Sound of Silence

How often have we heard of this phrase – Sound of Silence. But it was something never experienced. But a recent trip gave an opportunity to actually hear the sound of silence – literally.
Silence is generally considered as no noise from a human being. When you can only hear the nature’s voices – breeze gently ruffling the leaves, a river or a stream lightly going by or may be animals softly chattering away. Basically completely merged with the nature. That had been the definition of silence for me till it happened on the Tawang – Lhasa highway – some 13000 feet above sea level.
The setting was similar - it completely belonged to the nature. The white of the snow and the blue of the sky were the only visible colors with a dash of green provided by the sparse trees. It was a lonely mountain, sun covered by the clouds, a light fog settled around. There was not a whiff of breeze and birds and insects excused themselves from the extreme weather.
As I moved down taking in all the beauty around, I was surprised to hear the peculiar sound of my soaked socks making that “pachh-pachh” sound against the soaked boots. I then realized that there was not a sound around. I stood their motionless for a minute, removed the cap and tried to hear any sound – may be something far away or may be something down below from the army camps – Nothing. Absolutely Blank. No birds or insects. No water. No Air or breeze to ruffle things. No human being even remotely close to disturb the setting. It was still, absolutely still. And then I heard it – The sound of Silence , complete Silence. It was a kind of whistle softly blowing into your ears. I stood there, eyes closed and heard it for a long long time – something that I had never heard and may be will never hear it again in life again…

BackPacking North East

The trip provided Amazing Spectacles

The original plans had started off with a back-packing trip across Europe. Ultimately, keeping in mind all kinds of restraints it ended up being finalized to North East India. And it was quite a trip – plans changing every day, every moment during the sojourn. The 3 people had something in common. All three names started with ‘S’ and their company’s name started with ‘I’. Sanchit and I caught the morning flight from Delhi while Suvo reached Guwahati from Kolkata. We were to travel and trek for the next 12 days.
The final destinations encompassed 3 states – Assam, Arunachal and Meghalaya. The first destination was Tawang - a small town situated literally in the lap of the magnificent Himalayas. The first morning was a sight to remember. It was bright and sunny, clear blue sky and wherever you looked you had snow peaked mountains staring down at you.


Paradise Lake at Sela Pass

It was truly breathtaking. Next 4 days were spent at Tawang. In that for 2 days we trekked, climbed the nearest mountains and altitudes of around 4000 feet to snow ranges. The whole region is army dominated. There are different posts at different heights and it was a close range view of how tough the army life was there in that area. For us, it was remarkable. For them, it was routine and tough. Apart from the treks to PTSO lake – a small water body amazingly unfrozen at 13,500 feet, we also saw the Tawang Monastery – largest in India and second largest in Asia. We also found out that the town went dead at 8.00 PM. The shops close down by 6 – 6.30. There was a electricity cut for 1 – 1.5 hours at 7.30 PM everyday and any traces of ‘night life’ left went off at that time. It was tough resisting a comparison with Mumbai. Another interesting thing was the internet penetration. In Tawang where there was no Mobile connectivity (in fact mobile was off for the whole North East trip) and where a call from a STD/PCO took around 3 minutes to connect – still the place had a cyber café with broadband with decent speed and cheap prices (even the computers were quite modern with flat LCD screens and all)


PTSO Lake: The trek Objective standing at more than 13,500 feet

After 4 long days and 5 nights in Tawang, we left back for Tezpur. The plan was to go to Guwahati from there and then carry on to Tinsukia, Miao and finally to Namdapha – which is a rare Tiger reserve at the extreme East end of India. But destiny had some other plans. On the way to Tezpur, we were stopped and our huge back packs checked 3 times. Then we came to know that serial bomb blasts had taken place that very evening in the area – it was ULFA's rising day next day. Neverthless, Suvo’s uncle was contacted and he gave a green signal to come to Namdapha where special permission had to be taken to enter the area. We found buses leaving from Tezpur itself so booked ourselves. We had an hour to leave so decided to quickly check our mail once. By the time we reached back and Suvo made another call to his uncle to confirm the plans, everything had changed. The bomb blast news had just reached them and we were asked to drop all plans and go to Shillong. The original plan was in fact quite interesting. Had we gone ahead with it, we would have traversed through whole of Assam on the eve of ULFA rising day to the place which allegedly has headquarters of 4 terrorist organizations. May be its good that we went to shillong ;)
Anyways, it was time to check in to a hotel at Tezpur for the night. It was Sanchit’s birthday that day so had a celebration dinner for the most extraordinary birthday of his life. Next morning we left for Shillong. Shillong was a typical tourist destination – not different from our very own Shimla. After checking into a hotel, we enquired about the treks and places to visit. Days here were also full of uncertainty. Plans were deliberated on, discussed, searched, quashed and still changed even after climbing on the bus. The trek to Living root bridge – a rare one found only in India was quite exhausting but enjoyable – through the jungles of Cherapunjee, crossing wire mesh bridges, arduously climbing mountains. The place known for world’s highest rainfall had a harsh sun shining on us on 2 days.


The only double decker living root bridge in the world - Cherrapunjee

Return journey from there was equally exciting. It was a small tribal village that we reached. According to information gathered, there were hourly buses till 3 PM. But our 2.5 hour stay in the middle of the road till 2.30 PM didn’t witness anything which could take us back to shilling. Eventually we took lift in an Ambulance to Sohra (local name of Cherapunjee) from where we took a cab to Shillong.
It was a long journey back from Guwahati but the air journey provided some magnificent spectacles – firstly of the huge mountain peaks of Himalayas and the plains down below in a single view. Secondly of views of 2 other aeroplanes from our plane.
It was one of the longest travel trips I have ever had. The longest time that the Mobile phone was tucked away in the bag. And a rare one where life safety had to be factored in before making some of the decisions. The landscapes , the treks, the grueling bending roads, rare sites and cities – everything has left a distinct mark on the memory – a cherish able mark.


Peaks and the Plains: View from the Aeroplane

Day 8...

Final day... Big Day...
It seemed like we had been in seattle for years where it was hardly a few days.
The morning was a bright sunny one. Perfect day for a perfect competition. Raka had stayed with me overnight and we left early morning for the university and reached there by 7.30.
Had light breakfast and practiced some more for the preliminary round or in other words the semi finals. 5 out of the 14 teams were to be shortlisted after this round. At around 9, we left for the HUB where our presentation was scheduled at 9.30. We met Suzy there and she encouraged us more before our presentation. We entered the room with 7 judges and few audience at 9.30. The presentation was for 10 minutes. It went flawless - exactly as planned. The next 10 minutes questions and answers happened. They too went without any major hurdles. In fact we think we gave more than what was needed.
It was a satisfied, happy and confident bunch of 4 that came out of the room.

With Suzy
Lunch was scheduled for 11.30 and we decided to use the time and the excellent weather for some more exploration and photo clicking.
We got a few minutes late for the lunch in this whole process. We had 2 of the judges waiting for us at lunch where in they gave us some valuable feedback and also questioned us more on our plan and the business environment in India with respect to our plan.
The final five finalists were announced just as we were finishing our lunch. We were in. Through a random chit pickup we were slotted to be the 3rd one to give the presentation.
We had not seen what the hall looked like or how many people were there inside. And it was a much bigger hall full with people that met us when we entered at the time of giving our presentation. We had the next 20 minutes with us and again we delivered what we had practiced so hard. We were much more confident this time around though made a few mistakes (which hopefully only we noticed). Ankit, raka and I came out after our presentation and roamed about in the university campus - much more relaxed.
The results were not announced after the final round of presentations. They were to be announced at the Banquet Dinner at Fremont Studios. All the teams then moved to the venue then. The setup was lavish there. But before that, there was another round of elevator pitch with our posters setup – like the one we had on Wednesday. It was not a graded round so the atmosphere was much lighter. We also took the opportunity to interact to a couple of other teams and heard their projects. It was basically a time to network and interact with the top bosses of many companies like Microsoft. The most interesting, though was the one with the COO of Theo Chocolate - the Chocolate Factory in Seattle. We had heard about it the previous day and that it was open to the public where one could go in for a tour of the factory and see how chocolate is prepared. We were offered a tour at that very time. But it being not possible at that time, he offered us a pack of fresh chocolates. It was quite an overwhelming gesture.


At Trade Show II

Meanwhile we were also interviewed by a TV Channel. It was time for dinner then. A full banquet dinner with all kinds of forks, knives etc were last experienced only at a sample lunch at Infy’s Cross Cultural training session. It was a first time real experience. Everyone was given a table number and it was made sure that a variety of people were seated at each table. We had some nice discussions on cultural differences in India and US there. Time flew as we ate and talked. The keynote speaker on the occasion, Dr. William Foege gave an interesting presentation. Finally, it was time for the awards. The first one was the investors choice award – given for the trade show which was held on Wednesday. It went to the team from Princeton University. Next in line were the 2 prizes by department of global health. We were strongly expecting to get one of these. But there was disappointment when we didn’t win either of the two. A slight dejection feeling was sinking in now. It was the final award – the Grand Prize of $10,000. And there was that euphoric moment when our name was announced as the winners. The moments after that are in a blur.


The Moment

We hugging, getting a standing ovation, going to stage, hoards of cameras clicking, everyone wishing us. We first went to Suzy who had patiently guided us all along followed by photos and more photos. And then suddenly everything ended.


Center of Attraction
I took a cab back to Anu’s place, went out for a dessert in a fabulous hotel downtown. We had a flight early morning the next day. It was already 2AM. So Anu, raka and I had a night out.
So some of the last moments at Seattle were quite similar to when we arrived – dark outside, a beautiful view of the city and the lake from Anu’s living room with the space needle promptly standing out amongst it all – similar to the last 8 days which simply stand out in the life till now.

Day 7..

Day 7: 26 February


What a start to the day. As usual got up at 5 and it was a city covered with snow that said Good Morning! It had snowed through the night and it was serene everywhere. The real problem started later. The bus service was badly hit. No buses were plying. I waited for it for around an hour. Ordered cab – and again waited. Finally, Binay had to drop me on his way to office. And it was just in time for the feedback session presentation scheduled at 9.30. Here we gave the presentation which was supposed to be a final drill for the grand competition next day. The judges gave us feedback on which we worked on for some time. In between we also found out time to have photo ops in the snow cover around the campus. Sreejith booked an appointment with Suzy – the faculty for communications and leadership programs at UW. She is a former theater actor and teaches presentation skills. She spent more than 2 hours with us – giving us tips, suggestions and hearing out our presentation – and helping it to completely revamp it.

One thing that Americans do is appreciate others really honestly and expressively – to the point it becomes embarrassing (may be we Indians are not good at giving or receiving appreciation)
We received a lot of this appreciation and hence confidence in ourselves. The presentation was significantly changed and practiced again and again and again to the point of being extremely meticulous. In fact, timings were taken on each slide, extra flab was cut wherever necessary and it resulted in lots of information being packed into the 10 minutes we had (the point was later appreciated by 1 of the judges in the preliminary rounds as well)

All this while we also made new friends – all from different countries from Ghana to Canada to Mexico – everywhere. The day ended with Raka and me running to his friends house in Redmond and getting his stuff over to Anu’s place so that we could leave easily for the airport next day. So it was 48 to Montlake, changing to 545 to Redmond. Back on 545 to MontLake and then 43 to Broadway. We are now adept at moving around in Seattle..

Day 6..

Day 6: 25th February


It was the start of the real thing – the competition. The whole process started with the orientation in the afternoon. Some forms were filled in, basic rules were set and we were given the Foster B School bags. ;)
It was followed by the first competition – The trade show. It was an interesting concept. All teams were given spaces in a big hall where they had to set up their posters and make elevator pitches – basically 1 – 2 minutes of pitch to potential investors who would come to them. There were 25 mock investors who were given $1000 and they had to divide that into 3 teams which they think that would give them the best returns. It was a long 2 hours. With all of the investors coming in each one of us kept on talking the same thing over and over- again and again. And it went on more than 2 minutes. There were questions from everyone which had to be handled up to the last detail. Ultimately it was an incredible session – a first experience which left us mentally and physically drained.


The trade show was followed by dinner where through a ice breaking session we interacted with some other teams. A practice round of presentations where we would get feedback as a preparation for the final thing was scheduled early next morning so despite the extreme mental exhaustion preparation had to be done for it and an hour’s session followed the dinner.
As I reached home an interesting weather was taking shape – it started to Snow!

Day 5

Day 5: 24th February



It’s amazing how much you can experience in a day. It started with a visit to Microsoft. The most amazing experience there was the Future Home designed by techies at MS. It was futuristic – but not so futuristic. It was very easy to believe that such homes would be a reality in the next 5 – 10 years.
It used simple technology of RFID (in everything that there is at home) and light bulbs with smart chips (not at all an expensive option in near future). Just few examples of the usage – which we actually saw in the future home. You take out milk from the refrigerator and place it close to the mixer. Some recipes involving milk which will be used in a mixer will be displayed on the kitchen surface from an overhead intelligent bulb. If you chose a recipe which, say involves choco chips and the refrigerator doesn’t have it, the Home will announce that you are out of choco chips and cannot make that particular dish.
Further, what you have on your computer screen can be seen on the TV or the walls of the room. When we wanted to see where the planet Jupiter was w.r.t the sun, the whole room got converted to a planetarium showing Jupiter’s position. There is no need to paint the walls. You can have it re-designed as and when you like by just by announcing to the home that you need some kind of a setting. It will change the color on the wall, change the photographs on the electronic photo frames – basically you won’t feel it is the same room. It’s tough to describe the whole 1 hour experience in which we actually were in the future.

Microsoft Office: A slight Deja vu of Infosys
After this awesome experience, Binay, Anu and I went to the space needle. The 360 degree view of Seattle from the top of the 600 foot tower is breath taking. More than that it is fascinating to see how the Americans market it. Cameras were installed on the top and you could see the whole city standing at one place and moving the camera with a joystick. Interactive touch screens were installed to give information about the part of the city that you are viewing at a particular point. We got out of the air conditioned enclosure only for a few seconds and were blown away by the super chilly winds at that height.
The dinner was Pan Asian today and time to again learn something – using chopsticks. I learnt it quite quickly and went on eating for sometime using the sticks but it was tiring after some time. Such a fascinating day full of experiences is of course tiring and it was tough to think of anything else apart from the bed on reaching home.

Observation Deck of Space Needle

Day 4..

Day 4: 23rd February


Duong showing us around the UW campus

The first official day of the GSEC week. And it was quite awesome. The day started early with leaving for the college early. It was a bright sunny day. Sreejith and I landed up in the Balmer Hall – a common room where we sat comfortably with our laptops and tried to access the net. There were few terminals where the net kept on disconnecting at frequent intervals. After working on the presentation for some time we moved for lunch and a tour of the UW with our student ambassador. Lunch was Mexican – Chicken Burrito. It is like a big Roti which has lots of things like rice, salads, chicken etc stuffed inside. Tough to eat the whole but I was hungry. Duong Dang, our student ambassador took us for a tour of the beautiful UW campus. The most fascinating was the Suzzallo Library. Tough to resist comparing your own library with the one here. But not tough for me as there was no comparison at all.

Suzzallo Library
It was a visit to Path – a company involved in global health by technological innovation. Met some other teams from different countries here. And it was quite amazing to sit around a table with from so many backgrounds and listening to them. The Pat h had some interesting innovations which it was trying to bring to the improve health in collaboration with different partners in the developing countries.
In the evening it was time to try another cuisine – Italian. And it was not the simple Pizza that we generally think of under the Italian category. Under Anu’s able guidance we had Bruschetta, Rivoli, Gnocchi, Tiramisu and Mussels - though now it is tough to remember which was which (Excuse me for any spelling mistakes I have done in these dish names). Damn I am getting more interested in trying out new cuisines. After dinner it was a ride to the east side of Seattle from where we could get a magnificent view of the city.

Amazing view of Seattle

Day 3

Day 3: 22nd February, 2009
Day 3 belonged to Walmart. Woke up early at 6.30 AM (guess the jet lag is still not out). Sky Diving was cancelled today – it was the bad weather this time. Guess that is one thing that has to be there in the bucket list for some more time to come. Nevertheless, no regrets for that. The lunch was Mediterranean at Flowers - a place jointly owned by a European man and his Indian wife. The combo was well visible in the buffet.
Walmart as expected was huge. The main aim was to shop around a bit but it is a bad place to go when you don’t know what you have to buy. One gets lost in the massiveness. After struggling for a couple of hours we moved to an adjacent complex which was full of factory outlets of all possible brands. Some browsing around and after some coffee at Starbucks, it was decided to go to Redmond where Raka was putting up with his friends. Time for the 1st bus ride of Seattle. The one at NY was easier as it was more like a tourist bus with 3 main popular stops. This time around it was a local bus. Raka, the 2 day bus ride veteran was the guide. His friend’s place was like a typical bachelor house though more refined than the ones in India. We learnt Minimizer, a new card game – quite enjoyable I must say. The residential campus – just across Microsoft was quite similar to the Infy mysore campus. Or should I say Infy campuses are deeply inspired from MS. The return journey was independent of the veteran raka and after some struggle we were able to reach home – getting lost in the dark on the way.

Insights:
1. There was a survey by Reader’s Digest that people in Mumbai are not courteous as compared to ones in US or Europe etc. Don’t know about other places but people here are definitely much much more courteous – especially in buses.

2. We threw away our bus tickets after completing one leg of the journey but the ticket here is valid for all journeys within 3 hours. On our way back, by chance we got into the same bus and the driver recognized us and updated us about this. He didn’t take any money and gave us new tickets for our 2nd leg of the journey.

Day 2

Day 2: 21st February, 2009


Snoqualmie Falls

Well.. the jet lag effect had its say on the first morning in Seattle. After hitting the bed at 3AM, I remember watching the wrist watch at 6.30 AM last. And then as if something hit and it was deep slumber till Sreejith woke me up. It was 2PM and I had already said bye bye to plans of Sky diving on a bright sunny day.
Had breakfast errr.. lunch – a big chicken sandwich at Broadway. (Though they call something else a sandwich – what we normally know as hot dog kind of thing). Travelled to Snoqualmie Falls – a half hour ride South of Seattle. Did some hiking down to the waterfall there. Amid the nice chill. Then had coffee at Starbucks. One thing noticeable is the huge servings of quantity here – be it dinner, lunch or coffee. On the way back saw Anu’s hospital Virginia Mason – her working place to be precise and got to know the ultra modern processes and facilities available there. It was a trip downtown then. Seattle touches the pacific ocean so had a nice walk alongside it. We went to meet Anu & Vinay’s friends then. It was something like you see in HIMYM or friends – café below their flat. Someone sitting in a corner playing games on his mobile, others chit chatting and most of them with their laptops on coding, researching and having coffee. There are plenty of cafes in Seattle with a similar ambience. It was dinner time – Ethiopian this time. Nice food – with a similarity to Indian food. We had a big dosa kind of thing with Dal (2- 3 types), Paneer.. ok cheese etc around like a thali. And everyone gorging on it. Time to move to a sports bar – a huge complex with pool tables, TT tables, a huge video games section, Dance floor etc. You lose track of time in a place like this – after rounds of video games, pool and TT. That’s what pretty much ended the short day.


Breaking rules???

Insight: If everyone follows the traffic rules any place can look so good.
The laws are too many, well defined and well followed here. For example, you don’t cross the road wherever you like – only at a zebra crossing and only when the light is green for you. Imagine someone coming from Mumbai and told to follow these rules and regulations. No wonder it took me a couple of days to adjust to it.

Day 1. Part 2

Day 1(20 Feb, 2009), Part 2: Seattle
This has to be the longest and the most eventful day of my life. The fact that I am writing it in 2 parts signifies that. Longest because we travelled through 3 time zones and every time moving backwards in the day and most eventful. Well.. does that need further explanation???
Anyways, so the flight to Seattle was uneventful – slept the whole time (It was night at that time in India). Anu and Vinay came to receive us at the airport as did Duong Dang, our student ambassador at GSEC. Sreejith and I came to Anu’s place while Duong dropped Raka and Ankit to his friend’s place in Redmond. With the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean, it was a scenic ride to the beautiful apartment. Minimal furniture and cosy environs with a three side window giving an amazing view of the lake and the city on the hill beyond. Actually this part is quite similar to the house we had in Shimla where there was a view of the whole of shimla from the drawing room. After freshening up, it was time to try some new cuisines. It was Thai on day 1 - a meal which looked quite healthy considering the high percentage of color green in the food. We dashed quickly from there to watch Delhi 6 (quite amazing – coming from India and watching a desi movie within hours of landing). The theater was much more amazing - one that is hard to find even in India. Sunil and Ruchi – friends of Anu and Vinay joined us. Once you enter the compound, it doesn’t feel like its US. All Indians around, no English, typical long lines in front of the ticket counter. Once inside, any feeling left of being in US also goes. There is no seat number assigned so sit where you get a seat – typical jugads (“yaar, 1 seat udhar ho jaa, hum 4 log saath mein hain”) in the making. The 9 PM show hadn’t started and began half hour late – letting the theater fill up. I won’t comment on the movie here. After the show, 6 of us moved to Broadway café for some late night coffee, ice cream etc. The day ended quite late with lots of mails, replies and some photo uploading.

Insight: Nice exhibition of customer service by continental airlines. They knew 4 of us were on a connecting flight and were served special Indian vegetarian food and it was free for us while rest of the passengers or ‘customers’ as continental call s them has to pay for meal. At Seattle too, our luggage was brought out separately and we didn’t have to wait at the conveyor.

US Trip Log

Day 1(20 Feb, 2009), Part 1: NY

Newark Airport :

At Times Square

Just a day has passed since we left Mumbai and already so much has happened that it’s tough to believe.

Things started at Mumbai itself where I left our poster (brought for a competition) at the immigration desk. Realized it later after having gone through all the security checks and had to go back, reversing all steps and finally retrieving it. After multiple security checks, we finally boarded the aircraft. Raka’s row was different so he boarded late and with that came another news that he gave the wrong boarding pass (the one meant for travel from Newark to Seattle) for the Mumbai – NY flight. With that settled after some time, started the 16 hour long journey. There were plenty of movies on board (which I was quite excited to see initially) but eventually landed up watching only 1 and rest of the time listening to music only. 16 hours passed easier than expected. All the time it was dark outside, so was good that I got an Aisle seat. It was a first time being in an aircraft with 3 columns of seats.

After more security checks and questioning at the immigration desk in Newark, we finally settled down for the 8 hour wait to the connecting flight to Seattle. It was while waiting that we met Manisha – an Indian settled in Columbia. She was also waiting for a connecting flight and suggested we go out to see NY as we had lots of time on our hands. Raka had already proposed it but the fear of unknown had led to turn us down. After a bit of reluctance initially everyone agreed – Manisha had been to NY so the resistance was considerably reduced. The trip turned out to be a chilly and memorable one. Gloves were the first thing bought to beat the cold. In record time Times Square, Grand Central Station, Wall Street, Statue of liberty (not upclose) were visited. Time spent at each place was minimal – due to cold and lack of time.

Managing to Hold on!!!

Some insights:

1. Desi help was readiliy available – from airports (all guidance about sight seeing in NY was in a Hindi/Gujrati mix) to buying gloves (maandwali to lower the prices in Hindi).

2. As we entered Grand Central station – one color that hit us was black. Everyone was wearing black – the preferred color of heavy over coats.

3. There was no clock at the airport. Surprising. Yes!!

4. There was no security at the front gate of the airport. Generally when you enter a airport in India, the policewala checks your ticket and then lets you enter. Nothing like that here. 

Writing this post @ Newark Airport

IIM Indore, Bulls and the Dream

It was potentially the last Bulls assignment of the year – a B Plan Competition at the prestigious Iris @ IIM Indore. An IIM competition meant a kind of a dream and ending things on a high. As we came to know later, the plan was selected out of 104 B plans across India after a tough filtering process. The start itself was unforgettable – an overnight train journey with only 2 confirmed seats for four of us. After so many AC class journeys, we were ill prepared for a sleeper class journey and the chilling environs kept us awake the whole night.
It was a beautiful IIM Campus that greeted us in the morning. Perched on top of a hill with its curving roads and a magnificent view, in a way it signified what IIMs are known for: a tad above the rest!
We had 3 days and a case was given which had to be analyzed and presented next day. The discussion which followed on the case was one of the high points of the trip. A kind of a small research was conducted by asking friends Amit, Amrut, Anu about their views. Others also brought in ideas. All the ideas were collated and then started the debate among 4 of us – a high voltage, heated, sparks flying, countering each other’s points with venom. The important thing was the understanding that these are attacks not on the person, but his ideas. Ground was conceded and then attacked again. Tempers finally stopped flying around at 4 AM and the plan was finalized. The passionate presentation went well. We broke the clutter with our 3 slide, zero word presentation. It was marked by last minute improvisations and a true team work. The judges seemed pretty impressed and we felt confident. The result was to come late.
A great evening followed at Indore city with 2 of Ankit’s friends from Indore joining us and giving valuable insights – of the ground reality – away from the rosy picture that MBA paints around us. Meanwhile, we were informed that we did not win the case study competition. Slight disappointment but was covered up by knowing that it was a job well done nonetheless – an internal satisfaction overcoming the external disappointment.
It was the final one the next day - The 1.25 lakh prize money and a ticket to Seattle for the Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition. Great amount of hard work was put in the morning to spruce up the presentation and include the points told by the mentor, which had been assigned to our team. 5 teams, 5 closed door presentations. After 4 hours the results were announced and it was not us.
I don’t remember many occasions where Bulls have not won a prize after being in the finals of a competition. We were not the winners here, but didn’t feel so. It was the feeling of a winner. Soon it was time to catch the bus back.. time to hit the road – one which we had not ridden on before.

Surviving Armageddon

There were 2 competitions and the Bulls were in a fix where to go. It was decided to split into 2 and it was Raka and me who booked the tickets to Chennai. A new dimension was added to the definition of 11th hour for me. Ayan also decided to join us – the decision taken at 6.30 PM for a journey which had to start at 8.30 PM. It was a fun filled journey thereafter. Chennai greeted us with wide roads, language problem, lovely LIBA campus and some strict rules. The next 2 days were more hectic than any at NM. The days passed in participating in some challenging, mind and body draining events while nights were reserved for making strategies and preparing for presentations. There were no breakfasts or lunches – direct heavy dinners for 2 days. I had a chance to become a commodity broker, bid in the auctions like they do in movies [that was quite fascinating], spoofing advertisements, drawing using colors after I don’t know how many years… Armageddon was the toughest event. When I had read about it, I was like ‘what the hell!!’
4 rounds – all eliminating and involving good creativity. We cleared the 1st round – an ad spoof. 2nd round experience was deadly. They show u 3 ads [no Indian ad] while simultaneously asking absurd questions demanding detail answers. Then after the ads they quiz you on the ads like what was the name of the person, how many trucks were there, what was the color of the dress etc etc.. While I was being badly grilled here, Ayan had to argue both in favor and against a topic in another room. After clearing this too, it was time to handle the colors- making an ad campaign poster for a beer company with global warming in perspective – the whole process spanning just an hour where we barely managed to complete the drawing.


The school memories of C grades in drawing came rushing while doing this piece of art!!
The result was announced late night and there were some anxious hours that passed between the event and the confirmation of selection for the final round!!
The presentation on a B Plan was prepared for,through the night and the results were not a surprise but great elation – We were the winners. 2 days of grueling hard work had paid off! And a belief was strengthened – Think that you will win and you will win!
The return train journey was equally exciting. Dadar station came at 4.00 AM – while everyone was in their lovely dreams. Suddenly it was realized and within seconds everyone with their stuff was on the platform, heading towards home and then college where some more excitement in forms of 2 tests awaited us !!

The Mahabaleshwar Trip...

In the geography lessons in our ‘bachpan’ we learnt that the central India was a plateau. In exams it was generally followed by a definition of plateau. Till this weekend, it was only a picture of plateau that I had in mind. Some 15 years later, on the trip to Mahabaleshwar, I saw it for real!
A Text Book definition of a Plateau on display

The place was magnificent. Hills plus water form a deadly combo and it was on display in plenty. The rivers originated and meandered at a leisure pace through the flattened hills, providing abundant photo ops.


The Meandering River from top

The view reversed. In the middle of the river

Another highlight of the place was Strawberry. There were numerous farms growing the red fruit. There were different utilizations – in jams, ice creams etc. But the favorite was strawberry cream. It is tough to resist despite being relatively high priced. Needless to say, we had more than one.


Strawberry Fields
Along with geography we also had history lessons. A visit to Pratapgarh fort highlighted the violent, brave and strategic history of the place. Guess modern architectures have plenty to learn from the old forts of India. Also, MBA’s can learn a lot of strategy from the history. I wonder how the meetings took place at those times. I am sure concepts of Team work at those times would have good theories which could be used in the modern era.



1 thing that I sorely missed was Para gliding. It was first on my To-Do List on the visit. But unfortunately we went during off season and the para gliding was off. So have to wait for it.!!

IXI GOooo.....

I was shown before it was launched – courtesy Vibhu. And I found it pretty amazing and certainly ‘different’ from many other sites which thousands of people use everyday, fuelling the boom called aviation industry of the country. This boom has lead to a number of travel sites popping up. So when Vibhu told me that he is working on such a travel site called www.ixigo.com , I asked what’s different. Then he gave me a sneak peek at it.
Using the latest JSON technology, which incidentally is also being used by Google for Gmail, this is arguably the fastest site available around for booking your airline tickets. Considering my learning curve had become more or less flat, I was inclined to learn more about this JSON, but a look at the front end caught and didn’t leave my attention.
The speed factor was of course there. Once loaded, it was super fast (an indication of major use of client side programming). Within seconds, it browsed through all the airlines and brought out the comparative rates – of course the cheapest at the top.
A distinct feature I loved was the slider. You just move the slider and change the different timings on which you want the flight. And as you keep on moving slider, the right pane keeps on updating with the required timings
One of the best things is that the prices shown are including taxes. That is the exact amount you need to shell out. I have suffered at many other sites. They cause you heart break. You are so happy to see a ticket for 1000 bucks and think “ Yes. I have made it. I have something to boast about to friends. 2000 mein return”. Its such a nice feeling. And then when as you near the payment time, some strange taxes appear spoiling your party. That is why I liked the approach in this site. They don't take you to the dream world.
Moreover, unlike others, you are taken directly to the check out page, where you just have to pay. In many others, you see a 500 Rs ticket. With experience of additional taxes behind you, you add up everything mentally. “chalo 1700 rupees. Not bad” and then you reach the site and Woosh.. no tickets available any more. So guess it is much better in this case where they skip many intermediate steps for the user.
I really enjoyed just browsing the site. May be because my friend had a hand in its making it. But nevertheless you enjoy something which has a fresh feel to it.

Strengthened Beliefs.. err.. Non-Beliefs

It was 3 years ago, at the time I was leaving Chandigarh to Join Infosys, Hyderabad, that I went to a Gurudwara/ Mandir on extreme insistence of my parents. It happened again, today when again I am set to leave Chandigarh. It was a trip to Golden Temple, Amritsar this time. There was an unordinary rush at the most important pilgrimage place for Sikhs. The first thing that struck me, apart from the scorching heat was lack of any kind of security system – anywhere. While there were around 40 – 50 Thousand people, I couldn’t spot a single policeman. To plan and execute some bad things seemed to be the easiest thing to do there. The next thing to notice was the enormous rush of people. There were huge lines and average time a person took to get 2 minutes in front of the Guru Granth Sahib in the main complex was rumored to be 4 hours. We had some VIP ‘contacts’ which reduced our ‘turnaround time’ to 30 minutes.


This thing led to confusion for me. You go to a religious place to pray, pay homage, thank god or ask for His blessings. But there too one doesn’t have the patience to stand for his turn. All this basically becomes a ‘task’ which has to be completed. Not that I am targeting people who have VIP influences. Even the one standing in line is not by choice. Given a chance he will jump to take the advantage. While, as VIP you bypass the line, you get jealous and sometimes angry looks from the ones standing in lines. Who wants to stand in long lines, in so much heat?
Even inside, in front of the sacred book, while paying obeisance, there is so much pushing and pulling to get ‘close to God’. So much that even if one wants to pray in silence for a minute, he can’t. Seconds later, you will experience a push here and a nudge there.

Who has the time man?? Get over with it quickly. It’s a task. After completing this task, you have the next task ready – to manage a touch at the sacred tree. And then to get a sip of the holy water, a dip in the ‘sarovar’. You fight your way through all these and emerge a winner. At the end you are satisfied - not because you feel spiritual or at peace with yourself but of finishing all tasks in record time (courtesy VIP connections)


Carvings on the Golden Ceilings
Ironically, my beliefs in being a non-religious person were strengthened today. There was not a single moment after entering the complex that I closed my eyes or folded my hands – not even while kneeling down and paying the customary obeisance. For me, it was just an opportunity to see a historical place, admire the beauty and click a few photos to put in Orkut and blog. But unfortunately, there were problems even with that. Inside the main building, as I stood admiring the precision and accuracy with which a pattern was carved out, I was quickly shoved off as I was blocking the line. May be going to Jalianwala Bagh and Wagah Border could have been more satisfactory for me.


Photo to put in Orkut ;)

Amchi Mumbai

A view of the sea at BandStand, Mumbai
Get out on the road here on peak office time and places like Delhi, Bangalore seem comfortable.
Luckily we had a deadly combo of Michael Schumacher and Valentino Rossi. The 4 wheeler and 2 wheeler champions seemed to have merged to form our 3 wheeler auto driver. He was bent forward like a bike racer, precise like formula 1 car racer and maneuverable like a Fighter Jet.
I don’t think we could have made it to Andheri station within the 1.5 hours we did, if it hadn’t been him.
The stairs of Andheri station is a jaw dropping experience if you are seeing it for the first time. You get to see such an enormous number of people in your 1 eye span that it is difficult to fathom. It’s like a big huge wave. When you – a non mumbaiker, are at a Mumbai local station for first time, mind often wavers to the Train blasts a few months back. But thinking practically – is it really possible to have some security setup on stations to cater to such a gigantic number of people. It may be possible if you think sitting in an office or home but when you stand for 5 minutes and see the numbers, all plans seems to wane away.
After around 2 hours of bad traffic, vehicles with zero road sense, sense numbing screaming of horns and car engines, we reached Juhu Beach. And as you touch the waters of the sea in the lovely breeze, all your tensions, the difficulties fade out…Its very similar to the waves of water coming.
At some distance, a huge wave is formed. It’s seemingly violent, creating lots of noise, threatening…
Then as it comes closer, the retreating water slows it down; the noise becomes a mild Sussshhhh… And it comes and gently kisses your feet..
And if you sit there for some time, you experience continuous cycles of violent whooooshss followed by mild Sussshsss..then again wooooshh.. and then susssshhh…Amid these you are busy - happily building home like structures in the weak sands on the beach. That, I think is Life!

Rajdhani

The Power Houses - North and South Blocks

It was a conscious decision to take a metro ride so I asked the auto wallah to take a detour to the nearest metro station instead going directly to ISBT(Delhi’s Inter state Bus Stand). The nearest metro station happened to be Central Secretariat. At an intersection the road on the left looked very familiar and so did the buildings at the end of the road. Another semicircular building hid behind trees in the north-west direction. I have never had a chance to see the power hub of India at close quarters and this was an opportunity not to be missed.
So I started moving on the familiar road I had seen earlier – the one which we see every 26th January – Rajpath.
The two colossal structures – South Block and North Block, looming large ahead.
To the right was the Parliament House.


The Parliament House - looks just like we see in TV :)

I clicked some photos. And as I turned around to come back – there was the India Gate standing distinctly far down the road.


India Gate down the Rajpath
Amazingly when I told one of my friends about this, the prompt question was “you must be thinking of RDB!!!”. Well, Miss T, either you can read minds or I am obsessed about RDB and everyone knows it.. because that was the first thought the came to my mind – the masti ki pathshala song where they circle the India Gate.
I walked some 2 - 3 kilometers to reach the famous 42 meter high monument with names of all the Indian WW 1 and Afghan War martyrs inscribed on it.


The Majestic India Gate
It was a transformation from the history to the future – the Metro trains. As soon as you step on to the stairs going down to the underground station (there are many stations on ground level too but I experienced the underground one), you are into a different world altogether. Sparkling clean floors & platforms, close circuit cameras all around, automatic gates and of course the metro train itself. It is a different world down there. But as soon as you step off the stairs again and enter ISBT - it is the normal story again – filth, garbage all over. The metro was host to all – literate and illiterate so the argument that it is the uneducated ones who are responsible for all the filth is wrong. If one sees cleanliness, he is motivated to maintain it and feels ashamed at spoiling it. I hope the metro effect spreads everywhere.

Turbulent Times

A mosquito trapped between the two walls of the airplane window. It died later during the flight

It was an interesting flight by Air Deccan to Pune this Wednesday. Yes, the name Air Deccan itself rouses a variety of feelings – generally on the negative side. It is often associated with Delays, cheap tickets. Moreover, there are no seat numbers assigned so all hell breaks lose when it is announced Passengers traveling by Air Deccan flight DN-XXXX to XXXX are requested to proceed to boarding through Gate no. 1. Add to it, the air hostesses asking for money for every bottle of water you take (Sir, do you have change.. c’mon at least keep the change with you).
All this many of us I had experienced earlier but there were 2 new things added to the list this time. Not that the above all didn’t happen. To start off the flight was 3 hours late!! As a result I had to sit around 5 hours at the airport (Though it didn’t break the 6 hour record I have set – Deccan again). To add to the pain, Sachin hit a century on that fine day. Next, I was amongst the firsts in the line to board the plane but as luck would have it, the tag on my hand baggage fell off somewhere and I had to go to through the security check again !!!
On board, I got the last aisle seat and that resulted in me chancing upon an acerbic fight between the ever smiling air hostesses. After serving, as the 2 of them went to the back of the plane, one of them – the senior most (Miss S) on the crew literally took her junior(Miss J) to the cleaners. Reason? During their serving, as S was busy minting money from the passengers, J had asked for some coke(which was kept on S’s side). But after asking 5 times (acc to J in the discussion), when S didn’t hear, J had to raise her voice and this enraged S. She was offended in the way J spoke to her in front of the passengers. I don’t think any of the passengers even noticed that. But at least 1 of them was now hearing on to this fight now. All for the impressions!!
Next came the tough one – Turbulence. As the plane shook violently, I experienced what turbulence is for the first time. It was similar to the feeling when you are coming down on a giant wheel with that strange feeling in the tummy. As we put on the belts, a couple of people (one of them my neighbor) vomited indicating that it was real bad. Thankfully, it ended after a few minutes. It was a rather uneventful ride to the small but beautiful Pune airport after that. Some blog had to come out of the trip. And Air Deccan helped in giving something to write about. Thank you Air Deccan.

The Traffic Jam

A Vibrant Sun Set at Shimla

It was a trip to Shimla after nearly an year. And for the first time in car – not driven by a driver. 2 days of 2006 and half a day of 2007 passed like a breeze – a rather cold breeze, I should say, considering the freezing temperatures there. On the return journey yesterday, I took turn behind the wheels. But we caught the peak traffic time when we reached Parwanoo. Kilometers long vehicle queues – frequently brightening red lights in front, bright yellow colors, angrily looking at you from the rear view mirror – tempers rising somewhere, horns blowing elsewhere and people breaking queues to form more parallel queues.
I have been stuck in traffic jams a couple of times – but that was always within city – where you could always take a detour, if possible or the car was the one which you have been driving for years, hence like one of your body part. But this time, the body part was a bit alien - I had never driven a santro before, and I had never driven a car on a hilly terrain before. So it was a bit hesitant me behind the wheels. A car in front made a brave move. There was no on coming traffic. He broke the 2 lined vehicle queue and went ahead to form one of his own – with zero space if something wanted to come from the opposite side. Then another went behind him. The temptation was hard to resist. So our car also made a dash for it. What happened next was what had to happen. A truck was majestically making its way from the opposite side. The 2 leaders in front of us were listening to the abuses of the truck driver. The next step was to try and reverse. But one glance back and it was almost a simultaneous “aaah..” from everyone in the car., followed by “lo ji.. phasss gaye”. The line behind us was endless. Then started the process of merging the extra line back into the mainstream. Some ego clashes, horn blowing, arms waving and forcefully cutting into other cars later, we merged, moving, at one point, only millimeters away from the stranded oncoming truck. The painful process of moving at speed of inches/minute continued for eternity after that. There were a few opportunities to repeat the foray we had undertaken earlier but only one or two were taken – playing it safe the other times. The normal few minutes journey from parwanoo to kalka took years. And everyone wondered how much time it would have taken had we not attempted the first venture.
As we steered clear of the jam after kalka, we saw a truck coming from opposite side bang into a car moving in the same direction. In a matter of seconds, another mini jam had been formed behind the two. How much more complicated things became as a result of that – we will, fortunately, never know.