Well this weekend was probably one of the most chilled out weekend of recent times. Did nothing and just rested. Ordered food 3 times a day. The only time I got up was for the Gym. I know ironical but true. I slept throughout except for those 3 hours when I used to get up, go to the gym, come back, take a bath and then get back to sleeping and watching TV.
Yesterday, the gym was closed being a Sunday, so I decided to take a run along the sea in Worli. I think Goa this time around has had such an effect on me, that sea and sea breeze is one thing that I have begun to relish more than ever before. So I jogged for about and hour non stop and sweated like a pig. But I can assure you that I sure was one of the best runs. Also during the jog I was interviewed by the Times of India journalist who wanted to know my plan for the new years!!! Well these journalists have a knack of being with a wrong person at a completely wrong time!!!!
That’s nearly all this weekend. Btw I invested nearly all my saving (though miniscule) of my work life into Mutual Funds. I do believe in the Indian Growth story and hence am looking forward to some returns from the same!!!
Wish me luck!!!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Goa Rewind!!!
Well, its been about 4 days since I came back from Goa, but still cant take it out of my head. I mean the sunsets are something to die for.
If I were to rewrite the dictionary, the mean of chillax would be Goa!!!
Some of the high Points of his trip were
Driving the Jeep:::
The ultimate Goa fantasy is to be in a swanky cut sleeve shirt, a comfy three fourth and sit with your girl friend and ride away into the sunset. Apart from driving into the sunset, I did all of them. The wind on my face had a feeling which cannot be described in words. Although the low point was brake failure leading to a cumulative loss of about 2k was at best ignored!
Shanu’s Guest House:::
Well the name sounds a little dehati but believe me it was one of the best guest houses. The fact that everyone had a room for themselves was even better. The best part of the guest house was Shobhit’s room which had an AC and hence was the den for all our card related activities. The fact that it was less than a stone throw away from the beach made the place even better.
Pete’s Shack:
This was undoubtedly the best thing about Goa.
Actually Shanu (Shanu Guest House) and Peter (Pete’s Shack) are husband and wife and co-own the place. Pete’s shack was bang on the sea and was by far the best decorated shack on the beach. The ambience was soothing with song playing softy in the background and ever smiling waiters. They food was verry tasty and coming from Mumbai, we could appreciate the prices of the food item which were according to us were reasonable!! Also Kandolim beach is a little cut off from Kalangut which is generally overcrowded and dirty. So this place was clean and thus stunning.
Swimming in the Ocean:::
The feeling of waves bouncing on your chest is completely mesmerizing. The sea actually seduces you completely till you fall in love with it. You can swim against the tide or swim with it. Especially during sunset, you can swim far into the sea where the view is uninterrupted and the never ending sea and sun have a therapeutic effect!
Frisbee:::
Well I did not quite like this initially but I spent nearly the whole of the last day playing this with Aman and Shefali. Two kids came out of nowhere and started to play with us, much to the agony of shefali (they did not let her play), annoyance of Aman. As for me, I was completely amused by the whole scenario. Apart from the that, the fun of jumping full on parallel to the sea and into it to catch the Frisbee has fun of its own!!
Toto’s:
I had heard a lot about this place. I think this place is probably as famous as Goa itself. I always wanted to go there and thus convinced everyone to be there as well. It was an average place by Mumbai pub standards but the evening was made special by the drunken revelry that we engaged in that. Five rounds of tequila are good enough on a standalone basis. But these combined with gallons of beer that we drowned had a terrific effect. One night that I just can’t forget. Sometimes you just want to forget everything, put your hands up in the air and enjoy thoroughly. This was that one day.
Well Goa is a place of dreams. Where else can you see Dolphins jumping and performing a complete 360!! Well its one place that I want to go again and again and again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If I were to rewrite the dictionary, the mean of chillax would be Goa!!!
Some of the high Points of his trip were
Driving the Jeep:::
The ultimate Goa fantasy is to be in a swanky cut sleeve shirt, a comfy three fourth and sit with your girl friend and ride away into the sunset. Apart from driving into the sunset, I did all of them. The wind on my face had a feeling which cannot be described in words. Although the low point was brake failure leading to a cumulative loss of about 2k was at best ignored!
Shanu’s Guest House:::
Well the name sounds a little dehati but believe me it was one of the best guest houses. The fact that everyone had a room for themselves was even better. The best part of the guest house was Shobhit’s room which had an AC and hence was the den for all our card related activities. The fact that it was less than a stone throw away from the beach made the place even better.
Pete’s Shack:
This was undoubtedly the best thing about Goa.
Actually Shanu (Shanu Guest House) and Peter (Pete’s Shack) are husband and wife and co-own the place. Pete’s shack was bang on the sea and was by far the best decorated shack on the beach. The ambience was soothing with song playing softy in the background and ever smiling waiters. They food was verry tasty and coming from Mumbai, we could appreciate the prices of the food item which were according to us were reasonable!! Also Kandolim beach is a little cut off from Kalangut which is generally overcrowded and dirty. So this place was clean and thus stunning.
Swimming in the Ocean:::
The feeling of waves bouncing on your chest is completely mesmerizing. The sea actually seduces you completely till you fall in love with it. You can swim against the tide or swim with it. Especially during sunset, you can swim far into the sea where the view is uninterrupted and the never ending sea and sun have a therapeutic effect!
Frisbee:::
Well I did not quite like this initially but I spent nearly the whole of the last day playing this with Aman and Shefali. Two kids came out of nowhere and started to play with us, much to the agony of shefali (they did not let her play), annoyance of Aman. As for me, I was completely amused by the whole scenario. Apart from the that, the fun of jumping full on parallel to the sea and into it to catch the Frisbee has fun of its own!!
Toto’s:
I had heard a lot about this place. I think this place is probably as famous as Goa itself. I always wanted to go there and thus convinced everyone to be there as well. It was an average place by Mumbai pub standards but the evening was made special by the drunken revelry that we engaged in that. Five rounds of tequila are good enough on a standalone basis. But these combined with gallons of beer that we drowned had a terrific effect. One night that I just can’t forget. Sometimes you just want to forget everything, put your hands up in the air and enjoy thoroughly. This was that one day.
Well Goa is a place of dreams. Where else can you see Dolphins jumping and performing a complete 360!! Well its one place that I want to go again and again and again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Goa Jaunt: Day Zero!
SO finally the thing that we had been waiting for months has finally ended.
GOA trip has come to an end and no matter how much you say, you cannot help the temptation of staying in Goa for at least a week more.
I think I was probably the most enthu in the group about the trip. If preparations are any parameter of enthu, then prolly I won hands down. Bought myself Goggles, a couple of three fourths, a couple of pendants and some T shirts. Shefali has started telling me that day by day I have started behaving more like her!!!!!
So picked up Shefali (she had packed a huge bag as if relocating to Goa!!), and bought a burger for self and Aman, pulled out my luggage and then off to Sion where we were supposed to catch the bus. The low point was the fact that this crazy city had a huge procession was some Sai baba event and so after much walk and talk managed to reach Sion and catch the bus in time.
It was damn cold inside but still we refused to shell out 50 bucks for the blanket ( a fact that we regretted all nite as we shivered throughout!!). Also it became certain that Murarka’s 97% probability of not coming was converted into 100% !!
So finally me, Shefali, Aman, Ruchi and Suhail embarked on our jaunt to Goa with Shobhit-Shilpa joining us from Bangalore and Dipu coming a day late!!
End of Day 0!
GOA trip has come to an end and no matter how much you say, you cannot help the temptation of staying in Goa for at least a week more.
I think I was probably the most enthu in the group about the trip. If preparations are any parameter of enthu, then prolly I won hands down. Bought myself Goggles, a couple of three fourths, a couple of pendants and some T shirts. Shefali has started telling me that day by day I have started behaving more like her!!!!!
So picked up Shefali (she had packed a huge bag as if relocating to Goa!!), and bought a burger for self and Aman, pulled out my luggage and then off to Sion where we were supposed to catch the bus. The low point was the fact that this crazy city had a huge procession was some Sai baba event and so after much walk and talk managed to reach Sion and catch the bus in time.
It was damn cold inside but still we refused to shell out 50 bucks for the blanket ( a fact that we regretted all nite as we shivered throughout!!). Also it became certain that Murarka’s 97% probability of not coming was converted into 100% !!
So finally me, Shefali, Aman, Ruchi and Suhail embarked on our jaunt to Goa with Shobhit-Shilpa joining us from Bangalore and Dipu coming a day late!!
End of Day 0!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
4 P's of B school Passouts!!
I couldnt resist myslef form posting this on my blog.
This was an article by an alumnus of Narsee Mohanjee where he mentioned that the 4Ps of a B school passout are
p- Placements
p-Profile
p-Package and finally
p-Prospects!!
How true. For people who are reading.. How would you rate your jobs on a scale of 1-5 (5 being best) for these four aspects.
This was an article by an alumnus of Narsee Mohanjee where he mentioned that the 4Ps of a B school passout are
p- Placements
p-Profile
p-Package and finally
p-Prospects!!
How true. For people who are reading.. How would you rate your jobs on a scale of 1-5 (5 being best) for these four aspects.
Piracy:: Who's Supporting it!!!
Cheap Books:
There arent too many people who promote piracy in the open, yet there might not be a single person who has not supported it or contributed to its growth. Tell me yourself as to how many times have you bought a book from a genuine book store and compare it to the number of times you have been seduced by the cheap books on the road side. I mean starting from fake VCD's to books to videogames to branded shoes and t-shirts. well all over the place there is piracy.
We will take some figure:
A microsoft office cost like a 6 thousand bucks in the original shop, while costs only 60 bucks in the thela. The nike shoes start from 3000 bucks but can be bought at a meagre 250 bucks on any of the Tibetan markets. Recently Aman bought the NFS CD for X box for about 2.5k, while in the grey market would have osted not more than a couple of hundred of rupees.
I beleive that although the cost of inventions is very high, yet a steep pricing is not the only way to recover it. Steeper the price, more is the piracy. Who would want to buy a music cd for 500 bucks when the same can be downloaded from the internet for zero cost!!
But as Dylan said " The times they are a changin'. The steps like the one taken by Moser Baer while coming out with CD's and DVD's for Rs 50/- are one of the ways to fight piracy. One of the first things that are taught in the B school marketing course is how take on an opponent and move him out of the market. One of the things is to take the wind out of the lungs of the rival but squeezing the margins so low that the competitor's cost becomes too high to handle and is subsequently moved out of the market. If the costs of things are reduced then automatically people will buy the genuine goods.
One of the saying sthat I read a long time back was " People are willing to pay,only till some price, to be honest!!!!!!!"
This is one of the most ironical statements that have been made.
I mean everyone wants to be honest, till the time the rewards for being dishonest is small and not really big.
As a matter of fact I decided to buy genuine books from the book shops only. I must have spent like 3-4k on about 5-6 books in ast two months or so. And yesday finally I bought 5 books for 250 bucks only!!!
I know thats not right, but then nothing is...!!!
There arent too many people who promote piracy in the open, yet there might not be a single person who has not supported it or contributed to its growth. Tell me yourself as to how many times have you bought a book from a genuine book store and compare it to the number of times you have been seduced by the cheap books on the road side. I mean starting from fake VCD's to books to videogames to branded shoes and t-shirts. well all over the place there is piracy.
We will take some figure:
A microsoft office cost like a 6 thousand bucks in the original shop, while costs only 60 bucks in the thela. The nike shoes start from 3000 bucks but can be bought at a meagre 250 bucks on any of the Tibetan markets. Recently Aman bought the NFS CD for X box for about 2.5k, while in the grey market would have osted not more than a couple of hundred of rupees.
I beleive that although the cost of inventions is very high, yet a steep pricing is not the only way to recover it. Steeper the price, more is the piracy. Who would want to buy a music cd for 500 bucks when the same can be downloaded from the internet for zero cost!!
But as Dylan said " The times they are a changin'. The steps like the one taken by Moser Baer while coming out with CD's and DVD's for Rs 50/- are one of the ways to fight piracy. One of the first things that are taught in the B school marketing course is how take on an opponent and move him out of the market. One of the things is to take the wind out of the lungs of the rival but squeezing the margins so low that the competitor's cost becomes too high to handle and is subsequently moved out of the market. If the costs of things are reduced then automatically people will buy the genuine goods.
One of the saying sthat I read a long time back was " People are willing to pay,only till some price, to be honest!!!!!!!"
This is one of the most ironical statements that have been made.
I mean everyone wants to be honest, till the time the rewards for being dishonest is small and not really big.
As a matter of fact I decided to buy genuine books from the book shops only. I must have spent like 3-4k on about 5-6 books in ast two months or so. And yesday finally I bought 5 books for 250 bucks only!!!
I know thats not right, but then nothing is...!!!
Some things that I missed in last blog
1) Spoke to Nijhara for a long time and after a long time.
The last time I spoke to him for that long was when I was in London and all of us (Me shefali, navneet and parvathy) walked for hours and hours together trying to find Wimbledon stadium. We spoke for a long time then and after that he was damn damn busy with the DB project that he was working on iin Infosys
2) Cheap Books:
Got myself five new books.. Hope to finish them some time soon!
3) Mela in my colony:
I was pleasantly surprised to find some tents on my building compound. This was the annual mela in the city. I had an awesome time doing some stall hopping. There were a lot of khaane peene ke stall and a lot of games ka stall. I even saw a black jack stall there which was awesome coz so far I had only associated it with Europe ke casinos as that was the only place that i had seen them. Also i couldnt help myself from chucking at the amount of time and energy that people had invested in getting all decked up for the event. The aunties were looking splendid in their resplendent Saris and kids were dressed up in their sundays best.
4) Weights in the gym:
For past 6 days we were doing cardios in the gym but we put our foot down and asked for the wiights and other gym facilities. So yesterday we went through a schedule of lifting weights, doing bench press and other activities. I have a slight body ache but hope that someday I might also get a body of SRK if not Arnold and Sylvester!!!
5) Improvement in Deepu's cricket playing abilities:
Yess!!! I personally think (this view might not be shared by others) that Dipu has shown significant improvements in Xbox. Especially the way he goes on a front foot and drives for a four or six is yet to be matched by anyone!!!
Well thats more or less..
And I think my feat of scoring 159 in Bowling deserves another mention!!!!
Adios (Another thing that Dipu has started off with!!!!)
The last time I spoke to him for that long was when I was in London and all of us (Me shefali, navneet and parvathy) walked for hours and hours together trying to find Wimbledon stadium. We spoke for a long time then and after that he was damn damn busy with the DB project that he was working on iin Infosys
2) Cheap Books:
Got myself five new books.. Hope to finish them some time soon!
3) Mela in my colony:
I was pleasantly surprised to find some tents on my building compound. This was the annual mela in the city. I had an awesome time doing some stall hopping. There were a lot of khaane peene ke stall and a lot of games ka stall. I even saw a black jack stall there which was awesome coz so far I had only associated it with Europe ke casinos as that was the only place that i had seen them. Also i couldnt help myself from chucking at the amount of time and energy that people had invested in getting all decked up for the event. The aunties were looking splendid in their resplendent Saris and kids were dressed up in their sundays best.
4) Weights in the gym:
For past 6 days we were doing cardios in the gym but we put our foot down and asked for the wiights and other gym facilities. So yesterday we went through a schedule of lifting weights, doing bench press and other activities. I have a slight body ache but hope that someday I might also get a body of SRK if not Arnold and Sylvester!!!
5) Improvement in Deepu's cricket playing abilities:
Yess!!! I personally think (this view might not be shared by others) that Dipu has shown significant improvements in Xbox. Especially the way he goes on a front foot and drives for a four or six is yet to be matched by anyone!!!
Well thats more or less..
And I think my feat of scoring 159 in Bowling deserves another mention!!!!
Adios (Another thing that Dipu has started off with!!!!)
MY HIGHEST SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!
Well yesterday I maxed my score in Bowling!!!!
I logged a score of 159 yesterday and it was awesome!! what made it sweeter was that I had just blundered in the first round scoring only a 67. Aman scored his now ususal 130's and Dipu had a terrible day, beaten even by shefali!!!!!
But am damn happy with my 159 and hope to reach 180 and win free Pints!!!
I logged a score of 159 yesterday and it was awesome!! what made it sweeter was that I had just blundered in the first round scoring only a 67. Aman scored his now ususal 130's and Dipu had a terrible day, beaten even by shefali!!!!!
But am damn happy with my 159 and hope to reach 180 and win free Pints!!!
Nice weekend!!
Well it was a typical nice weekend. But this time by the consious effort (due to the scrict regime of diet prepared by my dietician in the gym) I managed to stay away from pubs this time around. Well I will be in goa for about 5 days starting form this friday, and needless to say I will be drinking gallons and gallons of beer.
Well so the weekend started out on a quiet note with a quiet dinner with Harsh and Rashi. Well I got to know them really really well while I was in Europe for STEX. Well Harsh was there with me in Sweden and he is one of the most genuine guys that I have met in my life. Rashi on the other hand was there in Paris and is undoubtedly one of the sweetest girls that I know. Rashi was here for a trainig with P&G in Mumbai and so when she called up at around 7 we decided to meet up at a restaurant in Bandra. I reached a little late at Shefali's place and she was a little worked up about my scant respect for punctuality. Butr anyways we reached Bandra just in time for dinner and the rest of the dinner was about old times (well ll 4 were a part of the 6 month vacation in Europe) , remembering when Harsh crashed our car into a Bus in Monte Carlo and how we managed to wriggle our way out of the Police, and how he while parking put the 20 euro bill in the opening meant for coins only. We laughed our hearts out and we were pretty nostalgic bout it as well. Then started the JOb cribbing part. Well only Rashi was not a part of it as she is LOving the both her work as well as her Boss :)
Dinner ended at about 11:30 and we were wondering whether we should hop into a hub or stand on the road and talk. We opted for the latter and spoke till about 12:45 about life post IIm and about the couples on campus and their curent status :) :) :) :) :)
Saturday was the most happening day. Me and suhail picked up Shefali from her office and headed strt to Metro Adlabs in Fort to catch up on a movie. We ate at Rajdhani. I have to tell u this. Well most restaurants boast about their food being home like. This place had food exactly like that and beleive me, I hated it. I mean, if I wanted Home like food, then I might s well remain at home and eat!!!
Well post lunch we saw, I am Legend, a movie starring Will Smith. It was nice, especiaaly the graphics part of it. After the movie ended at about 3:30 we called up Deepu to ask about his plan. He was totally vella and we decided to catch up on another movie, The Heartbreak Kid" in Bandra. Since Shefali wanted to skip that movie, we dropped her off at Worli and proceeded to go to Bandra.
I have laways maintained that there was a time when the idea of rush hour was there. But today, its rush houre throughout the day. So we were caught up in the traffic and hence got lte for the movie. But we went off to shopper's stop and after being taken for a ride by Dipu (who as a matter of fact has far lesser knowledge about Bombay roads than us), we managed to see the movie at 6:30. Post movie, everyone else wanted to go pubbing but I evaded that all and sneaked back and slept off pretty early.
Sunday morning are the noisiest when everyone is home. So I woke up to find
Aman (reading the newspaper)
Murarka (Had stayed back after a night out with aman and suhail at the hawaiian shack)
Dipu (he was back for his usual dose of Cricket on XBox)
Suhail and finally
Ruchi (just back from Delhi)
Well while every one played cricket on the Xbox, I got ready and rushed off to Shefali's place to have some delicious Aaloo ke paranthe. Post a sumptuous meal which made us very drousy, we decided to do some shopping. Post that had a quick lime break at the Sterling and then went off to Phoneix Mills for some more shopping. I bought my self an awesome 3/4ths and then headed back home. Shefali promised to pick me up at about 8:30 for dinner at the same place where we had dinner with Harsh.
Since I had more than 3 hours to spare, I cleaned up my entore wardrobe and room much to the pleasure of Aman, my roomie!!!! Dinner was tasty and i gotr back and headed off to bed.
A preety good weekend. Well no pubs this time but still good enough I guess!!!
Well so the weekend started out on a quiet note with a quiet dinner with Harsh and Rashi. Well I got to know them really really well while I was in Europe for STEX. Well Harsh was there with me in Sweden and he is one of the most genuine guys that I have met in my life. Rashi on the other hand was there in Paris and is undoubtedly one of the sweetest girls that I know. Rashi was here for a trainig with P&G in Mumbai and so when she called up at around 7 we decided to meet up at a restaurant in Bandra. I reached a little late at Shefali's place and she was a little worked up about my scant respect for punctuality. Butr anyways we reached Bandra just in time for dinner and the rest of the dinner was about old times (well ll 4 were a part of the 6 month vacation in Europe) , remembering when Harsh crashed our car into a Bus in Monte Carlo and how we managed to wriggle our way out of the Police, and how he while parking put the 20 euro bill in the opening meant for coins only. We laughed our hearts out and we were pretty nostalgic bout it as well. Then started the JOb cribbing part. Well only Rashi was not a part of it as she is LOving the both her work as well as her Boss :)
Dinner ended at about 11:30 and we were wondering whether we should hop into a hub or stand on the road and talk. We opted for the latter and spoke till about 12:45 about life post IIm and about the couples on campus and their curent status :) :) :) :) :)
Saturday was the most happening day. Me and suhail picked up Shefali from her office and headed strt to Metro Adlabs in Fort to catch up on a movie. We ate at Rajdhani. I have to tell u this. Well most restaurants boast about their food being home like. This place had food exactly like that and beleive me, I hated it. I mean, if I wanted Home like food, then I might s well remain at home and eat!!!
Well post lunch we saw, I am Legend, a movie starring Will Smith. It was nice, especiaaly the graphics part of it. After the movie ended at about 3:30 we called up Deepu to ask about his plan. He was totally vella and we decided to catch up on another movie, The Heartbreak Kid" in Bandra. Since Shefali wanted to skip that movie, we dropped her off at Worli and proceeded to go to Bandra.
I have laways maintained that there was a time when the idea of rush hour was there. But today, its rush houre throughout the day. So we were caught up in the traffic and hence got lte for the movie. But we went off to shopper's stop and after being taken for a ride by Dipu (who as a matter of fact has far lesser knowledge about Bombay roads than us), we managed to see the movie at 6:30. Post movie, everyone else wanted to go pubbing but I evaded that all and sneaked back and slept off pretty early.
Sunday morning are the noisiest when everyone is home. So I woke up to find
Aman (reading the newspaper)
Murarka (Had stayed back after a night out with aman and suhail at the hawaiian shack)
Dipu (he was back for his usual dose of Cricket on XBox)
Suhail and finally
Ruchi (just back from Delhi)
Well while every one played cricket on the Xbox, I got ready and rushed off to Shefali's place to have some delicious Aaloo ke paranthe. Post a sumptuous meal which made us very drousy, we decided to do some shopping. Post that had a quick lime break at the Sterling and then went off to Phoneix Mills for some more shopping. I bought my self an awesome 3/4ths and then headed back home. Shefali promised to pick me up at about 8:30 for dinner at the same place where we had dinner with Harsh.
Since I had more than 3 hours to spare, I cleaned up my entore wardrobe and room much to the pleasure of Aman, my roomie!!!! Dinner was tasty and i gotr back and headed off to bed.
A preety good weekend. Well no pubs this time but still good enough I guess!!!
Friday, December 14, 2007
7 things I LOVE/ HATE about Bombay
HATE
1) People call each other by making a “puch puch” sound with their lips which bug the hell out of me. I mean even a small “oye” is better than this cranky sound
2) The taxi’s refuse to go for small distances. I mean how else will people travel those distance. I had to go to the hospital to get a tetanus injection and no taxi was willing to go because the hospital was too close for their earnings. To go to PCP from Dadar, I don’t get a single cab in the mornings and beat this, in the evening things are even worse.
3) First thing the localites ask is “u marathee”? Why is this city moving towards attitude arboured by banglorians and madrasis. This city is made by all the people who come here and bring their talents and still contribute to the growth of this city, state and ultimately the country as a whole. But alas!!
4) Rainy Season Stinks : When it rains like crazy in the city and the whole city closes down!! I mean no drainage system for a city that claims to be the financial hub of the country and probably is the same!!
5) Well lack of mall and shopping complexes: Apart from Atria there isn’t even a single place in South Bombay which qualifies as a mall. Reason: no space!!!
6) Lack of reasonable priced houses (even for renting purposes) and lack of playgrounds. Well this is one thing that I really feel from the heart. In my younger years I spent more time in such playgrounds than at school or home. Worse, here even the schools don’t have playgrounds. No wonder the kids here have nothing else to do than become couch potatoes!!
7) No Posh Colonies: Unlike the other cities like Delhi and kolkata where colonies are either posh or not so posh, Mumbai has none or rather has both in the same place. In Delhi you have like GK and Sunder Nagar or the Embassy Road which are the posh and rich and beautiful countries, Mumbai doesn’t have even a single one like that. Bandra might be posh place(so to say) but right there on the beach there are huge jhuggi jhopdi’s. Colaba migh be one of the most expensive places but still have a huge fishermen jhopdi’s right there.
LOVE
1) Night Life: This place has one of the best night life in the country. The pubs are rocking and the crowd in the pubs is a lot lot better than anywhere else. The music played is awesome and the best part is that there are so many of them that you can go and explore as many as you want to.
2) Public Transport: It may be over crowded. But at the end of the day, the local transport system is something that keeps Mumbai alive. The trains though crowded and filthy are still the lifeline of the city. They are the only form of transport that can guarantee that you will reach your meeting in time. Also the taxi system is so nice that you can never really feel the pinch of not owning a car here.
3) Winter Weather is another thing that I love about Bombay. Well Delhites (unlike me though) complain that the weather is too bland and that there is no cold here in Bombay. But I quite hate the cruel freezing winters of Delhi and am quite happy and at ease with warm cozy winters,
4) Safe: Well though a lot of people might not agree, but I still maintain that Mumbai is a safe city. At least a lot lot safer that Delhi and other places. This is one place that I cam go out in the night with my girlfriend and not worry about street hooligans or worse even blood (read money) sucking Policewaalas.
5) Walk down the marine drive: Well the sea is here and the sea breeze is very refreshing. It still is very crowded, but believe me, the feel of a walk down the marine drive in a clouded afternoon is as good as it gets!
6) Friends: Well nearly 80% of my batch from IIM L is placed in Bombay. So meeting them, staying with them, partying with them is something that keeps me going. They are all over the place, when I am in my office, out for coffee, in the gym, out for dinner and even while sleeping. And the best part is that people who are not here, WANT to be here!
7) JOBS! Finally the reason why I am here. This is the financial capital of the country. All big banks, financial institutions, MNC’s are based out of this city and thus give the maximum exposure as well as variety of options in terms of work opportunities. I am sure that I cant get the same profile along with the remuneration that I am getting here. The salary of my heads is all mind boggling and the kind of work that they do is also splendid. So what to do!!
1) People call each other by making a “puch puch” sound with their lips which bug the hell out of me. I mean even a small “oye” is better than this cranky sound
2) The taxi’s refuse to go for small distances. I mean how else will people travel those distance. I had to go to the hospital to get a tetanus injection and no taxi was willing to go because the hospital was too close for their earnings. To go to PCP from Dadar, I don’t get a single cab in the mornings and beat this, in the evening things are even worse.
3) First thing the localites ask is “u marathee”? Why is this city moving towards attitude arboured by banglorians and madrasis. This city is made by all the people who come here and bring their talents and still contribute to the growth of this city, state and ultimately the country as a whole. But alas!!
4) Rainy Season Stinks : When it rains like crazy in the city and the whole city closes down!! I mean no drainage system for a city that claims to be the financial hub of the country and probably is the same!!
5) Well lack of mall and shopping complexes: Apart from Atria there isn’t even a single place in South Bombay which qualifies as a mall. Reason: no space!!!
6) Lack of reasonable priced houses (even for renting purposes) and lack of playgrounds. Well this is one thing that I really feel from the heart. In my younger years I spent more time in such playgrounds than at school or home. Worse, here even the schools don’t have playgrounds. No wonder the kids here have nothing else to do than become couch potatoes!!
7) No Posh Colonies: Unlike the other cities like Delhi and kolkata where colonies are either posh or not so posh, Mumbai has none or rather has both in the same place. In Delhi you have like GK and Sunder Nagar or the Embassy Road which are the posh and rich and beautiful countries, Mumbai doesn’t have even a single one like that. Bandra might be posh place(so to say) but right there on the beach there are huge jhuggi jhopdi’s. Colaba migh be one of the most expensive places but still have a huge fishermen jhopdi’s right there.
LOVE
1) Night Life: This place has one of the best night life in the country. The pubs are rocking and the crowd in the pubs is a lot lot better than anywhere else. The music played is awesome and the best part is that there are so many of them that you can go and explore as many as you want to.
2) Public Transport: It may be over crowded. But at the end of the day, the local transport system is something that keeps Mumbai alive. The trains though crowded and filthy are still the lifeline of the city. They are the only form of transport that can guarantee that you will reach your meeting in time. Also the taxi system is so nice that you can never really feel the pinch of not owning a car here.
3) Winter Weather is another thing that I love about Bombay. Well Delhites (unlike me though) complain that the weather is too bland and that there is no cold here in Bombay. But I quite hate the cruel freezing winters of Delhi and am quite happy and at ease with warm cozy winters,
4) Safe: Well though a lot of people might not agree, but I still maintain that Mumbai is a safe city. At least a lot lot safer that Delhi and other places. This is one place that I cam go out in the night with my girlfriend and not worry about street hooligans or worse even blood (read money) sucking Policewaalas.
5) Walk down the marine drive: Well the sea is here and the sea breeze is very refreshing. It still is very crowded, but believe me, the feel of a walk down the marine drive in a clouded afternoon is as good as it gets!
6) Friends: Well nearly 80% of my batch from IIM L is placed in Bombay. So meeting them, staying with them, partying with them is something that keeps me going. They are all over the place, when I am in my office, out for coffee, in the gym, out for dinner and even while sleeping. And the best part is that people who are not here, WANT to be here!
7) JOBS! Finally the reason why I am here. This is the financial capital of the country. All big banks, financial institutions, MNC’s are based out of this city and thus give the maximum exposure as well as variety of options in terms of work opportunities. I am sure that I cant get the same profile along with the remuneration that I am getting here. The salary of my heads is all mind boggling and the kind of work that they do is also splendid. So what to do!!
Taking time off!!
Havent been too active on the blogging front off late. Single main reason for this is my daily ordeal at the gym which has now started to take a toll on me. Well the main reason to start this painful exercising regime was the slight paunch that had been lingering for long. But it was not probably the sole reason for this. Seeing SRK grooving in his six-packs prompted a non-gymer like me to try my hand at it as well.
One of the other reasons is the fact that my Goa holiday is not too far. Actually its only a week away!!
So am trying to be fit!
One of the other reasons is the fact that my Goa holiday is not too far. Actually its only a week away!!
So am trying to be fit!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The Week that Was
Friday: Evening at Toto's with Kapoor and Sharma with Navneet dropping in
Saturday: Wild wild evening at the Hawaiian Shack with sharma, shef, suhail, aman, av and harsh
Sunday: Quiet evening at the Bombay Blues with shef..
Saturday: Wild wild evening at the Hawaiian Shack with sharma, shef, suhail, aman, av and harsh
Sunday: Quiet evening at the Bombay Blues with shef..
Thursday, December 6, 2007
RoCKinG WeekEnD
Past couple of weeks has been helluva crazy ones. This weekend Shobhit got engaged to his sweetheart. I couldn’t be there at the engagement, but will definitely have a blast at his wedding. I called him up to congratulate him and all I could say was that his bumps are due when we meet in Goa!
This week was good in the sense that finally Dipu took us to some good places. He has the knack of finding some really crappy places which he swears used to be good when he visited them eons back.
This Friday we dined at Chopsticks which happened to be a nice place and then saw “the Kingdom”. I had no clue about what the movie was about and was half expecting a Jungle Book kind of a storyline. But I was pretty amazed by the nice storyline and all in all a good movie.
Saturday, Aman left for Shobhit’s engagement and so me, Shefali and Dipu decided to hang out that evening as well. This time Dipu took us to a pub called Taverns at Colaba. This was the same one Aman wanted to go the previous night (he was kind of pissed when we told him later about that place). This small but upscale restaurant is located right at the waterfront in Bombay’s poshest area. It was nice place near the Gateway of India and we sat and enjoyed for sometime before deciding to go for another movie at sterling. This time we watched “the Messengers”. It was something about the ghost and was the most unimaginative movie that I have ever seen. Ever scene was like picked up from some or the other movie.
Finally Sunday was supposed to be a rest day. But all hopes of having a easy day were dashed when Sigra, my junior in DCE called up. Sigra is working in Thailand and had a flight to catch early morning next day and so wanted to meet up in the evening and spend the night at my place. It was nice hearing his voice. He was Ravi’s very good friend and so over a period of time I got to know him quite well as well. He reached home at about 8:30 and almost immediately decided to go out to “Not just Jazz by the Bay” bar. It is a wonderful bar at a splendid location. It is right there at the marine drive and hence is a pretty decent hangout place. We were chatting about old days when Enthu (Amit Jain) entered the pub. He was there to enjoy his mug of beer in quite solitude. But that was not to be and we ended up talking loudly and laughing even more! The place was free till about 10 and so we left as soon as the entry charges were applicable!! Me and Sigra ate at the kamling (another Chinese restaurant) at the Marine drive and then hit back home. His stories were quite entertaining, especially about his friend who works as a reporter in Zee News and how she has access to the minutest of the details in the lives of Bollywood celebs. Some of the news was pretty startling and left me craving for more (I think I enjoy gossips a LOT!)
We came back and he showed me all that happens in Thailand. He had attended loads of Full Moon beach parties and was more than enthusiastic in sharing his experiences there!!!!
A pretty rocking Weekend I think!!!
This week was good in the sense that finally Dipu took us to some good places. He has the knack of finding some really crappy places which he swears used to be good when he visited them eons back.
This Friday we dined at Chopsticks which happened to be a nice place and then saw “the Kingdom”. I had no clue about what the movie was about and was half expecting a Jungle Book kind of a storyline. But I was pretty amazed by the nice storyline and all in all a good movie.
Saturday, Aman left for Shobhit’s engagement and so me, Shefali and Dipu decided to hang out that evening as well. This time Dipu took us to a pub called Taverns at Colaba. This was the same one Aman wanted to go the previous night (he was kind of pissed when we told him later about that place). This small but upscale restaurant is located right at the waterfront in Bombay’s poshest area. It was nice place near the Gateway of India and we sat and enjoyed for sometime before deciding to go for another movie at sterling. This time we watched “the Messengers”. It was something about the ghost and was the most unimaginative movie that I have ever seen. Ever scene was like picked up from some or the other movie.
Finally Sunday was supposed to be a rest day. But all hopes of having a easy day were dashed when Sigra, my junior in DCE called up. Sigra is working in Thailand and had a flight to catch early morning next day and so wanted to meet up in the evening and spend the night at my place. It was nice hearing his voice. He was Ravi’s very good friend and so over a period of time I got to know him quite well as well. He reached home at about 8:30 and almost immediately decided to go out to “Not just Jazz by the Bay” bar. It is a wonderful bar at a splendid location. It is right there at the marine drive and hence is a pretty decent hangout place. We were chatting about old days when Enthu (Amit Jain) entered the pub. He was there to enjoy his mug of beer in quite solitude. But that was not to be and we ended up talking loudly and laughing even more! The place was free till about 10 and so we left as soon as the entry charges were applicable!! Me and Sigra ate at the kamling (another Chinese restaurant) at the Marine drive and then hit back home. His stories were quite entertaining, especially about his friend who works as a reporter in Zee News and how she has access to the minutest of the details in the lives of Bollywood celebs. Some of the news was pretty startling and left me craving for more (I think I enjoy gossips a LOT!)
We came back and he showed me all that happens in Thailand. He had attended loads of Full Moon beach parties and was more than enthusiastic in sharing his experiences there!!!!
A pretty rocking Weekend I think!!!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Brilliant day!
Yesterday was a very fruitful day in the sense that a lot of plannning for the New years finally started to happen. Actually everyone is "in" for it but no one wants to take the initiative. So finally I called up a resort in Goa and asked for the tariffs and mailed everyone the iternary that we can have and now, all of a sudden, there has been a pretty decent activity in this account. This is a nice thing coz I now think that finally some plan is on! So I did some groundwork on it in the morning and in the afternoon went for a lunch to Status! Well the only reason I go all the way to status is their wonderful "Cheese pakoras" which I can assure you are totally out of the world.
But it was the evening that took the cake. Shefali came over to Kodak House and from here we went to Sterling. I had a quick soup and then we took a cab to Nariman Point. It was very pleasant and walking all the way to the end of the road was one of the most chillaxing walks in the recent times.
We decided to have dinner at Atria. Atria used to be one of my fave hangout spots in my early days in Mumbai, but somehow it became a far second to most of the eating spots. But yesterday was nice and pretty filling as well!! 2 Nans and a plate full of Kebabs were more than what I had in mind!! That followed by some Cappuchino was a brilliant end to a brilliant evening!!!!!
But it was the evening that took the cake. Shefali came over to Kodak House and from here we went to Sterling. I had a quick soup and then we took a cab to Nariman Point. It was very pleasant and walking all the way to the end of the road was one of the most chillaxing walks in the recent times.
We decided to have dinner at Atria. Atria used to be one of my fave hangout spots in my early days in Mumbai, but somehow it became a far second to most of the eating spots. But yesterday was nice and pretty filling as well!! 2 Nans and a plate full of Kebabs were more than what I had in mind!! That followed by some Cappuchino was a brilliant end to a brilliant evening!!!!!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
English August!
This is one book that I wanted to read since time immemorial!!! Finally I have laid my hand on this one and hope to finish it quick enough to move to a better one!!!
just do IT!!!
Just Do IT!!
Well i have always been regarded as one of the most IT challanged guys while on campus in a technical college like DCE. Well people regarded IT knowlege as one of the key essentials for success, but I have happy with my more than sufficient knowledge of "ctrl-alt-del". It solved problemsa and that too Always!! Though I did give in to the pressure of the academic life and did join C++ classes, but that did not go beyond a couple of classes and all I was left with was a knowledge of #include iostrem.h or something as weird as that.
When I moved on with my life into the IIM's I was plesanatly surprised to find that this was truly ne place where people with far lower IT Quotient existed than me! There were loads of non-engineers for whom computer was a cheap replacement for TV, CD player, music player all combined into one.Also I came across Aman who happened to be one who was/is cursed by IT! Two years in IIM L, and there werent too many days when his computer was in fully functional mode.He carried his illuck with him after college as well with his IBM thinkpad nearly crashing and then getting a new laptop where the internet console doesnt fit!!
But what I did not know is that I might be also becoming prone to such ordeal myself. I just crashed by new laptop and all the data has been erased and now the IT experts beleive that there is some hardware problem associated with it. The lotus notes take hours to open and i am having one of the worst times with reagrds to IT!!
Where have the days gone when abacus ruled the roost!!!
:)
Well as they say!
Just do IT!!
Joker in the Pack: A Review
This is a novel I picked up primarily because it is co-written by an alumni. And I am damn confident that I have not been disappointed by them. Well, mainly because when I picked up the book I already knew that I wasnt picking up a classic. It had all that I knew would be in store for me. The regular campus life, regular normal characters and finally the regular setting and the scenario. But I must say that I really connected with the life at the campus, having been through the rigours of one quite recently. Although I couldnt relate too well with the characters but yess, with the life and times of an IIM, I could nearly see myself being there.
One thing that I generally do is to picturise the people of a story and make up a movie in my mind. This novel was like having myself and my friends as characters. the summers scenario was like sitting in PGP room and waiting for shortlista and finally interviews.
This is one of the many books that have followed Chetan Bhagt in trying to recreate the magic of Five point someone. This book though not quite ground breaking as the original, still manages quite well by itself.
So my verdict is:
Strick yes for MBAwalles
Strict no for Non-Mbawaale!!!!
One thing that I generally do is to picturise the people of a story and make up a movie in my mind. This novel was like having myself and my friends as characters. the summers scenario was like sitting in PGP room and waiting for shortlista and finally interviews.
This is one of the many books that have followed Chetan Bhagt in trying to recreate the magic of Five point someone. This book though not quite ground breaking as the original, still manages quite well by itself.
So my verdict is:
Strick yes for MBAwalles
Strict no for Non-Mbawaale!!!!
Joker in the Pack
Hey!!Well this is the book i am currently reading. pretty decent read!!
Hope to finish it by tomorrow!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Day well Spent::The Bowling Game!!
Yesterday was a good day!!
Well came to office on time only to find not too much work on me!
Met Shefali, Aman and Murarka over lunch at Shiv Sagar which for a change served mouth watering cuisine which literally left us licking our fingers. Well lunch time was well spent by Murarka and Aman who stared at each and every girl and chose to write 2 minute thesis on each !
Left office early and wet off to DB-PCP in Lower Parel which was my first office on DB! It really felt like coming home. Had a sandwich and a granita at the CCD followed by a coffee with Nachiket at the canteen there. One thing that really ticks me off is the fact that there is no canteen at either Kodak House or DB house! Also saw the new place where Ram, Nachi have shifted in. I did not like that new set up a wee bit. A surprise was meeting Abhijit Mishra, the guy responsible for the my hiring and program designing. Also met Vikas shetty which was also a good meet up. But the toast of the evening was meeting Ashwini. She was sitting on her seat and as usual working very hard on something. Spoke with her for a long time wherein she was telling me about all the projects that she was working in.
That was the end of my small rendezvous at PCP
I had already made a plan with Dipu and Aman about meeting up at the Sports Bar at the Phonix Mills for a game of Bowling. It was a good hour and a half spent there. Its always nice to see yourself do well and so I was pretty impresses by myself especially in the second game
The Bowling score in the two games were
Name 1st Game 2nd Game
Aman 125 97
Shek 91 123
Dipu 90 85
Dipu was a little not-so-happy with his performance while Aman was ecstatic especially after the first game.!!!
I was damn happy with the first game but two strikes in the last throw totally threw me overboard and I was stunned beyond the point where I could react!
But if you thought we were done for the day, there were more surprises to come.
As we were walking back we bumbed into Niharika who was with a girl who I think is one of my seniors from DCE. She was shopping in Atria but had come here for dinner as the food plaza there was shut down in event of a party. She had mailed me in the morning and wanted to have coffee with all of us in the evening. I had conveyed this to others and Dipu was to call her, which he obviously forgot and so here we were again!
But we decided to meet later sometime and say our good nites and tatas
Well the dinner thoough was the lowest point of the day. We ordered from a new place and beleive me the food was totally inedible. Without the Coke to run it down, I doubt if we could have even managed a single bite.
So twas a nice day! I mean I hope i spent more days like these ( except for the dinner fiasco!)!!
Well came to office on time only to find not too much work on me!
Met Shefali, Aman and Murarka over lunch at Shiv Sagar which for a change served mouth watering cuisine which literally left us licking our fingers. Well lunch time was well spent by Murarka and Aman who stared at each and every girl and chose to write 2 minute thesis on each !
Left office early and wet off to DB-PCP in Lower Parel which was my first office on DB! It really felt like coming home. Had a sandwich and a granita at the CCD followed by a coffee with Nachiket at the canteen there. One thing that really ticks me off is the fact that there is no canteen at either Kodak House or DB house! Also saw the new place where Ram, Nachi have shifted in. I did not like that new set up a wee bit. A surprise was meeting Abhijit Mishra, the guy responsible for the my hiring and program designing. Also met Vikas shetty which was also a good meet up. But the toast of the evening was meeting Ashwini. She was sitting on her seat and as usual working very hard on something. Spoke with her for a long time wherein she was telling me about all the projects that she was working in.
That was the end of my small rendezvous at PCP
I had already made a plan with Dipu and Aman about meeting up at the Sports Bar at the Phonix Mills for a game of Bowling. It was a good hour and a half spent there. Its always nice to see yourself do well and so I was pretty impresses by myself especially in the second game
The Bowling score in the two games were
Name 1st Game 2nd Game
Aman 125 97
Shek 91 123
Dipu 90 85
Dipu was a little not-so-happy with his performance while Aman was ecstatic especially after the first game.!!!
I was damn happy with the first game but two strikes in the last throw totally threw me overboard and I was stunned beyond the point where I could react!
But if you thought we were done for the day, there were more surprises to come.
As we were walking back we bumbed into Niharika who was with a girl who I think is one of my seniors from DCE. She was shopping in Atria but had come here for dinner as the food plaza there was shut down in event of a party. She had mailed me in the morning and wanted to have coffee with all of us in the evening. I had conveyed this to others and Dipu was to call her, which he obviously forgot and so here we were again!
But we decided to meet later sometime and say our good nites and tatas
Well the dinner thoough was the lowest point of the day. We ordered from a new place and beleive me the food was totally inedible. Without the Coke to run it down, I doubt if we could have even managed a single bite.
So twas a nice day! I mean I hope i spent more days like these ( except for the dinner fiasco!)!!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Trip to Kashid-Murud #3
Today we planned to go to Marud and see the famed Fort Janzira and then head back to Mumbi.We resumed from where we had left and after getting up, quickly changed into our swimming trunks and without delay went and jumped into the ocean. This time we knew was the last time we would go into the sea this trip and so we spent most of the time letting the sea sink onto us. We swam far into the ocean and then came back riding the waves. After a quick swim we went back to the vada pao centre had our fill and took quick baths. We packed and settled the dues and finally caught a bus to Murud.
Murud is an old fisherman town with one very nice beach...with calm water and Janjira is a famous fort in the middle of the sea near Murud. The setting for the fort is perfect for any film shooting.
Murud, though was unlike Kashid and lacked the cozy and laid back feeling of Kashid. We bought some juices and some chocolates and decided to book the tickets for Mumbai before we started exploring. It was in the end one of the most brilliant decisions that we took because by the evening when we got to the bus stand, all the seats were full and there were scores of people wanting to get a seat.
So after booking our return bus at 1800 hrs, we decided to go to the famed Janjira fort. Janjira fort is bang in
the middle of the ocean and is perhaps one of the only forts that did not fall to the English forces as well. We took a ferry to the Fort. It was filled to the extreme and was a little unstable as well. But the feeling was very good. It reminded me of the scene in “Swades” in the song” Yeh Jo Desh hai mera”. We reached the Fort in about 20 minutes and took it on ourselves to explore the place. I wanted to take the guide but the rest of the gang was more for exploring the place by ourselves. Well to fight off the blaring sun I bought myself a Sun Cap and was happy to wear it throughout for the rest of the trip. The fort had a wonderful history and some of the salient points were:
1) No army conquered this fort because they could not get to it
2) There was an underground tunnel 40 ft underwater connecting the fort to the mainland
3) There was a main barrel gun (tope) which was made of an
alloy which did not get heated up even in the afternoon4) There were 120 guns in all and were positioned all over the castle
5) Although it was covered with salt water, it had sweet water lakes inside.
6) It was made of natural things only. The main ingredients were
a. Jaggery
b. Salt
c. Sand
d. Lead
e. Chuna
Well I had not really had my full of the fort, but then everybody was tired and so we decided to head back to the mainland. Since the only way back was through the boats, hence there was a huge crowd waiting for the boats. We had to wait for nearly an hour before we got a boat, again full to the brim, and headed back.This time Dipu decided to use his Rough Guide and then found a restaurant which had got a mention in the book. We took an
auto to that restaurant and after waiting for a while got a table and finally had loads of food again! It was still 4 when we finished another eating marathon and since the bus was at 6, we decided to take one last walk along the beach. We went to the beach and saw a lot of people playing a lot of different sports there and wished we had got some as well. Dipu (who wanted to play cards and was anguished when we refused) retired into one of the benches on the shores and read a book, so the rest of us walked the beach and admired the beauty of the sea in the evening sun. The difference you will find in the both beaches are, Murud has got clear greenish water whereas Kashid has clear blue one.We finally made it to the Bus stand all set with sweets and bottles of mineral water, waited for the bus for over an hour, sat in a very crowded bus and finally made it to Mumbai at about 12:30 at night.
It was a trip that was nice, cool and most importantly cheap. I am sure looking forward to loads of them!!
Trip to Kashid-Murud #2
Kashid:
The entire konkan stretch of western coastal Maharashtra is full of natural beauty. Its a thick green stretch, with number of u
ntouched clean beaches. Kashid has a 3 km stretch of beach with the clean sand and groves that make just the perfect setting for a beach holiday.
The only low point of the trip was looking for accommodation in Kashid. We got down at the beginning where the beach starts and were more than casual about finding a place to stay. After all why would people come and stay here and not go to the more famous Murud. But we were all caught on the wrong foot. So we found most of the resorts either full or expensive. Well one of the reasons for losing out on good accos was that they did not have TV sets in the rooms. This was one of the parameter specified by Dipu which was to be the top most reason for taking a room in a resort. We walked for miles before we finally go hold of a place. It was quite a good bargain with 1500 bucks for 2 rooms for a night. We unloaded our back packs, changed into shorts and decided to hit the beach at once. Dipu was a hungriest of the lot and so was pressing us onto go to some restaurant before we took a dive into the ocean.
We walked for some time trying to find a restaurant but were amazed to find that this place did not have even a single one. So we decided to walk along the beach and go to the shacks that we had seen in the beginning of Kashid.
Now let me tell you the most unique thing about that place::::
“The Cell phones DO NOT WORK!!!”
So we were literally cut out from the rest of the world. We had no network coverage and had a really tough time initially. Finally it was in late evening that we found out local coin phones which could be used to make STD calls.
So while on our way to the shacks we were seduced to the sea and so spent the next hour or so in the sea swimming away to glory. The water was as clear as it could be and blue. The only flaw was that it was damn salty!!
After an hour we decided to call it off for the time being. So we put on our dry clothes and walked to the shacks. It was an ideal walk. The walk was with the sun behind us and the water with sand hitting our toes. The beaches were pretty empty making the place prettier.
One of my fantasies of a good vacation is
“Walking with the sun on my back and sand between my toes!”
And Kashid walk in the afternoon was all about it.
When we finally made it to the shacks all of us were totally famished and each one of us was capable of devouring a mountain each. So we ate till we dropped from a menu comprising of omelets, bhurgi, vada with pakore both onion and poato! We drank the whole thing down with some pepsi’s to go with it.
We took an auto back to our motel and took quick baths and finally went back to the ocean. Since it was evening we rushed back to the beach. Only this time we were there to take a dip as well as witness the famed sunsets that oceans are famous for. The ocean was clean but the water levels were slightly down. We did the same things again and again. We saw against the sea, then with the sea, waited for the waves to hit us, swam against the waves and were pelted back, sprayed water at each other, and best probably worst s
meared each
other with sand and dirt!! The beach was excellent; I bet you can never get a beach of this kind with almost no crowd. The water is quite vibrant here as compared to other beaches.
We finally came back to the shore after being dead tired and headed straight to the Vada-Pao shop we had located that was pretty close to our room. We entirely demolished the reserves of VadaPao and headed back to our rooms very satisfied with our day. Since we had found out that there were practically no restaurants in the vicinity, we ordered food from the kitchen of the restaurant itself.
We again took quick baths and then almost immediately began our marathon card playing session of 29. It was me and Aman paired against Suhail and Dipu! We were pretty good and despite the fact that Aman did not entirely know the game, we were playing well. We played on till about 9:30pm when our stomachs started c
omplaining about the lack of food coming their way! So we went out in the open where they laid food. Since fish was the only available option in non vegetarian, we decided to have a complete vegetarian menu. The food was very tasty and by the end of 45min of non stop eating almost all the food has disappeared from the plates. It was probably one of those times when there was literally no left-over.
Post dinner we decided to go for a walk like the times we used to do on campus. The roads were sans any street lights which made walking a little tough. Nevertheless we walked and cracked jokes. We bitched about most of the professors back on campus and joked about Bansal, his “Why don’t YOU tell me phrases, about Ruchi teaching Rachit and Rachit getting more marks than him.
Finally after a good hour walk we came back to our rooms and promptly resume our card game. This time Suhail and Dipu changed places and hope for a change of luck. And did the luck go their way?? Yes it sure went!! Within no time they were far far ahead of us! Though we were leading in the beginning, but lost our way completely in the middle and by the end of it all lost by the worst possible score. But it was enjoying all the more and the way me and Aman played and tried to delay the inevitable for as long as possible was even more thrilling. I think that by the end of it all we were losing and enjoying the most. Dipu was particularly getting a little frustrated and Suhail had a tough time controlling Dipu and urging him to exercise control!! Aman gallantly fought “Sleep” and kept on playing, though Ruchi succumbed to fatigue and dozed off. We finally slept off at 1 am and vowed to get up early and move on with the second leg of the trip.
The entire konkan stretch of western coastal Maharashtra is full of natural beauty. Its a thick green stretch, with number of u
ntouched clean beaches. Kashid has a 3 km stretch of beach with the clean sand and groves that make just the perfect setting for a beach holiday.The only low point of the trip was looking for accommodation in Kashid. We got down at the beginning where the beach starts and were more than casual about finding a place to stay. After all why would people come and stay here and not go to the more famous Murud. But we were all caught on the wrong foot. So we found most of the resorts either full or expensive. Well one of the reasons for losing out on good accos was that they did not have TV sets in the rooms. This was one of the parameter specified by Dipu which was to be the top most reason for taking a room in a resort. We walked for miles before we finally go hold of a place. It was quite a good bargain with 1500 bucks for 2 rooms for a night. We unloaded our back packs, changed into shorts and decided to hit the beach at once. Dipu was a hungriest of the lot and so was pressing us onto go to some restaurant before we took a dive into the ocean.
We walked for some time trying to find a restaurant but were amazed to find that this place did not have even a single one. So we decided to walk along the beach and go to the shacks that we had seen in the beginning of Kashid.
Now let me tell you the most unique thing about that place::::
“The Cell phones DO NOT WORK!!!”
So we were literally cut out from the rest of the world. We had no network coverage and had a really tough time initially. Finally it was in late evening that we found out local coin phones which could be used to make STD calls.
So while on our way to the shacks we were seduced to the sea and so spent the next hour or so in the sea swimming away to glory. The water was as clear as it could be and blue. The only flaw was that it was damn salty!!
After an hour we decided to call it off for the time being. So we put on our dry clothes and walked to the shacks. It was an ideal walk. The walk was with the sun behind us and the water with sand hitting our toes. The beaches were pretty empty making the place prettier.
One of my fantasies of a good vacation is
“Walking with the sun on my back and sand between my toes!”
And Kashid walk in the afternoon was all about it.
When we finally made it to the shacks all of us were totally famished and each one of us was capable of devouring a mountain each. So we ate till we dropped from a menu comprising of omelets, bhurgi, vada with pakore both onion and poato! We drank the whole thing down with some pepsi’s to go with it.
We took an auto back to our motel and took quick baths and finally went back to the ocean. Since it was evening we rushed back to the beach. Only this time we were there to take a dip as well as witness the famed sunsets that oceans are famous for. The ocean was clean but the water levels were slightly down. We did the same things again and again. We saw against the sea, then with the sea, waited for the waves to hit us, swam against the waves and were pelted back, sprayed water at each other, and best probably worst s
meared each
other with sand and dirt!! The beach was excellent; I bet you can never get a beach of this kind with almost no crowd. The water is quite vibrant here as compared to other beaches.We finally came back to the shore after being dead tired and headed straight to the Vada-Pao shop we had located that was pretty close to our room. We entirely demolished the reserves of VadaPao and headed back to our rooms very satisfied with our day. Since we had found out that there were practically no restaurants in the vicinity, we ordered food from the kitchen of the restaurant itself.
We again took quick baths and then almost immediately began our marathon card playing session of 29. It was me and Aman paired against Suhail and Dipu! We were pretty good and despite the fact that Aman did not entirely know the game, we were playing well. We played on till about 9:30pm when our stomachs started c
omplaining about the lack of food coming their way! So we went out in the open where they laid food. Since fish was the only available option in non vegetarian, we decided to have a complete vegetarian menu. The food was very tasty and by the end of 45min of non stop eating almost all the food has disappeared from the plates. It was probably one of those times when there was literally no left-over.Post dinner we decided to go for a walk like the times we used to do on campus. The roads were sans any street lights which made walking a little tough. Nevertheless we walked and cracked jokes. We bitched about most of the professors back on campus and joked about Bansal, his “Why don’t YOU tell me phrases, about Ruchi teaching Rachit and Rachit getting more marks than him.
Finally after a good hour walk we came back to our rooms and promptly resume our card game. This time Suhail and Dipu changed places and hope for a change of luck. And did the luck go their way?? Yes it sure went!! Within no time they were far far ahead of us! Though we were leading in the beginning, but lost our way completely in the middle and by the end of it all lost by the worst possible score. But it was enjoying all the more and the way me and Aman played and tried to delay the inevitable for as long as possible was even more thrilling. I think that by the end of it all we were losing and enjoying the most. Dipu was particularly getting a little frustrated and Suhail had a tough time controlling Dipu and urging him to exercise control!! Aman gallantly fought “Sleep” and kept on playing, though Ruchi succumbed to fatigue and dozed off. We finally slept off at 1 am and vowed to get up early and move on with the second leg of the trip.
Trip to Kashid Murud #1
This was one of the outings that I was very keen on! I really wanted to get out of the hustle bustle of Mumbai and so wanted to get laze around on some beach. Considering that we are on the western coast, the Konkan beaches were easily the obvious choice.
Friday was dinner at the Oberoi in the event of Siddharth having got through AT Kearney. So came back pretty late from it and had completely dozed off by the time Aman and others got back home. He woke me up and reminded me of the fact that we would be catching the 7:15 am ferry and since we would have to get up, do our packing and also buy the tickets to the ferry, hence we would have to be up by 5 am!!
Even though I was sleepy enough to ignore most of it, but the idea of getting up at 5 did give me a little not-so-good feeling.
But true to his word, Aman woke me up that early and after some stuffing of the back-packs we started off in a couple of taxis with me, Suhail-Ruchi in one cab and Aman-Dipu in the other.
The plan of the trip was:
Mumbai to Mandau in a ferry
Mandau to Alibaugh in a bus
Alibaugh to Kashid in a Tempo
Stay at Kashid
Kashid to Murud in a bus
Murud to Mumbai in a bus
Mumbai to Mandau in a ferry
Friday was dinner at the Oberoi in the event of Siddharth having got through AT Kearney. So came back pretty late from it and had completely dozed off by the time Aman and others got back home. He woke me up and reminded me of the fact that we would be catching the 7:15 am ferry and since we would have to get up, do our packing and also buy the tickets to the ferry, hence we would have to be up by 5 am!!
Even though I was sleepy enough to ignore most of it, but the idea of getting up at 5 did give me a little not-so-good feeling.
But true to his word, Aman woke me up that early and after some stuffing of the back-packs we started off in a couple of taxis with me, Suhail-Ruchi in one cab and Aman-Dipu in the other.
The plan of the trip was:
Mumbai to Mandau in a ferry
Mandau to Alibaugh in a bus
Alibaugh to Kashid in a Tempo
Stay at Kashid
Kashid to Murud in a bus
Murud to Mumbai in a bus
Mumbai to Mandau in a ferry
We bought five ticket of the ferry to mandau. It was a pretty pleasant morning and looking back at Mumbai as we left the shore gave us a brilliant view of the Gateway of India and the Taj Mahal hotel in the background. We had to take the seats on the deck in the open as the ferry was pretty jammed up, giving us the first hint that this week, the places we intended to visit would be crowded with tourists. But we had our fun in the ferry. All Dipu wanted to do was read through his Bible- “Rough Guide to India”, and Aman wanted to click pictures of all the rattled, rusted and totally distresses ships that lay anchored in the ocean. As for me I had engaged myself in a w
arm cup of tea, book in hand and having a good time observing the members of the group. Near the fag end of the ride we saw a couple of birds which we after some group discussion, reached the conclusion, were seagulls following the boat. Aman who was missing the company of rusted pieces of iron-steel (read ships) was back in the game and clicked the birds with the morning sky in the background.Mandau to Alibaug
Well Alibaug is the same place that they mention in the movies a lot of time. Just for people who don’t know the local lingo much “ Alibaug se ayeela hai kya” mean “Are you a complete dim-witted, dumb and s
tupid combined.”There was a bus service from Mandau to Alibaugh which we availed.
Alibaug to Kashid
We wanted to take bikes from Alibaug were told that the security that you pay is equal to the cost of the bike. So we opted for the cheaper alternative: Tempo/ Vikram which costed us 300 bucks to kashid. Also this was exactly the place where we started off playing cards in the tempo itself. We played Coatpiece all the way to Kashid!!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
"Making the Minister Smile"
Well this author caught my attention (and I guess everyone else's as well) with his awesome style of writing in "The Inscrutable Americans" which was about an Indian guy who goes to the US and his experiences there. That book had me in splits and on the floor laughing mad. So when I saw this book on the shelf of a book storeI couldnt keep myself from buying this!!
Well he has tried to create similar magic buy trying the reverse. He has this time told the story by bringing an American as the main protagonist and his experiences in India. But this time his story is not fun and humour. He has portrayed the crumbling politics and the people who are in it in a sarcastic manner. He doesnt over burden the reader by pulling all the plugs and going no-holds barred after the politicians, but rather involves them into the story of a mill owner and his mill.
It is one of the best portrayal of the corruption and how it shows that today it is not just all about the money, but rather there is a lot more than meets the eye.
He tells us how the three principle of the 3 B's ( Butter them, Bribe them n Bash Them) of business have become redundant in today complex politico-social scenario!!!
I good read and the best part is that its a 225 pager with about 12 font size!! So a 4 hour read!!!
:)
The Long Road Ahead!
Well this is one of the pictures that I took last year in a small town in the border of switzerlkand and germany!!
This is undoubtedly my fave pic as it means a lot to me and to life in particulat
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Home or Lodge???
Today was my first time interaction with the clients. It was pretty nice because it gives you not only the first hand interaction with the people with whom you make money( ha ha), but also gives you a better understanding and perspective of a lot of things.
Today as I walked into one of the client offices we started discussing upon one of the topics that has been doing the rounds in the banking world.
"The RBI is trying to make all the bank in India 5 day working"
This brought a very important perspective when the client commented
" I dont know if I stay at Home or a Lodge! I leave home at 8 in the morning and get back not before 9:30 in the evening"
I think this really brings forward one of the ills of our worklife! People directly equate the number of hours you put into as a direct representative of your ability and performance. There is not much that organisations can do when the entire mindset is skewed. This mindset goes right through the hierarchy, both vertically as well as horizontally!
Today as I walked into one of the client offices we started discussing upon one of the topics that has been doing the rounds in the banking world.
"The RBI is trying to make all the bank in India 5 day working"
This brought a very important perspective when the client commented
" I dont know if I stay at Home or a Lodge! I leave home at 8 in the morning and get back not before 9:30 in the evening"
I think this really brings forward one of the ills of our worklife! People directly equate the number of hours you put into as a direct representative of your ability and performance. There is not much that organisations can do when the entire mindset is skewed. This mindset goes right through the hierarchy, both vertically as well as horizontally!
Buzzing Q: Career Dilema!!!1
There is something that as been bugging me for quite some time now. Well through the last 24 years of my life, I have never quite felt anything even close to this. There is this feeling of the fear of stagnation. Well if you read the last line carefully, you will see that what I am not stagnating at present, but the fear of it is what is eating me.
Well through years in school, graduation, and finally MBA, there was always this thing to look forward to. Be it preparing for engineering entrance exams while in school, preparing for CAT and giving hundreds of mocks for practice or finally getting oneself ready for the finance interviews in the final placements. An now all of a sudden after getting through my dream job, I don’t know where I go from here.
I was never quite the ambitious one of the lot in school or college and that is probably the reason that I don’t know what the future holds for me. Till now the future was both incidental and coincidental. But now it is entire what I make of it. It can make or break at my wish and now the fact that I have to make my career out on a clean late is what is driving me nuts!!
One of the most intriguing lines that are embossed on most of the Indian’s is
“Tum karm kiye jao
fal ki iccha mat karo”
Well this was probably true for the school and college times but does not quite serve the purpose now.
I know to you it may sound a little weird but see this as a rationale.
In schools and colleges you could focus on a larger issue or you could focus on diverse topics. Like in school all you had to do was prepare for engineering, the fact was you could get through either IITs, DCE’s, Roorkie’s or regional colleges. The list was long and hence you could miss the bulls eye but still end up as a winner. Ditto for engineering college where you could either get a brilliant job, end up in a top notch MBA school or go abroad and pursue higher studies. Finally in B schools you could target more than a 100 companies and even if you got through the 99th one, you would still be a winner.
But what now?
Where do I go from here? I mean, I can work hard and do well in the department. But which department? Is there any one that I like? What if I don’t like any? There also once I join I am there for life!! Imagine giving up all your liberties and flexibilities and getting molded into a particular shape and size!!
So what do I do? Change or move?
If I change I lose it all!!
If I stay put, I stagnate!!!
Think about it!! Tell me what you feel!!!!
Well through years in school, graduation, and finally MBA, there was always this thing to look forward to. Be it preparing for engineering entrance exams while in school, preparing for CAT and giving hundreds of mocks for practice or finally getting oneself ready for the finance interviews in the final placements. An now all of a sudden after getting through my dream job, I don’t know where I go from here.
I was never quite the ambitious one of the lot in school or college and that is probably the reason that I don’t know what the future holds for me. Till now the future was both incidental and coincidental. But now it is entire what I make of it. It can make or break at my wish and now the fact that I have to make my career out on a clean late is what is driving me nuts!!
One of the most intriguing lines that are embossed on most of the Indian’s is
“Tum karm kiye jao
fal ki iccha mat karo”
Well this was probably true for the school and college times but does not quite serve the purpose now.
I know to you it may sound a little weird but see this as a rationale.
In schools and colleges you could focus on a larger issue or you could focus on diverse topics. Like in school all you had to do was prepare for engineering, the fact was you could get through either IITs, DCE’s, Roorkie’s or regional colleges. The list was long and hence you could miss the bulls eye but still end up as a winner. Ditto for engineering college where you could either get a brilliant job, end up in a top notch MBA school or go abroad and pursue higher studies. Finally in B schools you could target more than a 100 companies and even if you got through the 99th one, you would still be a winner.
But what now?
Where do I go from here? I mean, I can work hard and do well in the department. But which department? Is there any one that I like? What if I don’t like any? There also once I join I am there for life!! Imagine giving up all your liberties and flexibilities and getting molded into a particular shape and size!!
So what do I do? Change or move?
If I change I lose it all!!
If I stay put, I stagnate!!!
Think about it!! Tell me what you feel!!!!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Success behind Indian establishment
Well reading a book today i came across a wonderful phrase:
To be successful in India you have to follow three tenets :
BBB
Butter them, Bribe them n Bash them!!!!
To be successful in India you have to follow three tenets :
BBB
Butter them, Bribe them n Bash them!!!!
If God was a Banker: A review!
This is one of the books that I read over the weekend in Delhi. Well to be precise, I read this book while on my way to Delhi. The flight was delayed by more than 3 hours which along with the two hours flight time were more than sufficient to read through it.
Well this book was nice in the sense that it was a plain vanilla racy fiction which is quite a page turner, but if you are looking for some serious reading, then this isn’t one of your picks. It is about the lives of two young IIM graduates who are high achievers in their own sense and in the same banking organization. This book takes you along the lives of people working in such MNC banks and focuses on their aspiration, career choices, their personal lives, love, lust, power, greed. Everything straight out of a Bollywood movie!!
But then it sure is a page turner and if you don’t have anything worthwhile to do on a warm Sunday afternoon, then you can probably swim through it.
This book by Ravi Subramanium, is again from a bunch of corporate authors who are enjoying an alternate career as authors of fiction. This is a pretty healthy trend as it provides reader with more factual and real representation of the stories as these are generally picked up from real life situations!!
Well this book was nice in the sense that it was a plain vanilla racy fiction which is quite a page turner, but if you are looking for some serious reading, then this isn’t one of your picks. It is about the lives of two young IIM graduates who are high achievers in their own sense and in the same banking organization. This book takes you along the lives of people working in such MNC banks and focuses on their aspiration, career choices, their personal lives, love, lust, power, greed. Everything straight out of a Bollywood movie!!
But then it sure is a page turner and if you don’t have anything worthwhile to do on a warm Sunday afternoon, then you can probably swim through it.
This book by Ravi Subramanium, is again from a bunch of corporate authors who are enjoying an alternate career as authors of fiction. This is a pretty healthy trend as it provides reader with more factual and real representation of the stories as these are generally picked up from real life situations!!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Back in Delhi n I m Lovin It!!!
It is always a pleasure to be home, more so when you are going for like five days!
So this week from the very beginning was more of a drag than anything else. Drag because the “looking forward to home” mood had taken the mind off from all kind of work!
So finally the D-day came on Tuesday ie. Yesterday and I left office at like 4 and went home. My flight was at 9 pm. I was kinda surprised when I got a message from Spicejet about the delay in the departure. Well the flight finally left at 12:30 and I reached delhi at about 3.
The best thing about the flight was that since it reached Delhi that late, the cab drive from the airport to my place in Gurgaon was plainly and simply awesome!!! It was too good. This is one thing that I miss most about Delhi. Bombay has roads that would barely qualify as gali’s in Delhi. especially the NH8 which has taken the winds out of people’s lungs. You can go at like 130 on those roads without even feeling the heat!!
Today was spent wearing a boxer and a t-shirt and cleaning away the house. Standing on the chair and cleaning the hands of the fan really reminded me of the days when didi and I used to do such stuffs on Sunday and on holidays!
Today was Dhanteras and so went with family to buy some ghar ka samaan like spoons and cups stc. I was prepared to face huge crowds in the mall, but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as crowded as I had imagined. This was probably because it was a working day. But I am sure tomorrow is going to be one heck of a day where all the amlls will be jammed up with people.
The other thing that I miss about Delhi is the Mall concept. Bombay barely has malls due to the exorbitant land prices there. But in Gurgaon, there are more malls than houses and they mushroom all over the place. It is really a nice concept coz you can roam around all day in the same place which is air cooled and has a plethora of different shops.
Well tomorrow is going to be a long day. Its Aman’s birthday and I have thousand things to do.
Lets c wats up tomorrow!!!
So this week from the very beginning was more of a drag than anything else. Drag because the “looking forward to home” mood had taken the mind off from all kind of work!
So finally the D-day came on Tuesday ie. Yesterday and I left office at like 4 and went home. My flight was at 9 pm. I was kinda surprised when I got a message from Spicejet about the delay in the departure. Well the flight finally left at 12:30 and I reached delhi at about 3.
The best thing about the flight was that since it reached Delhi that late, the cab drive from the airport to my place in Gurgaon was plainly and simply awesome!!! It was too good. This is one thing that I miss most about Delhi. Bombay has roads that would barely qualify as gali’s in Delhi. especially the NH8 which has taken the winds out of people’s lungs. You can go at like 130 on those roads without even feeling the heat!!
Today was spent wearing a boxer and a t-shirt and cleaning away the house. Standing on the chair and cleaning the hands of the fan really reminded me of the days when didi and I used to do such stuffs on Sunday and on holidays!
Today was Dhanteras and so went with family to buy some ghar ka samaan like spoons and cups stc. I was prepared to face huge crowds in the mall, but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as crowded as I had imagined. This was probably because it was a working day. But I am sure tomorrow is going to be one heck of a day where all the amlls will be jammed up with people.
The other thing that I miss about Delhi is the Mall concept. Bombay barely has malls due to the exorbitant land prices there. But in Gurgaon, there are more malls than houses and they mushroom all over the place. It is really a nice concept coz you can roam around all day in the same place which is air cooled and has a plethora of different shops.
Well tomorrow is going to be a long day. Its Aman’s birthday and I have thousand things to do.
Lets c wats up tomorrow!!!
Monday, November 5, 2007
Sunday ko "Jab We Met"
Sunday is the only day when you can really think of really going out in the sun and enjoying. This is because the entire Saturday goes down in trying to unwind and take stock of the gone week and so the next day is the time when you can really plan out and “do” something.
So I got pretty early and the cooked myself a couple of omelets and toasts and began with playing a couple of games on the X-box. This concept of virtual large screen video gaming is beginning to catch up with me as well. So after a nice early morning, I decided to catch up on a movie with Shefali. So we went to Inox and bought the tickets for the next show of “Jab We Met”. Well I seriously think that the ticket prices are skyrocketing and no amount of reasoning can provide the rationale for a 250 buck ticket for a second row seat. Well the only rationale that I think is that stupid people like me go and spend and so they price high high higher!!!
Well since the show was a good hour and half later so we decided on pleasing our gastric juices by feasting on some nice paratha’s . So we headed off to “Only Paratha”. This is another place with good or rather awesome food but the prices don’t really justify the taste.
So we had some Chat and parathas and then proceeded for the movie.
Movie per say was nice. It was from the makers of “Socha Na Thaa” and the fact that I really like his first movie was the driving force behind coming for this movie. And true to his caliber he did not let me down. The movie like the previous one was very simple love story told simply without and not needed drama or action. I truly believe that KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) is surely the solution to every thing and that’s what he did. I believe that any movie that makes you smile after 3 hours is a good movie. And that’s what happened after this movie.
Well so this was a Sunday that was well utilized and yess I enjoyed to the fullest!
So I got pretty early and the cooked myself a couple of omelets and toasts and began with playing a couple of games on the X-box. This concept of virtual large screen video gaming is beginning to catch up with me as well. So after a nice early morning, I decided to catch up on a movie with Shefali. So we went to Inox and bought the tickets for the next show of “Jab We Met”. Well I seriously think that the ticket prices are skyrocketing and no amount of reasoning can provide the rationale for a 250 buck ticket for a second row seat. Well the only rationale that I think is that stupid people like me go and spend and so they price high high higher!!!
Well since the show was a good hour and half later so we decided on pleasing our gastric juices by feasting on some nice paratha’s . So we headed off to “Only Paratha”. This is another place with good or rather awesome food but the prices don’t really justify the taste.
So we had some Chat and parathas and then proceeded for the movie.
Movie per say was nice. It was from the makers of “Socha Na Thaa” and the fact that I really like his first movie was the driving force behind coming for this movie. And true to his caliber he did not let me down. The movie like the previous one was very simple love story told simply without and not needed drama or action. I truly believe that KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) is surely the solution to every thing and that’s what he did. I believe that any movie that makes you smile after 3 hours is a good movie. And that’s what happened after this movie.
Well so this was a Sunday that was well utilized and yess I enjoyed to the fullest!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Saturday: Review at CMS & Brilliant Dinner at Hotel Marine Plaza
I am a firm believer of the fact that weekends are for complete rest and laziness. But this was not to be. I had a review on Saturday for the Capital Markets division in DB house. This department deals with FX and everything related to it. Well so I was a little anxious about the whole thing as I did not want to mess it. That’s the reason why I opted out of the movie on Friday night.
The review was very positive and after a 3 hour long written and a sumptuous lunch with the Director of the division, I was off and ready to rock n roll for the weekend. So I met up with Shefali in the evening and decided to go out for dinner. Since Chandragupta has now become more of a home affair than some kind of an outing, we decided to choose Marine plaza hotel this time around.
Marine Plaza:
To understand the importance of Marine Plaza, I need to give a background to it. Marine plaza is a 5 star hotel right on the Marine drive and has awesome food albeit a little expensive. Well the “little” word before expensive is quite an understatement!! Well I really cant make out the difference in the taste of the food but I sure can make out the difference in the weight of my wallet. So I prefer to avoid it. But then there are people who love it and so force me into accompanying them there. Not that I don’t like the place, but only till the time my wallet remains in status quo pre and post dinner.
But this time was different. Coz this was after a long time that we went there. The best part about the buffet there is that they have a table of Chat which is there and so more than the dinner we were busy savoring the Chat. Also its deserts are next to none and so it sure is a complete paisa vasool.
So the Saturday was one to be proud of! Nice and expensive!
The review was very positive and after a 3 hour long written and a sumptuous lunch with the Director of the division, I was off and ready to rock n roll for the weekend. So I met up with Shefali in the evening and decided to go out for dinner. Since Chandragupta has now become more of a home affair than some kind of an outing, we decided to choose Marine plaza hotel this time around.
Marine Plaza:
To understand the importance of Marine Plaza, I need to give a background to it. Marine plaza is a 5 star hotel right on the Marine drive and has awesome food albeit a little expensive. Well the “little” word before expensive is quite an understatement!! Well I really cant make out the difference in the taste of the food but I sure can make out the difference in the weight of my wallet. So I prefer to avoid it. But then there are people who love it and so force me into accompanying them there. Not that I don’t like the place, but only till the time my wallet remains in status quo pre and post dinner.
But this time was different. Coz this was after a long time that we went there. The best part about the buffet there is that they have a table of Chat which is there and so more than the dinner we were busy savoring the Chat. Also its deserts are next to none and so it sure is a complete paisa vasool.
So the Saturday was one to be proud of! Nice and expensive!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Did someone plan my life?
I have always wondered how I got to the place where I am right now. And today the most I wonder about is my professional life. Well if you would have told me that I would be a banker at any point of life, I would have probably either ignored you for your ignorance or more so even mocked at you for your non-sightedness.
Although all my younger years were spent thinking how I would get into army like my Dad and probably go to the same places as him. I wanted to be in the Para’s like him. But one thing that I was always sure of was that I would not be a doctor like him. So that meant that I would not join the same regiments as him. But nevertheless it never bothered me much and I thought that joining my dad’s profession would be a natural progression.
What my family thought of it?
Dad: Well I don’t know if he ever imagined me working. All he wanted me to do was do eat well, keep healthy and keeping myself involved in everything from sports to music to studies. I don’t think he ever thought of a profession for me. He called me a “lambi race ka ghoda” and all conversations that even remotely were directed towards my career were put on hold. I am I glad? I am so very very thankful of him for having given me a freehand in everything I wanted to ever do.
Mom: Well all my mom ever wanted was for me to be in the army or the civil services. Like all moms she was probably more worried about the stability of my career than anything else. She once had me consult a “Jyotshi” and inquired if I would join any of these professions. She was flabbergasted to get a negative answer from him. But you know moms and even in their worst times they never quit spill the beans. Well I must say that she never ever voiced her preferences for my career even though he has a huge affection for the above professions.
Sister: She is once who has never hid her feeling and has always voiced her opinion quite vociferously. She was sure from day 1 of her life that I would not be joining the armed forces because this place was for people with no brains and that I was probably destined for my better things. Also she was sure that I would prepare for engineering exams and try to get through IIT. Well I did break her heart by getting through DCE in the second attempt but that never ever shook her confidence on me.
So that’s what I think my family had in mind all the time when they saw me grow, fed me, saw me off to schools and other growing up stuffs.
But what about me? I mean what did I think while growing up? As I said I always wanted to be like my dad (well tell me who doesn’t think that ways!!). But after my tenth and seeing my sister do well, I started thinking more about engineering. But I always quite knew about my abilities and so was more interested in going for some sidey college and having fun.
But as they say, fate never goes by your plans. So I got through DCE, and well, getting through that is another story altogether. I will get back to it some other time.
Although all my younger years were spent thinking how I would get into army like my Dad and probably go to the same places as him. I wanted to be in the Para’s like him. But one thing that I was always sure of was that I would not be a doctor like him. So that meant that I would not join the same regiments as him. But nevertheless it never bothered me much and I thought that joining my dad’s profession would be a natural progression.
What my family thought of it?
Dad: Well I don’t know if he ever imagined me working. All he wanted me to do was do eat well, keep healthy and keeping myself involved in everything from sports to music to studies. I don’t think he ever thought of a profession for me. He called me a “lambi race ka ghoda” and all conversations that even remotely were directed towards my career were put on hold. I am I glad? I am so very very thankful of him for having given me a freehand in everything I wanted to ever do.
Mom: Well all my mom ever wanted was for me to be in the army or the civil services. Like all moms she was probably more worried about the stability of my career than anything else. She once had me consult a “Jyotshi” and inquired if I would join any of these professions. She was flabbergasted to get a negative answer from him. But you know moms and even in their worst times they never quit spill the beans. Well I must say that she never ever voiced her preferences for my career even though he has a huge affection for the above professions.
Sister: She is once who has never hid her feeling and has always voiced her opinion quite vociferously. She was sure from day 1 of her life that I would not be joining the armed forces because this place was for people with no brains and that I was probably destined for my better things. Also she was sure that I would prepare for engineering exams and try to get through IIT. Well I did break her heart by getting through DCE in the second attempt but that never ever shook her confidence on me.
So that’s what I think my family had in mind all the time when they saw me grow, fed me, saw me off to schools and other growing up stuffs.
But what about me? I mean what did I think while growing up? As I said I always wanted to be like my dad (well tell me who doesn’t think that ways!!). But after my tenth and seeing my sister do well, I started thinking more about engineering. But I always quite knew about my abilities and so was more interested in going for some sidey college and having fun.
But as they say, fate never goes by your plans. So I got through DCE, and well, getting through that is another story altogether. I will get back to it some other time.
Monday, October 29, 2007
PARRRRRTTTTYYYYY at POISON!!!
Well it was Murarka’s birthday and we hadn’t really planned anything in that regard. All we had plans of was meeting up at a nice restaurant or something and then celebrate the birthday with a cake.
But it turned out to be probably the most rocking party that we have had. Well I left the office pretty late and after having dinner I called up Aman asking him about the plans for the night. I wasn’t really surprised when he told me to come to the Red Box in Bandra and we will have some eateries there. But when I reached there I found all (Murarka, Dipu and Ruchi) except Aman. I came to know that he was at a pub called poison which was not very far from Red Box and he was in a party arranged by Kotak. He came to Red Box in about 10 mins all drenched in sweat and visibly very excited. He was all gaga about the place and this really propelled me to join him for the party. Dipu and Ruchi weren’t quite excited and so they calle dit a day and left for home. So it was me, Aman and Murarka. Aman told me that the entry was free and said all I had to do was say confidently
“Hey! Iam here for the Kotak party!”
Well I was as confident as I could be as I approached the Bouncer, only to be ompletely taen aack when he asked me my name and started looking at the list of invitees for the party!! Bugger Aman had me caught in this mess and I was not sure of the answer. I am not really “thinking on your feet” types and so all I could stutter lamely was – Abhishek.
But as you guys are probably aware of is that Abhishek is one of the most common Indian names and so was enough to take me through. There were not one, not two but three Abhishek’s on the list and so my entry into arguably the best pub in Mumbai was a cake walk!
Poison inside was probably in one work –Awesome. The lights, the music, the drinks and most of all, the crowd! The Kotak people had reserved a hall for the party and it was connected to the main hall as well. The sex ratio was very-very favorable. The crowds came in huge number and were mainly female dominated groups. But the best part about the party was that the drinks and the food were on the house courtesy Kotak and also that there were a lot of L ki junta and it was nice interacting with them. Me , Aman and murarka danced as if there is no tomorrow. It was perfect setting! I mean like this was probably the first time I was to a pub post my hospitalization and It surely felt awesome being there totally fit and fine and enjoying to the hilt!
But one person who enjoyed more than me was –Aman. He had a couple of drinks too many and was completely out of his wits by the time the party came to a stop.
But all in all it was pure mastee!!!
But it turned out to be probably the most rocking party that we have had. Well I left the office pretty late and after having dinner I called up Aman asking him about the plans for the night. I wasn’t really surprised when he told me to come to the Red Box in Bandra and we will have some eateries there. But when I reached there I found all (Murarka, Dipu and Ruchi) except Aman. I came to know that he was at a pub called poison which was not very far from Red Box and he was in a party arranged by Kotak. He came to Red Box in about 10 mins all drenched in sweat and visibly very excited. He was all gaga about the place and this really propelled me to join him for the party. Dipu and Ruchi weren’t quite excited and so they calle dit a day and left for home. So it was me, Aman and Murarka. Aman told me that the entry was free and said all I had to do was say confidently
“Hey! Iam here for the Kotak party!”
Well I was as confident as I could be as I approached the Bouncer, only to be ompletely taen aack when he asked me my name and started looking at the list of invitees for the party!! Bugger Aman had me caught in this mess and I was not sure of the answer. I am not really “thinking on your feet” types and so all I could stutter lamely was – Abhishek.
But as you guys are probably aware of is that Abhishek is one of the most common Indian names and so was enough to take me through. There were not one, not two but three Abhishek’s on the list and so my entry into arguably the best pub in Mumbai was a cake walk!
Poison inside was probably in one work –Awesome. The lights, the music, the drinks and most of all, the crowd! The Kotak people had reserved a hall for the party and it was connected to the main hall as well. The sex ratio was very-very favorable. The crowds came in huge number and were mainly female dominated groups. But the best part about the party was that the drinks and the food were on the house courtesy Kotak and also that there were a lot of L ki junta and it was nice interacting with them. Me , Aman and murarka danced as if there is no tomorrow. It was perfect setting! I mean like this was probably the first time I was to a pub post my hospitalization and It surely felt awesome being there totally fit and fine and enjoying to the hilt!
But one person who enjoyed more than me was –Aman. He had a couple of drinks too many and was completely out of his wits by the time the party came to a stop.
But all in all it was pure mastee!!!
Who thought HR was important
While doing an MBA, the last thing that you have on your minds is majoring in HR! It is probably considered to be the lesser sibling among the other major streams, namely finance, marketing and operations. But having been working for nearly 5 months now, I feel that the it is probably the most important function in an organization.
Well who would have thought that things like chummery(official acco) and HR things like parties and other things would be one of the major criterions for liking/disliking a company. Weren’t we under the impression that the Work exposure in a job is the most significant parameter? But weirdly enough importance of HR in a company is unimaginable in today’s scenario!
Well who would have thought that things like chummery(official acco) and HR things like parties and other things would be one of the major criterions for liking/disliking a company. Weren’t we under the impression that the Work exposure in a job is the most significant parameter? But weirdly enough importance of HR in a company is unimaginable in today’s scenario!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Friends & Last Day in Delhi!!!!
Its always good to have friends over. And specially if a very good friend comes over and you can probably have a good heart to heart with him, then things become a lot more better and enjoyable at the same time. Well today would haven been a routine day except for that Nishant came over during lunch and its been quite good having him around. The weird thing about me and Nishant is that I just cant remember the first time I met him. Well he was always a very good friend of Nijhara and Pandu who were my classmates, but I never really had a conversation or even a formal introduction with him. But then this guys invited me to the wedding of his sister. And mind you, he didn’t invite every Tom, Dick and Harry to the wedding. His invitation took me by surprise, undoubtedly a very pleasant one and we( I mean our friendship) have never looked back since then. Well it is a little strange because now I count him as one of my closest friends and still if you dig deep there aren’t many things that tie us together. I attribute this to the sheer fact that both of us are more or less morons. Ha ha ha ha. But on a serious note, I think the entire credit goes to him and his uniquely trustworthy and friendly nature. Well there are people who are friendly but ones combining that with trust are rare to find.
Some things remain strange and are good to laugh at. Well at Nishants sisters wedding I had a lot of soup. But the high point was that in the stage that they had prepared for people to dance with all disco lights attached there weren’t too many people who were dancing. And all of a sudden a pretty healthy boy(read fat) aged about 13-14 came in the centre and started doing break dance. We were among the crowd that was watching the boy in awe. All of a sudden it struck somebody in the family that that boy did not belong there nor was he invited to the wedding. So its was kinda hilarious to see a gatecrasher hogging all the limelight.
Apart from that, I think today is prolly my last day of rest as I will be moving to Bombay tomorrow night. I seriously have little intention of going back. But as they say, Work is work. And I gotta be back.
So its Bombay tomorrow!!!
Some things remain strange and are good to laugh at. Well at Nishants sisters wedding I had a lot of soup. But the high point was that in the stage that they had prepared for people to dance with all disco lights attached there weren’t too many people who were dancing. And all of a sudden a pretty healthy boy(read fat) aged about 13-14 came in the centre and started doing break dance. We were among the crowd that was watching the boy in awe. All of a sudden it struck somebody in the family that that boy did not belong there nor was he invited to the wedding. So its was kinda hilarious to see a gatecrasher hogging all the limelight.
Apart from that, I think today is prolly my last day of rest as I will be moving to Bombay tomorrow night. I seriously have little intention of going back. But as they say, Work is work. And I gotta be back.
So its Bombay tomorrow!!!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Congratulations Mr. Pachauri! But sorry u share Nobel with a loser
Well its comes as a surprise to me at the simple fact as to how pompous can the Americans get.
I still remember the time when the I was in Deutsche Bahn and was enroute to Munich when an American couple entered my cozy sleepy little sitting compartment. Their entry was the end of all sleep as well as all coziness. They started their what is called in hindi “bakar” and continued till the very end. They had an opinion about everything. But that was not all. They expected to you to do the same. The entire sleep deprived night was spent discussing everything from nuclear warfare to global warming. That was probably my very first rendezvous with the Americans.
While in London also they formed a major part in the discussions on various topics even if they were outside their own control.
But today as I write this, I have a sense of déjà vu attached.
Go to any of the American websites and they claim and proclaim Mr. Al Gore as an angel who has won the Oscars fo peace or in other words the Nobel peace prize for this year. For people not quote aware of this personality. Al Gore was one of the most sidelined Vice Presidents in the history of US under Mr. Clinton. That’s not all. He is considered to be one of the biggest joke in the history in the manner he lost his election as the POTAS(President of the United States).
My quite evident anguish is due to the fact that an Indian who chairs one of the most important bodies on Global warming has co-received this award. Dr. Rajendra Pachauri who heads the UN IPCC is a renowned personality and heads TERI in India as well. His untiring work has made him the 7th Indian ever to receive this award. But if you look at any of the American press you will find his name missing.
This probably the reason why the biggest economy in the world is the most loathed one as well!!!
I still remember the time when the I was in Deutsche Bahn and was enroute to Munich when an American couple entered my cozy sleepy little sitting compartment. Their entry was the end of all sleep as well as all coziness. They started their what is called in hindi “bakar” and continued till the very end. They had an opinion about everything. But that was not all. They expected to you to do the same. The entire sleep deprived night was spent discussing everything from nuclear warfare to global warming. That was probably my very first rendezvous with the Americans.
While in London also they formed a major part in the discussions on various topics even if they were outside their own control.
But today as I write this, I have a sense of déjà vu attached.
Go to any of the American websites and they claim and proclaim Mr. Al Gore as an angel who has won the Oscars fo peace or in other words the Nobel peace prize for this year. For people not quote aware of this personality. Al Gore was one of the most sidelined Vice Presidents in the history of US under Mr. Clinton. That’s not all. He is considered to be one of the biggest joke in the history in the manner he lost his election as the POTAS(President of the United States).
My quite evident anguish is due to the fact that an Indian who chairs one of the most important bodies on Global warming has co-received this award. Dr. Rajendra Pachauri who heads the UN IPCC is a renowned personality and heads TERI in India as well. His untiring work has made him the 7th Indian ever to receive this award. But if you look at any of the American press you will find his name missing.
This probably the reason why the biggest economy in the world is the most loathed one as well!!!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Working in India Vis-à-vis Abroad
Well first and foremost I will put a disclaimer.
“ I am not one of those guys who have worked abroad (well as in worked in real sense), but having spent a considerable time there I feel I have the license to write about it.
Having parents who think that the best thing in the world is to work in the US (or abroad as it is for them), I am constantly coaxed into trying my luck abroad. Having a sister who is living there and doing extremely well doest help my cause either.
Well some thoughts:
1) Opportunities:
Well one of the things that people generally talk about is the long overused buzz word called “opportunities!!”
Well if that is a synonym for money then it’s a totally different matter all together. This is because no one will come to you and give you everything on the platter. You still have you work hard or prolly work a lot harder to make it big there.
Well but I do agree that the competition there is slightly less than that here. This is because the number of pople involved in the rat race there are less. But if it is less, then it is a lot more complex. There the people pull you down not just on the basis of your wrk but also on the basis of your colour and nationality.
2) Money:
As we spoke before that many many people equate money with opportunities. We always tend to convert currencies and because of the fact that we have a weaker currency we tend to feel a lot deprived. I mean we see in the newspapers about the hugely high salaries of our counterparts and thus feel a lot cheated. Well the term cheap labor used by a lot of foreign companies for their pet work of outsourcing sure causes a lot of heated emotions. But having been an admirer of economics I like to put everything in perspective of PPP or the purchasing power parity. This for non knower is the purchasing power of people at a particular place. Like 1 kg of apples cost about Rs75 in India but would cost about 4 pounds in UK. I think that will put us amongst the highest pay getters in the world.
3) Stature:
Well this is one area where everything goes a little weird and a little out of hand. Being an IIM graduate and not getting a foreign offer is like coming last in a marathon when the organizers have even packed up. The stature of peoples having foreign offers is that of angels and thus highly regarded in the eyes of not just elders but of peers and juniors as well. I still think and laugh about the fact that in my campus KPMG offering Middle East as posting got the Slot zero! It is ridiculous when we think about our colonial mentality of the west’s superiority.
When I was in UK recently for a month’s training I was hounded with questions from friend and people I knew about the length of my program. They were half expecting me to say that I will there for a year or more and were truly disappointed at the fact that I was there ONLY for a month!!!
“ I am not one of those guys who have worked abroad (well as in worked in real sense), but having spent a considerable time there I feel I have the license to write about it.
Having parents who think that the best thing in the world is to work in the US (or abroad as it is for them), I am constantly coaxed into trying my luck abroad. Having a sister who is living there and doing extremely well doest help my cause either.
Well some thoughts:
1) Opportunities:
Well one of the things that people generally talk about is the long overused buzz word called “opportunities!!”
Well if that is a synonym for money then it’s a totally different matter all together. This is because no one will come to you and give you everything on the platter. You still have you work hard or prolly work a lot harder to make it big there.
Well but I do agree that the competition there is slightly less than that here. This is because the number of pople involved in the rat race there are less. But if it is less, then it is a lot more complex. There the people pull you down not just on the basis of your wrk but also on the basis of your colour and nationality.
2) Money:
As we spoke before that many many people equate money with opportunities. We always tend to convert currencies and because of the fact that we have a weaker currency we tend to feel a lot deprived. I mean we see in the newspapers about the hugely high salaries of our counterparts and thus feel a lot cheated. Well the term cheap labor used by a lot of foreign companies for their pet work of outsourcing sure causes a lot of heated emotions. But having been an admirer of economics I like to put everything in perspective of PPP or the purchasing power parity. This for non knower is the purchasing power of people at a particular place. Like 1 kg of apples cost about Rs75 in India but would cost about 4 pounds in UK. I think that will put us amongst the highest pay getters in the world.
3) Stature:
Well this is one area where everything goes a little weird and a little out of hand. Being an IIM graduate and not getting a foreign offer is like coming last in a marathon when the organizers have even packed up. The stature of peoples having foreign offers is that of angels and thus highly regarded in the eyes of not just elders but of peers and juniors as well. I still think and laugh about the fact that in my campus KPMG offering Middle East as posting got the Slot zero! It is ridiculous when we think about our colonial mentality of the west’s superiority.
When I was in UK recently for a month’s training I was hounded with questions from friend and people I knew about the length of my program. They were half expecting me to say that I will there for a year or more and were truly disappointed at the fact that I was there ONLY for a month!!!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
LOndon Update#6
This was a pretty hectic weekend coz this is my last one here. And I must say that finally I have begun liking London a lot. Although this place has a very unfavorable exchange rate (but then which country gives us a poistive one!!). Well and the people here are good. I mean though people say that London is one of the more rascist cities,yet I am yet to experience any.
So this weekend started with Friday eveing wherein I went to meet a friend of mine (chuchu) and help him shift to his new apartment After that we went to an Indian Restaurant and had a huge sumptuous dinner.
Saturday morning, I got up early and along with the fellow "Backpacker Bankers!" went to Wimbledon. We did not quite know the way and so we got off quite early and thus had to walk for like 3 hrs to finally get to the "All England Club" aka Wimbledon. But to our utter dismay it was closed for visitors as a Davis Cup match ws goign on. But we somehow :) managed to get in a get a glimpse of the centre court (from outside) and also went to the Wimbledon shop(which like all other were prohibitive expensive and with pathetic and shady clothes and accessories!!)
From there we started our journey towards none other than the Southall and beleive me, it was the most awesome journey here in London. I mean the moment we landed in Southall (which was very very far away), we were greeted with words in Punjabi with hoarding in punjabi and with all the sardars there and their wifes i bright churidars and the cars playing Bhangra music!! It was very very surreal!! There were sweet shops and bazzar and all Indian restaurant. The supermarket inside was even more amusing. All the announcements were in HIndi and they were playing Shahrukh Khans songs!! We had chaat (AAloo papri) as well as aalloo ke paranthe in a restaurant called the Chandni chowk!!!
Also it was India Australia semi final in cricket and so there were penty of crowds outside shops with Tv and they were shoting "six six six" all over the place!!
Today (Sunday) was the most hectic of them all. Went to Windsor Castle and it was quite beautiful. It is the place where the queen stays for most parts of the year and we saw the state rooms where all guest stay. It was very very elegant.
Next went to Oxford and went on a walking tour throgh the university city. it sure had a very very youthful feeling to itself and so it was nice as well
And finally rounded up but visiting one of the oldest architecture on the face of earth. The Stonehenge. I think it was made famous by the Mincrosoft office wall paper!!! It was one of the shoddiest and ovberhyped things I have ever seen in my life. Well yeah i mean it sure has history attached to it but it was plain and simple "chuchu" architecture!!
So this weekend started with Friday eveing wherein I went to meet a friend of mine (chuchu) and help him shift to his new apartment After that we went to an Indian Restaurant and had a huge sumptuous dinner.
Saturday morning, I got up early and along with the fellow "Backpacker Bankers!" went to Wimbledon. We did not quite know the way and so we got off quite early and thus had to walk for like 3 hrs to finally get to the "All England Club" aka Wimbledon. But to our utter dismay it was closed for visitors as a Davis Cup match ws goign on. But we somehow :) managed to get in a get a glimpse of the centre court (from outside) and also went to the Wimbledon shop(which like all other were prohibitive expensive and with pathetic and shady clothes and accessories!!)
From there we started our journey towards none other than the Southall and beleive me, it was the most awesome journey here in London. I mean the moment we landed in Southall (which was very very far away), we were greeted with words in Punjabi with hoarding in punjabi and with all the sardars there and their wifes i bright churidars and the cars playing Bhangra music!! It was very very surreal!! There were sweet shops and bazzar and all Indian restaurant. The supermarket inside was even more amusing. All the announcements were in HIndi and they were playing Shahrukh Khans songs!! We had chaat (AAloo papri) as well as aalloo ke paranthe in a restaurant called the Chandni chowk!!!
Also it was India Australia semi final in cricket and so there were penty of crowds outside shops with Tv and they were shoting "six six six" all over the place!!
Today (Sunday) was the most hectic of them all. Went to Windsor Castle and it was quite beautiful. It is the place where the queen stays for most parts of the year and we saw the state rooms where all guest stay. It was very very elegant.
Next went to Oxford and went on a walking tour throgh the university city. it sure had a very very youthful feeling to itself and so it was nice as well
And finally rounded up but visiting one of the oldest architecture on the face of earth. The Stonehenge. I think it was made famous by the Mincrosoft office wall paper!!! It was one of the shoddiest and ovberhyped things I have ever seen in my life. Well yeah i mean it sure has history attached to it but it was plain and simple "chuchu" architecture!!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Crazy day !!!
Hey guys!!!
Today as I lie in my bed, sans all energy or as a friend of mine likes to put it a complete “zero energy kid”, I want to say just one line
“Yesterday was the best day of my life”
I mean, yeah I have had a lot of brilliant days, which probably is because they have a huge emotional quotient attached to them, but yesterday was the most amazing day of my life in absolute terms in a long-long time!!
Yesterday was the last day of my training in the basics of finance course which is common for all verticals of analysts in Deutsche Bank. There was a test scheduled which we duly completed and were free by about 4:30pm in the evening. We were told that there would be a get-together at a place near waterloo and that we would have loads of fun there. I along with the other co-thinkers were of the view that it would be a total vella party wherein we will probably have our bosses coming over and it would turn out to be a formal party which will ultimately turn into a boozers den and so we would be totally and completely out of place there.
But we anyways went home, left our bags behind and finally reached the training value just in time to catch the last bus to the party place.
It took us bang to the centre of the city near the Big Ben and the Thames from were I could see the London eye. London eye for your information is the according to me the most atrocious eye sore in the heart of a beautiful city like London. And suddenly the bus started moving towards the eye sore. Well I was hoping for the opposite, but like most of my hopes, this went bust too and the bus stopped in front of the London eye. I was dead sure that they would take us for a ride there and then leave us like that!! So totally shattered I stated to move with group and when we were in front of the London eye, the group turned left!!!
“Drink rummy!!” were the PG Wodehouse’s words of ecstasy that flashed in my mind!! Well we took a left from there and then entered a building. And then I saw it!! They were taking us to a huge bar cum disc cum videogame parlor which was completely reserved for the Deutsche Bank employees!! It is the best videogame parlor in the whole of London right in the middle of the city and it was completely reserved for us!! Well they gave us 5 drinks coupon each along with 3 tokens each. We were damn happy with the drinks coupon but were wondering of the tokens would be enough. So I put my bankers mind into place and traded two of my drinks coupon for one token!!
That’s the thing about the place and everything!!!
Well we realized that the whole parlor was free and that WE DID NOT NEED THE TOKENS!!!
Well to top it all Deutsche Bank had arranged for food and believe me for the first time the starters were amazing!! After we had gorged most of the edibles there, we rushed to the bowling alley!! Well were Bowled like there was no tomorrow. One of the things that worked to out favor was that we people were more interested in drinking initially and so we had a field day with respect to playing. I mean we had the whole alley to each one of us!! Well the other reason for my happiness being the fact that though I am a certified bad player yet I have an awesome day scoring loads of “strikes” yesterday!!! I mean well the fact that the alley was a little shorter than usual quite contributed to my new found success!! But as they say “nothing succeeds like success!!”
After our backs were beginning to hurt by bowling so much, we moved to the next game “Foosball”. Although I had played loads of it in Sweden last year in the university there, most of my friends (Shefali in particular!!) had seen it for the first time!! So it was fun beating them hands down but it was bad when Germans played and beat us as if they were playing the biggest minnows around!! But was it fun? YEAH IT SURE WAS!!! IT was big FUN!!
Next we moved to the horse waalla videogame. In this we were jockey and had to compete with the rest in a race. Well we had to sit in a real horse kind of a structure and the harder we pulled and hit the horse with the jockey stick, the faster the horse went. We well literally had to gallop and it was damn tough and most energy sapping.
And then we had the regular big screen car racings, life-like skiing and air rifles for shooting stags and birds!! Wow it was real fun.
The good part was that the bar and the dance floor were right in the middle and so we would bump in people and see the dance and then order drinks for ourselves.
We were a little tired by then and so we resigned ourselves to the huge hefty sofas with like 300 inch flat screen and saw the butchering of England by South Africa yesterday in the rugby 2007 world cup.
We then played pool for a long-long time. Parvathy was playing for the first time and it was fun teaching her, while Shefali was trying to show off her little skills at pool (acquired while playing a couple of times in Lucknow!!).
And then we found the most amazing thing that in real terms “made the night for us!!” I mean the last time I went to Appu Ghar in Delhi was probably the last time when I sat in those electric cars where your sole motivation is to bang the other cars. Well it was sooo much fun! I mean these cars were so much better and even had seat belts and all! they had high acceleration as well as very high steering wheel sensitivity. So we could turn the cars better and could also make huge accelerations and hit the other cars with great momentum. It was fun to keep bumping into a guy car whole I just couldn’t stand!!! Well I know this sounds a little dark but yeah “but I hit the crap outta him!!” we wanted to do it all night except for the fact that there were loads of people who wanted to do it.
Well I never had sooo much fun!
As it grew late we played more and more and its nice you do that with lots of pepsi and probably beer once in a while and lemonades and with a whole lot of people. People were getting crazy right left and centre and we were having loads of fun. I mean I have always had the feeling that you enjoy the maximum in a party where everyone is drunk except for you. You see their silliness and then have a huge laugh about every thing and anything.
I personally feel that the best thing that has happened to me in a long time is getting through Deutsche Bank. I mean their HR's are so good and their policies are amazing. The people they hire are awesome and no wonder they are one of the best banks in the business. Well yesterday each one of us felt like we are a part of it and not that its just an organization which we have joined!!
Believe me it sure was probably the best day yesterday!!
I played I partied and I had a ball of a time!!
Thank you Deutsche Bank!!!!!
Today as I lie in my bed, sans all energy or as a friend of mine likes to put it a complete “zero energy kid”, I want to say just one line
“Yesterday was the best day of my life”
I mean, yeah I have had a lot of brilliant days, which probably is because they have a huge emotional quotient attached to them, but yesterday was the most amazing day of my life in absolute terms in a long-long time!!
Yesterday was the last day of my training in the basics of finance course which is common for all verticals of analysts in Deutsche Bank. There was a test scheduled which we duly completed and were free by about 4:30pm in the evening. We were told that there would be a get-together at a place near waterloo and that we would have loads of fun there. I along with the other co-thinkers were of the view that it would be a total vella party wherein we will probably have our bosses coming over and it would turn out to be a formal party which will ultimately turn into a boozers den and so we would be totally and completely out of place there.
But we anyways went home, left our bags behind and finally reached the training value just in time to catch the last bus to the party place.
It took us bang to the centre of the city near the Big Ben and the Thames from were I could see the London eye. London eye for your information is the according to me the most atrocious eye sore in the heart of a beautiful city like London. And suddenly the bus started moving towards the eye sore. Well I was hoping for the opposite, but like most of my hopes, this went bust too and the bus stopped in front of the London eye. I was dead sure that they would take us for a ride there and then leave us like that!! So totally shattered I stated to move with group and when we were in front of the London eye, the group turned left!!!
“Drink rummy!!” were the PG Wodehouse’s words of ecstasy that flashed in my mind!! Well we took a left from there and then entered a building. And then I saw it!! They were taking us to a huge bar cum disc cum videogame parlor which was completely reserved for the Deutsche Bank employees!! It is the best videogame parlor in the whole of London right in the middle of the city and it was completely reserved for us!! Well they gave us 5 drinks coupon each along with 3 tokens each. We were damn happy with the drinks coupon but were wondering of the tokens would be enough. So I put my bankers mind into place and traded two of my drinks coupon for one token!!
That’s the thing about the place and everything!!!
Well we realized that the whole parlor was free and that WE DID NOT NEED THE TOKENS!!!
Well to top it all Deutsche Bank had arranged for food and believe me for the first time the starters were amazing!! After we had gorged most of the edibles there, we rushed to the bowling alley!! Well were Bowled like there was no tomorrow. One of the things that worked to out favor was that we people were more interested in drinking initially and so we had a field day with respect to playing. I mean we had the whole alley to each one of us!! Well the other reason for my happiness being the fact that though I am a certified bad player yet I have an awesome day scoring loads of “strikes” yesterday!!! I mean well the fact that the alley was a little shorter than usual quite contributed to my new found success!! But as they say “nothing succeeds like success!!”
After our backs were beginning to hurt by bowling so much, we moved to the next game “Foosball”. Although I had played loads of it in Sweden last year in the university there, most of my friends (Shefali in particular!!) had seen it for the first time!! So it was fun beating them hands down but it was bad when Germans played and beat us as if they were playing the biggest minnows around!! But was it fun? YEAH IT SURE WAS!!! IT was big FUN!!
Next we moved to the horse waalla videogame. In this we were jockey and had to compete with the rest in a race. Well we had to sit in a real horse kind of a structure and the harder we pulled and hit the horse with the jockey stick, the faster the horse went. We well literally had to gallop and it was damn tough and most energy sapping.
And then we had the regular big screen car racings, life-like skiing and air rifles for shooting stags and birds!! Wow it was real fun.
The good part was that the bar and the dance floor were right in the middle and so we would bump in people and see the dance and then order drinks for ourselves.
We were a little tired by then and so we resigned ourselves to the huge hefty sofas with like 300 inch flat screen and saw the butchering of England by South Africa yesterday in the rugby 2007 world cup.
We then played pool for a long-long time. Parvathy was playing for the first time and it was fun teaching her, while Shefali was trying to show off her little skills at pool (acquired while playing a couple of times in Lucknow!!).
And then we found the most amazing thing that in real terms “made the night for us!!” I mean the last time I went to Appu Ghar in Delhi was probably the last time when I sat in those electric cars where your sole motivation is to bang the other cars. Well it was sooo much fun! I mean these cars were so much better and even had seat belts and all! they had high acceleration as well as very high steering wheel sensitivity. So we could turn the cars better and could also make huge accelerations and hit the other cars with great momentum. It was fun to keep bumping into a guy car whole I just couldn’t stand!!! Well I know this sounds a little dark but yeah “but I hit the crap outta him!!” we wanted to do it all night except for the fact that there were loads of people who wanted to do it.
Well I never had sooo much fun!
As it grew late we played more and more and its nice you do that with lots of pepsi and probably beer once in a while and lemonades and with a whole lot of people. People were getting crazy right left and centre and we were having loads of fun. I mean I have always had the feeling that you enjoy the maximum in a party where everyone is drunk except for you. You see their silliness and then have a huge laugh about every thing and anything.
I personally feel that the best thing that has happened to me in a long time is getting through Deutsche Bank. I mean their HR's are so good and their policies are amazing. The people they hire are awesome and no wonder they are one of the best banks in the business. Well yesterday each one of us felt like we are a part of it and not that its just an organization which we have joined!!
Believe me it sure was probably the best day yesterday!!
I played I partied and I had a ball of a time!!
Thank you Deutsche Bank!!!!!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
London:: Update#5
well yaaron!!!
Just like every beautiful morning is followed with a gloomy night and how every silver lining cloud is dark, so is my stay here!!!!
I have examss tomorrow!!
i mean egg-jam nahin!! examsss!!!!
and boss!! max course cover kiya hai!!
so all in all tough night ahead..
So will signout!
Just like every beautiful morning is followed with a gloomy night and how every silver lining cloud is dark, so is my stay here!!!!
I have examss tomorrow!!
i mean egg-jam nahin!! examsss!!!!
and boss!! max course cover kiya hai!!
so all in all tough night ahead..
So will signout!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
London!!!!!!!!!!!!! Update # 4
I don’t know why it is so tough to get up on a working day and go to office (or in my case the training centre). One of my dad ki favourite saying is
“Work expands to fill the time given!!”
Read this and think about this. All I can say is that nothing is truer than this!!! Well I will elucidate:
The first time I went to my office here in London, I got up at 6:45, got ready by 7:15 and reached there at about 8:20. The reporting time was 9:00, so I was not very early, rather bang on time for the breakfast and everything. today I got up at 8:00, got ready by 8:40 and reached my venue at about 8:55 and still had time to pack in a sandwich and a croissant on the way into my class!! Phew!!!
So well you can either call that my efficiency or the doomsayers can call this my laziness. No points for guessing that I prefer the former!!
Well today was normal as always. I mean the same classes. I wont call them dumb. I mean I know most of the stuffs but the way these guys here explain is wonderful and makes me wonder as to why we did not have them in our campuses back home. I mean I have already played two stock market simulation games : one for equity (shares) and the other one for fixed income securities(bonds) and believe me , for the first time I used concepts like yields and durations and interest rates and inflation, all in five minutes and decided upon which bonds to buy and which to sell. It was completely crazy!!
I mean in the share market, we had a tough time matching our books with the bank and even a tougher time interacting with the market maker.
Well I guess you can see the energy and enthusiasm from the way I am mentioning this and believe me it was so much fun. Well another reason for my being so happy is that my team of five made the maximum profit and we were probably the only team that had positive returns in all the scenarios!!!
So enough of this ghissu maggu stuffs. Well other than the normal things, I see a lot of couples already being made in my classrooms. Well I mean guys, its only been a week or so and these guys and girls are on the peak of their ‘impressing the others’ behavior. Well a very good friend of mine got asked out for a musical by an American (much to my anguish and anger!!!). And believe me London is a damn romantic place!!! So well so well!!
Another thing, today I managed to complete another of the famous sight seeings in London. Well, that Harrods ladies and gentlemen. Well it was huge and by huge I mean of a mammoth scale. It had all the brands of the world under one roof and looks like a proper palace!! But then probably what I did not like about that place was its size! I mean it was so huge that we did not know which way to go and which right to take. Well huge is an understatement. And this place is sure for the rich and famous. Well a slight correction. It is for the rich and famous only!!!
Where else would you get Mammoth (the extinct elephants) for like a crore or even fossils as things to keep in your drawing rooms!! Well for people who don’t know, you can order a Fighter plane in harrods and they will get it for you!!!
That’s the end of the day for me!!
I have exams in a couple of days!! But for now
Gnite and sweet dreams!!!
“Work expands to fill the time given!!”
Read this and think about this. All I can say is that nothing is truer than this!!! Well I will elucidate:
The first time I went to my office here in London, I got up at 6:45, got ready by 7:15 and reached there at about 8:20. The reporting time was 9:00, so I was not very early, rather bang on time for the breakfast and everything. today I got up at 8:00, got ready by 8:40 and reached my venue at about 8:55 and still had time to pack in a sandwich and a croissant on the way into my class!! Phew!!!
So well you can either call that my efficiency or the doomsayers can call this my laziness. No points for guessing that I prefer the former!!
Well today was normal as always. I mean the same classes. I wont call them dumb. I mean I know most of the stuffs but the way these guys here explain is wonderful and makes me wonder as to why we did not have them in our campuses back home. I mean I have already played two stock market simulation games : one for equity (shares) and the other one for fixed income securities(bonds) and believe me , for the first time I used concepts like yields and durations and interest rates and inflation, all in five minutes and decided upon which bonds to buy and which to sell. It was completely crazy!!
I mean in the share market, we had a tough time matching our books with the bank and even a tougher time interacting with the market maker.
Well I guess you can see the energy and enthusiasm from the way I am mentioning this and believe me it was so much fun. Well another reason for my being so happy is that my team of five made the maximum profit and we were probably the only team that had positive returns in all the scenarios!!!
So enough of this ghissu maggu stuffs. Well other than the normal things, I see a lot of couples already being made in my classrooms. Well I mean guys, its only been a week or so and these guys and girls are on the peak of their ‘impressing the others’ behavior. Well a very good friend of mine got asked out for a musical by an American (much to my anguish and anger!!!). And believe me London is a damn romantic place!!! So well so well!!
Another thing, today I managed to complete another of the famous sight seeings in London. Well, that Harrods ladies and gentlemen. Well it was huge and by huge I mean of a mammoth scale. It had all the brands of the world under one roof and looks like a proper palace!! But then probably what I did not like about that place was its size! I mean it was so huge that we did not know which way to go and which right to take. Well huge is an understatement. And this place is sure for the rich and famous. Well a slight correction. It is for the rich and famous only!!!
Where else would you get Mammoth (the extinct elephants) for like a crore or even fossils as things to keep in your drawing rooms!! Well for people who don’t know, you can order a Fighter plane in harrods and they will get it for you!!!
That’s the end of the day for me!!
I have exams in a couple of days!! But for now
Gnite and sweet dreams!!!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
London!!!!!: Update #3
So well having been in London for like 12 days now, I feel like I have already seen the place and that I want to come back to India. Well I know that sounds too lame and prolly u might portray me as a sissy homesick guy, but yeah guys thats the truth.
Before I start off with my complaints and sorrow, lemme tell u what I have been upto in last fortnight here. Since one of my very best friends Nijhara was leaving, since his his tenure at the DB Infy office did not get extended, so we convinced him to extend his ticket till Sunday night and decided to make the most out of the 2 days we had!!
So we started on our hectic two day extravaganza!!
This extravaganza prolly started a little early when we celebrated his birthday on the 6th night of September. Well it was nice with a makeshift cake consisting of Muffins and some sweet bread poured with some chocolate sauce. Well our efforts were well paid for by Nijhara who treated us in an Indian restaurant. Believe me Roasted Chicken and kadai chicken taste at least a hundred times better in London!!!!
Yeah ! So we started off next day with Buckingham palace. Well we were supposed to reach there at 10:45 and were to witness the famed “change of guards”. But then that what we were “supposed” to do!! In real life just like in alien life, things don’t quite happen the way they are supposed to. So we finally managed to reach Buckingham palace by 12:45 and all we say were the Black commandoes donning the gates. So we chucked it (sounds better) and decided to take a 15 pound tour of the palace. Well it was probably the most well spent 15 pounds that weekend!!! :-)
Well but I have to mention this. When we went to the counter, there was atleast a 1 hour waiting, but we managed to beat that by taking the ticket from a guy selling them outside!! Well that happens at all the places in London. You can either buy them at the main gate or but them from these tourist companies. In these tours companies there is no line and the tickets are cheaper. I always wonder why common sense is so uncommon!! Imagine standing for an hour when you don’t even havta stand for a minute!!!
So we went inside the Buckingham Palace and believe me it was very dazzling. Well our worst fears were realized when we saw the signs of “No photographs”. So well all that I have of the Buckingham palace are the memories. Well the palace just makes you wonder at the richness of the royalty here. So we completed the tour in about and hour and half in which we thoroughly enjoyed the audio commentary and after a 15 minute look at the souvenir shop (from which we obviously bought nothing), we proceeded to our next conquest: the London eye!!
Our journey to the London eye was quite interesting though. We had been to it before, but Nijhara suggested a different route. Being the veteran here, we decided to take his route, which happened to be prolly the longer one. So we were trying to pull his leg and bantering around that”he did not wuite know the ways n all” and then it happened. What happened? Well for the first time in the last 7 years I know him, I saw Nijhara lose his temper. He he he he!!! But then yaar who Nijhara hai and it wasn’t long before he was back in his elements!!!
So we carried on to the lOndon eye!! And there we saw the actual Saturday crowd!! Its wasn’t any better than a chandni chowk or something!!!so we decided to chuck it and go to he oxford circus and the Piccadilly circus which are the main shopping street in London! Well and they were such eye openers. London (for non knower) is an expensive city, but like any other in the world, it is really cheap if you know the places. So we went to a big mall which was very posh but could give Big bazaar a run for its money when it came to pricing issues. So we happily shopped for a couple of hours. Well when I say shopped I mean future shopped TM (wherein Future Shopped mean selecting stuffs that you will shop in the future!!!! :--)
One thing that I forgot to mention was that we wanted to go to London eye at about 7:30ish. This is because the entire rotation at the London eye takes about 30-45 minutes and we wanted to get a view of the entire London durig day, at sunset and finally at night with all the city lighted. And that exactly what we did. By the time we got to the London eye from Piccadilly, the queue had decreased tremendously and there was nearly a zero time wait!!
Well the experience at the London eye can at best be mentioned as Average. This is because there were no clear marks as to what is where in terms of direction. Also I think the height of London eye is pretty average. The 18 pound ticket made it even harder to digest the ride. Well if I were the credit rating company I would probably rate this as a junk ride!!!!
Also if I compare it with the Eiffel tower, it pales like crazy. I mean I would rate the Eiffel as one of the best moments of my life and the London eye as prolly the most ridiculously chuchu moment of my life!!!
So we reached back home pretty late and decided to doze off early as we had to pack nijhara’s last minute packing and whatever else that was there. So the next day we took off to the oxford circus first, as we had to but a bag and from there we went to the days big attraction “MADAMME Tussads”. Since we did not have a lot of time, we decided to hurry off to the museum. And this place is again which quite justified its 18 pound ticket!! Well I mean this was probably the closest I could get to celebrities like Beckham, Leo, JLo and spiderman. The wax figures look so real that its nearly unnerving at times. My favorite here was Captain Jack Sparrow. Well they had designed a fully pirate ship and it was like standing next to the Captain himself!! Well but with good things come the bad ones and the wax figure of Shahrukh khan and Mr. Bacchan were huge disappointments. Well they looked so very fake !!!!
So that’s all I did over the weekend!!!
Will follow up with more updates!!
Till then
Cheers!!!!
Before I start off with my complaints and sorrow, lemme tell u what I have been upto in last fortnight here. Since one of my very best friends Nijhara was leaving, since his his tenure at the DB Infy office did not get extended, so we convinced him to extend his ticket till Sunday night and decided to make the most out of the 2 days we had!!
So we started on our hectic two day extravaganza!!
This extravaganza prolly started a little early when we celebrated his birthday on the 6th night of September. Well it was nice with a makeshift cake consisting of Muffins and some sweet bread poured with some chocolate sauce. Well our efforts were well paid for by Nijhara who treated us in an Indian restaurant. Believe me Roasted Chicken and kadai chicken taste at least a hundred times better in London!!!!
Yeah ! So we started off next day with Buckingham palace. Well we were supposed to reach there at 10:45 and were to witness the famed “change of guards”. But then that what we were “supposed” to do!! In real life just like in alien life, things don’t quite happen the way they are supposed to. So we finally managed to reach Buckingham palace by 12:45 and all we say were the Black commandoes donning the gates. So we chucked it (sounds better) and decided to take a 15 pound tour of the palace. Well it was probably the most well spent 15 pounds that weekend!!! :-)
Well but I have to mention this. When we went to the counter, there was atleast a 1 hour waiting, but we managed to beat that by taking the ticket from a guy selling them outside!! Well that happens at all the places in London. You can either buy them at the main gate or but them from these tourist companies. In these tours companies there is no line and the tickets are cheaper. I always wonder why common sense is so uncommon!! Imagine standing for an hour when you don’t even havta stand for a minute!!!
So we went inside the Buckingham Palace and believe me it was very dazzling. Well our worst fears were realized when we saw the signs of “No photographs”. So well all that I have of the Buckingham palace are the memories. Well the palace just makes you wonder at the richness of the royalty here. So we completed the tour in about and hour and half in which we thoroughly enjoyed the audio commentary and after a 15 minute look at the souvenir shop (from which we obviously bought nothing), we proceeded to our next conquest: the London eye!!
Our journey to the London eye was quite interesting though. We had been to it before, but Nijhara suggested a different route. Being the veteran here, we decided to take his route, which happened to be prolly the longer one. So we were trying to pull his leg and bantering around that”he did not wuite know the ways n all” and then it happened. What happened? Well for the first time in the last 7 years I know him, I saw Nijhara lose his temper. He he he he!!! But then yaar who Nijhara hai and it wasn’t long before he was back in his elements!!!
So we carried on to the lOndon eye!! And there we saw the actual Saturday crowd!! Its wasn’t any better than a chandni chowk or something!!!so we decided to chuck it and go to he oxford circus and the Piccadilly circus which are the main shopping street in London! Well and they were such eye openers. London (for non knower) is an expensive city, but like any other in the world, it is really cheap if you know the places. So we went to a big mall which was very posh but could give Big bazaar a run for its money when it came to pricing issues. So we happily shopped for a couple of hours. Well when I say shopped I mean future shopped TM (wherein Future Shopped mean selecting stuffs that you will shop in the future!!!! :--)
One thing that I forgot to mention was that we wanted to go to London eye at about 7:30ish. This is because the entire rotation at the London eye takes about 30-45 minutes and we wanted to get a view of the entire London durig day, at sunset and finally at night with all the city lighted. And that exactly what we did. By the time we got to the London eye from Piccadilly, the queue had decreased tremendously and there was nearly a zero time wait!!
Well the experience at the London eye can at best be mentioned as Average. This is because there were no clear marks as to what is where in terms of direction. Also I think the height of London eye is pretty average. The 18 pound ticket made it even harder to digest the ride. Well if I were the credit rating company I would probably rate this as a junk ride!!!!
Also if I compare it with the Eiffel tower, it pales like crazy. I mean I would rate the Eiffel as one of the best moments of my life and the London eye as prolly the most ridiculously chuchu moment of my life!!!
So we reached back home pretty late and decided to doze off early as we had to pack nijhara’s last minute packing and whatever else that was there. So the next day we took off to the oxford circus first, as we had to but a bag and from there we went to the days big attraction “MADAMME Tussads”. Since we did not have a lot of time, we decided to hurry off to the museum. And this place is again which quite justified its 18 pound ticket!! Well I mean this was probably the closest I could get to celebrities like Beckham, Leo, JLo and spiderman. The wax figures look so real that its nearly unnerving at times. My favorite here was Captain Jack Sparrow. Well they had designed a fully pirate ship and it was like standing next to the Captain himself!! Well but with good things come the bad ones and the wax figure of Shahrukh khan and Mr. Bacchan were huge disappointments. Well they looked so very fake !!!!
So that’s all I did over the weekend!!!
Will follow up with more updates!!
Till then
Cheers!!!!
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