Tag Archives: Living in Panchkula

More on Panchkula, something about Maqbool and Mandrake!

On my second evening out today in this unknown city of Panchkula/Chandigarh , I had few pleasant surprises that finally gave me some hope about the place I am supposed to stay for the next few years of my life. Found a multiplex near by which had a Planet M, McD and Café Coffee Day. Poor alternatives for the Subways and the Baristas I prefer normally but better than nothing any day (and they do accept Plastic money. Thank god for that). So life here might not be as monotonous after all. Let’s hope the multiplex releases some of the English flicks too as all the current ones were the trash produced in Bollywood.

With no close shaves in the local traffic. I am getting spoilt. God knows what would happen the next time I have to drive in the mess that is called Delhi traffic. Good to be away from that for now.

Bought yet another Audio CD, this time it is ‘Maqbool’. Had not even heard the songs, yet I was tempted into buying it. It brings Pankaj Kapoor after a long time to the big screen in a decent looking role. If you see the trailers of the movie, you can’t believe it’s the same guy who acts as Musaddi Lal XYZ in the superb TV serial ‘Office Office’. The music seems to be pleasant, maybe it will grow on me. Still to check if it is copy protected or not. But I would not worry as I am getting bored of running MP3s on the system.

Also, downloading the latest version of the currently hip Linux version, Mandrake 9.2. It will be my third brush with Linux after RedHat 4 and RedHat 7. Since it has been a long time, I would need some guide on how to make a system where win xp can co-exist with Linux. I don’t want to mess XP that is required for work while installing Linux that I want to shift to for my personal working space. I am downloading the first CD ISO since 8 hours now, still it will need another 14 hours to complete. Forget about the second and the third CDs.

Whatever happened to the PC Quest CDs I bought solely for the Linux versions they had…

Panchkula is cool, Chandigarh Sector 17 is boring. Load these in your Winamp!

It’s been sometime now that I have been in Panchkula. And living in a city this peaceful and clean has been a pleasure. Not that I am someone who do a lot of driving around but it really is a nice place to live in.

And talking about Chandigarh, Sector 17 is supposedly THE hottest place to be in the town. So, there I went on this Sunday evening to this supposedly the place to be. It was 8:30 in the evening, and the place, well it was deserted. Not many shops were open, people were far and few. Balls. You tell a guy who used to spend his weekend nights in Delhi partying (and boozing to some extent) that Chandigarh Sector 17 is hot? You must be nuts. And the motion picture being shown on the movie theatre was PLAN. God help. Spiderman? Delhi , I am coming.

As normal as it can be… Nothing seems to have changed…

It’s been sometime now that I have been here in Panchkula. Life is slowly settling down. House now feels and looks like a home. So much so that I forget sometime while working that I am in a totally strange city. I am sitting on the same old fsking PC working on the same fsking job. There is a door and a window on my left similar to what I had in my old room. What a strange coincidence! I talk to same people online that I used to. The things changed are very few. Maybe will notice the things that are changed as time will pass.

The biggest worry while shifting was whether I will be able to continue my online job here. My first day today on work from this city has been pretty OK. Net seems to work reliably and it looks like I just might make through with it for some more time. Considering there is really teeny tiny chance of me getting a job in this city, I have to make do with my current job profile in the near future at least. My dream of establishing a company of my own will remain a dream it looks like for a long time.

Though a firm I own is still running (not to mention, profitably) in a small town called Panipat!

Panchkula – First Impressions

Blogging for the first time from this new city of Panchkula, I get this weird itch that most of my next entries here would be related to my experiences and thinking about the new place I am stuck at; I believe for the next few years of my life. So much so that I am considering renaming this Blog from ‘mind of a weird guy‘ to ‘ramblings of a guy stuck in an unknown place called Panchkula’ but I should avoid that so as to prevent the already minimal group of people checking out this weird Blog to disappear in thin air…

Anyway, first experiences have been impressive. City is interestingly clean. Roads are excellent. Traffic is organized and systematic. Have not noticed many breakers (at least not the ones which are not made as per standards), electricity has been constant (no power cuts since I came here); Water is not bad either (Have not noticed a change in taste that is normally very apparent when shifting from one place to another). But the things that concerns me and my job. Internet (Internet Connections more appropriately) is available (hence this posting from home) but not many choices are there. Satyam Broadband is available but the packages are pretty contrasting. Marketing guys have not done their homework well. Installation is awfully expensive and surfing is not that cheap. No unlimited time/download package so I am again stuck with a fixed data transfer package, except for 1 bright spot. A small package of 10 hours worth 300 bucks gives u unlimited download/surfing on Sundays for a month. And that’s the package I am currently on (Noticed today is Sunday ) but will be buying the normal 1 gig package tomorrow for the official work. Cable TV is again awfully priced but that’s a small thing. Next big thing to consider is the newspaper. One thing I hate of the towns faraway from Delhi is the kinda news you get in the newspapers I normally read. Indian Express is published in Chandigarh and what we get in that is all the crap about Punjab and its awful politics. So, I will be shifting to one of the generic newspapers like The Hindu. That’s kinda tragic as I am very much used to the Express. One of the many small compromises to be made in the recent future.

Just one more thing before I Blog off if any of the souls reading this happens to be in 20 KM radius of my place of residence, mail me where I can find the Baristas and Subways of the region. I need a hangout place plus a theatre that plays English Flicks…

What to expect from an unknown city?

This should be my last post while I am still in Faridabad. And might be my last this year as it all depends upon what kinda and when I get the net connection in Panchkula. It is a weird feeling shifting to an entirely new town expecting nothing. I have moved to strange cities before but those were the school days and you knew that you will meet people in school and would make friends/acquaintances sooner or later.

Now working as a freelancer, it’s kinda awkward. I don’t expect to have a nice time for sometime that is for sure. In the long run (which can last 4-5 years) Chandigarh may turn out to be hell. Delhi trips would be minimal. Friend circle would be null and the weekends would be awful. But this is what life all about. Everything changes… Nothing is permanent!