kartik kannan's space on the web

Something to do with financial hubs and the Sea?

2011-12-14T10:20:00.000+05:30

Over the last 2 years, I've been fortunate to spend time in Bombay,Singapore,Hong Kong and London. All these cities are reasonable nerve centres of financial activity and are along the sea. I see that each of these cities have a similar character in the sense that, the services are excellent for the common man in infrastructure, a relatively advanced society, a cosmopolitan culture and cities where people rise up in life the hard way. I dont know if any of what I point is connected, but this was just a thought. I seem to have developed a great deal of affinity with each of these cities. Throw me in these cities, and I would probably enjoy my way around the city and with people from the city.

Any similar thoughts?

Virtual Cricket

2011-09-14T08:30:00.000+05:30

Cricket has been so central to my life, that I need to play some sort of virtual cricket to keep my mind active and buzzing. Its a fantasy world that I need to be in, away from the real world, albeit for a short time. I guess, over time, my dependence has reduced, due to the 'law of diminishing marginal utility'. It used to be Book Cricket or Cricket 2007, which used to be my staple diet. Book Cricket, was probably the crudest way to get occupied with the fantasy world, but playing it from my childhood days, has made me very fast with adding numbers. I did not realise this, until someone pointed out to me that I was adding up the flipped pages really fast.

But, One needs variety and better simulations to match the game, and Cricket 2007, has been a lovely companion for the last 4 years. My wife's gifted me an Ashes 2009 DVD, but my computer and laptop's processing power has been struggling to load the game. I've also used the virtual cricketing games to share commentary space with Richie Benaud, Mark Nicholas, Tony Greig and Jonathan Agnew. Its interesting to make sense of what to speak, and is a great platform to make mistakes, and learn the art of entertaining from behind the scenes through your voice.

But over the next one year, I should look to either add Ashes 2009, or add PSP, if it can provide better simulation for the mind, but Cricket will be the winner!

Pyaar Ka Punchnaama

2011-06-19T07:49:00.000+05:30

Sometimes, when you watch a trailer, you just know what to expect in a movie. I was sold on the movie, from the trailer that plays on youtube. I was expecting it to be a laugh riot, and it turned to be a awesome flick, simply because of the ease with which you can relate to the movie. I loved the script and the dialogue, which struck a perfect chord, as none of the humor was manufactured, it just came out so naturally.

Every guy goes through a phase in life, where his life changes, once a woman enters his life, and that is what PKP comically presents. The women were rightly chosen, right amount of clothing to keep the audience plugged in :-), and I must say the same of the guys too. Recreating a guy's room is no mean task, with so much attention to details. Underwear's strewn about, books lying all over, beer bottles all over, clothes lying on the floor....looking at that, it felt so much in connection with the halcyon days of college life, where a guy is yet to wake up to the realities of life.

The case of the Overheated and Overcooled Wood

2011-06-14T11:58:00.000+05:30

When I look at a piece of wood, that makes my door, I wonder how temperature makes it grow and dwarf in size across summer and winter. The process of growth and reduction is gradual and slow, such that the door can retain its character and adapt as per the temperature outside. But for a moment, think how would it be, if it were subjected to intense heat one week, and intense chillness the next in alternating fashion. Will the wood in the door be able to maintain its character? Would the wood be as strong as its supposed to be and can it last the distance of time? My guess on that would be an obvious NO, and I am sure your guess would not deviate too much from my answer.
If we apply the same yardstick to the way the various formats of the game are scheduled, we see that switching between 20 overs, 50 overs and Test cricket at an alarming pace, is only going to harm the quality and shelf life of our players. 20 over cricket has transformed cricket into a consumer centric game, which unites the family when it comes to evening television. Is it 20 over cricket or league cricket that’s been able to hit the consumer jackpot? My gut feel is that league cricket has evoked higher TRP’s and with India’s latest World Cup victory this year, the feeling of watching India compete in a global completion could well be the flavor of what the consumers may want for the next few years, and its understandable that they also want to watch their favorite players in action, in a combination that has all the best cricketers across the world, on a single stage.
Keeping the above point, I am wondering, if ICC should shift the T20 cricket to a model, where its played as part of the domestic league (IPL,SPL,Big Bash and the likes) and the ICC World 2020. This is where the 20 over cricket can get the maximum bang for buck. 20 over bilateral cricket should be scrapped for the time being, so as to allow players to concentrate on the bigger formats of the 50 over cricket and Test Cricket. The difference of adjusting between test cricket and 50 over cricket is still not huge, as the average run rate is 4 an over in test cricket, and 5.5 runs an over in One day cricket, while T20 cricket hovers in the 7+ range. This is where the wear and tear to the subjects playing the game is witnessed more. The advantage of not having bilateral T20 series is that, it increases focus on tours to the traditional formats of cricket, and lessens the mental strains that players need to undergo while playing between these formats.
In the ongoing 50 over ODI series between India and West Indies, one can see the youngsters in both the teams, batting aggressively and mindlessly slogging against quality bowling. The problem with this approach is, youngsters having problems in their technique against quality bowling, will try to hit their way out of it, rather than correcting their technique. This approach to the game makes the game terribly one-sided, with either the batsmen winning a temporary short battle, or the bowlers winning it against batsmen who are risk prone. Cricket was supposed to be a war, which had a series of battles. The beauty of the war was to see the see-saw swings, between the battles to translate into a script that made the war beautiful to watch. If we have an overkill of the battles, then the game loses its character, players lose their natural abilities by shielding chinks with brute brawny abilities, and finally the TRP’s succumb to gravity.
So, should the ICC take a decision against bilateral ODI series, and save the wood from extinction? Or Maybe PETA can do a campaign against saving Leather and Wood, with a nice model, doing a brain dead nude photo shoot, since the ICC has tons of money.
What do you think about not having Bi-lateral T20 series?

50 First Dates

2011-06-08T11:24:00.000+05:30

50 First Dates!

The concept of Adam Sandler, trying to woo Drew Barrymoore, every single day for 50 days, to me reflected a sense of achievement, as it was against the tide of Drew Barrymore’s short term memory loss. Every day was a new day, where Adam Sandler had to start from scratch to woo her, and all his hard work would be negated at the end of the day, as Drew Barrymore would have forgotten what happened earlier in the day.

I am applying the same concept to leading to cricket and more specifically T20 sides. Every game gives both the teams an equal opportunity to go one up on the opponent. The skills on display are for a very short period, so flashes of brilliance doesn’t need to go through the test of sustenance across 50 overs. Teams that are used to waiting for things to happen, before going for the kill, would find that the format of T20 is sometimes unforgiving. M.S.Dhoni found that out one summer evening at Mohali, when an unknown youngster’s (Paul Valthaty)carnage helped Kings 11 Punjab, down the Chennai Super Kings, after a spectacular 180+ chase. MSD, has been one of the better captains, who has managed to win 4 major T20 titles, and if you notice, in each of the tournaments, MSD never looked completely in command, but managed to work hard every single time, when he was in a problem, by wearing a smile, and trying out different things to woo the lady called Victory.

Most teams, when they reach the mature phase of the winning curve tend to go off the boil, as they stop focusing on experimentation and start looking for a template to win. While it may be a nice methodology to study the DNA behind successful T20 sides, what works on most occasions is the fact that the single biggest factor is the ability to start from scratch to carve out victories every single time. Taking things for granted, is where you distance yourself from victory, as you believe that you don’t need to earn it, as it is already in your lap. The fact is the victory that is in your lap, is a memoir of the good times, you had as a team, and just that. To retain the victory in your lap, you need to fight doubly harder with sides, who keep throwing newer challenges at the champions.

The Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers, both had excellent runs of form, but it was not quite divided between all the members of the side, and secondly these teams opted for a lot of familiar tactics to keep the points graph go northward. The lack of focused experimentation, and the nerve to succeed when not placed in a comfort zone, proved to be their undoing.

The Chennai Super Kings have done well to keep their date with wooing the goddess of victory, time and again. It is very visible in their work ethic, with players like Hussey and Badrinath, who have been examples of sustained excellence over a longer time period. It was probably the creation of a new hunger every day, that made them chase success, resembling Adam Sandler’s enthusiasm and patience in the movie ’50 First dates’.

So, the 2 questions to ask yourself, to bask in the shade of the silverware would be to ask, how much have you done to woo your date? If you can manage to woo the goddess of victory that way, the silverware should be one of the many destinations on your road trip to the peak of Success!

God In Town, and I am not!

2011-05-27T16:49:00.000+05:30

With God in Town, and not being able to go, is a yucky feeling. Not having any reporting work for the IPL(as in having stadium entrance passes) is also making it tough. Buying tickets for matches, does not seem to work out, as the tickets are either priced too high, or are never available. Cricket is slowly moving towards a phase, where they are alienating themselves away from the millions of fans who give away their time, to watch their GODS. The Parthasarathy temple, the Kapaleeshwarar temple and the likes around that area of Mylapore and Triplicane are going to lose a few of their devotees to Sony Max and Chidambaram stadium, especially when GOD is here.

Kartik Kannan on a Talk Show

2011-05-03T08:07:00.001+05:30

I was invited by the student of Asian College of Journalism, a guest on their morning Video Show " Hello Chennai" on the 17th of March, 2011 to speak my thoughts on the World Cup. Do let me know, your feedback on the conversation.

Social Web-In your Locality

2011-05-02T19:29:00.002+05:30

With the advent of technology, the cost of owning a handset and cost of accessing the internet through a mobile device has come down. Given that each of these mobiles subscribe to a platform(Symbian/iPhone/Blackberry/Android), its not too difficult in concentrating apps for social connectivity. There exists a huge Indian market, waiting to be tapped. The market, that I am mentioning is your vegetable vendor, the auto-driver who plies between the crooked lanes, the hospital nurse who is attending to your grandmother. These people, are never in the consumer map, of the folks who design applications for the mobile. Todays applications have prices that are affordable, but are aimed at the tech savvy people. If, one of us can take the lead to find out what connects the community around our area, we can eliminate a lot of friction and spring in some efficiency into the way things run.

The vegetable vendor can take his orders through a simple application, that supports local language, and serve more people. He can guage consumer demand, and invest in the right amount of inventory. He can customise plans for his audience of buyers. The money to be made, is on the volume. It needs a goverment interefernce in announcing that people with a mobile, can order an auto through a neighberhood application, and can complain to the police, incase any malpractise is committed.

All this is just a figment of my imagination, but it does call for a system, that the common man can use to his daily benefit. This is a way, of solving a common man’s problem, by investing a little time in understanding a simple application. Applications, once made can be made a medium of instructions via school to teach students, who then ask their parents.

Change can be measured by the smile on the face of the common man, rather than look at the revenue potential of an idea. If change can happen, revenue will follow a like a dog follows the bone.

Life's Stages-Like a T20 Game.

2011-04-30T09:29:00.000+05:30

When I look at the various stages of life, it has a close resemblance to the T20 cricket being dished out in IPL4. The message I get is that, each stage of life is a new match, with new highs and lows not quite related to the previous performance. Though the scars of the previous bad performance, may seep into the next stage of life, it's upto the individual to selectively filter, what he wants. I was looking at my life and a few of my friend's lives and dividing it into stages, and I found that life is certainly no race, but it makes us feel that way, in order to see if we are in the lead. Why is it so? Is it inherently because, a large component of our life is measured that way, in numerical landmarks from education to work? I think so. We look at marks but not learning, we look at average salaries but not satisfaction, and look at filling our lives with digging insurances for the worst-while we just miss out on life.

I thought, as a kid, I should have focussed more on my education at school, but I later realised that there are certain things you would love to go back and tinker, but thats not the message life is giving. The message is loud and clear. You have a bunch of Life-stages, each a T20 match, which gives an equal .50 probability of winning or losing. As is the case with life, only a creamy layer makes it to the finale. While this may look like a race to the top, people can decide, if they want to enjoy the journey, or get consumed by the pressure.

ENJOY- Does it mean that I will always be happy and smiling, without bothering about the consequences?

Thats where the differentiator to life is. How do you keep smiling, when we all know that we are like a boat in an ocean, and waves come in various sizes to take my smile away?

The key to ENJOYING is, wanting to make a difference.

a) Never play for a result, with the end goal in mind. It starts sending you pressure in bouts of an compounded equated monthly installment. Starting with the end result, you need to break it down in what you consider, accomplishable chunks.

b) ENJOYING is also about caring. You need to invest your time carefully so that you dont keep creating things from scratch, failing to recognise or subside a destructive element. The time needs to be divided between a process and allowing free time, to make decisions on gut feel.

c) Once you start to care about the task at hand, you will slowly realise that you are able to see all its relationships and entities, like a tantric would. Once you are transported to that sublime world, where you see its past, current and future, keeping placeholders help, so that when you come back the next day, after breaking for time in the real world, only a little time is invested getting back into the sublime state. A sublime state and ideal relaxation are must-have investments for excellence to be fostered.

d) Getting back to the Boat-in-the-Ocean Anology, there will be times, the waves will topple you over. No shame about that. The wave is powerful than us. Sometimes, we see our friend or colleague in that wave, and thats what hits us hard, that they managed to topple us. This makes you even more angry, and you decide to fight, or wait for time to heal. Both are completely sane reactions, that will shape, the vibes we will have with similar waves in the future. If we decide to fight, we must clearly identify the problem, its root cause, possible ways of the problem occurring before deciding on a solution, that may be one time, or permanent.

e) If you are done with exhausting all the problems, the permanent way, then welcome to the next level, where life will throw at you problems, where your involvement needs to be for longer periods, and has more complex unknown threads. To get through these levels, one needs to understand basic laws of using politics to win wars and not focus on battles. If politics has not found way into your life, you've probably not worked at an IT company, studied at a B-School or got married :-) !

f) T20 Cricket- has its highs and lows, and like every game is different each stage in life is different. Make an effort to have a happy ending, but life comes with no guarantees, like your products, or if they do.. there are a million conditonal clauses, which takes a 'life stage' to understand and manipulate(and the rules of the game have changed by then).

So Little Time, So Much To Do

2011-04-25T08:09:00.000+05:30

I've always got the feeling that, I have a lot to do, but dont find the time. How true is it? To an extent it is, but its also true, that by scheduling it, one can achieve it. But its a Monday morning, and with the excuse theme, I'd like to say that a lot of activities are mood based, and only when done in the mood, can you actually enjoy and do it, as opposed to doing it like a task. It could be reading Lonely Planet's travellogues, or researching a place on the Internet, or reliving some old cricket scorecards, but it requires the right mood to really enjoy the activity. When I have time, I am looking to complete some task that has a defined completion time, as that wishlist backlog is huge. I then need to start prioritising my hobbies, which is bad, as hobbies are not meant to be slotted and calculated in time spent. Its about meandering aimlessly and enjoying the journey as opposed to running to reach a destination. Yet another week, starts. Lets hope I am able to balance sanity and insanity.

Pursuit of Excellence

2011-04-07T19:44:00.000+05:30

I've been reading a bit on the pursuit of excellence in sport. I came across Rasmus Ankersen(The High Performance Coach), and thats when I connected the dots with, Malcom Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule and high performance. I was enthusiastic about learning, what it takes to be succesful. Was it about the system or was it about the individual? It must be about un-knowingly creating a framework within which an individual's activities brings about success.

Today I glanced upon "IPL-An Inside Story" and the chapter on Shane Warne and How the Rajasthan Royals won, just makes for some lovely insights, that when you have nothing to lose, all your energy is spent at executing the goal, but the more you complicate matters with egos and hype, one does tend to lose out on the negative energy. But to win, despite all the flaws in the system is also something that needs to isloate the environment, and see where is it that simplicity, occupied a significant place.

I am wondering if Case Studies of extra-ordinary achievments in sports can be used for success in corporate life. Corporate life, needs energy and patience, to unravel subtly through the maze of layers/hierarchy/office politics to emerge out and then fight the battle. The latter helps you stay at a place, more than travelling to a different orbit. Some of these stories about chasing success is gut wrenching, and makes me feel, that its never shameful to be who you are and focus on what you want.

I guess I should tune some of my cricket writing along these lines, and look at examples of strategy and focus on the right statistics. Maybe maintaining an excel of all IPL related happenings can be start to sift the data, the way I want.

Feeling One With the Road

2011-03-14T07:37:00.000+05:30

I was pleasantly happy, at my first Road Trip with my new car. I plan to do more of these trips around Chennai. There are so many beautiful sights to see in the roadside villages, the mountains, the lakes and the lovely greenery all around. I've earlier done a road trip to Mahabalipuram twice, but this trip to Tirupati was nice. Mahabalipuram, feels like an extension of Chennai, so it doesnt really add to a Road-Trip experience. I have a few holidays coming around April. May plan for another road trip. It also helps, that my wife can drive on the highway, so I dont feel too tired also.

Sleeping Secrets!

2011-03-10T21:09:00.000+05:30

With the amount of mosquitoes in my part of Chennai, my sleep cycle is largely determined by the amount of mosquitoes choosing to visit that night. I had the whole house netted, and the rats ended up, biting the net and create a gaping hole. I close all the doors and still the mosquitoes have found their way inside. I have a few devices(Good Night) that claim to kill mosquitoes, but I see the law of "survival of the fittest" and the mosquitoues are still around.

The only thing that temporarily works, is switching the AC on 16 degrees for the night. Not the right cost to pay, just to battle the damn mosquitoes.

Ok. I wanted to type more, but between this post, I have hit 7 mosquitoes, and there is enough work for my maid, to clear the mess on the floor.

My Cricket World Cup Coverage

2011-02-20T03:12:00.002+05:30

Do check my articles at my alternate Blog

Financial Planning

2011-01-04T06:13:00.002+05:30

I am beginning to get interested in finance, and options where I can create more wealth by planning an investment. I dont think the money is the motivating factor, but the possibilities of using it to travel somewhere that makes me feel good. In the last 6 months, I have ended up buying quite a few things, which I would have otherwise not bothered in investing. A new phone, A new email device, A new Sedan, A new house .....errrr.... and I am now contemplating buying a Club Mahindra Membership(The Red Membership). I might delay the Club Mahindra purchase, as the EMI's committed right now comprise more than 80% of my salary, so I'd better wait for some of the EMI's to ease out.

I am thinking of starting to understand the basics of investing in funds. I dont I'd be able to spend too much time analysing growth numbers, but nevertherless I wont be shy to wet my feet.

The New Life Begins!

2010-12-05T21:31:00.004+05:30

I've been largely quiet on my blog since the time I joined B school, and even more quiet once I had passed out. I took a while to understand my motivations and where I spend my time, and what I'd like to do. I had for a while, forgotten the who the 'real me' was, and it took my blog to discover myself. It feels good to start afresh, having sorted out priorities and committed to a long term plan. The lungs feel free, now that a mental insurance deal has decided to have a better filter to the putrid air. I am beginning to enjoy a few things that I have conciously missed over so many years.

Facebook, has taken a lot of my time, but this is my real identity-My Blog, My Thoughts unaffected by what others say, irrespective of a 'Like' or a 'Comment', and staying undiluted.
These days life is good with a new Digital Camera that I have purchased. Nikon D3100 was gifted by Janani to me, and it feels lovely with the power to capture some compelling images.

So the last day of my old life is in the twilight period with the beginning of the life with a newer perspective. Hope more such changes happen, and life is beautiful as ever.

Manoj Prabhakar gets candid about playing Pakistan in Sharjah

2010-11-11T19:05:00.000+05:30

Quick results versus the Learning Curve

Today’s generation focuses a lot more on quick results and this article explores why such a methodology is not helping Indian cricket. The anxiety of performance during crucial matches and big ticket tournaments are wrong performance goals that some of today’s youngsters focus on, as a result of which the focus is not on basics, but on trivial short term interests. In an interview with the former Indian ace swing bowler, Manoj Prabhakar, what comes to fore is a sad disease that’s plaguing Indian cricket. Manoj Prabhakar is in Chennai as part of Delhi’s coach for their Ranji campaign against Tamil Nadu this week.

Manoj reflects on the sad fact that today’s pace bowlers have set the wrong performance goals like going after the pace gun on the pacementer and losing focus on important elements like swing and the right action. Manoj feels that for a bowler to mature, he needs to go through the complete learning curve where he experiments and always keeps coming back to check if his basics are fine. Today’s bowlers in India don’t seem to have the right interest levels to work hard and want to use the shortcuts to fame. He feels part of the problem is also due to the wrong set of people/coaches heading various committees for spotting grassroot talent in India, who use the wrong yardstick for picking youngsters.
Manoj reminisces the fact that there were many legends in his time like Lilee,Imran,Hadlee and he never missed an opportunity to speak with legends and credits them for passing over a lot of information and tricks of the trade. His interaction was them was more than just a coaching session, but an education into the techniques of what makes a legend and gives an insight into their work ethics.Today’s youngsters don’t seem to be wanting to learn and are more bothered about dropping their sunglasses than their kit, and the work ethic needs to be paid more attention. An interesting observation was made over why Ishant Sharma had lost some of his fire. Ishant non bowling arm shoulder was dropping, as a result of which rhythm,swing,bounce,line and length got gradually affected and he was like a snake that had lost its fangs for the better part of a season.

Manoj also rewinded back to his playing days where he still cant offer an explanation as to why India had the mental block of beating Pakistan at Sharjah and considers David Boon,Gavaskar,Sachin and Gooch as the toughest batsmen, he really doesn’t enjoy bowling to.

In Manoj’s time of the early 90’s India’s yearly international cricketing commitments were never more than 7-8 test matches and 20 ODI’s. In such a context, India’s national players were available for a large part of the Ranji season, and therefore could work on their shortcomings in the Ranji season, and also get to interact with legends. Today the shortcut to the fame that a legend like Kapil Dev has got for himself, are things like endorsements and contracts with IPL Teams which puts you on a high income category and the focus is more on remaining in the high interest category, rather than working on the game to remain an ardent student.

It’s a fine line players have between commercial interests and working on their game, in the times of grueling schedules and shorter cricketing careers, but its in their hands to choose their priorities for the long term. No legend today has risen on the basis of just 2-3 performance, but risen on a sustained run of good performances against adverse odds over time. Living examples like Sachin,Dravid,Sehwag and Kumble should be the role models for the youngsters to drive home the message that the movie ‘3 Idiots’ dwelled upon (Focus on Excellence, Success will follow) that once the runs or wickets are taken, the dollars automatically takes care of itself to fall into your lap.

Though India under Gary Kirsten have progressed to the top of the rankings, to be there at the top like Australia did, unless the BCCI focuses on an excellence program at spotting talent and nurturing them, India may not quite have the wherewithal to last at the top. So in the race to Quick Results, if you have reached there fast, keep the smile with you for a little longer, for braving the problems that soon follow, and once you have crossed the arc of the learning curve in due time, your gold at the end of the rainbow is waiting.

The complete interview can be downloaded/listened to at www.soundcloud.com/katchucrap

Kartik Kannan

Round The World Travel

2010-10-09T12:17:00.002+05:30

I have always been very enthused by the very idea of Round-The-World travel, and realised the traveller instinct in me only 2 years, after I started working. I've done quite a few trips since 2006, but most of them have been the weekend or the 3 day weekend trips, with only 2 of them being a week long trip. I'd love the idea of long term travel, but would prefer to slowly settle into it. Maybe I could start with a three month long trip. Need to find a slot over the next 2 years, where I can also combine a great sporting event in a country. I've just started doing the research for that, and should share most of my findings here. The biggest challenge is the fact that once one is married, one has to convince a bunch of stakeholder's as opposed to just getting to the airport and calling parents that I would be away for a week. More problems being solved, is a gateway to a better future and so I am going to stand and let the naysayers drown me in their negative thoughts. Its my talent to swim through them and get to where I want.

Status Message Marketing-Part 2

2010-09-03T07:26:00.004+05:30

I am participating in the Airtel Real Fans Challenge, and its been an interesting build up to the end of the competition. Here are some data that I observed for my video

It pays to submit your video the earliest, for a slight first mover advantage. This way you will also get clicks from Youtube reccomendations and the top videos when people come to the competition site. Add a few more clicks purely from the perspective of having spent more time in the gallery.

You need to really promote yourself really well to get many clicks. This is where the strength and depth of your social network matters. I generally participate in 2-3 competitions a year which involve public voting, but even then I guess my friends would be fatigued seeing my entry for some competition or the other.

I started my promotions with Gtalk Status messages, requesting them to share my link on their status. This helps as a status message stays for a longer time and pops up whenever you sign in and sign out. A Facebook status or a twitter status doesnt catch your attention quickly, as it may be submerged in a zillion other updates, but Facebook has a better hit rate when it comes to friends being influenced and perusing your link. Gtalk is incremental growth channel as it involves your friends only, and if it is compelling content, friends of friends may want to have it also as a status, while Facebook is an exponential growth channel.

When I started off, I did my math as follows to set the expectations.On Facebook- 700 friends, 10% of whom may want to pass the link(70 people). 70 people having an average of 400 friends, means reaching a potential consumer base of 28000 people views. Now given that reality lies between 5-10%, the page view numbers expected from Facebook could be around 2000. It now turns out that the total views are 2000 so far, and Facebook has contributed around 750 views. So just as every marketing launch plan, I over estimated the strength of the network, but nevertherless its interesting to go and see what makes a viral tick.

18 friends shared my link on Facebook, I wrote on the wall of about 20 friends, and I gave 2 reminders on the contest on my wall. With my link shared 40 times, I have noticed Facebook contributing 36% of the page views. It matters at what time of the day friends post your link. It generally helps if friends post between 7 pm and 10 pm on weekdays and anytime between 4 pm Friday and 10 am Saturday(Post that, everyone is out for the weekend, away from the virtual world).
I noticed that having Youtube embeds helps, as opposed to just posing a short URL external link on Facebook. I guess the preview of the video and a short description helps in people click on the content.

Since You dont want to be the scourge of your friends on Facebook by spamming them, I did a few incremental activities to help drive traffic. I sent out emails to friends, sent messages on Orkut, Wrote articles for other social media sites with a subtle hint of my link, wrote comments on other cricket based facebook groups where I had to wait patiently in the conversation to provide my video as a relevant link.

One learning is that unless you have compelling content, its going to be tough to sell the video and get clicks and go viral. Promotion on Youtube is largely binary. It is either slow incremental growth( of about 150 views a day) or exponential growth of about 500 or more views a day. I belong to the former, where I see that the growth is linked to marketing. Initially heavy marketing, gets you page views and then any amount of marketing doesnt help, as most in your social network have seen the video, and your clicks come largely from Youtube reccomendations and from other videos.

Today, on Friday the 3rd September, I have about 1950 views, at number 7 and in reckoning for a trip to South Africa. The contestants who are ranked 1-6 have managed to do heavy promotion on youtube and through their social networks to get page views in the range of 2600-5800 page views. I realise its tough to grow further and even beat the guy who is 6, but I guess if my growth is just enough to be at the poistion where I am by Sunday evening IST, I should be and also hope that numbers 8 9 and 10 dont really scale up. If they do scale up, I'd just have to surrender to the fact that I have been washed away in this tsunami of page views, and I'd need to understand the web much better to manage a promotion, sustained for 3-4 weeks.

So here's hoping that I manage to win this contest and travel to South Africa for the Champions League Final. Meanwhile do check out www.fanlogue.com, a place where I have decided to write articles for this edition of the CL20. Its good to be in touch with writing articles all over again.

Do Provide Feedback onMy Video

2010-08-29T09:48:00.002+05:30

On Status Message Marketing

2010-08-25T13:09:00.002+05:30

I had created a video, 3 days back(with help from Arvind and Janani) and my mandate was to get about 5000 page views by September 6th. for this contest. I have some interesting observations to share. Kept a target of 192 page views a day for the first 3 days, and I am so far on track. I would need to go home tonight and check, how can I increase this number. Its a new challenge I am facing, and I seem to be loving it, as I am partially able to track where I have got my viewers from.

The human social network is an interesting place for a viral to form. What will make it succeed. well that needs a different post with some data. Wait on for this evening and let me know, if my social media marketing needs a tweak

Come September

2010-08-03T06:40:00.003+05:30

Every year around September-October for the past 4 years, something interesting happens in my life. Basically, life throws a few inflexion points which can make or mar the one year ahead.

Sept-Oct 2007- Got selected in Dream Job on ESPN, Got a fat pay-internship at B school and a pre placement offer.

Oct 2008- Quit Cleartrip to join Hungama. This time it was a bad decision. Should have persisted with Cleartrip. Quit, as there was no work, and in this enthusiasm to get started I joined Hungama in a leap of faith. It was a year of working with morons, but meeting some interesting folks, who are great friends!

Sep 2009- Made it to The RCB FFC Challenge in Bangalore, but couldnt win. Nevertherless, confidence levels were high then

Sep-Oct 2010- Lets hope its something worthwhile and gives me the power to be happy after the change.

Vote for me, Change my Life!

2010-08-03T06:37:00.001+05:30

Hi Folks
Take a look at my application to the Royal Challengers Bangalore, in the capacity of a Chief Podcaster http://www.royalchallengers.com/cricket-online-contests/ffc3/kartik-kannan

If you feel, I deserve to make the cut, Go ahead and Vote for me, and write me a testimonial

The Good Life

2010-07-26T08:49:00.004+05:30

I was just asking myself, what I wanted to do with my life and sometimes when I am honest with myself none of the answers match with the job description of my job. I admire the myriad consumer insights that my mind dissects whenever I am on the road, or watching a commercial, but what has really interested me is the spirit of long time world travel. Sometimes I ask myself, when is a good time to quit the job and do that, I realise that as long as I keep working, Murphy's law will keep giving you expenses and make you greedy with your money.

Secondly, What would be the impact on my career of a break for 6 months/year for activities that the world dubs 'frivolous and crazy'? Would it be tough for me to get another well paying job?

Thirdly, Do I need shitloads of Money for world travel?

Looking at these questions, I sense that somewhere down the line, education instead of enabling my mind, has actually blocked my thinking when it comes to a vocation. I guess when faced with a crisis, people innovate and try to find disruptive businesses that generates income. Why cant I think of what goes on in the mind of someone who has a food business, some one who is a bartender, some one who is a tour guide? I guess education has blanked me in making me a product manager who apart from high end systems, cant really think about what other facets in life can offer. I was thinking of the above 3 professions as avenues for meeting various people and also earning, and all of these 3 could be done while I am travelling. Living like a local in a different part of the world each year.

Do I really care that I dont have a house or a car of my own? Do I really care what my neighbour or relatives think of me? I probably dont and thats why I see an oppurtunity in chasing the life that one wants. I am beginning to get the feeling that the Life one wants is never far away. We just get entangled in the cobwebs of the mind, which has been trained to ignore thoughts from the heart.

In today's time, there are the outliers who have done this and are succesful in their lives, and given that the web is a lovely resource for connecting with people and shedding inhibitions, it shouldnt be a problem in finding such people. Its never too late to start living the life one wants. Myabe I should put faith in intuition and the heart a little more than the brain.

Yuhi Chala Chal Rahi, Yuhi Chala Chal..Kitni haseen hai ye duniya..Phool saare jamele, dekh phoolon ke mele...Badi rangeen hai duniya

Thhandi hawa hai thhandi chhaaon hai...Door woh jaane kiska gaaon hai....Baadal ye kaisa chhaaya....Dil ye kahaan le aaya.................................

Its been a while since........

2010-07-25T23:19:00.002+05:30

Its been a while since I held on to the enthusiasm to write on my blog.I guess I am nearing the limit for uploading pictures on Google(Blogger/Picasa) and that has been bothering me for quite a while. I have decided that this blog will get back to its heady days of enthusiastic writing. I plan to book a domain and start writing all over with pictures. There is so much I think these days and some of these thoughts need to be documented on the blog. Happy Days are Back Again!

The Konkan Monsoon is Calling, Where are You?

2010-07-18T09:49:00.005+05:30

The Konkan coast has held my attention, because it allows me to escape into a world, which is as Indian as it gets, but it’s a little far from the India we know in the cities. Goa makes you at home, by showering on you the basic amenities that you are used to at home and allows you to get a bohemian feel across cultures.

India has largely been a tropical country and rain here is sometimes seen as the ‘manna’ from heaven. The memories of rain always evoke feelings of happiness, unless and until the rain converts your area into Venice. From Childhood, rain in India meant a respite from the hot weather, a different paint applied to your natural environment, a time when the family bonded cozily over some warm samosas, a time when you just wanted let go off the mask and get wet in the rains, a time when you relax over some tea and biscuits admiring the sudden sprout of greenery around you, and a time when sensual pleasures run high.

The wet earth smell, almost always smells the same, wherever it rains for the first time, but as a compliment to the smell, the eye needs its visual appeal to go with the smell, and so the greenery all around in the first rains, just adds to the appeal of the monsoon. My dad chides me, almost always what’s there in visiting so many beaches, when the sand is same, and what’s there in doing flash air trips from one side of India to the other to witness a monsoon? Logically correct, but there are a few things one must experience with the place to feel one with the surroundings.

So what’s with Goa, that makes me run a thousand kilometers from the east to the west, every time? I just counted my trips to Goa. I have done 11 trips in 53 months. That’s one trip in 5 months. (Earlier the numbers were 10 trips in 38 months, which resembles a quarterly commitment to Goa).I have been in that same time period, twice to Mahabalipuram and thrice to Pondicherry, which is a couple of hours from Chennai. So the numbers speak for itself, and as I research why, I am realizing I may have a long list to share.

Being born in the 80’s and growing up in the 90’s necessitated travel only on Indian railways and now being habituated to travelling that way, it’s a nasha that still lingers on. Aviation has made travel quicker, but nothing like the lazy joy of conversations with friends/family in a cozy compartment as you crisscross the country on rail, seeing the real India in its farms/towns and its railway stations. Now having developed this natural love for Indian railways, how can you miss a journey on the Konkan Railways? You could try doing a Mangalore-Goa by the unreserved (KR 2) which allows you to sample the people of this region, their interests, and their way of life. It’s a bit like pre-reading for a classroom session, which helps you see your destination, being better informed. Travelling the KR2 educates you and gives you more Konkan vibes than a guide book would. You should do a monsoon ride from Mangalore to Vasco or from Bombay to Madgaon. Its one of the most scenic rides, where the monsoon paints a sense of expectancy in you, after seeing the clouds painted grey and the grass painted in various shades of lush green.

When you finally set foot in Goa, you see some places that nature has decided to side with and with the charged feeling of expectancy; you enthusiastically chase the paradise that the good weather promises. Its not that every part of Goa, resonates with the same frequency in the rains, but finding the right part of Goa, to relax you is what makes you explore the little state with more gusto.

The Goan monsoon has a certain fury, which is unmatched in other parts of the country. I remember being caught in a huge downpour in the Chaudi bus stand at 5 am(Near Palolem). The rains were so heavy, that my friend and I feared that the roof in the bus stand would collapse in this onslaught. The monsoon had made its mark right away, by making me its slave. The best way to enjoy a Goan monsoon is head to Palolem, put a chair near the beach with an umbrella, pick a book, feel the winds and the rains attempting to spoil your peace, and look at the raging ocean that may show signs of regurgitating in the enthusiasm of the monsoon.

If you want another experience of the rains, stand at the footboard in a train that whizzes past the country side, have a water proof MP3 player, switch the music on and feel the rains caressing your face from an angle and the wind that leaves your hair disheveled.

If you want more experiences like this, then get into random conversations with go and Goans in the trains, at tea shops, at bus stops and ask them about their lives and the places to head, once you’ve been able to strike a basic conversation with them. The Goans are the most friendliest people around, knowing fully well that Goa blooms in the monsoon, than in the high season, and they are your guides to finding the most exotic and unheard gems that Goa has to hurl at you.

As you explore the real Goa, you will come across simple Goan Ladies in their 20’s who would either be on a walk or would be at household chores. Their sense of dressing sometimes defines how I’d like to see a woman. Ladylike and simple with no sense of ostentation, with a short colorful skirts, low necklines, perfect waistlines and beautiful legs! This combination along with the monsoons can run quite a riot with increased blood flow to the lower part of your body.

To add to the colour are the Portuguese houses in its various shades of Blue, Green, Violet, Pink and Orange, which you thought were colors best reserved for paintings. Goan houses and bright colours indicate a certain boldness in experimentation and add to the existing enthusiasm that the monsoon brings with it.

Goa has a vibe attached to it, which is Konkani blended with universal spirits all over. You head to Panjim to get that Portugese feel, go a little east towards Ponda and attach yourself spiritually with the Hindu temples, while going north towards Morjim and Arambol, you find yourself in a Russian and Hebrew environment. And to add some more data, if you are the typical Indian tourist, with kids in both hands, and a wife to boot, and a budget to be tied to, Colva and Calangute, are your Goan value-for-money places. The more discerned European traveler trades for some ‘Sussegad’ in peace in the southern hamlets of Agonda and Palolem. Goa, is like an MNC bank, ruthless but provides great service, and is always in the minds of the consumer, wanting to provide a WOW service, completely straying away from being conservative, providing irritable service, taking its customers for granted.

The last one hour, I have been trying hard to put pen on paper and conjure more thoughts of the monsoon. I just realized, I enjoy feeling the monsoon than talking about it. So I am going ahead planning my next Konkan trip across the Sahyadris, before the monsoon runs out of steam. See you in Goa!

Sales of Media at Cinema Theatres

2010-06-29T10:26:00.004+05:30

Sale of ringtones/Audio CD's/Cassettes and memorabillia are generally assosiated with the retail format in a showroom specifically meant for selling a range of Musical collections like a Musicworld or through a book store like a Landmark or a Crossword. I have always wondered why these shops dont set up licenced outlets in cinema halls for selling music/ringtones as an additional channel on a revenue share basis with Theatres.

I am more likely to buy the Audio CD of Raavan after I come out of the theatre, if I found the movie or the songs a great experience, while I walk out from the hall to the parking lot. This pathway is monetised currently by painting the walls of some brand, but a more related monetisation is through the sale of media related to the movie being screened.

If I attend a Raavan movie, its high probability that I am a fan of Mani Ratnam's previous works or A.R.Rahman's previous audio masterpiences, which would command an impulse buy. This is a wonderful window of oppurtunity for theatres to also increase their revenue base, especially if the theatres have a national prescence. This platform could sell movies/audio CD's, pen drives of ringtones and MP3 Music(if piracy hurts, then put it in a DRM format).

I dont know if there is any entry barrier for Theatres to start this line of business, but I'd defintely be more curious to know more on this topic.

Meedia Consumption

2010-06-21T08:00:00.000+05:30

Estimation of Work

2010-06-15T17:37:00.002+05:30

Its amazing, to realise how much enthusiasm can dictate the way we think about work. I've had this problem for a while, where I estimate that a particular work would take 'x' hours to completion, then realise that I didnt budget a couple of other factors, and that 'x' is now 1.3x in terms of time. Over a period of time, when the effort put to output obtained doesnt show a steep increase, we start to over estimate the task at hand. I've seen an example of that with my friend who was to send his wedding invite to our batch, but didnt do so, as he was waiting to scan his invite and get a nice byline in the email invite. He took 2 weeks to scan, and was still sitting on his invite in his draft folder. I realised this, when I spoke to him. All it took was an email from me, helping him out on the content, and lo, in an hour, his marriage invite was complete.

I see that a lot of such tasks have mentally acquired a lot of imaginary cobwebs, and I need to spend sometime, blow them off and stop worrying about the cobwebs. Life is calling, I am on my way :-)

Nice Ad about Overcoming Odds

2010-06-06T22:28:00.003+05:30

Liked the Haywards 5000 Ad where the hero of "Aamir" says.. " Jab faslon se zyada ho Hosla, toh Life Banta Hain". So true.. we should not allow situations to define us, but must allow situations to become better by conquering it. The last 1 year has been one such learning.

Everytime I am about to throw up my hands, I remember this AD and get back to work. Life is one nice strategy game where you need to keep traversing through the maze, and absorb your surroundings, adapting to the needs of the environment.

India off the Boil

2010-06-06T17:52:00.003+05:30

India were knocked out of the Micromax cup yesterday. It was sad to see the side lose the way it did. India have often lowered their guard after starting to get the momentum. There isnt a problem in the strategy to send a second string side, unless they are ready replacements. There is a fair degree of difference between the gods of domestic cricket and they need a certain protective entry on the international stage, with the seniors supporting their prescence. It is unfair to blood youngsters, where 2-3 players make their debut together.

India needs to get back to playing more 'A' side tournaments with other boards, and players from such sides need to be picked after consistent performances at that level. Australia have a consistent system where their academy trains the Australians for attitude,mental toughness and skills. Indians are naturally talented but dont quite have the wherewithal to last at the international circuit, because they are not exposed to the science behind prolonging their careers through a mix of skill and attitude.

Skill and Talent open a number of doors, but beyond a point, its attitude that determines the longevity. India need to pay importance to this fact, as most of the matches that they have lost since the IPL has been because they have been off the boil towards some of the matches and have lacked the intent to win.

Its time we started to look back and observe our attitude and mental toughness towards the game, and maybe that can be the right step to focus on a bunch of 30 talented youngsters to build a team for the future.

An Active 'Volcano' experience!

2010-05-20T00:06:00.003+05:30

Today it rained, and it rained cats and dogs. Had lovely weather, but the mood was offset by the continuous power outage. The transformer next to my house seemed to burn even more, as the rain kept on pouring. Its scary to see the transformer burn and fume about. Its a bit like living next to a volcano, you never know when the next interruption is going to impact your daily life. Being disconnected from the internet because of the frequent outages seemed to irritate me. A lot of that feeling has gone away now. The 'volcano' is quiet, and the rains have stopped, so I have taken the brave step of switching on the television to entertain me for night, until the rains start again.

Dont Drop MSD

2010-05-14T07:58:00.002+05:30

The Indian cricket team's performance has been a rude shock, that was long coming. This was required for the men in blue to remind them that there are areas in their armoury which has a gaping chink, and such chinks need to be corrected if they need to win the war over the long term. Australia have been a succesful side, because they objectively looked at the areas they were not doing well, and strove to become better. Australia a few years back, had been accused of choking in the newer formats of the ICC Champions trophy and the T20 World cups. They won the champions trophy in 2006 and 2009 and have looked the side to beat in this edition of the T20 world cup.India need to use this oppurtunity to iron out the flabs and go ahead in picking themselves up. I dont quite think, relieving Dhoni of the captaincy is going to solve a lot of issues. He has had a great run as a captain and has done justice to the role by having a stupendous 60% winning ratio in tests and one dayers. The T20 bit is where India need to pull up their socks, and have horses for the courses. What India missed in both the T20 world cups are batsmen with some technique who could settle down and handle the bowling. Their approach to playing the bowling was the suicidal bit which let them down. If the selectors do decide to do away with Dhoni and bring in Sehwag to lead, it would be a reactive and retrograde step.

Baby Shower!

2010-04-30T12:00:00.002+05:30

I had been to a Baby shower party today at work. It was a lot of work by the organising team in arranging decorations and planning the event by inviting and reminding everyone, but somewhere the cynical me, thought it was boring. Nothing against the party, but in a corporate setting, it somewhere loses its sheen of a nice get-together. I felt sorry for the organiser, who spent a lot of her busy time in trying to get this done by doing all the coordination. I hear she is the party organiser for most of the parties at work. Just shows the importance of passion over coming all other hurdles. Wish I get to that state. A lot of my passion for doing a bunch of things are in semi dormant state, due to the demands of corporate and family life. So the not-so-interesting thing was the dull event, but the thing that shone like a diamond was the lady's attitude in continuing with the festivities and planning games for people who had assembled there. I admire her passion for doing things inspite of a busy schedule. That's the way to livev life. One lesson for life learnt!

Mahalo Folks!

2010-04-27T04:19:00.002+05:30

I just had an awesome time in Maui(part of the Hawaiin Islands in the Pacific Ocean). Its the perfect unspoilt paradise, that thankfully has not yet been affected by large scale commercialisation. This trip has opened up new vistas for me to travel on road, which I have never done in India. I have largely used public transport to get around places, but have never ventured out in my car. In Hawaii, I decided to rent a Buick car, and went around Hana and Haleakala, driving at speeds over 100 km/hour. It was the trip of a lifetime and the best part was the sunset last evening at Makena, along with the sun-down drum party, that welcomed the sunset. With 200 odd people, waiting for the sundet and celebrating it, it was a lovely moment as the sun descended down.

I am guilty of not posting much, but I plan to include a brief summary of the 8 weeks that I have been here in the United States, capturing some of the travel titbits that I have learnt.

Yet to recover from the Hawaiin holiday mood. A weekend trip to Hawaii is like a orgasm gettinig nipped in the foreplay. Nevertherless, I plan to visit it once again later this year, and for a bigger time period. Till then Mahalo, folks from Hawaii(Mahalo means Thank You)

Lovely Drive!

2010-04-12T06:18:00.003+05:30

I rented a car out and went on a drive, yesterday between San Jose and Monetery, with a stop at Santa Cruz. It was a beautiful drive, and I am in deep awe for the engineering marvel that the American highways are! I havent been too descriptive of my trips on my blog, due to the lack of time on this trip. I've been trashing the photos to Facebook as its been easier that way. But, I guess I enjoy posting it to my blog more than Facebook, and I should take the time out to do this later this week. I've managed a few trips, since I came here. I've been to Lake Tahoe(official trip), San Francisco(walking between Fisherman's Wharf and Baker Beach), Mystery House-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Beach and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I've also been wanting to speak to some friends who live in San Jose, but havent been able to do so because of not making enough time. I should be reaching out to every one of them this week.

Inspired

2010-04-10T10:43:00.003+05:30

I have finally completed reading 'Simplyfly' by the former CEO of Air-Deccan-Captain Gopinath. To me it was fascinating read of a simple man, who had very strong observation skills and was task oriented to the hilt. I started reading this book at a hotel(Center Point) near my office, during lunch hours. Every day, as the tasty masala papad and the soup went inside my mouth, I gobbled up 20 pages of this book every day. These 45 minutes were my inspiration to realise that life is never really about haggling for that salary raise, or playing petty politics for that elusive promotion at work. Reading his book, I was empowered to think that as long as my observational skills and rational mind, were working properly with the curiosity to learn, I could feed myself pretty well. For the wealth of information that is there today, one can actually channelise all the required info easily, but doing that amidst the glut of info, is also a challenge.

So I decided, I would make short term goals for work and personal life, and try and build on my abilities to observe and expand within the ambit of what I had set myself. There are the other long term goals, of ideas and things I wanted to do. Documenting my thoughts over the last few weekends, I have done well to capture all that I wanted to. I dont think, I will be distracted now for a while, as I have observed every corner of my mind, to ask myself what interests me.

Life is a lot interesting after reading his book. Its certainly not a flash-in-the-pan thought that goes and comes after every feel good moment via books or movies, its a realisation that the path to one's pot of gold at the end of the rainbow may not be that close, but its worth the walk, and the belief is what takes you to the pot, more than anything else.

New Phase in Life

2010-04-04T11:15:00.002+05:30

It feels good trying to be organised. A clean room is indicative of a clean mind. It is a little tough to change oneself completely and that change is slowly taking effect. It feels good to go to bed, having the vessels cleaned. Its quite a job trying to cook and manage the resources at the hotel(vegetables and other persishable stuff). I guess a trip to the US, is a course in DIY(Do-it-yourself) way of management. With the non stick cookware as my latest addition to my kitchen kitty, a lovely omlette, looking like one, and tasting like one, was born and devoured instantly. Making a proper omlette and a decent Sambhar, have so far made my weekend. Looks like, I should get better in staying more organised and cooking-basic dishes. Life is beautiful!

Back in a Studio Setting!

2010-03-27T17:11:00.002+05:30

My hotel room in San Jose, California largely resembles the 180 sq feet room that I had rented out in Pali hill,during my stay in Bombay. It sometimes, is very comfortable having just your little space, where everything that you 'just' need can be accomadated. The only boring factor is that its a little lonely. There are people around from work, but having to forcefully get into an activity for not feeling lonely, is not a recipe for feeling good. I am better of being alone at home, doing my own stuff. Have a few books to read and am slowly using that as my comfort factor here. The internet and the telephone are obviously there to keep me connected to wife and family, but reading a book, somehow keeps me entertained.

Its so far been a dull couple of weeks. I have just been going to work, and back to the hotel. Havent explored the town around. Ideally I would have loved to explore the places around, but I thought it should be better once the workload stabilises. My to-do lists do run on for ever, but still there is a stable phase that should come soon, and that would mean, I can do my trips without the nagging feeling of work surreptiously interfering with my observation skills while exploring the country side.

The US is a pretty costly place, and here a lot of things look cheaper by the unit, when you buy in bulk. I am yet to cut costs by the cent! as I find it too laborious managing a bunch of things on my own. Its interesting for many reasons. I shall include a series on how the transport system is, how I manage my daily life here. Right now, its time to head back to work. Its 5 am in the morning, and I am just fresh out of a nice hot water bath. 44 Hours of my weekend remain to be claimed!

Random Trip- Nellore

2010-03-08T14:08:00.004+05:30

I headed to the central railway station at 2 30 pm, and met my friend Madhan, who consented to my idea of travelling to some random place, without any expectation from the trip. We approached a guy in the line, and asked him to buy us a ticket, to some place, at a value of 150 rs. It was not the greatest of sales pitches, and needless to say, the guy stared at us as if he saw Hizbul Mujahideen in me. This happened with 4 more people.

Finally Madhan was able to speak to one passenger who was in the line, who didnt suspect us, but was still confused as to what we wanted. We lowered our pitch to this " Hi, Can You buy us a ticket to where you are going? Dont tell us where you are going? Just buy us the ticket, tell us the cash involved and the platform number in which we need to board the train. It helps if you could ask the time, as you could potentially board the wrong train on the right platform and could get caught for ticketless travel.

The person buying the ticket, can buy tickets for us only 1 physical ticket, so we were tagged to go along, wherever he went. We couldnt get down, randomly in between. As soon as we boarded the train(and I tried my best not to look at the train name/number), My eyes fell on the words Yercaud, in the name board next to our compartment. Once I was in, I heard people speaking, and to avoid their rattle, I switched on my ear plugs and gazed at people around me in the compartment, observing every sinew of their anger, joy and dissapointment. Some preferred to bask their sorrows along the window of the compartment, while seemed to dream "Mera Number Kab Ayega", as the train slowly chugged off Chennai Central.

In between, we had some samosas, which had a generous overdose of oil on it, and was waiting to get converted into cholestrol :-). I also spotted a man with a glaring green colour dress, which confirmed my suspicion that were travelling in the direction of Andhra Pradesh. One of the advantages of travelling from Chennnai is that 3-5 hours in any direction, you would be in a different state(Kerala/Karnataka/Andhra Pradesh) having a totally different linguistic culture. So it didnt take us long to see that we were heading towards Gummudipoondi, and Andhra Pradesh it was.

Madhan and I had a blissful hourlong nap, which was amidst the crowded train, which had 23 people occupying a potential 8 seats(if you came in the reserved compartment). The train journey was beautiful in the un reserved compartment, with the conversations with fellow strangers. One guy had a xerox shop in Adayar, one was a student looking for a job, one was a husband deprived of sex(he , one was a young man going home for his holiday from Pondicherry and many more such stories, that one gets to hear aimlessly, when travelling with strangers. Not that one cant get this in a reserved compartment, but with a little comfort comes aloofness, and I have often observed that in the AC Compartments, people are very snobbish and all they care is about sleeping and charging their mobiles.

This compartment was crowded to the brim, and people had to talk with each other or stare out of the window, with the lovely evening breeze to pass time. This is the beauty of either un reserved or second class travel, where you can easily socialise with people, than in a comfort driven train. No bloated ego's to protect or no image to hide. You can just be yourself, without the fear of having to transform yourself into a snob!

When the train halted at Nayudupeta, I wanted to get down at the quaint station, and explore the village for a couple of hours, but since our ticket was tagged to the guy who bought it, and he showed no signs of getting down, we couldnt get down. If we did, it would be a case of ticketless travel, and its easier getting caught at smaller railway stations. Naydupeta holds special memories for my family as my mother and I were stranded at this railway station in 1985/86 for three days, due to a bridge collapsing amidst heavy rains. So for memories sake, I took a picture to show my mother the station.

When the train neared Nellore, we saw a huge mass of people getting up, and fighting their way to the door. Our man, Srinivas, was also in the crowd, so we too prepared to get down and chase the guy for our ticket, which he gave us once we got down on the platform.

Madhan and I decided to explore town, and have some thing very central to the Andhra Pradesh palate. We went to a hotel called Simhapuri and ordered some hot-spicy starters. I wanted to have the typical Andhra meals, but since Simhapuri didnt serve Andhra meals, we had to get local information and move on to Komala Vilas, which we heard serves the best Andhra meals at a reasonable rate.

I generally never have powdered rice, but i guess, I was very hungry that night, so I gobbled the powdered rice, along with Ghee and had a sumptous meal. We walked back to the railway station, and bought a ticket to Chennai. We were told, our next options were the Dhanbad Allepey express at 11 20 pm, and the Howrah Mail, which would go to Chennai. If we missed either of these trains, we had to wait for the trains from the national capital, which reached Nellore well past 3 am. The Dhanbad-Allepey express was very crowded, and I didnt have the mood to get in and reach Chennai at an untimely 3 am. Nevertherless, we were enjoying our conversations on the bench seat, under the moonlight, watching the numerous goods trains that slowly chugged past us.

The Howrah mail came, and the unreserved compartment was again crowded, so in the limited 2 minutes we had, we ran to the other end of the train and found that most of the compartment doors were locked, except for 1 sleeper compartment. We waited near the toilet, until the TTR came, and we requested him for any berths that may be free. He gave us a couple of berths after the train reached Gudur. The next 3 hours, I had no idea, how it went. I slept like a log and woke up to people and porters noisily bargaining.

The trip wasnt over just yet. My friend Madhan suggested we go to the Eliots beach and sit there near the sea, to watch the sunrise. We reached the beach at about 4 20 am, and were there till 5 30 am, after which Madhan discovered that he lost his bike key on the beach(through a hole in his kurta). We couldnt do much about it, and at 5 45 am, there was no bike mechanic, one could go to. Madhan decided to head home and sleep a while, before waking up and finding a mechanic. I took a share-auto from the beach to the Indira Nagar railway station, and just as I imagined, Sunday meant lesser frequency of trains. It was 6 0 3 am, and the next train was scheduled to arrive at 6 32 am, so I waited by walking across the tracks uptil perungudi, and then walked back to Thiruvanmiyur railway station, where the train arrived.

Short but nice trip! but the real spirit of random travel happens when you decide to get in some random train and get out at some random station. To do that, you need a pre-paid ticket card/pass thats valid for a certain number of days. Foreigners have this provision of an Indrail pass, which allowes them travel across the country for a certain class for a period of 90 days. I need to check if such a provision is available for Indians, in our own land :-)

Images from the Trip

Bags queing up, before the passengers come in!

Mera Number Kab Ayega?

Zindagi Kaisi Hain Paheli Haaye?

Bought a Chinese Pencil as a gift for my wife

My Ticket to Nellore!

Food Rates at Komala Vilas- Authentic Andhra Meals

We were here!

Train Gazing in the moonlight, past Midnight- Lovely!

Nayudupeta- Photo taken for memories!

Random Trip-Modus Operandi

2010-03-06T11:50:00.005+05:30

Inspired by KCK, I'd like to go on my random trip to somewhere. Why a random trip? I am tired of expecting things a certain way, and then forcing myself to like it. Instead, once in a while, I'd like to go with an empty mind and be the water that forms in a cup, be the boat that drifts according to the waves in an ocean. Such trips makes me aware to a lot of things that I otherwise miss while travelling. When you have nothing to lose, you only start gaining. Random trips are pretty similar to fasting, which cleans the entire process of thinking and judgements gained over time.

I have no agenda to do, no worries that I need a proper hotel to stay, no worries on whether I will get reservation, no worries on purse being looted, no worries on quality of food. Just out to enjoy travel, the way I can actually enjoy it, in its purest form. I've done 3-4 such trips by accident, and I've enjoyed it despite Murphy's law going against me.

Trip Zero- Bangalore-Gokarna-via Bus in Oct 2007(Lovely Monsoon Trip)

Was feeling dull, during my internship,so
Trip One-Chennai to Goa Unreserved-Nov 2007-Alone
Trip One.1- Chennai to Mahabalipuram-Some forest near Pondy-Dec 2007-Bus Trip(With Ankur and Arun)
Trip Two-Chennai to Goa Unreserved- Feb 2008- With Friends from B school
Trip Three- Chennai-Portblair-via Air and ship April 2008
Trip Four- Bombay-Goa Unreserved-Train with Kishore, Aug 2008
Trip Five- Bombay-Daman- Unreserved-Train to Patna-with Logendra-Dec 2008
Trip Six- Bombay to Cancona(Goa) Unreserved-with Nischal, Jan 2009
Trip Seven- Bombay -Daman- Unreserved Train-with Vinay- Feb 2009
Trip Eight- Bombay (VT-Karjat, 12 38 Last Local), with Vinay-Feb 2009
Trip Seven- Bombay-Sawantwadi-Vengurla(Maharashtra)-Arambol(Goa)-Kerim(Goa)- March 2009
Trip Eight- Bombay-Kerim(Goa), Unreserved Train(Alone)-April 2009

All the previous three trips(oops I have done 8 now, Updated: 10) have happened over a trip to the western coast. This one shall not be that long, but it should be something that I relax, forget about work, family,home for a while.

Rough Plan

Head over to Chennai Central
Speak to some lady to buy a ticket in any direction, wherever 150 rupees would take me. If I give it to a guy, he would think I am a mad man, and call the police in his culmination of machismo bravado!
Not look at the ticket, Not look at the digital signage about train departures,and walk along to the platform(which I would need to think how am I manage this one)

I cant plan beyond this. May have 200-300 rupees as my cash back up. No Purse/credit cards or watches. Will have the mobile for company though. It may be a great/dumb experience, but the key is to soak into the experience. Time for 'Fasting'.

It Happens Only in Chennai!

2010-03-03T18:21:00.000+05:30

Its Dal Tadka, and not Dal Dadka
Spotted this at Centerpoint, a restaurant near my office. Some of these hotels on OMR need to pay attention to their spellings, else they are going to drive customers away :-)

Centrepoint is a decent business hotel, with comestible food, that sometimes also borders on being tasty. After cooking the food right, the last thing they would want is a spelling to put them in bad light.

The worst I have seen till date is Dhantoori cuisine(Tandoori) in a hotel near Rajapalayam Railway station( small town in south Tamil Nadu).

Time to Scale Up

2010-03-02T18:57:00.002+05:30

Over time, I have never realised that I have grown up. The last 3 years, I have seen too many processes, loved quite a few, and was dissapointed with not being able to lap up as much as I wanted. Some due to laziness and some due to lack of discipline. If things were lapped up, only by periodical revisiting does it stay in the mind, so I lost out slowly on that front also.

Major Lesson- Learn to keep what you have, maintain a process and learn to scout for new additions. I havent done either of the three activities well, and thats why I sometimes get disillusioned with life. People sometimes, think me to be either a superman or a dumb ass, and getting to the extremes just means that all the buzz inside my brain needs some organising. I need to find which buzz inside my brain is worth listening to. I guess I got all excited that from no buzz, I suddenly have so many things working and buzzing, but now, I need to deal with the problem of plenty.

Just started making a mental map, of what all I do, and whether I can categorise it into buckets. A little bit of organised life and disciplined life, I feel, would help me in the long run. Whats the point of being the big lorry which transports water, but has a gaping hole which leaks the water as it travels? I am just getting to that stage, where adhoc planning needs to take a back seat, and I start to recognise that this is the next stage of life. One needs to scale up planning, so that every activity can go seamlessly and its easy to change things.

Hey! What was that?

2010-02-20T11:31:00.001+05:30

Spotted in Chandivali-Powai Road, Mumbai.

Love the Spellings people use!

Spotted in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai

When I first saw this, I only saw it as "Free Virgin" and stopped my vehicle midway to spot this. Now dont ask me, why I did that :-)

Spotted in Madipakkam, Koot Road

What? A ministry for Holy Spirits also?

Spotted in Bazzar Road, Madipakkam in an electronics shop

Now thats a easy fake to identify! Sony Vaio laptops, I've heard of, but what's with Sony Vaio earphones, and that too one's that come with NUDEx technology! Look closely in the bottom panel of the hanging box, it says N U D E ex technology. So here we have porn earphones! Can some one call Shakila Khan to sell this :-) ?

Valentine Weekend!

2010-02-19T19:06:00.001+05:30

I usually assosiate Valentine's day with a day, where I write articles on how cool it is to be single, and basically not let the world know, that I happen to be part of the brooding singles club. Well, post marriage the only aphorism that comes to mind is "The Grass on the other side is always greeener" :-)

My wife and I examined a few options on 13th feb, and I got to know that Valentines day features Valentine's eve dinner and Valentine day brunch only. So, I decided to spend the Saturday night at Radissons, a decent hotel quite close to my house. 20 minute drive and we were at the place, without any of the usual tensions we have in getting ready, getting stuck in traffic, not knowing the route etc etc. The mood was great entering in and it stayed so for the whole night(and even upto the next morning :-) )

That's Janani, having a look at the red heart shaped baloons and the swimming pool around us. It was a nice setting at the Radissons. Not too many couples. I remember seeing 12 couples out of a probable 50 seats, which meant I could spend some time peacefully without bumping into people.

I still remember, heart shaped baloons meant extreme laughter for me, especially after watching Saif Ali Khan, bitch in 'Dil Chahta Hain' about the guy who tried wooing his love interest. Now the times have changed and how dramatically!

They served us some golden wine. Too Bitter, just that it makes for photographic memories. So thats why it features here

The hotel waiter's took a picture of both of us, and gave us a print copy of it in about half an hour. What was so coincidental is that such impromptu photo prints have happened when I have worn the above shirt. The last time it happened was in Bombay, at 'Hawaaiin Shack' when we got a instant print at 1 am.

We were one of the active couples, who danced a bit, answered quiz questions and so the host, gave us another Radisson Lunch coupon worth 1200 and a optical shop voucher worth 1500, which kind of gave us back in kind, the money we spent on the valentine eve dinner(2500). It was a nice experience basking in all red and pink around us, while we soaked into some pleasant romantic music. It was a nice experience.

Next weekend(which is Feb 21st) will be another long dinner/lunch with my wife and mother, as by sheer coincidence, my parent's wedding anniversary and my birthday fall on the same day. By the time, I enter office next week, I would have grown 27 years old and a little poorer on the purse :-)

Kumbakonamed-Part 3

2010-01-27T14:28:00.000+05:30

Like Son, Like Mother-My mother sleeping despite the loud pomp and noise made by the musician inside the temple. She had bouts of vomitting the previous night and had an improper sleep, so the effects were visible the next day. I liked this shot, as the way my mother bends while sleeping is pretty similar to how I sleep, when I sit. The difference is that I do it day in and day out, ireespective of where I am. If I sleep next to you, while you are speaking, it means you have bored me or spoken something intelligent, that I couldn't comprehend.

Garlands were all over me, during the trip. One garland for welcoming us at Kumbakonam, at Janani's grandparents place, one at some random temple, one during the pooja in their village at Kadalangudi. Hung this for a shot, while belching post a heavy lunch at Janani's ancestral house.

Consumerism at Kadalangudi- Dont know if this existed or this is a move post recession,where the local sabzi wala comes to your street in an auto and announces Walmart like fares on vegetables to get people interested. His only mandate must have been on clearing the stock somehow.

Spotted this in Kumbakonam, near the Bayiravar temple, where a person has inked his name in stone, along with his company. These days, rarely do I see someone in the same company, and wanting to carry that assosiation further. Those days, there was a sense of pride, in belonging to 1 company and a goverment one at that, and was worth 'Flaunt' value, when it could be used in augmenting the normal respect neighbours had for you.

Kumbakonamed-Part 2

2010-01-26T15:34:00.001+05:30

My Mother, Mother-in-Law, Janani and I went temple hopping on Saturday. This was taken at the west end of the temple at Thiruvidaimarudur. It was a warm day and despite the heat, everyone except me seemed to feel ecstatic at visiting the temples. I was more interested in knowing more about the temple and the stories that surround it. I seem to want to know more about cultures, but I dont really take interest in following them fervishly until, I believe in them.

One of the ancestral houses in the village of Kadalangudi. One thing I notice is that most houses have bright-in-your-face paint adorned on the walls, and the door entrances are favoured for people with short height. Every step in the house had to be taken carefully. I am vertically higher than the height, and my tummy-post marriage is showing signs of unprecedented horizontal growth

Most of the houses, have a huge hall, with a single room for living. That kind of explains with the little privacy the couples got then, they made good use of it with a production line of kids every quarter(assuming many couples lived together as a joint family).

When we were in the temple, my bowels suddenly wanted to burst open and since I had to heed nature's call. I had to trek almost half a kilometre, and find a spot in the fields which could camouflage me from the people in the temple. I went and collected leaves and I was lucky most of the leaves had the mositure from the previous night, that helped me wipe my arse a little cleaner than a dry leaf would. The colour of the fields felt like the one shown in 'Jab we Met' where Shahid and Kareena speak meet at the tractor.

There was a tank nearby and I washed my hands there just in time for the pooja(prayer) to end. Lovely prasadam of Sakkara Pongal, Sundal and something else, which I enjoyed filling my stomach with.

Kumbakonamed!

2010-01-26T08:40:00.001+05:30

You that the 'Chappel' stand was at the Adelaide oval? Time to change. There's a 'Chapple' stand at Vaitheeswaran Koil. Greg and Ian Chappel should be proud of their fame spreading to the remotest corners of India. My wife's family deity resides at Vaitheeswaran koil, 5 hours from Chennai on Road. We had been there to pay our obeisance to god. The temple has a strange tradition where you buy pepper and jaggery and immerse it in the pond and save some for a basket. I dont know if the temple has any means of cleaning this pollution.

This photo was taken at my wife's grandparents place inKumbakonam(Bharathy Nagar). There was a grand welcome for the two newly married grandchildren of their family (Wife and her cousin brother). Every day out there was a grand feast, with food served on the banana leaf. This place was away from the madness of Kumbakonam town, so there was a lot of peace and calm around the area. We also visited a couple of temples that was a hop skip and jump from the house.

This was taken in the morning of Saturday, at Thirunageswaram, a small town close to Kumbakonam. This town is famous for the 'Rahu-Kethu' temple and is believed to cure your problems. The more money you pay, you get a better view of the idols. The economically less priveleged, have to wait for a while in the lines, and have a gallery view(Door Darshan), while the richer ones, by the virtue of money come closer to the idols. This class divide was sick and I was thinking, why even have relegion and caste in the first place. I was all along thinking that if a VC had a chance, he should invest in a temple fund and become a trustee than put it in media/real estate/start ups. You would get better returns on your capital employed, as its easy to extract money based on the insecurities that plague people, making the devotess seek refuge by bribing god.

This was taken at Thiruvadaimarudur, a small town 15 kms from Kumbakonam. This was my mother's ancestral town, and her birthplace. She seemed all excited to visit the place, and even met a temple priest who was my aunt's classmate way back in the 1960's, when they studied at Thiruvidaimarudur. The temple was a nice place to doze off and also admire the artwork on the temple. This image in the temple shows how people blindly use charcoal to put their exam hall ticket numbers in the hope that God scans these numbers and sends a 'supari' to the examiners that these hall ticket numbers need to have higher scores than the pass mark. More higher scores are believed to be obtained, if you write in a bigger font, or perform some puja whose economic value is supposed to be proportionate to the marks you would want to bribe god from.

This was followed by an evening visit to Thanjavur to meet one of Janani's aunts, and spend some time there in their house, which had a lovely garden. I tried out Idli with Ghee and Chilli powder. Seemed a welcome departure from the normal oil and chilli powder.
There ends part 1 of this travellogue. Wait until Part 2

Festive Times

2010-01-25T17:39:00.003+05:30

The last 1 week has been a crazy week with post marriage festivities and my wife's cousin's marriage and a trip to her ancestral village, with the whole family. So much of attention and feasting over the week, that my paunch is threatening to blow up. Had a nice time visiting a few villages, and enjoyed rural Tamil Nadu, near Kumbakonam. We had also been to many temples and bribed god to give us a good view of his idol, and pray for good health/wealth. Its a little sad that I had to miss Saarang 2010, for this trip.

For the next few weekend's I am out again, either visitig relatives, or attending parties with friends. I am yet to get that 'Me bonding with my soul' time, thats neccesary to check if 'All Izz Well' in this mad life that I run everyday.

An interesting travellogue on my Kumbakonam trip should be on its way soon enough. This has been the first trip(oops, second) with the trip tracked by GPS and geo-tagging. So its easier to describe, where exactly I took the photos. Will add all of that in a while.

Its been a manic monday which has been painfully slow. 6 o clock is taking a while to come, like Windows Vista loads on a 500 mb Ram cache! Waiting, Waiting, Waiting!

Introspection Time!

2010-01-06T09:21:00.004+05:30

This weekend, since my mother-in-law is in town, my wife is to go visit her mother, and as a result of that, I don't have any plans to go out as such. Probably the first weekend, that I haven't made any plan(oops, I forget...meeting my wife's uncle on Sunday). But apart from that, I don't haven't made any plan for going out or visiting relatives. I seriously feel the need for introspection in life and setting a few things in order. I feel like a can of water(with a hole) that is full upto the brim, and is always overflowing, and is also losing water through the hole. Water is largely analogous to my mental space,as I am involved in too many things on the periphery and I need to sit down and look at how much I am actually processing. I need to sit back and organize email/files and do a bunch of things that I have postponed indefinitely. I am in the process of jotting down the specifics, so that I am able to measure the extent of content I will have post completion.

I have put my attention in too many baskets and need to prioritise the attention levels and involvement levels. I seriously believe I can don many hats and do them well, its just that beyond the level that I am in, enthusiasm alone doesnt work, it needs some organised planning and honest answers to move ahead.

So till Saturday, I'd be busy trying to see what are those things that I avoid, what are the things that I forget, what are the things that would make me breathe easy and feel better.

Nice New Year Message

2010-01-01T09:12:00.002+05:30

My friend Ashustosh, sent me a message last night, and I loved the message, because it wasn't one of those boring sugar coated new year messages that were sent in bulk

I wish you Peace,Love,Health,Blah Blah

FUCK THAT SHIT

I wish you Sex,Alcohol,Orgasms and

I hope you win the fuckin' lottery

Happy New Year!

Consumer Engagement

2010-01-01T08:35:00.003+05:30

I happened to watch ZOOM on Dec 30th, and Fastrack watches seemed to have got a bulk inventory of the adspace at Zoom. They ran a series of 45 seconds commercials in serial order, and I thought it was a fantastic idea. Here is why

Fast track stands for trendy watches for people who want to try out something wacky and cool!So they ran a series of commercials bordering on relationships and sex(what else do youths keep thinking about? ) to bring the connect to the consumer. Once the connect is estabilished, they manage to show that the advertisement talks about a urban youth who learns to move on, which is the underlying message (Moving On) that they want to show.

One of the advantages of the web is that it gives a great consumer connect and engagement opportunity as opposed to other forms of media via sms/television/radio. Users can also upload their videos of 'moving on' and connect with the theme.

The moments in the ad film that caught my mind were

a) The guy who describes his marriage proposals and how his mother rejected them. Liked his expressions in 'Idhu laan venda rajaa' and the Tamil Slang. View it here

b) The woman, who uses her middle finger as a third count, to say she slept with Bunty. View it here

c) The ad where where the young chick says " Sex on the Beach is actually a Cocktail and G-String is not the string on a guitar :-)". View it Here

N 81 RIP?

2009-12-31T04:47:00.003+05:30

My Nokia N-81 is starting to show signs of senility. The phone seems to be acting up wierd. I am scared about giving it to the Nokia Service Centre as they sometimes stock it for 2 months and then decide that nothing can be done about it. The cost of repairing the Nokia phone may be 60% the cost of the phone, and that data is not too appealing to me to repair it.

Maybe I need to look at more phones in this segment, as a back up. I'd like to have my hands on the i-phone, but the cost of the iPhone is what draws me back. All said and done, I have to start researching on models that are similar to the N-81, as I fear its days are numbered. Lasted 20 months(Make that 18, it slept for 2 months in a Nokia Service centre).

All Izz Well!

2009-12-25T18:59:00.003+05:30

Just watched 3 idiots at a theatre in Karur. I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. The movie was a little stretched and was dramatic, but it sure was enjoyable. I'd rate it 4/5 and I am sure I will go again to watch it in Chennai. Have watched 3 movies in the last 10 days and liked every one of them. Paa,Avatar and 3 Idiots. All Izz Well!

Need the Backpacker Breath!

2009-12-18T07:18:00.003+05:30

Earlier, Whenever I used to feel worn out with work, I planned a trip in a jiffy and was out breathing the air of a backpacker, who absorbed every new experience that came exploring the unknown. That high kind of annulled the impact of stressful work. Now when you have more stress coming in from other quarters(work/home/ambitions/commitments) and backpacking not being possible, due to various reasons, the outlet for letting steam out is blocked. Waiting for an opportunity to do solo travel, where you don't have to worry what dress you wear, how much money is there in the purse, where you stay...and a 101 other mundane things. I just realize that corporate life, married life and a travelers life are like 3 different axes, and the solution to a satisfied life lies at the vortex of the three axes. If you go ahead in one axes, the lack of travel in the other 2 axes, would make you worried, and sometimes worries compound faster than bank loans :-).

2009 Shall Pass, So Shall my Lethargy

2009-12-16T23:07:00.002+05:30

2009 marks an important year in my blogging history. I have only penned 46 posts, and most of them have been travelogues or ranting on my busy state of life. This year I truly became 'just-another-average-workaholic-B schooler'. I must have hardly made an effort to go beyond work. Maybe It had to do with a bad team to work with from January to April, and then from May to December, I had to commit to Airtel and Vodafone, an average of 3000 minutes of airtime in the name of my wife :-).

I even stopped putting the effort to follow/watch cricket, and that is quite a change. 2009 made law of diminishing marginal utility of cricket attack me. I have hardly been the guy I wanted to be this year. 2009 signified a year, where I just lived, vegetated and observed life as a spectator. The general enthusiasm I carry has been lost, and I sleep more at home. When I sleep, I just cant respond to an alarm, and a year of sleeping in simulated 18 degrees centigrade has made me fear the night more and take refuge in sleep. Its strange to see the changes that have happened in my life.

I guess whatever happens, happens for the better. I have grown sick of my lethargy, and have started to search for the enthusiasm levels, that I have generally grown up with. I am searching for the old me, with a few changes. Hope 2010 looks up, and I get past the mental block of just being lethargic and being the 'average joe' who worked,slept and ate.

An ODE to the 47th post of the year, and this actually is the lowest number of posts in a calendar year. It was 62 when I started penning my blog in 2002.

Running On!

2009-11-29T22:52:00.002+05:30

The last few days have been stifling with enough work at office and home. I am trying to organise the house and keep processes via which bill payments/parts replacements/budgeting is a little easier. I have never been organised, nor have I cared about what it takes to run a house. The next few months would be spent in learning that. Dreams,aspirations and Life would have to run like a train on an orphaned track, while I come to speed with getting organised on setting up the house.

Marriage and Honeymoon Galleria

2009-11-09T09:24:00.001+05:30

View my pictures

Marriage-Part 1 and Part 2
Honeymoon- Trip to Lakshadweep!

Going... Going.... Gone..... Sold Out!

2009-11-07T18:33:00.002+05:30

Vacation!

2009-10-28T07:31:00.001+05:30

My marriage got over a couple of days back. All excited Now! I am all set to go to Lakshadweep and spend some time with my better half for the next week or so. I plan to catch up on lterature pertaining to Bombay to read on a hammock there. I plan to read a book on Dharavi and complete the rather famous "Maximum City-Bombay-Lost and Found" by Suketu Mehta.

Here are some images from Mumbai that havent made it to my blog in the normal course of picture sharing. I shall soon be uploading my marriage pictures.

View of South Bombay from Elephanta Island

Local Train Approaching VT Station

The view from the sea of Taj Mahal Hotel and Gateway of India

A little bit of Chinnaswamy!

2009-10-12T14:23:00.003+05:30

Went for the auditions that day to Benngaluru, and went through rounds of article writing, article editing, GRE type vocab tests,Quizzes and a personal Interview with Anil Kumble and Ray Jennings. Didnt win! but got myself a bit of chinnaswamy stadium...err...confusing? Read on

Got a KSCA white cricket ball autographed by Anil Kumble, the RCB T shirt and a bit of grass from the stadium as mementos. Felt good, met like minded individuals and made new friends. It was a good day out, being a prospective blogger for RCB! The better guys won!

The only regret was that I didnt get the mischief gals or Mallya's cheerleaders to interview me. But Chalega! Had a good time at Bengaluru for the 23 degrees of temperature,which was a welcome respite from sunny singara Chennai

Couple of Pictures(Courtesy Kunal Kamdar)

Me, Kunal and Dharma- Team 1

The Souvenier from the Royal Challengers Banglore!

Heading to Bengaluru

2009-10-03T05:59:00.002+05:30

Today is the D-Day for the final Audition for the Royal Challenger Blogger Contest. I have a 8 50 am flight from Chennai. My team comprises of Kunal and Dharma from Chennai, who play the part of a fan and a photographer. It's been a good 3 weeks since I signed up for the contest, and frankly I seem to be more interested in following a team in the IPL, than randomly watch a match. I was a confused Indian, not being able to decide between whom to Support (between MI and CSK). RCB is the team, who I have the hots for at the moment.

Will update with pictures, soon on my blog.

Choiceless

2009-09-17T08:16:00.002+05:30

My office is taking a bunch of us on an outing to Mayajaal. It includes playing a bit of bowling and a movie. When it came to choosing a movie, I realised with the 1 pm/ 4 pm slot on a Thursday afternoon, the choices seemed too limited.

a) Kaminey- Seen it, didnt understand much anyway. Wouldnt mind seeing it again for the visuals of the Mumbai Monsoon, images of the Local Trains and a few chartbusters.

b) Kandhasamy- Heard very bad reviews, and it looks like a movie made for the masses.

c) Final Destination- Some times, I realise that if a movie has a complex plot or requires some understanding of the plot, before one watches the movie, I dont seem to enjoy it very much. So didnt really know whether to pick this or go for option 4

d) Eeeram- A new Tamil flick by Shankar, might as well watch it. Have enjoyed most of his movies except for the disastrous Rajnikanth starrer 'Sivaji'. Might end up choosing between option C or D

I dont quite think there are too many options for a company on OMR/ECR can do too much for a half day outing. I guess Mayajaal has a great corporate oppurtunity to offer a bunch of different experiences within their complex. Mayajaal sorely needs better service and better food.

The only other outing I can think of is a customised program at one of the beach resorts, with blaring music and some sports in the sun.

Any other experiences that you reccomend on OMR/ECR?

Nandi Hills- Awesome Destination for a Quick and Dirty Trip

2009-09-08T16:18:00.004+05:30

I had been last week to Nandi Hills with my fiance. The place seems excellent for a short weekend getaway. We were there only for a part of the day, but ideally its a nice place to stay. There are 2 hotels to stay. One being Mayura Pine Guest House and the other being the horticultural bungalow in the hill. I am not too sure about the rates, but I guess it wont exceed Rs 500 a day. Its ideal to go there in the monsoons when the mist makes it lovely to wander around the park.

The only turn off there are monkeys who would scare you to death, by holding you at gun point and ordering you to give any food material you have. You should be careful, in not having a light bag, as the monkeys know to pick your bags. The monkey tried my bag, but thankfully it was very heavy due to my disorganised packing.

The place is lovely for long walks in the woods, and is commutable by public transport from Bangalore. Its 2-3 hours by road and its advisable to take the State Transport buses directly or go to Chikbalapur and then go to Nandi Hills.(Majestic Bus Terminus), as it gets difficult to drive a Car/Bike in the mist on curvy mountainous terrain.

We had our brunch and Linner at Mayura and it was a fairly inexpensive place, with basic food items being cooked. Lunch doesnt have too much of a menu, as they make what people consume the most. Roti Dal/Rice wins hands down. For people looking at Alcohol, Mayura also serves alcohol, which to me appeared strange as all through the journey, i saw signs saying Nandi hills has prohibited consumption of alcohol.

It also forms a good weekend break from Chennai, if you are tired of trips to Ooty, Pondy, Mahabs and Kutralam.

The 7 stages of a Tam Brahm Life!

2009-09-07T09:24:00.003+05:30

Somebody at work, asked me to write a piece on 'Transformation', and while I was at it trying to put something sensible, the other thoughts that I had to forcibly put in the bin, are strung together as an article and penned below.

KEY

Tam Brahm è Tamil Brahmin
Kartik è Hypothetical Tam Brahm Character

When I think of transformation, my seventh sense works overtime to also throw synonyms called Change, Matram(Tamil) or Parivartan(Hindi). During my childhood days, having relied on too much on Wren and Martin, the difference between synonyms never existed. On getting slightly evolved in my journey from school to B school, I vaguely understood that ‘transformation’ was a wow word used along with Jargons to create an aura or awe, while ‘change’ was what dull commoners used. 5 years into corporate life and 26 years into living on earth, I will pass on my judgments on the way I see ‘transformation’. Given that I have 40 minutes and not 40 years to present my research and findings, I will stick to the sample size that I have abided by the last 26 years. Yes, I will deliberate on what ‘transformation’ does on the life of a 20 something Tam Brahm from Madras

Lets take the hypothetical case of one Mr Kartik Santhana Gopala Iyer Kannan, who is born into this world, being taught that life revolves around sambhar and curd rice, and learning which ‘amman’(Goddess) signifies what.

Now, given that Kartik is your average Tam Brahm, lets apply the theory of transformation to his life .The inflection points in the life of a Tam Brahm pretty similar to Shakespeare’s 7 stages of life are

a) His admission in School –LKG to Class 12

· As soon as Kartik is handed over by his parents, to the premises of a school, he no longer needs to recite slokams and alphabets to every passerby who comes. That’s the first transformation. You don’t need to offer unsolicited slokas and nursery rhyme bravado’s to every Tom Dick and Harry. The key take away or transformation is to SHUT UP, with pleasure!

· The second transformation is when the hormonal invasion happens within his body, he starts observing Gayatri in isolation, than the Gayatri Japam he was taught to chant thrice a day.

· He is taught to wake up at the strike of dawn when the sunrise gleams into his face, and hold his hands to a white thread, like bryan adams did to his guitar while humming ‘summer of 69’. Once he observes this parallel between his sacred thread and the guitar, while watching MTV, he takes a secret oath in his bathroom to reach the forbidden fruit of MTV. Thus begins a ‘transformation’ to access all forbidden fruits.

· The 4^th transformation is when he gets inspired to do weird things with the upma his mother has left him to have while she is at work. He is obviously ‘transformed’ by coming of age movies like American pie, which he downloaded via a Torrent for a week, on his princely dial up connection!

b) His admission to an engineering college

· All through school, Kartik was taught to believe that vertical growth happens through systematic consumption of Sambhar,Rasam and Curd Rice. But he now ‘transforms’ himself by expanding ‘horizontally’ by getting a beer belly, after exploring the forbidden pleasures of alcohol.

· Alcohol was never on the Good Boy’s list of items. Back in class 9, if Kartik’s mother quizzed him on what connects Sex, Baywatch,Alcohol, MTV,Raavan,Dushasan, Gabbar Singh and last benchers, the answer would come in a jiffy as EVIL. In engineering you get all and more of that and when the forbidden fruit is no longer forbidden, nothing seems as evil.

· Kartik, for the better part of his life used to hang out at Kapaleeshwarar Temple and drink the degree coffee in Jagadamba Mess. But given that he needs to engage his hormones with the opposite sex, he decides to ‘transform’ himself to hang out at CCD, having cappuccino all by himself, in a morbid attempt to show that he has some style and spunk left in him to get some attention from the opposite sex.

· He learns that a ‘Joint’ doesn’t necessarily have to be the J in the JEE (Joint Entrance Examination). His next ‘tranformation’ J

c) His inclination to write GRE/GMAT/TOEFL

· By his third year in engineering college he has realized that the only way to escape the nagging tyranny of his parents and live a bohemian lifestyle is to write the GRE. He ‘transforms’ himself to a studious guy, who puts in hours of research after curd rice dinners to mug all the words in the newly discovered dictionary from Barrons!

· He ‘transforms’ himself to the status of a ‘Peter’ by writing emails like “ I wish to Procastinate the Conundrum , as I am Peregrinating the apostles of Storydom on Celluloid”, which otherwise loosely translates to “ I am bunking the boring class discussion, as I am hanging out in Sathyam Theatre”

· He realizes that the time spent on Shaadi.com and fropper was not worth effort, as educational coaching centers like the TIME’s and the IMS’es would actually do well in ‘connecting people’. This transformation applies strictly to people who show their nerdly and virtual skills off as mating signs to attract females.

d) His Job Offer in the IT company on OMR

· His life transforms for the better, once he has a campus offer from an IT company and by the time he joins work, he realizes that this is far more fun than college. The company pays you to enjoy 5 months of honeymoon nestled in the quiet woods of Mysore with chicks sampled from all over India. This phase of life ‘transforms’ his national integration skills and helps him connect with his failed class 8 geography lessons.

· He ‘transforms’ himself to be this night bird ogre who develops an intense fascination for foreign chocolates and midnight ISD calls with his officemates who seem to be enjoying a bohemian lifestyle in the name of an onsite trip!

e) His first and many Onsite Trips

· No other event can transform the tam brahm as profound as an Onsite trip. They ‘transform’ to hardcore multitaskers as they balance the support calls along with their las Vegas weekend trips. Even as they spend the time in the clubs in Las Vegas, their eyes are also on the Blackberry that reminds him of the tickets pending with his clients

· The Tam Brahm who was conditioned and made to believe that Pamela Anderson was this lady in red, who appeared in TV, is now ‘tranformed’ enough to believe that she can be his, for 10 minutes and for just 20 friggin dollars!. Now the Tam Brahm, changes his stance and declares vociferously ‘I’m Possible’, from the loser line of ‘Impossible’

f) His admission to B school

· After having spent the better part of a bohemian lifestyle in Phoren lands and wanting the same salary pay scales as his onsite salary, the Tam Brahm decides to ‘transform’ himself to a leader in a B School.

· ‘Transformation’ is shown immediately when the dear Tam Brahm learns that life at a B school is all about Managing relative competition. Competition is all over from Grades, bidding on electives, chicks, coveted million dollar jobs and even competition in standing for lunch.

· The next ‘Transformation’ comes visible in his CV, during placement season when his core motto changes from “ Best Pay Packet” to “ Best Profile” to “ Decent Company” to “Job in Hometown”, across employers at the same instant in time.

g) His Marriage

· Having got a good Job, a great B school on his CV, and a Green card, (apart from the free Red color ICICI card) he hunts for a bride with a few parameters which go pretty similar to the SQL query learnt in engineering

· Choose female from ‘List of Iyer Brides” from “ Vadama Subcaste Only” living in “Triplicane/Mylapore/Matunga/Karol Bagh”, having Gotharam “ Kousika” and Nakshatram as “ Rohini, having dad employed in “State Bank” and Blah Blah Blah…….until he finds his ‘soulmate’ through the databases of Bharatmatrimony.

· The Tam Brahm becomes a father, and starts behaving like how his dad behaved, so that he is accepted as part of the conservative society of Mylapore, and the same cycle repeats when next lineage of Tam Brahms are born!

· And beyond that Life never “Transforms”, it only changes..and then the Tam Brahm realizes that “ Change “ is the only thing that’s constant in life. The problem is that law of dimishing marginal utility caused ‘transformation’ to seem like ‘change’ and after 20 years of marriage and 2 kids studying in the US of A, he gets back to agreeing with the Wren and Martin guide that Change and Transformation don’t seem to be different after all!

What do you want to become in Life?

2009-08-29T14:27:00.002+05:30

When this question was asked to me, by my Vice Principal,while I was having dinner in a forest at Kangra Valley in 1997, I was taken aback. Nobody had asked me that question. I didnt know what to answer. How would I know that or even thnk about that when I am on a summer holiday Nature camp trip to the Himalayas, in the chill of 3 degrees? I looked at my dinner and the rock on which I was sitting. I thought being a vagabond exploring new places seemed great, because in my non detail english reader, adventures in far-away lands brought me far pleasure than sucking up to Axioms and Theorems. I also thought being a cricket commentator was fun, as it meant watching cricket all day long, and visiting new places. BUT, was that an answer you could tell the Vice Principal? NO, not when the kids around me in class 9, were rattling off words like NTSE,BITS,IIT M and Blah blah...

I didnt want to think too much, and I said "Engineer". I knew heart of hearts, it wasnt something I wanted to be. Secondly I had not faced too much success in life. So I didnt even know whether my brain could take me to the path of being an engineer. I suddenly felt that I was carrying loads of guilt by giving that answer and that guilt carried all the way till my engineering.

Today I look back, and ask myself what would I want to become, I still no have answer. I still like being a Railway station master and a vagabond traveller, but thats probably a phase of life that I might enjoy.

So is the answer to the question always a profession that would yield money and keep you secure or that would give you happiness? I seem quite lost. One thing I see is its never to late to keep asking this question, as long as you dont carry guilt with the chosen path. Lets see how life progresses!

Twitter is spoiling me

2009-08-23T12:45:00.004+05:30

Its ages since I wrote on my blog. Twitter and Facebook have me hooked on. I still havent settled into Chennai. The house still needs a lot of tweaking in terms of books/clothes racks and it badly needs a dose of painting. Since my purse theft, and salary dues from Mumbai, I have already flooded my credit card limit, so suddenly I feel restrained by the slow pace of life. Itching to do lots of things, but dont have the mood nor money to immideately fuel my interest.

I have started hating Google Tasks, as it keeps popping to remind me, how many activities still remain unfinished/unaccomplished. I'd love to set some order in life, but life rarely goes on in the way one plans it, so I guess Life is what you do when all plans flop.

I guess the post is getting too random. Time for some siesta!

Thailand Trip- Part 2

2009-08-09T10:29:00.007+05:30

Thailand Trip- Part 2, continued from Part 1

We checked into TP Watergate hotel, in the area called Pratunya. This part of Bangkok near the famous sky scraper of the BMW tower, seemed like one of the bylanes of old Kolkata. After we settled into ablutions, I decided to cut my hair, as I couldn’t do it in Chennai, due to being busy with a lot of other stuff. It came at a princely cost of 100 Bahts (150 rs). I slept off, while the barber started cutting my hair, and got up and saw that my hair was cut to a basic satisfactory level( It is rumoured by my mother over time, that if my hair level goes beyond a cut off, i am more vulnerable to catch cold and fever. Sounds Crappy, but its always worked on me).
Along with the TP Watergate hotel stay (3 star and 4000 bahts a night), we also got a guided tour for a couple of hours in a limousine, with a Thai Chick. She showed us around some of the historical places from the cool confines of the vehicle, and for a few locations, we got down and saw the golden Buddha and the Wat Pho temple. Learnt from her that every king in Thailand over time was called Rama and the current king’s portrait/poster was splashed on every thing commercial in the city.

We even encouraged her to sing some Thai music to her, and she started singing something that had the words ‘phuk’ , coming very often. We later realised that somewhere in the Thai lingo, very inadvertently ‘phuk’ forms a part of their dictionary. It was a little tough understanding her English, and sometimes sign language and presumptions, was our only way to prevent irritation of not understanding. In return I sung "Kabhi Kabhi" in Hindi to give a glimpse of Indian music. Shyam and Jyothi, exchanged glances and thought..some one was flirting excessively.

After our mini excursion, we were lulled into visiting a gem exhibition, which we window shopped and were also directed to a travel agent who was quoting very high fares for planning our trip. She mistook us for tourists, but we travellers decided that the best way to plan, was to head to an internet centre and do our own research.

We had rough visions on what to do. One was visit Maya Bay in Phi Phi, where portions of my cult movie ‘THE BEACH’ was shot. The other vision was to laze around for a couple of days, gazing at blue-green waters, and get east to Samui islands and Koh Tao. Having heard of Nok Air and other budget carriers we worked out a rough schedule which was an all beach schedule. We had to drop off the northern Chiang Mai(Hills) plan because of lack of time. This is what we planned from 3 hours of research from 5 pm-8 pm in the nice net center that charged us only 20 bahts an hour.

Bangkok Hotel- Don Meaung Airport (400 Bahts) Taxi (Day 2)
Don Meang Airport- Phuket Airport- Flight for 3 passengers-5100 bahts(day 2)
Phuket Airport- Phuket Town/ Patong Beach- 400 Bahts (day 2)
Hotel Budget for night stay for 3 nights- Not more than 2500 bahts ( day 2,3,4)
Things to do for the next 3 days at Phuket- Lets go there and plan!

Day 2
We got up late at 10 am, and checked out by 11 am, and decided to reach the airport early enough for our 13 40 flight. This was a different airport (Don Meaung) from the one we reached on day 1(Suvarnabhumi Airport).

At the airport, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we were asked by bag attendants/airport staff on what had we planned in Phuket, and when we said we hadn’t planned, we were politely directed to the travel desk, where a lady was showing us various options to stay, while showing us a huge enlarged map of phuket.
Over the course of the conversations, I discovered that there a few islands west of Phuket, around Similan islands, where a lot of honeymooners go. The tourists invariably end up staying in Patong, enjoy the night life, head to the planned phi-phi tour, go bungee jumping, elephant-back tour, snake park and of course head to the go-go bars all around.

The backpackers would have done this

Wait for public transport or shared Tuk Tuks from the Airport to Phuket Town(south east), where accomadation is backpacker friendly and is quiet laidback from the commercialisation of Patong(west). Get on a boat to Phi-Phi, cut on prices by offering to sit on the top of the boat, and get on islands not in the tourist radar!

What did we do? Having taken the taxi to Patong, we decided to be tourists partly by getting a hotel in patong, and booking a trip to James Bond island, Phi Phi islands and Kata Beach. We tried the local night life, by going to bars red in colour and made the most of an offer that gave 2 Breezers for 100 bahts. You have women/men staring at you, trying to seduct you and the best thing you should do is stare back at them and escape as soon as you are done with your drink. ‘Never out stay your welcome as a guest’ was the lines from ‘THE BEACH’that I remembered then, and went to Patong beach at about midnight to taste the local flavour of 30 Baht Pancakes which are similar to our dosas/light Parattha and come with various flavours of cheese, banana, gnutella and strawberry and chocolate linings.

Earlier in the evening, we had gone to a Mexican restaurant for a late lunch. I quite forgot what we had, but I remember a lot of cheese and nice green vegetables. We sat in a nice beach facing setting in the open air initially, but due to threat of rain, our Thai turned Mexican waitress asked us to have it inside the restaurant.

Day 3-

Shyam and I got up early, and decided to head to the beach at 6 am to have our bath. No challenge in doing that as the beach is as flat as the cricket pitches in India, with no/little waves to topple you over. After our session in the water and a long discussion on marriage relationships and our pre CAT/GMAT life, we decided to head back to the hotel at 7 15, to catch the 7 45 am van that was to take us to Phuket Town. Shyam and I decided against bathing again in order to save time, while Jyothi was getting ready. Shyam had used some time last night to go to the local supermarket (I guess it was called 7/11) and buy some bread and Jam, which we used for breakfast.

Shyam and I sat at the breakfast table laid out at the hotel, when we spotted to Ladyboys ( men who have had a sex change operation to become women for earning money through sexual services) in a gearless bike . They stopped the bike near our hotel and came near us saying “Masschage....” and shyam vehemently drove them away by shouting “No” 3-4 times. One of the ladyboys got scared and went away towards the other fat firang who was sitting to our right. The other ladyboy also went in the same direction and came near me and started to keep her hands on me, to which I resisted and tried to get away by placing my elbow in an effort to drive her, but she was quick and clever, and managed to find the purse in my backpocket and slid her hand, without me realising. I realised it when she went away and I found my pocket empty, and she was struggling to start her bike. By the time, I ran and lunged for her bike, she was gone-speeding on the bike. I ran and shouted for help and people around me didn’t understand English, so I danced to show in sign language pointing to my bum and show the ladyboy who was speeding away.(My actions must have looked like Kamal Hasan in Moondram Pirai/Sadma).

A policeman saw my predicament and offered me a ride, and he was doing well in chasing the ladyboy when he suddenly turned right. I asked him why, and he mumbo jumboed something which I couldn’t understand, and did a U turn to Patong beach and I was furous and shouted at the policeman and he stopped near the end of the beach, and another policeman asked me ‘what u want’. The policeman who took me said ‘ u want police’?. I said I wanted him to chase the robber to which he said “ u first tell police, we then chase robber’. I felt the whole world collapse around me, as I expected the police to catch the ladyboy over a hot chase and recover my purse. 2500 Bahts, 700 rupees, My business contacts and visiting cards, My 2 Credit Cards , My Debit Cards and my driving Licence, all gone... and the police now wanted to know where it happened.

So i directed him to my room at Add Mansion, and there my friend Jyothi asked me to quckly call up home and let them block my cards. I did that at 100 bahts a minute, and I realised I had spent 3000 rs in trying to block my cards, as HSBC and CITIBANK would not allowe me to say what I want and would irritate me with ads running upto 45 seconds and coming twice or thrice in a call.
I was listening to ads of insurance and money services paying 150 rs a minute and cursing HSBC and CITIBANK as I patiently gave all the details. The most irritating detail was the HSBC folks asking me to read out my card number, when I had lost my card, and asking me questions on the exact value of the last transaction down to the last paise for their verification. I could not remember most of the details of my cards, especially when the bus to Phi Phi islands is holding a gun to my head, waiting for the three of us.

Since the Ph Phi tour was booked, we decided to go ahead with the tour. The bus had to pick up some one else also, so Shyam asked me to go to the police station, while the bus would pick up the other passengers and come to town via the police station at Patong.
Enroute to the police station, the other ladyboy and I were on the open convertible police van, and she was saying “ why u complain, now me pay money, u pay money to police. My time waste, ur time waste”. She meant she was losing business and I was missing out on a nice holiday. As soon as we entered the polce station, she was sent to a mini jail, where some drunk prostitutes were there with a couple of policemen, while I was directed to another room, and asked to wait in a corner. 5 minutes became 10 and 10 minutes became 15, there was no response from any of the police officers who were busy examining a bunch of papers and talking Thai. None of them understood English. I was patiently waiting for them, to call me and rewinding the whole incident in an infinite loop.

The Rest of the Story continues in Part 3.

Pictures

Checking out the book stall at the Don Meuang Airport, Bangkok...while waiting for the Nok-Air Flight to Phuket.

The place every TOURIST visits, the Golden and Sleeping Buddha.

Some tall structure that is helping me hone my photography skills. Bangkok

At the Temple of Wat Pho! Shyam, Jyothi and your's truly (L-R)

Checking out at TP Watergate Hotel, Bangkok

Trip to Thailand!-Part 1

2009-07-26T11:48:00.004+05:30

I have quite a few travellogues to share. I will start with my Thailand Trip for the next week or so, and then talk about my trip to Elephanta Island off the coast of Mumbai.

Day 1- Images from Thailand

On the Thai Airways flight- Resembled the days of Air Deccan!

When you get a last minute return flight deal for just 13,000 Rs to Thailand, lots of people lap it up. The flight to Thailand resembled the initial mad days of Air Deccan, when people flocked to the flight and had noisy conversations. Guess the Thai airhostesses were quite stunned to silence by the behaviour. Thai Airways also had free alcohol on board, so the 'guests' on board were making merry as the flight strode across the Bay of Bengal, passing North Andaman into the princely state of Bangkok. There was a screen indicating where our flight was on the map from India to Thailand.

Admiring Art or Plain Posing?

Shyam and I came together, while Jyothi came via another flight at around the same time to Bangkok. Before we met Jyothi, Shyam and I were looking at the art around the Suvarnabhoomi airport. While I was posing with damsels in caricature, Shyam decided to concentrate a lot more on the damsels fantasising the women in the caricatures to life.

Baat Baht Baaaht- In a Toyota Corolla Taxi in Bangkok

Conversing with a Thai Taxi is one of the more difficult things in life, if you are from India, and dont know Thai. The Thai taxi drivers have a bunch of pamphlets in their kitty and act as affiliates to travel agents and hotels known to them. Once you have chosen the hotel and they know where you are heading, they will also try and hook you up with a million sex/massage joints. If you say no to sex or alcohol, they will forcibily stop you at a travel agent or a gem stone shop, which makes up for their minimum commission.

Wherever you go, the fare is always 300 or 400 bahts. Make sure you bargain and start at 100 bahts. Price correction would autmatically start. They need people/tourists to earn money and if you arent paying par fare, they would extract money from other affiliate sources

Sample This- Our Taxi driver made 750 bahts from the gem shop, for taking us around from Prathunya to Sukhomvit(wherever MKB Electronics mall is), but actually took only 20 bahts from us. A taxi is better than a Tuk Tuk, as the pleasure of being ripped is better under an AC Corrola car than a naked engine Tuk Tuk

FAQ by Bangkok Taxi drivers

Where u go?

What you do?

Want to Phuk? (Fuck)

Hotel?

Night what you do?

1 shtop at gem shop

1 shtop travel agent

.
Modes of Public Transport- The Free Red Bus for Tourists/Locals.

We were exploring Thailand by the local transport and found that Red Buses are free for transport. Its a little tough to look at the guidebook and figure out where the bus is going, as most people dont understand english, and the other tourists/travellers are as clueless as you. Hopefully Wifi would be a free commodity as common as Roti, Kapda, Makaan and more recently telephone signals.

Thailand is best explored by the Tuk Tuk. Jyothi used it to his advantage to see a few places, but had to endure some time at the gem store and acually ended up buying a ruby/emerald.

Read Part 2 here

Un-Intended Misadventure-2

2009-07-26T09:40:00.005+05:30

This continues from here

The guy in khaki took me to the quaint police station, that seemed lost amidst the maze of the railway tracks and workshop buildings. I could see a sarkari babu, who was busy penning some thing on a file with his glass tilted and all concentration on that sheet of paper. As soon as he saw me, he asked me his constable to lead me in. He looked at me, sized me up with a sarcastic look and asked me, how dare I shout at his constable, after doing the mistake of coming inside the railway shed.

I realised that this was by no means an easy situation to get myself out of by talking logic and truth. I felt like telling the policeman, that the board for informing that civilians shouldnt come inside the shed, but it should lie outside the shed, so that the general public doesnt trespass. Sanity prevailed, and I didnt speak my mind to the policeman. I managed to look very sorry for my mistake, and then started to tell him, that I was living in Mumbai only for a month and I didnt know how railways operate et al. He wasn't willing to listen. After glancing at a dirty file, all he managed to do was look up stylishly and say "Bade Saab se ye Sab Bolo"(Go and say this to the big boss).

I was imagining an hairy,elephantine, burly, roguish, foul mouthed 50+ guy to come(when people say Big Boss, this is all I can imagine ). Every moment that I waited, I was sketching various avatars of the Big Boss, while I was standing in the police station.

My thoughts were interrupted by the introduction of 3 kids who were caught 'straying' near the shed. They were asked questions on where they are from and what they do. They were answering in a very unsure manner. In came a bright,young and slim man in his late twenties(The Big Boss) and he thundered with his eyes and asked the 3 kids to move near the door of the jail. I was just then thinking that I was saved of the igominy of facing the jail, that this is what education does to give you a bit more respect when compared with uneducated street kids. My logic was squashed like a lemon under a truck, the next instant, as I was told, to also size up with the kids.

'Tthaana' was the term the policemen were discussing often and cracking jokes, even as we 4 people were forced to wait. Now I didnt know whether the Tthaaana meant the police station or the suburb of Thana, a few kilometres away. I didnt allowe the curiosity to spillover to the policemen.

After fooling around asking questions on what we all do, and why we were here, the Big Boss finally spoke business, when he asked us to pay up a fine of 1000 rs, each according to 'sexsun 6c' of the Railway act. I realised the first guy had 14 rs, 2nd guy had 10 rs and the third guy had four 2 rupee coins. I had 34 rs and was the richest among the 4. I had left my debit card at home, so that my mother and cousin could withdraw cash from the ATM in my complex at Mulund. So had no source for cash, and told the policeman that I have 34 rs in my pocket. He looked at us for a while and showed signs of desperation by telling us, that his daily target was 10 people and the minimum collections had to be 5000 Rs, and who was going to answer his boss? The best politically correct answer was " Mere Paas sirf tees rupay hain. Sorry Saab, Is baar Galti ho gayi, Agli baar nahi hoga". Say it for 5 times, as the police guy is thinking of ways to get money from you, the background effect of the richest guy having 34 rs, worked, in he getting frustrated with us. He stared, in a angry Amitabh Bachan 'Inspector Vijay" pose and told us" Bhaago" (Run).

I didnt exactly run, but was the glad the ordeal was over. The next ordeal was to get into the second class compartment at Kalwa without a ticket, as I just wanted to get to office at the earliest. My railway pass was from Thane to VT and since Kalwa was a station away, I couldnt get into the first class compartment. Once the VT local arrived, and the general pushing and pulling started, I decided to forget what had happened, and jumped with the ferocity of a Mumbaikar at the 2nd class compartment, lunging from the princely 3 inch space on the footboard, till Thane, after which I boarded another local train to Currey Road. So in a matter of few hours I had been to Thana and Tthaaana(Police station in Marathi).

PS: 3 days later, I again boarded a train from Mulund (10 23 T Slow), to Thane. As the train stopped in Thane, I saw everyone get off except 2 people, me and an old guy who was inebriated. I suddenly asked the old guy, whether the train goes to VT in the return direction? He was too drunk to answer, and a kid who heard my question, nonchalantly said, "Arey Suna Nah Kya, Ye Train Car Shed Jaati Hain". Damn, WHY ME AGAIN, and a jump later, I was safely deposited on Thane station, while the old man and the train took of for the carshed. Dont know whether the old man, was financially worth the remunerative targets of the Big Boss, but I saved myself some time, money and went back wiser to never board a Thane local in the greed of getting a seat in the train.

Unintended Mis-Adventure

2009-06-30T16:08:00.005+05:30

This morning, as I was preparing to run into the Mulund Railway station, from my auto, I noticed the trains that were coming into Mulund, from the electronic terminal. 10 04 F T caught my attention. This was a fast train to Thane, which would go to Thane and go back in the reverse direction to VT.

I was gleaming that I had strategically chosen the right train, than choosing the direct fast and slow locals to Byculla, which had idiots standing in the trains, hanging on for dear life. Once I got into the train, I called my fiance and was on the phone with her for a while. Thane had arrived, and the buzz and energy of people barging in was missing. I guessed that the energy was less, as the peak hour crowd had already gone in the locals between 8 and 10 am, and which sane corporate guy would take a post 10 am local to South Bombay? Anyway, I stopped thinking about all that, and proceeded to get more involved in the conversation on my mobile, and in a few minutes i noticed new virgin, bucolic landscape, next to a stream. In my 14 months at Mumbai, I had noticed such a landscape en-route work, so when I stared out of the window, I realised something was badly wrong. I kept the phone down and stood at the footboard examining where the train was going.

Thane seemed to be way behind, and the train was gaining speed. Did i misread the fact that it might have been a Kalyan/Ambernath Local? If that was true, I was damned big-time. Thankfully it wasnt. I spotted a couple of kids in the next compartment and found out that these kids were travelling to Kalwa, where the train car-shed was.

Now, the train's door was quite high for me to jump on the adjacent tracks, and jumping on the tracks wasnt an option when you never know, which train is buzzing round the curves on the central railway. Thirdly, I was scared. This daredevilry of jumping even on the grass between the tracks had no adventure written over it, as there was no life to claim, or princess to rescue or even show any bravado, so I decided to wait till the train reaches the card shed. That way I could also see how a car-shed looks. No use worrying about reaching office late. The rains are always there to blame!

As I jumped off the train, when the rickety train stopped in the shed, I met a young policeman, who was noting something down in a sheet. What could he be noting so carefully. There wasnt any consignment load coming in this train, just me and a bunch of kids who were there. Nor was he trying to figure out any complex equation that determined when the train would stop after applying the brakes.

The policeman asked me where I came from, what was I doing here and what I do for a living? I thought the guy was trying to socially network with a very grim face. I answer his questions quickly in 30 seconds, and thought I can find more about him sometime later. Now all that concerns me is the way to the next closest railway station.

Kartik- Station Kahan Hain Bhai, Mujhe wahan Jaldi Jana Hain

Policeman-1 - Station chalo mere saat

Kartik- Haan Haan chalo. Kitna Dur Hain?

Policeman-1 - Stares at me, and points his face towards a small shackish room.

After walking for 15-20 seconds, I realise that this was a police station and I look at him lividly and shout.

Kartik- Arre Bhai, Yahan Thodi Jaana Tha. Mujhe Railway station Jaana Tha...

The next part follows.....................

Need a Break!

2009-06-21T12:56:00.005+05:30

Its been 4-5 months since I wrote regularly on my blog. After Twitter came, its made me more lazy and all I care is just to update on Twitter and Facebook. I need to get back to documenting a lot more of my thoughts. When I look back to the years 2002-2009, its a wonderful way of documenting all thoughts/and going back in time to see how life. My time spent on the internet and social applications has been less, and the Mumbaikar life has made me attach the biggest priority to sleep and holidaying.

Have come to Chennai this weekend, for a temple trip to Rameswaram. I suddenly feel , life in the last 1 year, has been fast and I need to catch up on a lot of things, just idle away time like the good old times. Hoping that this trip would go in some direction towards it. My dream would be to go on a laid back hedonistic trip around the world, to recoup from the stress of work, but again right now, nothing seems concrete. I just need a break. Lets hope Rameswaram is the first of those.

Need a Vacation

2009-06-15T08:40:00.002+05:30

The last 2-3 months have been mentally and physically stressful. The competitive Mumbaikar life has made me tired. Even a small visit to the market gets me tired, sweaty and bored. I end up sleeping or working, and there hasnt been too much extra activity, apart from meeting known classmates/friends for lunch on weekends. There seems to be some constraint that keeps on putting the brakes on life. House electricity problems, clothes to be washed, kitchen plates to be cleaned, irritable colleagues at work. The list goes on! The constraints are so bad, that I have lost the spirit and energy of exploring and experimentating with things.

I badly need a long 10 day or more vacation. Whatever happened to my plan of chasing the monsoon! Will I ever get to chase it?

Attention Grabbing Tactics for a SIGN-UP on Myspace

2009-05-25T12:51:00.000+05:30

Looks like some boss just said " JUST GET ME THE NUMBERS! " and this followed!

Restless

2009-05-19T06:24:00.003+05:30

Restlessness is the one thng that has characterised my mood, for the better part of last month. I havent been able to manage time properly and devote to activities that wanted to. My new year resoutions are going nowhere. I need to take the courage to put the pause button in life and examine my goals, my expectations, my environment. I have never thought so seriously in the past 1 year, but am forced to now, because of a few changes in my life, neccisated by the mundanity of corporate life.

Restlessness is a state of mind, that wants to go out and do something, rather than be tied down, by the norms set by someone else. I am learning to be patient, laugh at my misery and silently watch a world that would do anything to get ahead.

So what is the antidote? Stability or some risk to get back adrenalin? Only time will tell. My gut says to go down the risky alley, even though there are cobwebs down the alley, the road it opens to is closer to the road, I had imagined.

Relaxed Weekend!

2009-05-03T17:17:00.006+05:30

This was the first long weekend, I was in Mumbai. Have been out on trips every long weekend this year. Since my company also works on alternate saturdays(I know its a yucky feeling! ), even the saturday holiday that I get is a mild long weekend.

Here are a few images from the weekend.

Saw the IPL jersey's at the Reebok store in Mulund. Liked the KKR and RCB shirts. But being a chennai'ite, I decided to go with the yellow Chennai jersey. Somewhere in the back of my mind, KKR and RCB had 'loser' written all over it, but I would buy the jersey, especially the RCB one in a while.

Saw a community newspaper shed in Mulund (East). People can come and read the newspapers like a library. This is for people living in LIC colony. Nice initiative!

A more clearer view of the community newspaper library.

Friday morning, I decided to go visit the health center in my apartment, which I forgot conveniently after paying the cheque a couple of months back.

Thats my apartment health center. There's a cardio and weights section as shown in the image to the left and right. Right above is a billiards and table tennis centre. Flanking on its side is the swimming pool, which is a 4 ft pool, where beginners like me can practise getting drowned with little failure.

Swimming with sun in between the buildings and a view of the Mumbai skyline is a lovely feeling. This was shot very early in the morning, before the sun god spews and spits his rays. With IPL on, I dont have to compete for spaces in the pool in the evening, and in the morning, the kids in the summer break dont want to get up at 6 am. Time to cash in on the lack of crowd!

I was sitting the garden, on the swings reading a book. The fresh smell of wet earth as the gardener was watering the grass was heavenly. I decided to de-addict myself from the IPL to look at other things in life that I have hardly observed in the last few months.

Mad Life of a Madrasi in Mumbai

2009-04-22T01:21:00.004+05:30

Every day when the alarm rings, I think its a song playing in the background in my dream. When the same song plays for 3-4 sequences, I realise that its actually my alarm. If its anywhere beween 6 05 am-6 30 am, I decide that its too late to get ready for the gym, as attending the gym, would then make me late to start. So I decide, that having lost out on the gym time, its time to borrow that, and add to the investment called sleep. At 7 am, I know that I cant prolong this further, and head to ablutions and the morning newspaper. I leave at 8 in the morning, and know that I cant delay any further. Here is where the madness starts

If I leave beyond 8 04 am, I may just make it for the 8 16 Thane Fast local, or just miss it by a whisker. The advantage in this train is that I may get a place to sit, if I rush and jump in as the train comes in to Mulund station. The oppurtunity cost of this local is that I miss close to 6-8 locals, and reach only by 9 40 to office as I have to wait for this train to go to Thane and then start towards the opposite direction.Next options are either to take the slow local or the fast local that drectly go towards CST.

Fast locals, come once in 7-8 minutes, and are intensely packed. My probability of getting in is 5%, as I need to compete with people who are overzealous to reduce commute time by a whole 20 minutes. I have to visualise myself jumping in, and incase I do, I do get hurt with some part of the body getting the bruise, but I manage to get the inchspace to stand like a statue for the next 30 minutes, till I reach Dadar. Its not about getting in, but to get in to the space between two seats, so that passerby's entering at other stations dont push you. In this mad rush, I either scratch my phone, wet my shirt with sweat all over, break my lunch box or break my watch, if the crowd after me builds in, and pushes against my back, as I invariably end up in a dead end of big fat arses. Having got in, I have no choice but to be a statue, where the only movement of the body, comes through breathing. My face ends up between the armpits of two sweaty corpulent men, who speak on which stock to invest. First class or 2nd class, doesnt matter. The density of people in the second class compartment is 3-4 times of the first class, which I use.

Sometimes I have no idea, which station is the train stopping in, as I am surrounded by people on all sides, and sunlight never manages to reach me. Sometimes, when I get the courage to reach for my mobile in my pocket, I do check my position via GPS, but otherwise I recognise that Dadar is approaching when the momentum builds in people like a volcano in a mountain. A major tsunami of people get out or get pushed out when Dadar approaches. The train is subjected to intense condensation when Dadar arrives and is similar to 'liberation' for a bunch of tightly bound cattle.

If I took the slow local from Mulund, I would get some space to stand, where movement can be seen in my body parts, and if I can push a few people into submission, I can even open ET or Mint and read the headlines a 100 times over. Not that I dont want to read further, but there is no space for folding or turning pages with your hand. The last time I tried, I knocked out the spectacles of a man, with my elbow. I gave up the quest of erudition, via headlines a while back, after fighting it tooth and nail to turn pages. Now I prefer the mobile version of news, if I manage a slow local.

After getting down at Dadar Central, I have to head to Dadar Western by competing with a million commuters, who are sweating in bucketfuls, after undergoing similar struggles in commuting. I board a local for Lower Parel, and then walk in the sun for about 15 minutes and reach office, exhausted and tired.

I repeat the same process during the evening 'super dense crushed load peak hour' (from 6 pm to 9 pm) and incase I have a bad day at work, the pressure and discomfort adds up and you still think I have a Life?

I dont intend to complain, but the everyday Mumbai Train adventure is taking a toll on my life and energy levels. Need to get some smiles back in life!

Weekend Trip-Part 5- Keri Beach

2009-04-07T19:49:00.000+05:30

Weekend Trip-Part 4- Vengurla to Arambol-Keri

2009-04-07T19:44:00.002+05:30

At the Sweet Water Lake on the Goan Coast.

GOA??? Wasnt I in Maharashtra during sunset? After we discovered at around 5 30 pm, that food might be a problem at Vengurla, We decided to explore the next beach, so a state transport bus from Vengurla market, took us to a town called Shiroda, and from Shiroda we reached Terekhol(border of Maharashtra). We took an evening(make that twilight) ferry and reached the other side, and had no other option but to take a taxi to civilisation-Arambol

Damage- 400 Rs

Next, we settled into German Bakery(Damage- 300 Rs), a room good enough just to park your electronic luggage. We then headed out for a dinner at "21 Coconuts Inn' for a candle lit dinner, which was briefly interrupted by the romantic tele-prescence of Vinay's boss. By the time we finished, both of us were tired, and we hit the sack by about 12 am, after a brief walk through the arambol market, hunting for medicenes(for my headache).

Next morning, we were up by 5 30 am, and I had a bath in the arabian sea, while I waited for Vinay to get ready. We started to cross arambol and came to the Sweet Water Lake beach. The sweet water lake was dry and it wasnt worth taking a dip there.

We saw a couple of nice portable boats cum tents. Looks like the Russians are all over(Little Zizou ishtyle). Only the Russians can be that adventurous, and after day dreaming about what a beautiful life those people must be having, and bitching about Indian corporate life, we set on to climb a huge hill, to reach Keri

While we were trekking, Vinay decided to take rest at a huge rock, and dozed of for a while, while gazing at the blue sky. It was a lovely feeling, dozing off and then waking up to the blue sky above as vision comes after a period of darkness. Try it some day!

The mountain had a bunch of bushes and thorns that we had to make way through to reach the other part of the mountain. Vinay, then decided that we follow the footsteps of the dogs that were rambling, as they knew the terrain much better than us. Better to rely on dogs than our mutiliated intelligence(thanks to the Corporate world).

Paradise Regained! Thats the view of Kerim beach- More coming in Part 5!

Weekend Trip- Part 3- Vengurla

2009-04-07T18:13:00.002+05:30

Birdwatching on the Beach

Found a quiet abandoned hut of a fisherman. Invaded it for siesta purposes

Loved it so much that, Vinay and I were in the shade of the hut from mid-day to sunset on conversations around how evil corporate life is, and normal bickering that fresh B school passouts do in their quest of operating in an utopian scenario.

We had trudge through a jungle in the afternoon searching for people who could serve us lunch. Civilisation is not what strikes you when you hit Vengurla. So the price you pay for virginity in a location is the lack of civilisation for organising food.

Weekend Trip-Part-2- Sawantwadi to Vengurla

2009-04-07T13:39:00.001+05:30

We went to the Sawantwadi bus stand to find a sleepy little minitown that was in no hurry to head to the coast. The coastal buses here go to either Vengurla, Kudal or Terekhol. We decided on Vengurla and sat in the bus to find a certain calm that was not present in the big cities.

The bus never had a fixed time of leaving, nor did the conductor seemed to have any fixed target on number of commuters. It was a happy little world that fortunately had no one with a dagger saying DEADLINES! People could stop the bus by just plonking their foot 2 steps on the road and that would be a bus stop. We were asking around a farmer on some observations we had on the fields as to why Hay was kept in stacks all over the fields. We heard from him that, it was food for his horses and animals, who were working on the fields. Nothing super duper, just that corporate life dulls your common sense!

We spotted this cute little wannabe Mexican kid, on the road to Vengurla

One needs to climb a small ascent to get to a ruined stone fort. Shot this from there. Alluring views of the azure waters and the palm/coconut trees.

How much must that be? 20 metres long and walkable in 20 seconds? NO... It was far longer than we expected and the water was close to 6-7 feet deep, during the high tide. Vinay decided to get inside and try out how quickly we could cross, as we had a laptop bag to ferry across. When he came back bleeding from the swim, we realised that the water was deep and had gorges and rocks inside, so we hired a small boat for 50 rs to help us cross to UTOPIA.

While on the boat, during the 10 minute ride, we played the oarsman, learning how to use the oars in the lake, with the fisherman also giving an insight into his life. The fisherman,during the monsoon, also doubles up as a mechanic to supplement the income, which goes on a downward spiral with rough seas and weather conditions. during such impulse trips, converations with the local people reveals a lot about the place, people, their customs, their lives, their motivations and then finally you are able to connect the dots between geography and history that lies dormant in your brain.

Weekend Trip- Part 1- Mumbai to Sawantwadi

2009-04-01T23:19:00.001+05:30

There has always been this romance associated with unreserved and unplanned travel in trems of meeting new people, understanding their life story, and exploring lands already explored by well known travellers.. I set off on this trip alone, after office on last friday. At 7 15 pm, I decided to call it a day and head to Dadar Railway station for buying a 'unreserved' ticket from Dadar to Pernem. Now the best train to catch, to head to the konkan coast, would be Train number 6335, from the outskirts of Mumbai. When buying unreserved tickets in Mumbai, for travel north or south, the best place to buy it would be at the bigger railway terminuses like Dadar/VT/Bombay Central/Bandra Terminus/Borivali/Panvel. I tried buyinga a ticket from Lower Parel, but that is seemingly not possible and if you do head to the Dadar, you need to get it only from the counter on Dadar East.

Dadar-Pernem- 137 rs

Now after purchasing my tickets and realising that the 10 pm train at Panvel was a better option than the Konkan Kanya express, I decided to head to Mani's lunch home at Matunga and explore the combo that keeps every Tam guy worth existing- Ghee roast and filter coffee. After a short tiffen, I managed to find a taxi to Wadala Road station and took the local train to Panvel, which eased and ambled to Panvel by 9 30 pm, with the crowd being 1/1000th of what it was when I bullied people to head butt my way at Wadala road.

Once at Panvel, I removed the heavy bag I was carrying and allowed my shoulders to be free. The last 2 day's work out sessions had obviously made every sinew of my shoulder writhe in pain. I was feeling weak all of a sudden, whether I would have the energy to last the night braving the crowd in the unreserved compartment. But Today was Gudi Padwa, Maharashtrian new year, so every Mumbaikar was at home celebrating with family and if he was a travel freak, he would have left on Thursday night and not on Friday night, when I was leaving.

Just when my shoulders were groaning, I came across a short, dark man who seemed to be glancing into reams of paper. I guessed, he must be the TTE, and went and asked him if there was a possibility of getting a reserved seat. Today was my day, and given that quite a few states celebrated new year on Friday, nobody was competing with me on the train to Sawantwadi. The TTE charged me 200 rs extra for accomadating me in a middle berth, for me to lay me shoulders to rest.

Fine to the TTE- 200 Rs

I must have woken up every half an hour after 2 30 am, and finally decided to get up at 5 am, as the train was scheduled to arrive at Sawantwadi at 5 15 am. With everyone sleeping in the compartment, I couldnt rely on 'wisdom of the crowds' to get off, so I decided to take the plaunge of connecting the mobile phone GPS on my N-81, on Roaming(this combo guzzles the charge on your mobile). I was still a few kilometres from my destination, and so I decided to abandon my 2 foot space of the middle birth and stand at the footboard, allowing the morning chill winds to hit my face. After staring aimlessly at darkness, I saw that next to the toilet, there was a charging point and decided to charge my mobile phone. My friend Vinay, was to pick me up at the station. He had arrived the previous night after a sales visit to central Maharashtra. Vinay had brought an auto along and we drove to Sawantwadi town, which was 9 km's from the station. I hear that there is only 1 hotel near the sawant wadi railway station, and if you are caught up at the station, there's atleast a paid home to go to unlike stations in Goa( Pernem/Thivim/Karmali/Cancona).

We had breakfast in an udupi hotel, where the sun's rays had just pierced in at around 7 15 am. We tried to ask the hotel proprietor for breakfast at 6 20 am, but he was least interested in serving us, as words like 'customer', 'dhandha' are alien terms in this slowmoving,bovine and peaceful town.

Its not that you have too many options within a few minutes of the hotel opening. Whatever we asked for resulted in 3 items being suggested/reccomended. Upma,Sheera and Poha. We were in a mood for any thing, as long as it facilitated bowel movement and gave us a pleasant taste to make us feel good, while we saunter around the town.

The plate on the left is mine, which has Sheera(Yellow sweet) and Upma. Vinay is seen having Poha, which has become his favourite dish after he relocated to Mumbai.

The town reminded me of the faint little town of Malgudi, which had a sense of calm written all over it.

People are early to rise and discuss news with other people in the promenade of the lake.

For more updates, watch part 2 of the Blog, to be published soon

Other Images from Mumbai

2009-03-18T07:43:00.001+05:30

Spellings get inventive! Spotted at my friend's Prakritish's apartment, when I went over to borrow " Weekend Breaks from Mumbai"

Vinay cramping himself between the 2 toilets of the unreserved compartment, during our Daman Trip

Notice the sign? Per Ass 5 Rs :-) . Found outside Lower Parel Railway station

Space Issues: Dozing between Toilets :-) Over time, this person had to vacate this luxury and further cramp up to catch on his winks in the night, atleast till the time we reached Vapi

Daman Again!

2009-03-18T07:21:00.000+05:30

Last Tuesday was a holiday in Mumbai for some reason. Monday evening, I went from Mahalakshmi and met Vinay at Bombay Central and we decided to take the first train going north. We thought about Gholvad, but guess we missed out on the small station, and ended up in Vapi. We sat in the unreserved compartment and had some great conversations. I also got some time to catch up reading on Vagabonding.

This was near Nani Daman, and the ground reminded me of the AMI oval in Christrchurch, hexagonal in shape. Would have loved playing cricket at this old fort in Daman.

Daman has a portugese feel all over, pretty similar to Goa and Pondicherry.

That's the room where we stayed. Quite a plush room at 1000 Rs a Night. We thought it was good value for money.

I am attaching a Trip Cost sheet for people planning a trip to Daman

a) Ticket- 2nd class- unreserved- Bombay Central- Vapi- 50 Rs (192 kms)
b) Vapi- Daman Market (120 rs divided by number of people in the ambassador taxi)
c) Dinner (235 Rs for 2). Beyond 11 pm, the only place open is Ambica Bar where you get Veg and Non Veg food.
d) Travel from Bridge to Jampore Beach- 50 rs by Auto
e) Food at Chinatown Hotel- 250 Rs for 2. Thats the only hotel there
f) 15 sku's of sugarcane juice and coconut water- 200 Rs
g) Return Train to Mumbai- (Valsad - Mumbai passenger) 25 Rs

Simple Life!

2009-03-10T07:30:00.003+05:30

I have watched "Baaton Baaton Mein" twice over the week, and I really wish, my life was simple and enjoyable like it was in the movie. The places where the movie was shot seems to be around Bandra,Khar and Santacruz. Sometimes the best places to stay in Mumbai seem to remain the western suburbs near the sea. It shows Tina Munim and Amol Palekar frequenting a lesser crowded bandstand in those days, and the beauty of bandstand(Bandra West) still remains the same. Loved the walks I had in the rains across bandstand, beautiful place to saunter around an evening!

Enjoy the songs, that I keep humming, as I step on the 0816T fast local to Byculla.

Promises!

2009-03-10T07:13:00.002+05:30

Sometimes boredom doesnt quite hit you, if you have enough activites to keep yourself busy. Right now, I have quite a few travel books to complete. My Book list is as follows

1) Holy Cow
2) Ladies Coupe
3) Vagabonding

I hear tommorow is holi, and we get a day off at work. I, being a south indian have never experienced holi festival until last year, when at GL, my classmates caught hold of me, changed my face colour, put me in the coloured gutter water and tore my shirt. That was one crazy revelry and I hear in Mumbai, its all the more severe. It will be good to experience it.

Defining Work

2009-03-04T07:18:00.000+05:30

Is worklife all about climbing such mountains over and over again?

Rewind Time!

2009-02-27T17:08:00.003+05:30

Happened to stumble upon an old interview. I guess I miss doing these mobile phone content shows.Time to get some excitement into life.

Interview with Mr S.Ramakrishnan,Indian Cricket Team Computer Analyst, PART-1 from Katchu21 on Vimeo.

Part 2

Interview with Mr S.Ramakrishnan,Indian Cricket Team Computer Analyst, PART-2 from Katchu21 on Vimeo.

Part 3

26 going on 27

2009-02-21T00:30:00.001+05:30

Its hard to believe that age as a statistic comes to haunt you. I cant believe I am 26 already..err entering my 27th year of existence. I feel like a teenager(albeit a worn out one!). But a birthday is a good time to reflect back on childhood and the memories assosiated with distributing chocolates at school. There were times I bought 2 sets of chocolate packs. One for the school and one for the apartment folks. But now that tradition has gone. I dont even know who my neighbours are in my Mumbai apartment, nor do I feel like dstributing sweets and chocolates at office. Its become a ritual at work over the years when a cake is cut in celebration and you know that somebody is going to aim at your nose/face. I enjoyed it most during the 2005 and 2006 birthdays, since then the novelty factor has gone away, as I have never cut cakes during my engineering college. At B school, I was saved a mauling, as I was ill for 5 days from 19th to 23rd February. This year, I really dont know. There's been a lot of work, and so I have become numb to react to any kind of situation. just do three things in Mumbai- TRAVEL,WORK,SLEEP. Life is stale and needs some activity post work.

I was looking back at how some of my birthdays went over time

Check it if you have the time(Its a repost from an earlier Blog)

First Quarter Results

Stock Name- Kartik Kannan
Fund Name- February 21
Alternate name- Birthday
Type of business- From cakes and candles to expensive hotel treats

Below is a ledger account of the transactions in the first quarter of my life for the fund called-Birthday

Feb 21 over the years

1983 : Your's truly was born at 4 am in Hyderabad

1988 : I remember celebrating my birthday for the first time,as I wanted the typical conical cap,pink ribbons just like it was in the movies ...and lo! it did happen,thanks to mom and dad with a pineapple cake to boot...and of course a lovely greeting card from my grandfather all the way from Nanganallur to Delhi. The guests for my birthday were only 2 people, My Mom and Dad :-) . I also remember going to Man Mandir in R.K.Puram Delhi for the archanai and puja..that one normally performs .

1989: Spent a 'quiet' birthday not even distributing chocolates as I could'nt eat chocolates during that period,as I had my tooth broken by a punjabi classmate in a mock boxing contest. GRRRRRR.......I shouldnt have watched the boxing contest shown on"The world this week" the previous night.

1990: Again a quiet birthday,but the last one while in school at Delhi, remember being gifted "THE OCTPOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA" by Archana, my dad's colleagues daughter.

1991: This time the birthday happened and so did a small party in my adayar home in Chennai, with all my 2nd floor friends coming into wish me birthday wishes.Life in an apartments was so cool, with me getting to be the centre of attention. After the birthday party got over, I kinda felt bored, so decided to play "Robber and Police" with me taking the self proclaimed privilege of captaining the "Police" team.

1992: Birthday was spent flirting with a cute bengali chick called Swati Bukyalkar ...and creating my own colours in felt pens..in what I felt would be the Indian uniform for the 1992 Cricket World Cup..which was to start the next day.Damn....I behaved as if I never knew tamil and I knew only hindi, just to give her the feeling that we have a similar background, and this helps in "cementing" the bond. But to be frank, I actually know better Hindi than Tamil, even now

1993: After being tired of buying conventional t shirts and shorts, I decide to have an unusual birthday present and decide to paint my own T shirt..with the letters INDIA in front and KARTIK behind..which for the next couple of years made people stare at me.Those were the days when cricket fever was at its max,and I would play cricket with that shiirt, have coloured pads on my leg, apply my mother's fair and lovely cream to resemble the White Zinc cream that cricketers(especially the australian bowlers)used to have when playing cricket.

1994: was in 7th standard... and spent the birthday quietly giving chocolates to my close friends and started a new ritual , the namaskaram to my grandparents which started to be firstsourcce of big time pocket money...of 100 bucks during my birthday.

1995: First time , somebody treated me on my birthday...my mother and I were taken by my mother's sister's folks to a place called Nilgiri's nest for a dinner and I dont seem to really eat so much then..and decide to finish the dinner as early as possible and get back home to have a early snooze as I need to wake up at 2 30 am the next day to watch the India vs Australia one day match to be played at Dundedin in the New Zealand Cricket Centenary

.1996: It was called Cricket's greatest year by Prime sports (now Star Sports)..and it sure was.I remember giving a treat for the first time after my friends at school literally forced me into giving one .... the treat was 60 bucks worth of samosas,pepsi,puffs among 4 people and I felt like I was a millionare giving away Charity.On my birthday which happened to be my nandhee...(a ritual which is done a day before the upanayanam) I sleepily got up and saw water heater warming the water near the bathroom and sleepily felt my hand into the water to see how hot the water was , totally unoblivious of the water heater and lo....got the first electric shock of my life.Those days the Coke,Pepsi cans were the "in -thing" and with the world cup on .... I decided to treat my cousins to some Coke ..and bought three coke cans ...and had a crazy hobby of collecting many empty soft drink cans...to showcase on my cupboard that I had drunk all of these..and treasured them as if they were vignettes meant to be preserved.This birthday was all the more enjoyable as the whole family was at my place , during my upanayanam and nobody moved out to the kalyana mandapam,untill the India -West Indies match at Gwalior was over.

1997 : Again one of those really cool birthday's spent at Besant nagar beach with my close friends and when I was short of cash my friend B.C.Ram pitched in some of his money to pay up the bill...

1998: This was spent just going to the temple and drowning myself in my CBSE text books as the public exams were nearing.

1999: A very quiet birthday, with half the people forgetting in my family as it was overshadowed by my cousin's housewarming ceremony in suburban Madipakkam.

2000: Again another birthday lost in the din of the class 12 Board exams.All I do is take a darshan at a temple before sleeping into my science text book.

2001: 18 till I die !!! This was the song I heard in the morning on my walkman ...as I turned 18 that year and in typical rebelious fashion...I didnt want to go home and go to the temple and have a quiet birthday.I got off my college bus ......simply roamed around alone....walking across the whole of adayar,with my walkman to my ears ... feeling the self glorified fact that I am no more a kid after turning 18.

2002: Birthday treats become more localized and outsourced...as I treat my friends by asking them to come to a symposium at Hindustan engineering college and enjoy the lunch there.

2003: My first major hole in the purse...treat classmates to a huge bill at Pizza corner in Chennai. ( I think it was Achut and Sudhir, who came that day, while watching Sachin and Saurav pummel 100's against hapless Nairobi n the 2003 world cup)

2004:My first birthday spent all alone ..in Pune ... as I Go there for an interview for the MBA program at Symbiosis and treat myself to a Maharshtrian special called SPDP (Sev potato dahi papdi ).First birthday I discover the pain and joy of being alone in a big city.The pain being my health was bad then,and joy being ..Pune was BABE LAND ....

2005: I give three rounds of treats to my college friends, Close friends and then Infy friends at the Dominos outlet in Infosys Chennai and learn how easy it is to get swayed by emotions in giving multiple treats only to see that the bank account is damaged to an extent :- )

2006:Had a blast in office.They give me an impromptu birthday party.Spent the better part of the evening analysing targets and projections for the next month.I was cursing my stars,that the best part of the evening was spent drowning myself in mundane excel sheets.

2007:Damn the whole birthday eve had been spent in deleting the 100 odd spam mails I have recieved requesting for my credit card number to buy VIAGRA and CIALIS at their discounted 4.65$ rate. Thankfully, there's no invitation from a credit card agency to consider me worthy of their next credit card scheme.I was planning an outing, but am reconsidering because all these treats these days for birthdays do not have any outlet for talking and spending a good time remembering the good ol days ...but just a eating fest where people gorge at your expense...and after finishing a heavy meal... they remember to wish me along with all the burps and belches.People and friends start expecting treats in bigger and more posh hotels as the pay cheque increases....but according to me , the star status of a hotel hardly matters.As long as you are able to enjoy the day and are able to feel special on that day with your friends, it hardly matters where you have food at udipi hotel or chola hotel.I realize this , my friends dont .... :- )Ask me and I would love to spend time just sitting on the bench of a railway station or the beach eating groundnuts with masala.Nothing equals the that joy.... and simple arrangement where one is able to converse a lot with his special friends and also enjoy the day.

2008: At home, with fever. Only the messages remind me that its my birthday

2009: An sms, a few orkut wishes and a call later, I am planning to hit the sack. Though I'd like to take time out with friends today, a pile of office work stares at me. If I can leave at 6-7 pm, then I shall decide on some quiet place to spend time with some friends.

Panting for Breath!

2009-02-19T19:45:00.004+05:30

I notice whenever I run a little fast for more than 20 seconds, I pant and I struggle to breathe. I feel I just need to rest for a long while to get my breath back. I feel the same happening with corporate life. Right now, even though the running generates a sense of excitement, its the moments when I pant, that a lot of questions hit me. Do I mutely ignore and start running or do I spend more time waiting for breath to catch up?

I feel I know where the answers will come from, but I just dont want to face the answers, as the questions itself seem to have made me uncomfortable.

Conventional life is boring, and when you try and break away from the routine, there's always something at the back of your mind asking you to return back to your convention.

I guess I will go through such moments as I am slowly getting exposed to the realities of life. The time for pausing life just got over, time to hit the play button and RUN home.... Byculla-Thane Fast Local chalo chalo!

Goa- Trip Part 3

2009-01-29T20:50:00.001+05:30

On 25th Morning, we went about hunting for Dolphins around Palolem. The boat guys will always point in a direction opposite to what you are seeing and say "dekho dolphin". We did see a couple of them jumping a mile away, but it's not like free willy, where you play with whales and dolphins. Its a nice trip on the boat, to get better views of the smaller islands around. Dont go expecting to see a dolphin.

Nischal decided to perch himself on the highest point on the beach to spot dolphins. All he did were to spot skimpily clad firangs swimming near the coast. Still his eyes wouldnt complain, would they?

Our Cottage, room number 17, on Bridges and Tunnels ( A hotel in Palolem Beach, on the hill) turned out to be a vantage point for seeing nature at its best. Right below as we opened the doors of our balcony, we could see women in various stages of nudity,trying to soak up the sun, and also the lovely bluish waters of the coulumb bay. If this was our view to the west, see the picture below to see our view to the east

That was the panoramic view of Palolem Beach, dotted with coconut trees and bamboo huts

Goa trip - Part 2

2009-01-28T13:25:00.000+05:30

The Azure waters of Coulumb Bay off the coast of Palolem. We sat at this shack for hours gazing into the waters, and waking up every hour or so, we refreshed ourselves with a dip in the sea.

Thats my friend Nischal, who is seen resting with a Long Island Lemon tea, and his pack of cigarettes. This drink was quite costly at 220 rs.

Thats me gleaming in the sunshine!

Thats how clear the water was when we went swimming in the part of the private little beach at Coulomb Bay.

Weekend Trip To Goa- Republic Day Long Weekend! Part 1

2009-01-28T12:29:00.001+05:30

At Canacona Station.

We got off the unreserved compartment. We(Myself and Nischal Ram, a friend from B school) took the train from Panvel, and jumped into the unreserved compartment in train 6335, which was coming from Gandhidham and heading to Nagercoil. Most of the unreserved compartment passengers were workers going home to the konkan regions of ratnagiri and sawantwadi. A few of them were also 'Mallu' students who were content getting their inchspace to stand. Since we were able to bully around our way inside, we got 2 places to sit, but in the same position for a few hours. After 3 am, the seats that we occupied had a little more space to test the elasticity of our muscles. Our train reached Madgaon at 6 40 am, and reached Canacona at about 8 am. I remember passing through a tunnel enroute which was easily the longest tunnel that I have been in. Must have been a full 3-4 minutes inside that tunnel between Madgaon and Canacona(South Goa)

Watching the waves rise up and down at Palolem. Now that was our morning activity till we finished our breakfast in 2 hours. The water was pleasantly clean from the garbage one gets along Anjuna, Baga and Calangute. It a greensih tinge, but nowhere near the beauty of Havelock Island(Andamans).

The chairs we sat in, as we just saw the waves coming and going.

The colours of Palolem all around us. Goa was a beautiful sight in the morning. Decorated with bright colours, the contrast of blue skies against green coconut tree leaves, brown bamboo and of course a lot of phoren skin in various shades of white,cream and dark brown.

Part 2 comes in a while. Till then soak in the current post

The Week That Was!

2009-01-22T11:37:00.001+05:30

BOWLED HIM! NECK AND CROP!
Navneet and I decided to play cricket at Nirmal Lifestyle. He won in a 3 over match by beating me by 24 runs. This is one of those moments when the bowling machine castled him(or was it when he hit a boundary? ). I shall assume when it was bowled, as he beat me by 24 runs.

Kartik 24/2 in 3 overs
Navneet 48/1 in 3 overs

Navneet bored me by forcing me to watch "Australia" and slept within 20 minutes of the movie starting. I atleast was awake till the interval, but decided to call it quits after the interval.

My friend Prasanna, had come from Chicago on Sunday morning. He left Mumbai shaken and stirred by the crowds that throng the stations. This was taken in a retaurant in Mulund where we washed our stomachs with some sambhar and dosas. I had a long day by waking at 5 am, and picking him up at the airport and taking him through a tour of Mumbai.

I had taken him on a long walk in South Mumbai. Caught a few kids playing cricket near Cama Hospital. Incidentally the Mumbai marathon was also on at the same time.

My neighbour's house tag- I thought "Tapal Petti" was a tamil word, learned that its a hindi word also.

Hilarious Satyam Fiasco- Spoof

2009-01-12T11:02:00.000+05:30

Got it from a friend of mine at Ibibo. Truly Hilarious!

Batchmate's Marriages in Mumbai

2009-01-09T14:29:00.001+05:30

Space Issues : Mandap and Eating room in the same place at Vile Parle. That's a very Mumbai thing!

Mumbai starters- Panipuri and the assortment of Chaat. I was totally hooked on to this section, and in the melee was less interested in meeting the couple.

The classmates who got married- Shailesh and Pooja. Their marriage was in Vile Parle, attracted about 11 folks from the batch. When I think of them, I think of as the 'Ideal-made for each other' couples( pretty similar to Minisha Lamba and Abhay Deol in "Honeymoon Travels" )

The other marriage of out batchmate, Himanshu Pahuja. This was held at a rather posh South Bombay location near Kalaghoda. Had a more relaxed set of people, less crowded and had some light instrumnental music playing.

Waiting for my friend Sham Shet's marriage in Goa. That would be a nice trip to go and enjoy in a different place.

Moonlight Treks in Goa Along Morjim

2009-01-09T13:44:00.001+05:30

Something I loved doing. Looks like there are other people who love it as well. I guess the wholle Morjim to Arambol stretch is a beautiful flat stretch to trek amidst the waves. Jan 26th weekend activity? May be, provided Tatkal reservation works and doesnt conk off as it normally does.

Elements from weekend Chennai Trip- Part 2

2009-01-05T19:12:00.001+05:30

Updates on this post, coming up by tonight.

My School Bus Driver, Physics Lab Atendant

Mahalakshmi Maam

Revathi and Jagadha Maam.

Elements from weekend Chennai Trip- Part 1

2009-01-05T18:42:00.000+05:30

On the Air-India flight from Mumbai to Chennai- Saw in flight enterainment systems dishing out videos of safety instructions. It was good in a way, as no one is in the mood to see aunties giving instructions at 10 pm in the night. The so called-in-flight-entertainment was some archived videos of some lion roaming for food in a forest without any audio. The best inflight entertainment on domestic flights has to go to Jet Airways on the Mum-Chennai route, followed by Kingfisher which provides Live Television on board.

One of the reasons for a Chennai trip on the 26th-28th weekend was my school alumni meet. This was the first time such a thing was happening in the history of Bala Vidya Mandir(Adyar). I decided to go to school, as a lot of my formative skills were developed largely because of the oppurtunities I had in school, may it be talking on stage, quizzing, playing cricket and a few other small things.
From Left to Right, are my school Aayas, who used to let me inside their house(inside the school compound) to watch the cricket updates, take care of me when I was waiting alone, for my parents to pick me up, help me with lunch sometimes when I spilt it as a kid on the ground, and a score of other things, that i would remember them for.

Thats me and my maths sir. This is the way he introduced me with pride to some of his other students " KK used to start sleeping at 9 am and get up when the bell rang at 4 pm very promptly". He used to tell me that the only way, I could improve in life was to have a pot with a small hole, so that the the water keeps trickling down on my head to keep me awake. Well, there are times I feel droswy at work still, and nothing much has changed since then.

This was my chemistry lab assistant, who shared the same passion for cricket as I did. Nacl and h2S04, took a backseat in the lab, when I used to secretly discuss 'latesht' scores with him. He used to have access to the Aayaa's house, which had a Black and White TV, and was the sole source for the scores for students in school. I had an amazing kick, If I was the first to know that a Chris Cairns was out or if Sachin had walked to the crease. Those were the days where cricinfo was not there, mobiles were not there, Public telephones in school was only for emergency, and radio's were not allowed in school. Simple unadulterated source of adrenalin :-), knowing the score before a 100 odd kids :-)

Quick Christmas Getaway to Daman- Part 2

2009-01-05T16:35:00.001+05:30

If your Visiting Daman- the only point which you would have to walk, if you are a tourist would be this stretch between the 2 parts of Daman. The most hep part of Daman is the place where Devka beach is. The other part is a lazy Jampore beach.

We reached Vapi at 1 : 50 am, thrown out by a mob of irate travellers who wanted to get their inchspace of the unreserved compartment to Gorakhpur. I was happy to be out in one piece.

We took a taxi, an Ambasador vehicle at 2 am, after a warm cup of tea. The taxi had 10 people inside and we had 3 in front and 7 behind absolutely cramped. The taxi goes past the Daman-Gujarat Border and drops you at Daman Market. If you need to go to Devka beach, then it takes another 90 rs, and 6 kms to reach there. We took a hotel called Dariya Darshan, and decided to indulge in some luxury by taking the costliest room, as it promised ' sea view'. After we paid the money, a casual conversation at 2 30 am revealed that the sea view would be hampered by 90%, as a new building had come between the sea and the Dariya darshan hotel. We were too tired to argue, and we hit the sack.

The next morning, we got up and discovered that the promised Devka beach had its sea 2 kilometres from the hotel, as the sea face was full of rocks, akin to the Bandstand at Bandra.

At that side of the place, they do have a man made lake and an amusement park, but if you are a traveller in search for more realistic things, you would do well to avoid the devka beach side of Daman.

I probably guessed, on our way to the other side of Daman, this would be a picture worth shooting at sunset.

Jampore beach is the best part of Daman. It actually has a beach, which has this earthly element called Sand, that was missing in Devka. Jampore has small stalls around the beach, and waters that dont have too many strong waves. The downside to it is, the lack of accomadation options around the beach. The only proper restaurant is China Town which is barely comestible. There is intense competition in this restaurant for its 2 toilets that people flock to relieve themselves.

At 3 we decided, that the siesta in Daman needed to come to an end, and we boarded an express train from Vapi, buying reserved tickets to catch up on lost sleep, as the train steered its way into Manic Mumbai( Dadar!)