Life of an Executive Engineer

Usually I post a blog about a month in the end of the month to cover all the incidences happened during the month. This time when i was about to write about Nov 14, I was so overloaded instantaneously that i could not realize how the time flew by. I was so busy with the office work that i could not even get the time to reconcile myself into words.

How it started? It was starting of the november month when weather started showing its colors. Undue pressure was being created by my XEN to get the leakages rectify (Bhucho Rising Main, for non technical staff..take it as if there were some leakage in some pipe) which have increased to great extent. Moreover, farmers rejected to take water into their fields seeing the prevailing weather conditions. So overall situation was critical and action needed to be taken urgently.

After some deliberations, discussions we hired an agency to get the leakages rectified. No contractor was willing to take the initiative as it was like belling the cat. So finally work got started. While we as a department were fully enthusiastic but the contractor seemed least interested. Somehow, we kept the work moving despite no support from XEN keeping in mind the embarrassment it was causing to the name of the department.

On 26th of November, when i was having dinner at my PG, I got a call from JE who just dropped me 5 minutes earlier, telling me about my transfer to Gurdaspur all of a sudden. Another news which followed immediately was that i had been given the charge of Executive Engineer(XEN) there. I was so numb that for a minute i could not believe him. After realization, i could not hold myself but to cry. To confirm, i asked some of my colleagues and friends in the head office, they gave their nod to the news. When i was confirmed, then only I conveyed the news to my parents. They were too much excited they burst into tears out of happiness.

Next morning, when i reached office, i was congratulated by whole staff and i received my orders finally. It stated that Sh Parul Goyal has been transferred to Pb Water supply & Sew Div No 2 Amritsar and given the independent charge of Executive Engineer. So it was amritsar not Gurdaspur where i had been posted but the xen thing was correct. As soon as I got the orders, i packed my bag, got the relieving from the current Xen and left for Amritsar by 1 Pm. After travelling for 4 hours, reached to the office, met SE and gave my joining there. On 28th, I assumed the charge of Executive Engineer, Pb w/s & Sew Div No 2, Amritsar. So, all of this happened so quickly that i did not get the time to write my mind those days. Then it was work, meetings, site visits, new assignments which kept me busy for a month. Every day, after working for late hours also, the work was still pending.

So to get back to normal mode, it took me about a month. So this was the reason behind the non posting last month blog. It was not the leakages which kept me busy rather the post of an XEN which engaged me throughout the month. The first two paragraphs of the blog are just to build up the motion of reading the rest of it. Anyways, 2014 year while ending has given a beautiful present to myself and my family. I need all of your best wishes and blessings so that i can do justice to the chair i have been given.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Festive Season

October 14, a month which will always be remembered as one of the most happening months of this year. Since the festive season is around, be it Dussehra, be it Karwa Chauth, be it Diwali or Bhaiya Duj etc. October has always hold a special space in a person's life. As it brings lots of happiness in the life. This time also, i enjoyed this festive season to its fullest.

Starting with Dussehra which happened on 3rd of october this year, It was a holiday in the office hence I enjoyed it in Budhlada with my family. We did traditional pooja and had lots of sweets. In the evening, i came back to bathinda and celebrated the festival with my friends.

Then, Karwa Chauth arrived which is considered to be a festival of women. But for men also, it is a festival of happiness and joy. I too enjoyed it with pankaj by shopping, roaming in the market. It officially declared the festival season open for the traders as they all tried their level best to decorate the shops, showrooms etc to give market completely a new refreshing look. I also had a temporary tatoo on my arm for the first time ever in my life. Though it lasted only for 4 days but i had a great time in flaunting the same.

Then the biggest festival, Diwali, came. It is a festival of lights, crackers, sweets and lots of Happiness. It also reminds us of holidays and gifts etc. October has also been a month of travelling for me as i visited Chandigarh Four times. Besides the work pressure, i managed to enjoy all the four holidays of Diwali at home only. This time as Green Diwali wave is around the country, so i myself also decided to reduce the crackers, instead i invested in some small hot air balloons.

Overall, it's been a wonderful month. I clicked some beautiful pictures which will always stay with me and will remind me of the fun I had this month. Hope that you all must have celebrated this festive season the same way.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Back in Shape..

By the title itself, it is pretty clear that this time the blog is dedicated to my physique. Yet i want to make it clear that besides body, it would also deliberate about the mental condition also. Without much ado, let us start from the point from where it all started.

If you have been the constant follower, you must be knowing about a decision i took about 4 months back on my birthday eve that is 23.5.14. If at all, you have missed, kindly revisit the blog published in may 2014 which clearly mentions about the moment i decided to cut on my food habits. After almost four months, i am proud to announce that i have shed all those extra kilos which did put me in obese category people. I am back in shape reducing 16 kg of weight starting from 80 kg to 64 kg and still counting.

Last four months, have been a journey full of roller coaster rides. I have seen many ups and lows in past few months which has been discussed elaborately in the previous blogs. To sum up, starting from the pledge of reducing weight to running 10kms a day , from visiting Amarnath shrine to paying obeisance at Salasar Dham, from having arguments in office with seniors to settling issues with contractors, from starting construction of new home to searching for a perfect match.

To consolidate, mentally and physically, i have changed a lot in these days. Running has increased my stamina and off course, Spirituality always makes a person more stronger internally hence i am content with the way i utilized the time in channelizing my energy in the right direction. Since i am back in shape now and only i know about the labour that i have put in to reach at waist line of 30. So i would not dare to allow myself to gain weight again in my entire life.

In the end, i would also like to thank all the people who in some or the other way helped me in achieving my goal. Be it lovely, with whom it all started, be it the doctor for his valuable suggestions, be it pankaj for accompanying me throughout my stadium days, be it my parents for allowing me to continue my dieting without much arguments, be it the people for their encouraging feedbacks from time to time.

Regards

Parul Goyal

A month full of Disturbances

August 2014, which had just passed, had been a month full of disturbances, lows for me in every manner. Be it Personal, be it professional. The details related to it, will be explained as we progress in the blog. Before delving into the problems, we must also pay some attention to the factors which kept me going despite the problems viz a viz Movies, Running and Pankaj, of course.

August 2014, will always be remembered as one of the worst months in my life and i wanted to put it in records hence this blog happened. To start with, the month started with another fight with lovely. (He has been the most talked about person in last few blogs). Which made me feel so disheartened that i could not resist myself but to cry once again because of him.

Then there was office issues which were affecting me in a big way. As government employees are most of the times busy in conspiring something or the other against somebody in the office, this time target was myself. They all poked me to the level that i openly declared protest against my seniors. Which was reported to the higher authorities.

Thirdly, family issues kept me busy as construction work is in progress at home. Some decisions were to be taken about which myself and Papa had some arguments. Finally, mom intervened and resolved the issues but all this created unnecessary tension at back home. In middle of all this, my younger brother was diagnosed with few stones in his kidney. Which was shocking news for me as i had never imagined myself into a situation where one of my family member could be treated for some major problem except cold, cough etc.

In short, my life was fully screwed and there was no way out to escape all problems. So i had no choice but to fight. I strengthened myself mentally and introspected thoroughly. Lovely got replaced by Pankaj. Everybody needs a person in life to share his/her feelings, lovely did not stand out beside me in difficult times pertaining to his own issues so i took a step forward towards Pankaj thinking he would help me in getting out of the chaos. Though Lovely had been a support system for last one year but in past few months he had ignored me to the level that i am helpless to leave him at his own terms.

Office problems still continues and movies give me the much needed boost to tackle them in the best way possible without losing my cool. I am looking forward to resolve them at the earliest because it's been very tough to enact as if everything is fine. GOD is testing my patience. Even i am not sure that how it will end.

Family issues were never there, they were just overrated by myself only. Moreover, my mother has always been a friend to me. I have shared everything with her and can openly talk to her regarding any problem. Finally, construction work is smoothly going on. Building his/her own home is a dream for everybody in life. I am living my dream these days.

Regards

Parul Goyal

Amarnath Revisited

It's been an year since i visited The Amarnath Shrine last year. Many things changed during the year but the excitement to visit the place remains the same. Another thing which was changed in the planning was to do the pilgrimage via Pehalgam route instead of Baltal. Devotees were also same with an addition of Bittu (Babbu's Cousin). We four planned to leave for the yatra on 8th night since we had our registrations done for 10th july. But on 8th, Lovely's relative expired and whole scenario changed, plan went in limbo.

As lovely was the lead and we could not even think of leaving him alone. After digesting the news, he called up, we met and worked out the things & planned to leave on 10th morning instead. Taxi driver also agreed to it. 10th July came and we all left for the pilgrimage (Bum Bum Bhole!!). As the journey to Amarnath shrine is too extensive to be framed in words hence i would describe the main events day wise as below:

Day 1: Driver was named DSP (Deputy Superindent of Police) though he did not even look like a constable (Just to add humor). He was too intelligent to drive that he did not even once cross the mark of 80 on his speedometer. We decided to stay at Patnitop hill station in night.

Day2: Next morning we continued our journey and reached Pehalgaam by 5'o clock in evening. We booked a hotel and went out for a walk on the hill station. Since we were tired, hence after clicking some pictures and having dinner at Langar, we went to sleep.

Day3: Next day in morning, we started our pilgrimage to the Shrine. Pehalgaam to Chandanwari, we hired a cab. From chandwari onwards, no vehicles are allowed, one needs to walk throughout the 30km trek to reach the holy cave unless one opts for Pithoo, Horse etc. After crossing chandanwari, we reached the first point called Pissu Top. The trekking was too steep to reach. Then after walking around 8 km, me and lovely reached Sheshnaag at around 12 noon. We waited for babbu and bittu there to continue journey together from there onwards. They reached the point at around 2 pm and the check post was to close on 2.30pm. It means after, 2.30pm nobody was allowed to travel further and needed to stay back at sheshnaag only for night. They both denied to travel further and cross the barrier which became a point of discussion. We, four, were divided into two groups of two each out of which one wanted to stay back, another wanted to travel ahead. Without lingering on, we decided to part our ways and one group including myself and lovely went on to reach the next stoppage.

We continued with the same speed and reached the next stop called Ganesh Top at 4 pm. After having some refreshments, we left the place to reach Panchtarni, the last stop of the day. We reached there around 6 pm after covering around 25km from Pehalgaam. The time to cross the checkpost at Panchtarni was 4.00pm. Had we not wasted our 2 hours at Sheshnaag, we could have crossed the Panchtarni barrier to reach the holy cave on the same day, which in itself is a achievement. Neverthless, we spent our night in tents and had sound sleep.

Day4: Early in morning, we started for the cave and reached there about 9am. After paying obeisance at the holy cave, spent some time at the cave itself. What a divine and pure feeling it was! All the pain and hard work seemed worth it. We both made our way back to Baltal base camp. We reached Baltal around 2 pm. As mobiles were not working, so we could not contact the other team. We had no choice but to wait for them at Baltal only. We decided to stay in a Budhlada Langar as the town has a old history regarding Lord Shiva Devotees plus it is my home town. There were three Langars from the town. We spent the night in Shiv Shakti Sewa Mandal tent. The organizer there, recognized me as he is one of our neighbors. Another neighbor rahul met us and he was in charge of another langar. Rahul Chapter: not to be disclosed :(

Day5: We were roaming in the market at Baltal only that Babbu called me up around 12 noon to tell that they are waiting in the parking near our taxi. We headed towards taxi stand and met the another team. They were annoyed and we tried to make them at peace. We left from Baltal base camp to reach Gulmarg. We reached Gulmarg at 10pm considering the 4 hour long traffic jam in sonamarg. We already had booked army guest house via lovely 's brother Ravi's friend Major Rao.

Day6: We went on to take a ride on Gondola which took us to the Peer of Panjal peaks. After having fun in clouds amidst snow, we left Gulmarg at 4 pm to reach Sri Nagar at around 6 pm. Did some shopping , sightseeing, booked a hotel and went to beds.

Day 7: In morning, we left for Katra as we planned to visit The Shiv Khori cave also. We reached Katra by 6pm. The road from Katra to Shiv Khori was in bad condition and took us 4 hours to cover 80km of stretch. We reached the base of The Shiv Khori cave around 10pm, booked a guest house and another day ended.

Day8: After trekking 2.5km, we reached the cave at 9am. We made our prayers and chose our way back to our taxi. We left the holy place by 11 am. Then via Jammu, pathankot, amritsar, we reached Bathinda back by 11pm. Thus the pilgrimage came to an end.

I have only briefed about the logistics of the journey. I have not gone into details of the landscapes, beauty of the Srinagar, Snow covered peaks of Gulmarg, small mountain cut made treks of Yatra, excitement and fun involved etc etc. It can only be experienced rather than description.

Bum Bum Bhole

Parul Goyal

Turning Point...

Everything was going great i.e. Work pressure was lesser, friends were there, family was doing great; in short life was awesome. Suddenly I had a fight with one of my biggest strength in last one year, Lovely (name not changed at all). We had shared some beautiful, memorable moments with each other which bonded us emotionally very strong. I could talk to him about anything starting from my family financial crisis to my official problems. He talked to me about starting from his kid shoes to his home renovation. To keep it simple, we were sharing everything what happened to us in a day.

One day I got to know a secret about his professional life which he did not share. I felt bad and upon confronting him, he again lied to me by skipping the question. That was the turning point..I got numb and decided not to talk to him anymore. I tried explaining him everything over wassapp. He apologized for what he did. But i was adamant not to accept. Later after four days, after going through mental and physical trauma, I forgave him for everything and tried to start a new friendship from scratch. One year old friendship had turned into a fresh one. Things got changed despite i tried my level best to normalize everything but i could not forget the deceit.

Now few days later, on 4th june 2014, i m here once again to write down my emotions these days. I am feeling bad for myself as i trusted him blindly and he beguiled me. I am hurt badly deep down my heart that i am afraid that would i be able to give him or any other person a chance to again hurt me. I cried a lot in past few days and i am mentally disturbed to an extent that i cannot concentrate on anything these days. One thing is for sure, he came too close to forget. Another thing which i have made clear to myself is that in future nobody will come that close. I should change myself than changing my friend. I have decided to maintain some distance to avoid any further disputes. Less the closeness lesser will be the expectations resulting lesser will be the pain.

The whole chapter taught me a lesson. I tried maintaining distance as decided in the above stanza as a punishment to myself. I cleared him everything about my decision, he retaliated in a manner to which i again fell for. I gave him another chance considering my state of mind. But as they say,

"Rahiman Dhaga prem ka mat todo chatakay..

tuttey to phir judey nai..judey gaanth pad jaye;"

Today, i have again decided to keep a straight face rather than be jolly to everyone. Lovely..will miss u badly..Had u not broken my trust, u would have been my fastest friend forever.

Regards

Parul Goyal

An Year ended & Another Started...

8.23 am , 26th May,2014 : This moment should be recorded as I have pledged not to have junk food anymore. People, generally, have such kind of promises, pledges, aims etc on an new year eve and as soon as the day ended, so their promises. So i am not interested in fooling myself. It's not about the occasion, it's about the moment when your heart says the same. For me, this is the moment.

But why? Why i decided to have such promise? Why I needed to cut on my food habits? All the questions will get answered by the end, hopefully. In the last year i had lived my life like never before. Almost every day party, movie a week sometimes twice a week, sleeping on weekends etc had become a part of my routine resulting which i gained 15kg of weights from 65 to 80kg. A boy who used to go for daily running, who was very conscious about his looks suddenly turned into a lethargic, fat guy. I had never imagined myself in 36" jeans. What i had been upto? I am still confused.

On 23rd May, 2014, I celebrated my 27th birthday. I distributed sweets in office, threw a party to my PG mates at room, went out for a dinner with my friends. I received many gifts along with best wishes. Everything was going great until i visited my hometown on the very next day as it was a saturday. My parents were happy as usual. While talking they commented about my obscenity (to put in a harsh way). I was chocked, could not utter a word and decided to control my weight. My colleagues, my college friends have been saying the same for couple of months, but i ignored them all. I used to console myself saying these days would never come back so enjoy it to the fullest. Keeping this backdrop in mind, i was galloping the food like a hungry child for many years. It became a disease which used to compel me to indulge into junk food eveyday.

Two days passed away in retrospection, analyzing the cause and cure for the disease. Finally the moment came, I decided to control my food habits and live a better & healthy life. In coming year, i will try to gain my original physique by working out. Though cutting on junk food does not mean that a person is not enjoying its life, yet to keep myself awake, I decided to write it down. Next time i shall meet you all as a lighter person.

Regards

Parul Goyal