Day 119 - Expectations

Last week was such a disappointing and depressing week.

The week began with THE event, which a lot of people in the organisation were looking forward to for a long time.  Monday was spent doing nothing but distributing envelopes and talking to people.  The one word which was heard time and again, was, 'Expectations'.  Interestingly, in different connotations too.  Someone said their expectations were met, some said their expectations were largely met, some said not really and some took the road of 'I have no expectations'!

'Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed'!

Is that really true?  Did all the colleagues who said that they had no expectations really mean it?  Is it possible to live in this material world and have no expectations?  By the looks of last week, yes it is.  Difficult maybe, but not impossible.

Expectations, I think, are manifestations of our perception of our own self and the environment around us.  Hence logically, if we are able control our thoughts and focus them on the present rather than extrapolating the past into the future, we might be able to get rid of undue expectations. 

On the other hand, we could argue that whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.  What is the point of living if you do not expect something from life and are keenly looking forward to it?  I know this is very abstract, but so is the eternal mystery of expectations.

The mystery of me being very disappointed and depressed might also just be a case of misplaced expectations.  Who knows...

The rest of the week was not very uplifting either.  The IPL cesspool continued to get dirtier by the day.  Look what two people with big egos can do.  And more importantly, look what a megalomaniac can do, if not governed adequately.  The good part though, was, my prediction (and wish) came true.  Mumbai Indians played Chennai Super Kings in the final and the Super Kings became the Kings of IPL!  My loyalties were divided, but I did realise that somewhere down there, I do have an extra special soft corner for Chennai!

I will be there at the end of this month.  Should remember to congratulate my friends in Chennai on the victory!

Appudi podu podu podu.....

Take care.

Day 110 - (Un)Common Sense

It has been an interesting week.  I did find a way out of the maze of priorities that I found myself at the turn of the last week.  Help came in the form of Sukumar Subramaniam! 

However, the more interesting happenings for me this week have been outside the ambit of my life.  The IPL and its workings are being unravelled as an outcome of the Tharoor - Modi war!  And what a cesspool it is!  The brand is taking a beating.  I am absolutely certain now that some of these matches (if not most) are actually staged and fixed.  Alas, cricket is no longer a gentleman's game.  The other interesting stand-off has been between two regulatory bodies in the country.  SEBI and IRDA are at loggerheads on who should be regulating the ULIPs.  Assume there is more to it than just jurisdictional insecurity.  Ego is at play; otherwise this one would not have been fought so publicly.  Poor Pranabda has a task at hand now.

We celebrated Priyanksh's birthday on Friday with friends and family.  After the cake cutting, along with the dinner, some very dangerous rides were on the menu at Hakone!  Some of our heads are still spinning.

Drove to Pune on Saturday, to meet the in-laws, and especially my father-in-law who is recovering from a cataract operation.  And it was while driving through the dark tunnels on the Mumbai - Pune Expressway that I decided I was going to write about traffic in Mumbai and the infrastructure thats supports it.

Traffic in Mumbai is insane.  I remember telling a few foreigners about the difference in traffic between Mumbai and Chennai.  Mumbai has more vehicles on the road but the flow of traffic is more organised than Chennai.  I would now like to retract that statement, which was based on my stay in Mumbai during the early few years of this decade.  Mumbai traffic is insane.

Everyone drives very aggressively; like there is no tomorrow.  Everyone wants to be ahead of the other vehicles.  There is no lane discipline, especially on the wider roads of the Eastern and the Western Expressways.  Sometimes, the distance between the vehicles while overtaking etc. actually scares me.  The margin for error is very less.  A millimetre here and there can cause an accident.

Add to this the infrastructure that supports road transport in the city.  There is no doubt that India as a country builds infrastructure on a lag basis, when there is a demand for it.  There is no proactive planning involved.  However, the issue that bugs me is the way the infrastructure is built.  There is no common sense used.  Everything is bare minimum.  There is no thought given to illumination levels, signages, reflectors, etc.  Suddenly, out of nowhere a divider comes into being; there is no reflective paint on it and hence so very difficult to recognise it at night.  Moreso because the illumination levels of our street lights are not only inadequate but pathetic.  Add to that the penchant for drivers to use the high beam (part of the reason to be using it is obviously the inadequacy of the street lights), with no element of common sense in it.  When driving at night in Mumbai, you are practically driving blind, atleast in most of the places.  Lack of adequate signages, and more importantly, inappropriate placement of signages can easily confuse a commuter into taking a wrong exit / missing an exit.  I definitely think people in Chennai who built these have a little more common sense.  It is definitely not due to their liking of the colour yellow that most dividers, reflectors, etc. are well painted in that colour!  :-))  Not sure what can be done to make the authorities smoothen these rough edges when they build roadways.  Hopefully common sense will dawn and prevail some day!

If you are driving in Mumbai, please take it easy.  Life is precious.  Drive safe.

Take care.

Day 103 - Here, There & Everywhere...

This last week has been really hectic.  At work and otherwise.  Even the weekend has been the same.  The reason:  Too many conflicting priorities and pulls.

1) Have to plan to be in Chennai as soon as possible to complete the formalities of the house sale.

2) However, the next week (and the one after that!) is very busy at work. Can't spare even a day except for this Friday.

3) However, Friday is Priyanksh's second birthday and I want to be at home with him.

4) Am looking to buy a house in Mumbai, however cannot move forward unless I complete the Chennai sale!

5) Amongst all of this, I have to be in Pune next weekend.

How do I go about resolving this maze of priorities?  Prioritize, some would say.  How to prioritize when all of the above are equally important, and more importantly, inter-linked?

While my small little brain struggled with matters of such great significance, I did visit the MCHI Property Exhibition at BKC on Saturday.  The real estate market sure has hit boom time by the looks of the crowd that was in attendance at the fair.  Bad news for me.  However, I think the trick here is to look for good value for money properties after cutting through the hype. 

Did the same on Sunday.  Took off to Girish's place to look at various properties in Thane.  Was dead tired by the end of the day; more so due to the blatant hard sell of the lady broker accompanying us rather than anything else.

I expect the next few weeks to be equally tiring and busy.

Take care.

Day 100 - Shubh Yatra

Keeping very much in line with my last post, I travelled to Ahmedabad with Priya and the kids.  By Indian Railways!  After a long time I decided to travel by train and there are multiple reasons for it.

It has been a while since I had travelled by train to anywhere. 

1) This was because I was based in Chennai for the last 6 years and travelling by train from Chennai to Ahmedabad (or anywhere up North / West) would have been too time consuming.  However, due to the fact that I spent a huge amount of my student life and early work life travelling by train and hence was longing to do a train journey again.

2) The kids were very small, hence long duration travel would have been a challenge.  Now that the kids are a little bigger, I wanted them to experience the joys of travelling by train, even if it was just a night journey!;-)

3) From Mumbai to Ahmedabad, it makes sense.  Saves time, saves money.

The journey itself was very uneventful.  This could be due to the fact that I played safe and travelled by First AC.  I do remember feeling a bit claustrophobic in the coupe initially. The kids did like it till they fell asleep!

Even after travelling by First AC, I do still think a lot can be done to improve the services and enhance the experience of travelling by Indian Railways.  The hygiene can be much better.  The ergonomics and the core service as well.

But then, I never ever gave all of these a second thought when I used to occupy 1/7th of the upper berth every morning to get to Nadiad from Ahmedabad, in my student days!

Take care!

Day 89 - Incredible India!

Yes, Incredible India!  That is the thought that comes to my mind again and again, since the last couple of days.  The trigger being my visit to Goa this week for an offsite.

Though the visit itself was very hurried and hectic (spanning a day and a half), while travelling from the Goa airport to the hotel located in South Goa, near Palolem, and back, I was amazed at how rich and more importantly, how different the landscape was. 

The point is, India is such a big and diverse country, with so much to offer.  It is said that the dialect changes every 500 metres in India. Not sure if this is an exaggeration, but it goes to show how different a different part of India might look like to someone who has lived mostly confined to his surroundings.  While on my way to and from the hotel, I could see a Goanese influence on so many things.  The style of architecture, the colours that locals use to paint their houses: vibrant and typical of Goa, the bill-boards, the dressing styles, everything had a distinct Goanese influence on it.

After this experience, I have promised myself that I will try to explore more of the richness and diversity of India's culture, geography and demography, going forwards.  It is a shame that I haven't yet seen the Taj Mahal!  In the next few years, as the children start growing up, I am going to explore India along with the family.  It is an incredible country and there is so much to experience as a proud citizen of this country. Incredible India, here I come!

By the way, the trip itself was fruitful, but quite tiring.  Was at work till 11.30 in the night and then had to catch the 6.00 AM flight.  Friday evening was good.  Once the working sessions were over, the drinking and singing sessions started.  Everyone had a fun time, with me finally retiring at 3.30 AM in the morning.  No prizes for guessing that I gave the yatch ride and the jet ski a miss the next morning.  This was my second visit to Goa.  The first time being for Zulu and Ryan's wedding four years ago, when me and Pince were there with Suryanksh, who was not yet born!

Take care.

Day 82 - Too Much Of Anything; Good For Nothing

I am refering to our country's beloved sport: Cricket!  And the context of mentioning it now is the ongoing IPL Season 3. 

There was a time when I would bunk school to be able to watch cricket.  Not in the stadium, but on television.  There was so much more anticipation before any game of cricket those days.  Waking up at 4.00 AM in the morning to watch the Benson & Hedges World Series matches was so exciting!

Nowadays, there is so much cricket being played and telecast, I do not really care who is playing whom, unless there is a match of great significance being played. 

I believe that too much cricket is not good for anybody.  Not for the fans, not for the players, not for the administrators in the long run and certainly not for the game itself.

Too much cricket doesn't give enought time to players to recuperate from slight niggles and they tend to play with minor injuries which make things even worse, sometimes, career threatening.  I do not remember Kapil Dev, a medium pacer; workhorse of this times, ever getting injured and missing a match due to that. 

For the audience and the fans, we get to see time and time again the same players and teams battle it out against each other and it becomes repetitive and boring.  Interest in the game wanes.  For example I was so very excited when we had the first season of the IPL.  By the time IPL 3 has come around I do not think I have the same fascination for the event anymore.  2 consecutive matches every day is causing cricket fatigue for me.

One might argue that this is all good for the administrators.  More cricket translates into more money.  But the point is that they are all killing the golden goose!  So much cricket is taking the interest out of the game which is not good for sponsors.  The administrators are sweating the game too much.

All this cricket has made the game very different from what it was twenty years ago.  The pace of the game has changed.  The experiments in batting, bowling anf fielding are coming thick and fast.  As of now no one is complaining, but as this goes on we might see something similar to a baseball game on a cricket pitch very soon.  There is a need to preserve the classic form of cricket.

I am defintely not looking forward to a game of baseball.  Take care.

Day 77 - Faith Busters

Yesterday I visited Shirdi, to offer prayers to Sai Baba.  I had been to the place, last time, many many years ago.  This post is prompted by yesterday's visit to the shrine.

Just after the Babri Masjid demolition, I, as an eighteen year old teenager, decided that I will never ever visit a public place of worship.  And I stuck to it for a long period of time.  The point was, I thought faith is a matter of personal choices and is best exercised in the private domain.  Bringing it to the public domain only causes great damage to the fabric of a peaceful and secular society.  Mind you, when at home, I offer prayers every day, since childhood.  And I feel good about it.  However, after many years, I again started visiting temples, even if just to keep family members happy. 

In the past few years, I have now visited three of the most renowned temples in India.  Tirupati, Palani and Shirdi.  The most striking thing that I have observed after being to these places, is that religion has become grossly commercialised.  To me, as a faithful, this trend kills the feelings with which you go to any place of worship.  And that is, to seek peace and tranquility.  What you do get is:

1) Differentiation based on your standing in the society / the money you have.  VIP passses to bypass every queue of order.  A gross violation of the belief that everyone is equal in the eyes of God.  Unless you have some influence, you are sure to be hugely disappointed with the rendezvous with God.

2) Long queues through which one has to tiringly wade through for hours to get a glimpse of the deity.  By the time you reach the deity, you are not even thinking about the deity; only how to keep your place in the queue.

3) Touts prevail (and rule!) all over the place.  These places wail for professional management!

I much rather prefer the Sai Baba temple in Chennai on ECR Road.  The place is amazing and I would encourage everyone to visit it.  It is a place where I felt like going, again and again, because of the peace and tranquility that it affords, in this fast paced world.

Not sure whether I will visit any famous shrines in the near future.  May be only if, I can obtain a VIP pass!  Or maybe not!  Ultimately, the home, is the best temple!

Jai Sai Ram!  Take care.

Day 68 - A First

OK.  This is a first.  A post on my blog for the first time from an airline lounge.  My first post from a location outside of India as well!  Posting this from Doha, Qatar, while I wait for my connecting flight back home.

This week has been a week of new experiences.  Very hectic with long haul flights within the space of 3 days to and back from New York.  Was at work on Monday on Holi.  Had to catch up on a lot before I travelled to New York on Tuesday.

The journey to JFK from Mumbai is a long and tiring one...and my head was buzzing by the time I got to NYC on Tuesday.  I spent the next three days of the week meeting colleagues in the NY office and participating in workshops.  The evenings were fun too.

I caught up with Niraj on Thursday night.  We were meeting after close to 15 years and it was great to catch up with him.  We went down the memory lane talking about the GLS days, while bar hopping in downtown NY.  On Friday, Prakash, my cousin and his family picked me up after work.  We did a bus tour of New York in the night, had dinner at Utsav, an Indian restaurant (very good food!) and drove down to New Jersey.  Stayed with them for a day before I took the flight back home tonight. (tonight??....today??)  Pakku and Aparna have a beautiful place in the countryside in NJ.  I quite liked it, especially with the snow from last week still not melted and the sun shining in full glory on Saturday.  The best part of the trip was reserved for the last, though, when Jyoti and her family came over to see me before I started from NY.  Again, was meeting Mots after 10 years!  I must say, the rapid progress in information technology has also played a great role in bringing people together and closer, even though, the normal accusation actually is that it is making humans less creative and move away from human contact in flesh and bones.  I find it very useful to stay in touch and connect with family, friends and acquaintences across the globe.

The one big observation, though, out of the NY visit, is that Americans, like everything extra large. XXXL.  From the coffee that they drink to the cars that they drive.  From the bridges that they build to the people who build them.  All XXXL.  A lot of it, especially in NYC, is glitzy and over the top.  Vegas is even worse.  This obsessiveness with all things big only causes a huge amount of energy and gas consunption and a detrimental effect on the environment.  No wonder the developing nations first want the developed nations like the US to commit on cuts on emissions.  But more on this on a separate post.

As I sit in the lounge waiting to get home, I become aware that I am landing on a Monday morning, and will have to go to work in a few hours after I land.  Missing family...maybe I should take it easy on Monday.

Take care.

Day 61 - All in a Week

So, here I am.  Still in Mumbai, the travel, thankfully, postponed and cut short by a week!  I did not have to travel this week, which was a very very last minute decision.  I left it so late that even the company cab had arrived to pick me up and I went down as a 'no show' in his records.  I depart for NY tomorrow night.

But what a week it has been!  The 'on-now; off-now' Indo-Pak talks, the Bongla Budgets and to top it all, the Master's unbeaten knock of 200 in the second ODI against South Africa!

I know, enough has been spoken and written about the man and his feats, including the latest one.  But, Sachin Tendulkar, being one of my role models, this was a special day for me.  I am indeed privileged to have witnessed the Master's entire career, right from his first steps into international cricket on the tour of Pakistan, where one Mr.Abdul Qadir got a resounding reply to his taunts, till date, where, he is now close to scoring a century of centuries.  Go for it, Sachin!  I know you can do it.  Nothing is impossible, especially for you!.  And then there is the small matter of winning the next World Cup as well.  Who has seen Bradman bat?  Not me.  Seeing is believing.  I can only narrate Sachin Tendulkar's exploits to my grand children, not Bradman's.

The Bongla Budgets (The Railway Budget & the General Budget) were presented by two ministers from West Bengal who can be categorised in two completely different buckets as politicians.  One, a street figher never afraid to make noise; the other, a perfect example of the Bhadralok.  No price hikes in rail tickets!  Great news.  Will plan all my next trips to Ahmedabad as overnight train journeys.  Cheaper than the low cost carriers.  I hear that I will also be paying less tax.  But dole out more for feeding myself, my family and of course, my car!  Kya Pranabda, ek haath le, ek haath de?

Last but not the least, the Indo-Pak talks.  Same result again.  Which is, no result.  In fact I understand the relations have become even more tense after Ms.Rao & Co. met Mr.Bashir & Co.  This is so frustrating.  I dream of one strong country including the territories of Pakistan, India & Bangladesh!  But that is an utopian dream which I will reserve for elaboration in another post, some other time.  By the way, the last laugh may well be Ms.Rao's as India was leading Pakistan 4 - 1 in the World Cup Hockey encounter, as I was posting this!  Amen!

Take care.

Day 54 - Tiger on my mind

No.  Not the one who used to prowl the eighteen holes.  And was innovative and creative enough to include a nineteenth one in the course. 

I am referring to our national animal.  Our national animal is fighting for its life.  At last count, only 1411 are left, from 40000 at the beginning of this century. 

I think there are two key reasons for this state of affairs. 

1) Poaching

2) Depletion of the natural habitat of this wonderful creature. 

Poaching is driven by greed.  And greed cannot be eliminated enmasse from society because it is driven by individual circumstances, wants, needs and background of each person.  So poaching cannot be stopped.  It can only be prevented.  It can be prevented by ensuring that the habitats of these tigers are protected in a water tight manner.  The authorities (politicians and the bureacracy) should be accountable for this.

Depletion of the natural habitat of the tiger is a key reason for them to venture into areas inhabited by man, resulting in man - animal conflict.  We need to preserve our forests.  We can do that by avoiding unnecessary usage of forests-derived products like paper and wood.

What can you do to save our tigers?  Please find some time to visit: http://www.saveourtigers.com/ to know how you can contribute to this initiative.  I, for one, want to be able to show my sons what a tiger looks like, in real.  Not the one with a club in his hand, though.

Meanwhile, the last week (and the weekend) was very hectic.  I spent a considerable amount of time planning my itinerary for the next two weeks.  Later tonight I embark on a two week journey for a key project, which will take me to Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York and London, in that order.  It is going to be hectic and very tiring.

Manish was in Mumbai this weekend to conduct a seminar on IFRS.  The weekend was spent in chauffering him to the venue / airport and back.  Good to see that he is being accorded such a lot of respect by his peers for his prowess on IFRS.  Kudos to him for sticking to his guns and focussing on it, from the time that the world had not even heard about IFRS.  He is another tiger that I know of!

I am not sure if I will be able to post anything in the next two weeks.  If that is the case, will do so once I am back.  Take care.

Save Our Tigers.