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!!!
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