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Saturday, June 17th, 2006
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7:50 pm - Day 2-3
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The breakfast
The best thing about staying in a hotel.
No it is not the free Jacuzzi or sauna or the pampering by the room service or the large bath tub, it’s the complimentary breakfast spread. The variety, the richness and the exotic variety was amazing, a day well begun.
Morning rush
The bus had toe to toe rush just like in Delhi in peak hour, but the system worked beautifully again, people enter from the front and depending on how far their destination is, drift towards the rear. Everyone reaches the rear door just as when their stop is about to come.
What the hell
Project acclimatization meeting was an eye opener. What seemed like a manageable piece in the first look turns out to be the Godzilla of projects. Challenged after a long time, I was almost at sea with all the data and fundaes being thrown at me.
Nice surprise
In August I get to stay in an ancient German castle, when my team from the world over comes for the annual strategic meeting.
This adds complications to my US trip since I now need a multiple visa, but then I am in no rush.
Good weekend
Indian food absolutely rocks, 28 years of the cuisine and I still keep discovering new dishes. Spend the weekend at my sister’s place. My stomach had a welcome break from all the half cooked non-veg I had been subjecting it to.
Met my niece (Darshi), as sweet childa go this one can is pure chaashni. Kids these days amaze me, you just can’t take them for a ride, all the stupid talk we were subjected to as kids, this generation sees through all the “beta, khana kha lo warna bhoot aa jaayega” type stories.
A nice end to the week
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| Thursday, June 15th, 2006
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7:47 pm - Singapore Day 1
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14th June 2006
The first thing which strikes about this place is the greenery, Garden city for Bangalore seems like a misnomer after this.
And the lack of dust, the only explanation I could come up with is that they grow grass wherever there is open space in the city, simple and effective.
I sit on the 23rd floor and the view is just amazing, on one side is the bay area, and on the other is the downtown. The calm water dotted with ships of all sizes looks amazing.
The feel good cheapness
Somehow the feeling of having a good meal for 5 currency units was very satisfying, most people told me that playing the conversion equation in your mind is not worth it, I guess I am currently on the other spectrum.
The smiles
Why do Indian’s faces sag in old-age?
We don’t smile enough, out here politeness is maddening, starting from your boss, to the lift operator, to the bellhop, the bus driver to the common man on street, everyone is very courteous. To my Indian tuning this feels kinda artificial, one tends to think, surely this guy wants something.
You can go to Malaysia and come back in the same price (S$3.60) as a McChicken burger!!!!
Life in details
Maybe this is because I have never worked in a big company before, but the level of detail in the orientation chat amazed me, from which restaurants to have what kinda food, to how to travel from the hotel to the office, to the location of the toilets on each floor!!!
Spot the Indian contest
I always wondered why Indians stick together when we go out. It’s like we have no interest in knowing the locals, their culture, their lifestyles… I was surprised with myself when I began to reach out to Indians in my office. Let’s see how strong this bonding by association is.
What I miss the most
Parents
What I like the most
The peace of mind – Now I know why the Americans get hysterical over terrorist attacks while we face everything with a smile.
Out here everywhere things work so smoothly (haven’t yet read the local newspapers) that anything which spoils the system seems like a huge thing.
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| Friday, October 14th, 2005
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11:50 pm - Heaven...
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For those who don't know what it's like, try the buffet at Taj - WestEnd coffee shop, Mynt.
and it becomes even better when sponsored by an alumnus ( Piyush Jain, 2003 batch) :-)
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| Saturday, October 8th, 2005
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2:22 pm - aah the rush of blood....
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The past 3 weeks have been crazy as hell...
and the next 3 promise much more...
it's fun, it's frustrating, it's ridiculous (at times) and also it's heady.
A small coterie of students managing a half crore fund...
details later...
for now, just visit http://www.iimb-vista.com
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| Tuesday, August 16th, 2005
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9:57 pm - Microsoft Rox!
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9:51 am - Blog on Indian Economy
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| Thursday, August 11th, 2005
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3:47 am - Life is so god damn good
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This is after a looong time. been busy with hazaar things.
Just realized that no matter how I crib, life's pretty good to me. There's meaning to every day here, new challenges, some success, some failures. The whole thing is quite heady.
I normally go into such arbit crap writing, when i am inebriated. Juat came back from a party at IndiJoe's (blew 36K!!!), Tequila shots (56 tequila shots amongst 7-8 of us), Coffee liqueur, Vanilla with Vodka (my new fav.) and what not...
Came back to campus and a dance party was in full swing (faccha's mid-term got over), danced till 4 in the morning (got a class at 8!!!). Man, this is life. Freaky, fun and no strings attached.
Got one more party tonight and a long lost friend coming over from Australia for lunch.
And in between all this, need to fit in acads work and my club work (yep, Vista work is now in full swing).
I brokered my first deal with a business magazine worth 7 lakhs, feels good. Next up is a TV channel and a Newspaper.
In one of my current projects on suggestions for a new taxation structure for India, I get to meet many IAS officers, came out pleasently surprised. The folks may be corrupt or biased or whatever, but they do know their stuff.
Things are hotting up around here, but I have now discovered the advantages of being chill. :-))
But yeah, I am scared at times also. some other time maybe...
current music: Kandisa
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| Saturday, July 23rd, 2005
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8:59 pm - Lateral Thinking!!!
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We have a new quiz forum on our intranet, one of the beauties from there.
Question: Why is the website www.line56.com named so?
Hint: Avon Cycles
Answer through the hint only and no googling:-)
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| Monday, June 27th, 2005
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10:34 am - Strong, very strong
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Got no religion, don’t need no friends
Got all I want and I don’t need to pretend
Don’t try to reach me, ’cause I’d tear up your mind
I’ve seen the future and I’ve left it behind
-Supernaut, Black Sabbath
Listen when you are drunk!!!
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 2nd, 2005
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11:45 am - How To Keep Your Cool!!
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| Monday, May 30th, 2005
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4:34 pm - weekend stories
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Free food -->
One more treat by ever so generous Jethwani (senior@IIM-B), cafe leopold followed by Pizzeria. Good food, esp. as compared to the drab Andheri-east offerings. We finally discovered a proper restaurant in Andheri-E, Kobe - it's a sizzler's place. Has a japanese name, japanese ambience, japanese waiters but nothing japanese about the food. Sumptuous and huge sizzlers, had it twice over the weekend. :-)
One good thing about a pure sizzler's place is that no one stares at your table when you get a dish dissipating smoke all over the room
Got my first prize as a sportsperson -->
Runners up in the Inter-IIM chess championship :-). Was playing the game itself after 3-4 years, but the beauty of the game is such that you don't actually need any prep. just a clear head. Felt good, though I let a game get away to a sick stalemate draw.
3 hours in Mocha -->
On a lazy sunday afternoon. I am in love with the place; the ambience, the lovely seating, the earthly colours, the lighting, the people and above all the food. The desserts are fundoo (for those who know the menu, pun intended).
First interaction with the (supposedly) ompnipresent Mumbai pimps -->
The setting ( 7.30 pm), I am walking back from Marine Drive having watched the sunset (finally!!).
A 40 something man, nicely dressed walks up and says "program banana hain kya?"
For an instant I was lost. The guy went on , " ek ghanta, do ghanta, yehi paas mein, college girl..."
I said, "nahin, but kya soch ke mujhse puuncha".
nonchalantly he answered, "jawaan ho, akele ho, aaram se ghum rahe ho".
my reply,before I moved on, "haan, but pagal nahin huu".
I have spent 18 years in Delhi, 7 in Bangalore and have never met any pimp so far, and 8 weeks in Mumbai, and from the 40 of us here, atleast 6-7 have met pimps so far!!! Is this why it's called the city of dreams??
current mood:  rushed
current music: coincidentally-City of blinding Lights,U2 :-)
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(17 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, May 26th, 2005
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4:54 pm - exciting stuff
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2 things in past 12 hours.
First -->
Don't watch much football but last night caught the finals between Milan & Liverpool. Total excitement, this was the kind of football i like to watch, when both the teams are going all out, long shots, desperate attempts, fast pace. Totally sexy. And who would have imagined Liverpool to come back from 3-0 down, after a supposedly strong Milan defense. And the fact that there are no ads in between the game felt like royal treatment after what is doled out in any cricket match.
Second -->
I have some 5 GB of music on my comp here, almost all of it Rock, New age music types. Opened this folder today - "Spanish Guitar" and was blown away. Most of the songs are by Armik, had never heard the guy before, totally enthralling. Have been alternately listening to Joe Satriani and Armik since morning. Nice stuff again.
http://www.windowsmedia.com/mediaguide/albuminfo/?p_id=P++++44775&a_id=R+++536364&name=Armik
current mood:  cheerful
current music: Lagrimas de Guitarra
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, May 18th, 2005
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11:27 am - Your Genetic journey
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| Tuesday, May 17th, 2005
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7:55 pm - Swimming for the millions
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4:17 pm - Audio vs Visual
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I am trying these days to get a speaker for the frehser's 3-day orientation program.Was trying to catch hold of a past speech to give some perspective to the speaker-to-be on what we are expecting.
Came across this one from Subroto bagchi, COO, MindTree. which he had given to my batch.
http://vibhu.blogspot.com/2004/07/address-by-subroto-bagchi-chief.html
before I found this I didn't even remember the man giving a speech to us, let alone what he spoke.
But when I read through the text, came out impressed and thinking.
Wonder how many such brilliant things I have slept through or ignored as hogwash in the past 1 year.
current mood:  energetic
current music: Children of the Grave
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| Thursday, May 12th, 2005
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10:43 pm - interesting read
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9:38 am - Must have for non-swimmers at a beach
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A Duckback Air-pillow!!!
you can really float with these things.
A no-hoper like me whose mass always used to drop down to the ocean floor in an instant, experienced minutes of being completely in the water.
simple 4 step process to float:-
1) Place the pillow in font of your chest and hold it firmly under your arms
2) you should be in deep enough waters to try this (somewhere between your hip and navel)
3)simply fall forward on the face, all the time just concentrating on not letting go of the pillow, and presto you are floating.
4) for fattus like me, i had a friend hold my feet from behind while i steadied myself and then let go.
A good variation of this is holding the pillow in your palms and as you are falling forward try to just push the pillow down towards the ocean floor.
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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9:05 am - search result comparisons
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| Wednesday, May 11th, 2005
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10:33 am - Crimson Room Puzzle
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Sat with a puzzle after quite some time
quite nice, except for some exact clicking requirement.
http://www.fasco-csc.com/works/crimson/crimson.php
Can easily take an hour, but worth it's while. esp. to see your name on the escaper's list.
First time I saw a satisfaction-based transaction system, where after you have used the product you are asked to pay depending on your satisfaction level. One of my college seniors is publishing an online book in the same model, asking the readers at the end to wire him some money depending on how useful they found the book to be. He is very sure that he will not get much returns but still wants to experiment with it.
& no I didn't pay this guy, don't own a credit card yet.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, May 10th, 2005
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7:33 pm - humari bharatiyata
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Went for a hindi play after a long time (3 years). I always thought that Hindi plays in this country will be a lot better than the English ones because of 2 reasons:-
1. It is always easier to express oneself in the mother tongue
2. The larger base of people and hence potential actors who are fluent in Hindi than in English
Went for Dil Chahta Hai at Rangasharda - http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/hindi/dilchahtahai.asp.
At the outset it looks just the same as any English play. The crowd was very similar to what I have begun to associate with all the theatre going people; smart & posh people dressed for the occasion, some regulars ( the bearded, kurta types) having an involved discussion on theatre in Mumbai, some rich folks who were dressed as if it’s their only child’s marriage.
But the first difference was in numbers- the hall had an occupancy rate of not more than 40%, with all the cheap back rows full to the hilt.
The second and very obvious difference was the MC, there was only a voice behind the curtains for the introductions, and this one was not the usual suave kind. Faltering speech, incoherent words and no intonation of any kinds. And to top it they repeated word-to word introductions before the beginning of the second part.
The third difference was the stage, It was exactly like the small-time DD shows in the 80s. You see a sofa-set (always brown cover, and long handle ones), a writing table, a painting on the back wall, a flower vase on the center floor and nothing much else.
There’s so much you can convey through the use of props. Though between the 2 sequences the settings changed to signify the difference between a posh house and a govt. employee house there was something amiss.
It finally struck me that what was missing was that because of the ancient use of props there was a disconnect between the real-world and the stage. I mean just 3 weeks back I saw a play which had a setting I could relate to, all that adds to the effect that this could happen to you, and that realism adds a very special charm to a play as compared to movies.
Here everything from the way people spoke, what they spoke (although they didn’t use any convoluted hindi and had a generous mix of English words- language we all speak), the way the characters related to each other – everything seemed unreal.
The humour – It was a very Shakespearean sorta humour (if any such thing exists), and I didn’t find myself laughing much. The audience roared once when the protagonist used the chu**** word. Imagine Americans roaring every time F*** word is used there.
And most important of all – the action. There were two acts and the story just moved forward through words, no action, nothing happens to anybody. I agree that what they tried was a portrayal of human nature rather than enacting a story but still a simpleton like me needs something to happen on stage for me to remain involved.
All in all I think that it will be a good 3 years more till I see my next hindi play, but I am yet to visit Prithvi and my opinions do change very easily :-)
current mood: accomplished
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prithu's journal