(

You can watch some snaps of japan, at following location
[ http://picasaweb.google.com/chetanmail/Japan ]

Ps: Status ... still trying to find a camera.

Welcome post !

Haha .... What a paradox ? I am finally in japan, working for HP Southkorea! I am not supposed to disclose more than this, because its one of the most top secrects projects, informs my friend. I am staying at keio plaza hotel, tokyo, its simply an amazing hotel.... am really enjoying the pool, jacuzi & buffet breakfast here.

Two days in japan, i finally saw a beggar. He was behind me, but my southkorean collegues shoed him away. I am less interacting with japanese and more with koreans .... who are like americans, very un-orthodox and openminded.

Somethings I experienced in japan,
Subway (its an amazing experience, when you step into it you can precisely know where you will get down your desired station ..... holy shit, imagine if that happens in india)
The discipline, even if we indians had half this discipline... we would be still indians ... joking! These guys are crazy disciplino-maniacs, they stand in queue everywhere, wait for signal to turn green, smoke in only smoking zones, while waiting for lifts, f**k where ever you go you will find a queue.
Babes, this is the most intruiging part of japan. I find them very very innocent and childlike looking. Most of them are very small, in good shape, good color, cute, but only some are really sexy. I find them following in foot steps of americans, they dress a lot like americans.

One interesting Experience:
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My south korean college asked me about my home town/city, so I said ... I am from bengalooro .... He said ... bengalooooloooo..... I tried to correct him in vain.... finally he got convinced him its in bengal-ooru and bangali is the local language and when I tried to clarify he got confused with bangladesh, luckily he didnt say that bangalore was bangladesh's capital.

Next blog:
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Expect some pictures as, i am planning to buy a new camera.