The Week in Pictures

Thats quite a useful service for public transport in Mumbai. It combines the Local bus system along with the suburban trains

Look at the Name- Decent Florist- reminded me of the brothel in "Jab We Met"- Hotel Decent :-). Found this in Bandra, on the road Sachin and Aishwarya rai live. By the way, I live pretty close from here. I will be moving in to my flat tommorow in Bandra.


I go for a morning jog sometimes, and the guesthouse where I stay(Bhakti Park,Wadala(e)), has great landscaped gardens and open spaces for a jog, a game of cricket and some places for children to run around.

Orkut being advertised in the local buses here :-). Testimonial for Orkut... :-) Found this on route number 45 from Wadala Imax to Dadar Railway station.

2 Good ads for the weekend!

The weekend arrives, and I have just stepped on two quite hilarious advertisments of Cleartrip.com on Youtube. The advertisment is perfect in conveying the positioning of this online travel company. Find the ads right below

Dream "Job"? Think Again

Kartik Kannan posing on the sets of Dream Job 2

I see that these days, there are too many reality shows on the numerous channels that keep popping by the hour. Indian Idol certainly had a first mover advantage in terms of spotting talent to recycle in the music industry, but other shows have also done well like "Sa re Ga ma", "Star Voice of India". Bollywood seems to be providing the leading thrust in terms of reality shows for the TRP, but other than that Niche reality shows really bite the dust, if they dont innovate or market themselves properly. MTV Roadies has got cult following now in terms of brand recall given the unconventional advertising that they have done over the last 5 years. If you are a "Roadie", people look up at you as its quite a tough thing to be a roadie. That way as a niche show, they've done pretty well, to connect with India.

Another show that I was immensely interested was in Clinic All Clear Dream Job on ESPN-STAR last year. The show did manage to elicit quite a lot of responses for the auditions in the 4 cities, but somehow the TRP's didnt seem to set the Yamuna on fire. I guess if ESPN had done some marketing for the show, along with T20, and some of the other shows and included some travel/road shows, more so dividing India by the geographical region(as is done with IPL), Dream Job 2, could have been a success.

Today even though the winner of Dream Job 2 was given a contract with ESPN STAR for a year, his compatriots on the show, Medini and Akshob, have done some excellent work, much better than the winner. It hasnt probably changed the winner's life totally, making him a television celebrity. I think ESPN really needs to go back to the drawing board and ask itself what they need to deliver to make people interested in Cricket/Sports a better deal. They sure are proffesionals and know what they are into, but a little more careful interospection would reveal that they could handle the consumer interest towards the show much better.

Medini for one, works for cricinfo and daily had podcasts of a show with the likes of Ravi Shastri, Geoff Boycott and Ian Chappel. Akshob, worked for the official IPL site and has met almost all the bigwigs of the various IPL teams and has some great interviews published on the IPLT20 site. The winner of the contest, Jatin is still not really flashing across Star Cricket, and it is here ESPN needs to understand where are they providing the extra value to the winner over the other contendors. To me, Jatin was an outstanding presenter and I feel he should be given more oppurtunities for the 1 year that he is there, as that would be the stamp on which he would have to decide his career.

Sports broadcasting is tough to break into and even if you get there barring all the competition, given the clutter with so many channels telecasting matches, you need to be better than the best in business and ring a bell when the viewer sees you. You may also realise that its not too remunarative, and it would take a few years to get down to a comparable salary level as your engineering and MBA waale friends. Harsha Bhogle made it big, by taking the risks in an era where Television coverage was rare, but had an IIM MBA degree backing him. Today he is seen as a management consultant, a great Historian on Cricket and a numero uno commentator. Where are the rest? You dont remember any other Indian television broadcaster( Charu sharma, may be! ), who did not play Cricket for India, who's made the cut. Even if these reality shows on sports broadcasting do happen, its going to take doing to get through the clutter, but with the proliferation of more channels, come more oppurtunities. The latest I hear is Zee Cinema has jumped into the fray with the telecast of a India-Pak-Bangladesh series in June.

Secondly in the face of reality shows, the producers hardly seem to want the best and just competition, but are more inclined to add masala. Women in Sports Presentation- They may not be as good as some of the guys on the show, but their feminity and ability to keep viewers glued in works a big way in them making the cut. No this blog post is not against the fairer sex, but just a reflection of the truth.
Every tom dick and harry, can give an opinion on cricket. The roadside tea wala would say that Dravid made a blunder by batting above the order in the t20 match, so when cricket is so common place in India, the women on the show have a distinct advantage with their looks and as long as they can do flawless english delivery, they are almost home. Women, frankly dont need to know much about cricket's intricasies which we guys know. Just have the right structure and assets in place, get the language flowing, you've got people watching already. I have known only Zoe Goss and a commentator from the West Indies as the only sports commentators who really know their stuff. Another woman who seems to have got my vote from India would be Mayanti Langer, who hosts football shows on Zee Cricket, and was asked to co-host the IPL without she being a cricket expert. When the likes of Mandira bedi have made it big, its time for more women to be inducted to make the whole presentation saucy. Frankly I would prefer to watch Mandira bedi in her noodle straps than watching a Dream Jobber guy talk :-) . So looking at all this, as a guy, you are up against big odds and really need to be somebody who can sweep people off their feet.

Why am I writing about it?

I too was a finalist last year, and finished in the Top 8 in the country, before Mandira Bedi decided that she had enough of me, and it was time to vote me out :-). I was reminded of Dream job, when somebody at work pointed out that line in my Linked in Profile and asked me about it.I thought I'd make an alternate career, part time as a television Jockey, but later gave up on the dreams as I had to make a career out of my MBA. Right now, no complaints, I am working for an online travel company, and am enjoying the space, getting decent money and a glimpse into Mumbai. But if Dream Job 3 comes up, I dont think I would want to bet my career on that, I'd be happy making to the final 4, being on television for 2-3 months and make new friends. Post an MBA Its frankly tough to give up on a career growth and a well paying job, for doing something that may be your passion. For me Cricket and Travel are my biggest interests and I am happy choosing the latter for a career. I still would'nt mind doing the odd television show, but would never want to bet my career on television.

Interview with Albie Morkel

Albie Morkel seems quite a recognisable bowler operating in International cricket as part of team South Africa and the Chennai IPL Team. He was quite unkown when I interviewed him last year on my mobile. I found it through some random search on Youtube.

Check out excerpts of my interview with him

Memories! A Fortnight Later

Here I am in Mumbai, getting busy with work, getting used to travelling in crowded trains, hit and bully people into getting my inchspace while travelling. However, as I found some time during lunch into checking some pictures on my mobile, I was reminded of B school life at Great Lakes a fortnight back. I had made this as the final video on the evening of the convocation day.

Enjoy it!




Some of the other Videos made during the year were

More Images from Mumbai

Sitting on Marine drive near the rocks

The Western side of the Marine drive, left of Churchgate Station, towards Brabourne stadium

Mumbai seems to have a lot of olden day buildings all worth in excess of crores. If a few crores had a speck of dirt in it, would its value diminish? I'd say no :-). The floodlight between the building is the floodlight of the Wankhede Stadium.

Images from Mumbai

The Beautiful GVK Airport

A lesser crowded station at 9 pm(Wadala Road)


Mentally any travelling in Mumbai should recall this map!

Evening view from Marine Drive.Queen's Necklace- Did a breezy walk from Churchgate on Marine drive till Chowpatty listening to music. Loved it.

Madipakkam to Maximum City!

Madipakkam(chn) to Maximum city(Mumb) has been quite an ordeal already. I arrived an hour late yesterday afternoon, and to my dismay some passenger mistook his blue bag for my large suitcase and sped off. I was waiting for a long time near the conveyor belt for that seemingly elusive blue bag suitcase, but it never turned up. All my clothes were in that suitcase and it felt painful to think that someone had flicked that within minutes of arricval in Mumbai. My friend Akshob, on the phone made matters worse by laughing at the incident and likening me to “Tenali Raman in Big Bad Mumbai”. Go air immediately assured me that it was a case of swap as one more blue bag was not collected. I just hoped it was a swap, and waited for the go air staff at the airport to get in touch with the other passenger who’s swapped luggage. They did some research on their database and found that the number registered was a wrong cell number! Way to go......!!!

They found that the ticket was booked through Makemytrip and the passengers address was also not mentioned, only the makemytrip office address was mentioned. Then they called up the MMT office and some good Samaritan there, gave the correct contact number. I was smiling after a confused look for the best part of half hour after the plane landed. The smile didn’t last long... the phone was switched off. The Go-Air Team assured me that the luggage would be found in a couple of hours. I decided instead of waiting here, I shall rather make my way to office. I step out of the airport and tens of taxi trivers crowded me as if I was a celebrity and asked me where did I want to go. Parel was the place, and the numbers they started to quote was “Just 400, Just 600”. I just wondered, the taxi fare they were quoting was 6 times my basic fare from Mumbai-Chennai on Go Air. Finally found a Fiat Taxi who swore by the meter. I was advised 150-200 as the range, but you see, when you are a new traveller , statistics makes way to push the range to 300-350. Geez... these guys could give the Chennai Auto walas a run for their money. I generally hate commuting by Taxis in any place for that matter, but since I had luggage and I couldn’t dream of getting into that confusing Mumbai network of trains with my paraphernalia, I went for the taxi.

I arrived at the office, signed a few papers, forms, had a nice lunch, and as I was belching away my suitcase worries, A call comes from Go-Air that my baggage has been found and restored at the office. Now going at peak time to take the bag, meant again planning. Peak time in MUMBAI is between 5 pm and 10 pm when an overwhelming number of people cram their way into highly overcrowded trains as if their life depended on it. The roads are already occupied with bumper-bumper traffic for those who couldn’t make it to the trains. So how else to do you reach the airport? I was feeling weak and defeated in Mumbai J, and decided to retire to the company guest house at Wadala, via another taxi. I reached Wadala and did what I do beat tension, SLEEP in peace, until a call from my classmate Dwaipayan woke me up. It was almost 7 then, and at 7 30 pm, I asked my guesthouse cook for directions, and he saw that I was confused and decided to offer his services for help. He decided to accompany me to the airport. The seriousness of his advise, looked as if he was planning a strategic attack for war commandos to sneak and snake through Mumbai traffic. Frankly, travelling in Mumbai needs some real planning, as it makes the difference between a fume and a cheer. From Wadala East-Near Imax, I took a taxi to the wadala road station, which cost me 40 rs and from there I bought 2 return tickets to Andheri( don’t ask why. I was advised by my cook). The ticket had it written that this ticket is usable till Monday morning, which was so nice considering the mind of a weekend traveller. Wow that’s some customer service! As I stood on the station, a train seemed to come written 7 57 B on it, but my cook advised my against travelling in it as it would stop at Bandra, which meant I would need to get down from the harbour line and cross over to the western line which would be very crowded and unwise to attempt. He asked me to wait for the Andheri local, which would come as that meant that the train would make a natural progression from the harbour line to the western line, without having to board another train till Ville Parle.


Ville Parle arrived... and we took an auto from there to the airport. Just as Bollywood would show an estranged mother meeting her son, I ran into the airport into the wrong terminal and found a guard who seemed from the North East(High Cheek bones). I started in Hindi , pointing my hand at an imaginary counter, that my bag was swapped at a Go air Conveyor belt and I needed to go inside. He only looked in more seriousness at me without opening his mouth. I thought he didn’t understand hindi, and started to speak broken hindi with a gap between each syllable, so that he got an rough import of what I wanted. Basically I went on a SLOW mode, as people from the East of India, have a morbid fascination for talking very fast and finishing the sentence even as they begin speaking(sample Prakritish Buragohain spelt at neck break speed -Pogdees bugwen). He finally opened his mouth saying “pls speak in English”. Sheesh! Was my Hindi bad or he didn’t understand hindi. I was confused and shaken aback. I narrated the whole thing, and he said, that I was bluffing. I was flabbergasted and proceeded to show the tickets and baggage receipt, when he said that he thought I was bluffing as I pointed my hand towards a counter, and that particular building had only Kingfisher and Indian flying. He said Go Air would be the next block and not this. Oh man! Why did he engage me in such a long conversation then? I went to the next counter and thankfully the ordeal was over quickly spotting a cute Go Air girl in a Black and Green T shirt. She helped me with the rest of the formalities.

Having the 15 kg luggage in hand, I was fervently hoping for an auto, but no auto driver budged as being in the airport, he expected a minimum savari of 100 rs or atleast 50 rs, not the 10 rs ride to the ville parle station, which would be an opportunity cost of 90 rs for him, if he plied there. Hard Luck, I had to walk with the luggage across the Sahara Hotel to the higway and crossed it to find an auto, who took me to Ville Parle for 10 rs. The rest of the journey was quite uneventful, with me looking at the complex network of trains that Mumbai had, in the display near the door. The trains are pretty well organised and are dot on time here, and people just seem to keep on running...after they get off from a train. The crowd on the trains and the platforms had me in a dizzy. This weekend I will buy a local time table and chart plans for my travel to office. Looks like operations Management has just got a new case study! Figuring out the most optimal way to travel in the Mumbai Trains and BEST buses.

Andamans Trip- Part 5- Entry to Havelock Islands

Havelock Islands begins here.. This is the place thats meant for the assembling of passengers, and incase you plan to leave the day you arrive here, this is the place to book your return tickets. My advise- never book return tickets- you will regret leaving this paradise :-)

On Havelock Island, this is a point where people drink tea/coffee as soon as they arrive. No, its not a heritage hotel joint, but a normal point where all commoners meet once they set foot.

This is the view that greeted me as soon as I woke up from my sleep on the deck. Havelock arrived- Paradise Regained :-). The water was very clear and the greenish blue colours and the swaying trees reminded you of that island you saw on all windows screen savers.This was real and I was here. Time to get dirty in the waters!


If Cycles were available for rent within Havelock, it would be great. But the best way to get around is to use the local buses, as that way your luggage can be managed easily. Local buses transport you to Radhanagar Beach for as low as rs 12. The taxis burn a large hole of 400 rs for one way transport. This can be avoided, unless you need to return in a couple of hours back to Havelock Base.

Andamans Travel- Part 4

Thats what they call the DSS. This is where you board ships from Portblair to Chennai,Kolkata,Ranghat,Havelock and Neil Island. On Sundays, the reservation counter is not open, so go early to the place where your ship would be standing and wait outside for the manual selling of tickets. The ship we took was the 6 am ship called INS Ramanujam to Havelock Island

Costs- Auto from Aberdeen Bazaar to DSS- 5 08 AM- 30 rs
- Ship from DSS to Havelock Island- 200 rs on the Upper deck(cushioned seating)
- 150 rs on the lower deck( normal wooden seating)


Thats Kirti posing in front of Ramanujam

Thats the interior of the upper deck. Most of the passengers are first timers, so
they would spend their time gazing at the beautiful ocean outside. So if you want
to sneak in 40 winks, you have ample space to lay your body flat against the sea breeze.

It was raining quite heavily at a certain distance from us.
This was Neil Island, which seems to be blanked out by the
rain bearing clouds. All it did was ensure that we had excellent chill breeze
greeting us and it was divine sleep, if you managed to sit out in the terrace of
the ship.

Andamans Travel- Part 3

This was at Ross Island, a British army/naval base which was abandoned. Now a tourist attraction and a lovely place for some peaceful jay walking. You have one canteen here, but incase you are here on the weekend, god save your tummy, these andamanese prefer their siesta at home than conducting business selling eatables. If you walk left towards the entrance, you would find one small tea shop, which when persuaded would make some omlettes and pakoras at premium pricing.

The spotted deer at Ross Island right next to the place where I had tea.

Phoenix Jetty.... when the sky starts to cry. We just made it in time to Portblair when the heavens opened up. It gave us enough time to put our bags in a safe place and enjoy the rains.

When we were caught in the rains, we had a nice conversation with the locaks and also had some Jhal Mudi( Bong for Bhelpuri). It was a lovely sight seeing the islands dissapear undler the influence of the rain and the mist that had descended that evening, even as Kolkata Night Riders were razed to the ground by the Chennai Super Kings.

Andamans Travel- Part 2

Andamans was all idyllic, and this is the road next to the Cellular Jail, quite close to the Phoenix Boat Jetty. There may be some repetitions, in terms of places covered, but I thought a detailed photofeature was the best way to showcase a travellogue instead of moronic text. Go on.. enjoy the travellogue.

Looks Like Kirti Saurabh had a Long night and was all ready to yawn all day long. It was a lovely day with a wet start to it. Check the green colour of the grass in the background.


Those are the boat rates from Phoenix Bay. You could take individual cruises or the combined ones. My take would be see it individually, that way you get started quicker than the combined rides, which leaves you stranded for time at the end of the day.We took North Bay and Ross Island. We didnt see Viper Island due to lack of time. North Bay corals are not visible during bad weather, so be informed when you go there.


On a erstwhile Chariot, with bamboo and hay above, its a perfect setting to sleep with the azure blue Indian Ocean showing up. North Bay is a cool place to visualise some lost world-jungle stories. To add to the lovely nap was some warm tea, spicy channa masala and violet rain bearing clouds

Andamans Travellogue- Part 1

With a Copy of the handwritten Boarding pass at the Chennai Airport terminal

The Veer Savarkar Airport (Port Blair)from outside

Talking to an Auto Driver( so unlike Chennai w.r.t to Rates)

Resting at the Phoenix Bay Jetty...one gear shift of my head while dozing, and I would be in the Indian Ocean...

Andamans was a trip that I would remember for one thing, Lazing and Peace all over. Andamans in off season has its own disadvantages, but the advantages simply outweigh as the kind of influence loneliness,peace and agenda-less lazing brings is actually worth documenting.
For the first time I was boarding an early morning flight, so I was at the airport at 3 30 am, 2 hours after I had dropped my friends at college, after watching the night show of TASHAN at Mayaajal. My friend to join me, Kirti Saurabh, came at 3 45 am, in time for the boarding.What was a departure from the norm was that, they didn’t give printed boarding passes, but on a general printed sheet, they were writing by ink, the passenger details and the other codes required to fill in details. Not such a great way to fill in for all the 100 odd passengers. On the flight both of us didn’t last beyond 20 minutes, after which we dozed off, only to be woken by the airhostess for our mid air 5 am breakfast. We quickly settled for Cup o Noodles, and went back to dozing.,before we were woken up by the captain’s announcements that it was very bad weather 35000 feet above sea level, and we could expect thundershowers in the Andamans. It brought a smile to my face, as that would be a welcome break from the heat of Chennai. We got some great shots of Andamans 15 minutes before the flight landed, first images of the island from the skies.


We landed at 7 am, and we spent some time reading maps at the airport and deciding where to go. After some googling on my laptop, we decided that the places that one could visit were Havelock,Ross Island and North Bay. We were also for this place called Corbyn’s cove, but later found that Andamans wasn’t the place where u decided on a jiffy to travel to a place, but was largely bovine, because of governmental regulations on travel by road/ship. Most of the places(islands) are accessible only by ships or ferries, and it takes quite a while to transport, even though the place may be very close. So we decided on our target places for the next 2 days and moved out of Veer Savarkar Airport( Actually the guards at the aiport seemed to push us out literally, as incoming passengers shouldn’t be waiting in the airport...strange). We got more info from an auto driver who passed on his bits of wisdom to us. An advise as always. Never pick a cab/auto in the airport quarters, walk a distance towards the road leading to the airport and you would get autos for normal rates. The people of the andaman’s are not money crazy and would charge very normal auto rates for commuting within various parts of Andaman.

We took an auto from the airport to the Phoenix bay. The auto drovers speak Bangla if they dot for some strange reason speak Tamil. From here regular boat ours are conducted. We spent sometime at the Tsunami memorial and the canon that were placed there. After that we gave in to the hardsell that the tour operators were making to us.

These boat operators are very slow, and once they give you the tickets, they take their own time to bringing their boats. Since it wasn’t such a hot day we decided to lie down for sometime at the edge of the jetty, to cool off. The boats took eternity to arrive. You would get your chance if you booked individual tours as the clubbed ones in terms of locations have different boats. The boats came and we had to get into the damn boat. It was a slightly cramped boat, but since we took the first row of seats, we could expand our legs and sit, and since there were some naughty children playing in the boat, with glee seeing the sea, we decided to do a hostile bid for their seats and slept peacefully till the boatman, woke us up with North Bay.
Its a very rocky beach, and nothing much to explore here, as these guides don’t give you enough time to soak into the place. North Bay is a huge island, typically the Treasure island types, but has no accommodation to stay at. You would be most welcome to set up your base here with some equipment, but its better to ask the A&N Forest department, once before you plan to camp here.
It looks like the ruins of a small seaside settlement, propped up by these tourism folks. You would be guaranteed peaceful naps here.


North Bay is where you would get a full Reliance signal, and i used this to check on my college emails, and blog a post from there.North Bay looks a deserted place, with a few channa masala operators selling that, and if there is a crowd, sometimes a smart aleck would come and sell some rice lunch. But you get a lovely view of the island, which extends very deep(you would know this if you travel in a ship, where one gets the side view of North Bay).
We spent a couple of hours in North Bay sleeping, getting in to the water and eating tons of channa masala, as that was our first stint with food at the andamans. We also slept a lot during our journey in the ferry that goes along very slow, so as to give the turtle a complex.
Ross Island was the next stop...but the boat doesn’t go to Ross island immideately. The bovine being first went to Port Blair and unloaded some passengers and got new ones flocking to see Ross Island at 2 15 pm. We were allowed time only until 3 30 pm, so after the boat dropped us at Ross Island, the passengers did a hurried walk through. Ross Island, weather permitting is a beautiful place to laze around, walk through British ruins, through small forests. We went for a small dip near an abandoned place, and as it looked like the rains were imminent with the smell of Wet Earth, what better way to prepare for it than pakodas and hot tea. As the drizzle started, we also saw the spotted dear roaming behind us. The ferry left us back on Port Blair(Phoenix Jetty) at 4 15 pm. We had just walked a few metres and we were caught in the rains. Both of us managed to keep our bags in a shelter and came out to click some pictures of an Andaman evening in the rains. Here go some of them. In a conversation with a few stranded locals, we gathered that the whole phoenix bay was submerged in the 2004 tsunami(Thats why a Tsunami memorial in a jetty)

After the rains, we needed to get accomadation, in the melee of touring we had not registered in any lodge/hotel. So we enquired around some hotels. We found that Hotel Shompen and Sun sea were the best hotels in the city close to the Shipping Yard. But we didn’t want to spend so much, especially when our only aim was to get some rest till 4 am, as we had a 5 am boat to catch the next day. We trusted an auto driver to show us a place for around 500 bucks with a Television(to catch up on the much hyped up Chennai vs Kolkata IPL game)
We found a shady place near Aberdeen bazaar, close to an autostand on a hill, and decided to snooze for a while before we set out on our dinner. Dinner- the best place to go for vegetarians would be Annapurna. Very good food and decent ambience. The place goes dark by 6 pm, and shops tend to close early also.


After a sumptuous dinner, we went to bed, making sure we make optimum use of the single charging point with our electronic paraphernalia.

PART 2 Coming up...

Pictures at Andamans

Travellogue follows shortly

Tranquil Aqua Marine Bluish-green Waters of the Andamans

I am enjoying peace at North Bay in the Middle Andaman Islands. I landed today expecting tropical heat conditions, but suprisingly the captain of the flight, warned us on wet weather and thundershowers. Andamans seems slower and sleepy than Goa. The kind of people who I have seen so far touring are the PSU sector folks, who are enjoying their LTC vacation with their families. So far from 8 am to 4 pm , we have scheduled a visit to Ross Island and North Bay(Coral reefs, promised, but havent spotted anything so far). I would be spending the rest of the 2 days in Havelock islands. Will give an update on the same, when I find a plug to charge my laptop. The Aqua marine Bluish green water, seems to add to the lovely experience. I hear Havelock island is far better than this beach. This beach that I am resting at seems to be a roky beach, with the tinges of Bluish Green.

IPL-All fun and no substance

The IPL is attractive, by mixing entertainment and cricket. I liked the music in the stadum, between intervals.It kind of keeps you pepped up on energy, but whats the point of preparing batsman friendly tracks with 200+ totals becoming a norm. Its just like playing cricket 2007 on my laptop, where the game becomes predictable. I guess we need more contests that would present an even contest between bat and ball. I still enjoyed some Jayasuriya's and Robin Uthappa's strokes.The sound of wood on leather seemed pleasant. I was also impressed with the way Manpreet Gony bowled(plays for Chennai Super Kings).

The heat and sultry weather in Chennai sometimes just gets to you. I had a nice view from the F stand(Covers-Long Leg view), but the heat in the stadium made me feel miserable. The cheerleaders team were pretty ordinary compared to the ones seen at Kolkata/Mohali/Mumbai. It was like Pamela Anderson against one of those Bahu characters.

Heading for IPL Today

Will be watching the Chennai vs Mumbai match today at the Chepauk Stadium. I want to watch Sachin at his best today. I am not so-much into supporting local teams, as the game is generally interesting if a fixed identity of nationalism comes, but not regionalism(at least so far). Chennai superkings hardly have anybody from Chennai, save 3-4 people. Anyways, going today to the D stand, paying 500 bucks, thanks to my classmate Shankar pulling out, due to some domestic commitments.

Going to a 1 day match at Chepauk after 6 years. The last full-one day match was India vs England, as the other matches in 03,04,05 and 06, were marred by rain.

Racing to the end!

You know its not going to be a podium finish, but you still run the race like mad, just because you need to be ackowledged that you ran the race. Here I am 5 45 in the morning, doing my last set of presentations, case assignments and tests. The course ends on 23rd, and we have a test on 24th. After that its a briefing session for the next 5 days with our junior batch, and on 30th, we get royally kicked out of college, via a convocation. Sometimes, the 1 year MBA itself becomes a drag, given the number of days that we spend sleepless nights, the 2 year course must be a test of patience. I might flunk in yesterday's FSAV exam, and if that wasnt enough there's Investment Banking's end term tommorow. There's only so many D's and F's that I can afford. I hope I get a D in FSAV, that leaves me affording one more D in Investment banking. 3 D's and I still pass the course.God Save me!

IPL Starts today

I have my dean's "unbunkable" Megers and Acquisitions, Strategy subject later in the afternoon and a test on Industrial Marketing. Bad timing to have it coincide with IPL...

I need the grades to pass.....so IPL your value might be lessened with an afficianado like me missing out watching the opener!

I was at Mumbai yesterday, and I must say that the free wifi service at the Airport is excellent. A year back TATA INDICOM used to charge a bomb for a bad wi-fi service in the security-check-in area in the Delhi Airport. Glad to see Airtel change all that. I felt good, transferring my outlook mails, which refused to open in my otherwise slow reliance data card.

Virus Blues!

Its that time of the year, when the virus attacks and you are left staring at your computer to decide what files are to be copied, what files are to be given the pink slip and done away to rot on the machine, as I would format it. formally 7 more days of classes, and thats the time I would have to format my system, take the most immportant files from peers. I guess, I should buy a portable hard drive to store the data,else keep burning DVD's for the data.

The New Age Javed Miandad!-Chanderpaul

The Last one Year!

Life in the past year has been a roller coaster ride at Great Lakes. Life has seen the joys, the moments of exhilaration, the darker moments and disappointments also. When one comes to a B school, every body comes with the aim of becoming a transformed person who then goes on to make his mark later in life. Transformation- The English dictionary defines it as , especially extreme psychological or character change, as in the context and vocabulary, but a B schooler wants something more. Well to get an idea, how’s this for that something more? Financial transformations on the paycheque from being software engineer to a strategy consultant/investment banker. A Bschoolers life ideally revolves around first getting subscribed to the fact that this one year is going to be a no-pay year, and they would have to keep costs low, and manage accounts well. They are into the second month at B school and their accounts seemed to be managed well so far, until Financial/Management Accounting comes and reminds them that there is lot more to accounting than what meets the eye. They start to pay closer attention to terminologies like CREDIT and DEBIT, by looking hard at their online bank accounts, and figuring out that life could be so much more easier without so much complex accounting. If those were the first instances of troubling your normal life, here comes the killer whale in the dreaded Stats. Statistics, made us realise how important was it to stay afloat on the sea of numbers and formulae, and we all started paying serious attention to that ubiquitous software called Microsoft Excel that you borrowed from your friend. Apart from all this was to wait in Eastern Philosophy for the noose to be hung around your neck when your chance came to answer, and it was in those moments that I discovered my strengths of predicting my probability of answering a question right was far closer to what Aryabhatta called zero, and depended on arbit and desperate participation to get some points against your name.

B school life is not all that dull and boring, with exams and pre reads. It depends on how you want to make use of the time post dinner. Dinner at the nearby dhabas became a good networking ground for most folks and conversations frequently hovered upon how one got good North Indian food in Chennai, which would unanimously turn out as the next mass networking joint. When folks were too tired after dinner, and didn’t want to devote their attention to the pre reads that were outstanding from the previous information transaction called Class, a bunch of intelligent folks found out how to form a movie club and play movies in the classrooms that were deserted at night. The MNMC(Mid Night Movie club) had movies of all genres and at times even was the host of many stress breakers like the all night carrom tournament and the Counter Strike networking sessions.While some saw strategy in Kotler and Porter, others swore by Age of Empires. In between the din and chaos of the gamers, were silent souls who in other classrooms would be holding a joint meeting to analyse the case given the previous day even as sleep would threaten their logic and resolve.

3 months into B school, one is used to snooze sessions in between classes (for 15-30 minutes) to catch up on those divine moments of peace, extra snooze sessions in classes, and crazy expectation of profs to accomadate pre reads and case study analyses. We learnt the importance of qualititative multitasking and forming strategic joint ventures, so that the group did well in the next days presentations. We still pride ourselves for becoming detectives at night, solving cases all night, to discover that 10 other groups have done much better than your so-called-solution. I for one started hating the word competition for a while, competition in class rooms, cases, pre reads, and even competition to eat lunch beating the queues. Nirvana for a B schooler is snooze, and some like minded friends to step away into a utopian world for a while, as it relieves the stress of the previous day. Life at Great Lakes has helped us to bond better and fight better, keeping the larger objective in mind.All these interactions have helped us see the corporate world and the possible problems that may arise, and the attitude required to take firm decisions.

6 months into Great Lakes, we braved ourselves for the first monetary and functional competition in the race for internship slots. The internship was a peek into the big bad corporate world and just a reflection to remind you that the world out there is not as linear and utopian as a B schooler starts to think after what he calls his “best strategy” in the cases he used to solve.

9 months into Great Lakes, the Pressure and tension was at a all time high, with heavy courses and assessments, competing with monetary dreams, as placement season looms large. Placement season saw a battle that each one was fighting as an individual and as a team, for that was the most tangible take away from the course apart from the eye opening interactions during the courses. Placement season rained jobs and offers, and once that was over, you hardly have the inclination to put even half the effort into the courses scheduled after placement season. The challenge now is to come to college, and not about offering your 2 paisa worth arbit and desperate class participation.

Now as 15 days remain for the program to end, you realise that all that buzz and activity has now settled down in fine dust, that would leave behind traces of an era that just got over. The Junior Crusaders are passing out... and its time for some new wine in the bottle called B school. Long Live the B Schooler’s Life!

Heading Westwards!

I was lying in my couch last evening thinking of what I was going to miss. Hmmm....to draw a list, I would be missing my cushy life in Chennai, the lovely empty feeling that I have had in the last one year of relaxing with friends, the midnight binges, 3 am conversations with friends at tea shops,My home theatre system, the wide space of my independent house in Madipakkam.

In a month from now, I would be transported to what they call "The city of Dreams"-Mumbai. I expect it to be fast paced high adrenalin life, from what I hear from Mumbaikars in my college. Its also a foray into a cosmopolitan culture, a culture rather unknown to a home bred Tam brahm like me untill I ventured into GL for my PGPM. As a tourist to any city, one is able to appreciate the finer points of the culture in a city. I guess, I am ready for that. I never saw any merits in Chennai as that was home, and the grass on the other side being greener, I am ready to set foot into a different culture fending for myself.

Right now the mind is trying to picture myself in Mumbai, after I bought the EICHER-Mumbai road map, but the open book of "Financial Statements Analysis and Valuation" is staring at me, as I dream about Mumbai and the life there. The only flip side to Mumbai is that even after an MBA, you live life like a lower middle class guy, with congested office spaces and houses, as the cost of living seems to be really high, but its worth the compromise, given the vibrant nature of the city and the raw energy the city exudes(I am told that). Chennai.. ...You've given me a peaceful life, unmindul of the competition and the big bad world out there, but its that time of my life where I need to explore, what it feels to live alone in the big bad world, in what they call India's nerve centre....and as a travel enthusiast, I can only hum the wonderful Kishore da number... "Musafir hoon Yaaron...." as I prepare to be a Mumbaikar.

The Week in Pictures

Last week was quite a week. There were dull elements as well as exciting elements. The dull part were all those subjects scheduled during day 2 and day 3 of the Chennai Test Match. The more interesting thing was of course being right there at Chepauk, when Sehwag played a masterly innings. It made me tired as I had to appluad, by getting up every now and then. It was great sitting at the stadium, as it felt a great sense of unity whenever India played well, as with 40000 people you feel as If the whole of India is watching the match with you. The above video was the moment Sehwag scored his 200, and the crowd reaction in the D stand.

I had also been to Mumbai on Saturday, the 4th day of the test match, missing my session with Mr T.N.Seshan at college. I was flown in to Mumbai for an interview with a web company. The morning flight was in JET Airways and I was pleasantly suprised to see the in-flight entertainment system that JET had. They had divided it into audio and video podcasts, apart from licenced television archival content. I was hearing Atif's album and some classical music, apart from watching a 23 minute Malgudi days show modelled on the "Vendor of Sweets".
The Kingfisher in-flight system looks better than JET as they give Live TV, and I was watching a movie shown via DISH TV's network and the ICL match between Hyderabad and Chandigarh teams.Kingfisher no doubt is one of the finest experience in the skies.

The interview location was Worli in Mumbai on Annie Besant road, and before I went to the interview, I had lassi on the road, and after the interview had 2 nice coconuts to quench my thirst.

I managed to hook up with my classmate Prakritish, who's come there for a brief 10 day training session with the Bayer Group(he joins them in June). This training seemed to be mandatory, as his superior needed to pass on some knowledge transfer. He stays in Thaane, so we decided to meet at VT, and then spend some time together at Lunch

We took one of those ubiquitous MumbaI Black Taxis, and we went to this place called Leopold Cafe. The food I had there is easily better than those branded pizza chains offer. We also went to MCdonalds for a McAloo Tikki Burger.

That's the sensex, on Dalal Street, the Bombay Stock Exchange, This is where the epicentre of the Indian financial earthquake happens when the nifty falls :-).
I left for Churchgate station at 5 pm to reach the airport for my 7 pm Kingfisher Flight. The train was pretty crowded and I was literally pushed out at Santa Cruz station , 1 station ahead of the Vile Parle station, that I wanted to get down. I took an auto from Santa Cruz railway station to the domestic airport and this is how the drama unfolded

5 59 pm:
Father calls, asks m if I am in airport for the flight, and when is the flight?
me: Dont worry, I am not so careless, I am near the airport, stuck in a traffic jam, flight at 7 i think?
Father: What do you mean by "think"? dont u know exactly when your flight is?
Me: I remember seeing a 55 in the minutes column, so it must be 18 55 or 1900 hrs. I will check. bye for now.

I opened my ticket, it was 6 pm now, As thought there was the 55 component, BUT
the flight was supposed to reach Chennai at 19 55, and starting from Mumbai at 18 05. I have never stared so long at the ticket and with such animated horror. I paid the Auto guy his fare and ran out from the traffic jam to the airport, which was half a kilometre away. I ran, and I was getting breathless and when I reached the counter of the airport, the guard saw the ticket as it was some japanese script and said " Yeh to Kingfisher hain... doosra terminal...1 b jaana hoga". At 18 10... here I was trying to find the terminal for a 18 05 flight, and I ran across a few gardens sensing the shortcut to the 1b terminal, and when I reached there, the guard at 1b said "Yahan Nahi... upar jaana padega"...18 15, and I lost hope, but since I had run as if my life depended, I decided to still run. I was totally drained of my energy after that run and reached the Kingfisher terminal in the first floor 2 minutes later

I barged in and mumb0 jumboed in an apolegetic way, for the Chennai flight, and the attendant said that boarding is closed. I put up an even more apologetic face and told that I am not from Mumbai and was unaware of the traffic jams, and tried reaching the airport number franticaly, but of no avail. He smiled at me, I thought it was a wicked smile, but fortunately it wasnt. He said the flight had some problem and was still on the runway. I was gleaming within, that I had made it and would be going home in a couple of hours. I just rested in peace as the kingfisher bus transported me to the flight, and drank 4 bottles of water as I celebrated within the fact that had made it to the flight.

In the flight, my nerves were lightened by watching some movies and live cricket... and readied myself for a presentation the next day on Small business Marketing. What an end to a week :-)

Oh No, Not Again!

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/01cau2.htm

I remember the time I joined Infosys in 2004 October, Karnataka had a ban on non-kannada movies to promote their local language movies. It was a crazy idea, and such a protectionist policy only shows the lack of having guts to make good cinema in Karnataka. I totally respect the Kannadiga sentiments, but they just need a reason to pick up a quarrel with Tamil Nadu. I remember travelling on a Shatabdi between Bangalore and Chennai in April 2006, when one of their top actors(Rajkumar) passed away. Tamil houses and trains were targets of Mob violence. So my planned Hogenekkal trip may be in jeapordy because of this violence...

Now will they Target Vijay Mallya, because the UB group is the principal sponsor of the Chennai IPL Cricket Team? (Owners are INDIA CEMENTS). Let the debate begin