Zero, Not Out!

Handling failure is one of the most uneasy phases one has to go through. It is a haunting, self-destructive, restrospective, and a terrible phase to be in. And this is exactly the phase I am currently in, three consecutive failures at the job interviews have left me shattered to say the least. I couldn't do much in the first company with me being eliminated in the Group Discussion stage itself in spite of the best of my efforts. But yesterday was the killer blow - I appeared in the interviews of Cognizant and TCS, and was rejected for the subsequent rounds. I sought an explanation from the panel - and an old enemy prevailed as the root cause. They told I was not aggresive enough, and one mentioned I "looked" tired - so much so for being unbiased in today's world. Let me be relevant to the context - this was no sales positions I was looking for, I presented myself as someone who was calm and confident about my credentials - and yes I am not flamboyant, but that is my strength - I try and represent stability.

What makes people think that there is no room for someone who is a touch reserved? We are talking about business analysts or consultants here - the only chat they need to do with customers is business, not some pub room chit-chat which can very well be on the agenda of a salesman!!

I discussed this with my sister, and asked her a question - if you were taking the interview of Nandan Nilekani and Narayana Murthy, and you had the thought process of the individuals who represented Cognizant and TCS, whom would you choose between the two? Pat came the answer - Nandan Nilekani - and this is the point I am trying to drive in. People do get biased, and select because THEY think it is right, not because the job demands so!

All the same, I will try and present a more "energetic" self next time around! I understand the need for showing interest - maybe I was portraying a wrong image there. It makes me strive harder for that elusive job - it will be well cherished when I achieve the goal. As a fellow MBAite wrote in his poem to inspire all those who failed yesterday - "Success is sweet, when I simply succeed. Success is sweeter, when I fail and succeed."

Whitewash!

My blog is slowly resembling a cricket website - with more and more posts written about cricket. It reveals two things - one is my passion for the game (albeit my own skills are laughable at the very best); and two is the amazing turn of events on the field that seem to happen rather frequently.

New Zealand outclassed Australia for the third game in a row and successfully chased down 300+ scores in two consequetive matches to clinch the Chappel-Hadlee trophy 3-0. Australians are defeated, foxed, stunned, beaten, decimated, destroyed - you add adjectives and the list goes on and on. This amazing performance by the Kiwis makes one trust the instincts - nothing is permanent but change. The Australians might as well make a comeback and win the World Cup - but it will take some time to forget this royal thrashing!

Bond with the Best!

Picture perfect - Ain't it? Shane Bond pulverized the Australians to the levels of a mere club outfit as he took 5 for 23 off ten magnificent overs as they plummeted to their first ever 10 wicket defeat in limited overs international cricket. Sharp pace bowling apart, Bond took a superb athletic catch off his own bowling (see image) to dismiss Cameron White as well another catch in the outfield to cap off a wonderful match winning performance. Fleming and Vincent finished off the formalities in style as both of them cracked unbeaten 70s in the run chase.

First it was the Poms, and now it is the Kiwis. Australians now have an achilles heel - and it was Vincent who had first pointed it out. Yeah - it is their over confidence, and it has hurt them badly alright! Minus the key players, they are a bunch of tentative, insipid cricketers who have a lot of vulnerabilities in all the departments of the game. With the World Cup not too far away, 4 defeats in the past 5 games does not sound a happy verdict for the current World Champions. It can get worse - another loss in the next two games against the Kiwis would mean the Australians will be replaced by the South Africans as the number 1 team in the world. You guessed it - with 33 wickets against them in the last 10 games, there is plenty of motivation for Bond again! He is simply the best.

Overwhelmed!

Mr. Jonathan Chua, CFO, Honeywell China visited our campus for a guest lecture on the Chinese economy. Extremely professional in his approach, Mr. Chua gave a very detailed talk on the growth of businesses in China, and the overall success of the development in China. I was amazed by the extent of the Chinese supremacy - be it manufacturing, or R&D. As known to most of us, there was a mention of focus on the growth prospects of Tier II cities in China. Being overwhelmed is still a very subtle way to put it across, because the numbers on the slides were daunting to say the least. China continues growing at an amazing pace, and all this when the growth is in and around the major cities. With a humongous population, and efforts to go to interior (read west) China for further growth - the world order is very much set - with China leading the way all throughout.

I did ask a question (now that is a rare event!) - is there any worry for the business community amongst all this success? His answer was more on the lines of diplomacy for Taiwan, relationship with the Bush government, and similar things - most of it was subtle, and it gave one a feeling that not much can go wrong in such a build up. Yes there are enormous environmental concerns for China, and there is an increasing income gap amongst its populace - but all said and done, it will take some beating for a nation to halt China's progress to the top of the pile!

Cricket is still a funny game - II

Similar story - just a slightly different setup, and a different set of teams. My last cricket related post talked about India's resurgence from abysmal depths in South Africa (though they managed to loose the next two Test matches after the win). England did something similar - though in the one day version of the game. After being thoroughly thrashed 5-0 in the Test matches, England made an absolute U-turn to their fortunes and beat Australia three times consequtively to snatch the CB series comprehensively in the finals. It just goes on to show - the word invincible is very much a misnomer. Way to go England - and yeah, Barmy Army and the Poms have some singing and boozing to do! Imagine - all this without the charismatic Kevin Pietersen :)

Hail Schindler!

Oskar Schindler - a German par excellence in a period where most of the world hated the Nazi German regime that prevailed.

After all these years, I finally managed to watch Schindler's List - the immensely popular Oscar winning Steven Spielberg movie of 1993; which makes one sit up and think - what is strength of character? This comes at a time when I have been reading about exemplary leaders like Ricardo Semler, Dhirubhai Ambani, Ratan Tata, RP Goenka - and yet my verdict is, each of these successful business leaders can't even match the phenomenon that Schindler created.

I knew about Holocaust, I knew about the World War - and yet I did not know about Schindler and his immense work - it makes me feel so ignorant. After watching the movie, I searched the web for more information on Schindler and the War period, and his contribution to humanity. The movie had successfully created the right impression in my mind - all of the web pages reiterated the disaster that the world was meddled with - and the images only made the scene grotesque.

Schindler was a German national - and he was a branded womaniser and gambler of sorts. The War prompted him to an enamel related business, and he used Jews as workers for his factory. At some point of time, he was a reformed man - and he was affected badly by the crimes against Jews. Who wouldn't be - even when you are at war!! I have no clue what was the drive for those Nazi soldiers to do such brutal atrocities - there has to be a method to their madness, and some sense too.

Perhaps I am too meek, but just a thought of the probable scenes of Holocaust shudders my heart. It makes me wonder, what drives such hatred in men and women? Is it Wealth, Religion, or Power - three things which humans have sought for most of their existence,and continue doing so?

It also makes me wonder - what makes men and women hail a hero/leader?
Is it pride, devotion, safety, job guarantee...
...or the bleak hope of survival...a cause Schindler sought for the 1300 Jews he rescued; using all his might, diplomacy, conmanship, and millions of dollars...

Nobody knows about the exact motives of Schindler, but his deeds are more than sufficient to celebrate him as a hero for all ages - a man who stood against brutality.

Making a New Year Resolution

As I was going through the Infosys website I came across one of the blogs in the site. The blog is named the "Think Flat Blog". It is based on topics and discussions on the now famed idea "The World is Flat" conceptualized by Thomas Friedman. The title of this post is exactly the title used by Mr. Nandan Nilekani, current CEO and Managing Director of Infosys Technologies Ltd. He wrote the post with the idea of looking back upon the year gone by, and writes primarily about the great promise shown by India, and why a strategic business decision is incomplete without a mention of its name. You can read the blog by Mr. Nilekani here.

I commented on the topic, which will of course be moderated, and might not be posted in the Infosys website after all. Therefore I might as well post my comments out here. The following is the exact excerpt of my comments:

How about making a "Global" New Year Resolution?

The roots of Infosys are in India and everyone admires the positive changes in the nation. But hang on, absurd as this may seem, isn't writing solely about India and its achievements defying the very word "flatness"?

The success of the western world and their consequent up rise suggested the world wasn't flat back then. For every successful nation like the U.S, there was a developing nation like India. The new age success of India, China, and others still does not suggest the world is flat. For every imagination-defying nation like India, there is still an economic and social horror ridden nation like Zimbabwe.

For all one knows, the world is far from being flat; earlier it was unipolar, and now it is multi-polar.

P.S - They did post my comment after all. What's like being on the same page with Nandan Nilekani? Not much actually - nothing in fact!

The frog comes out of its well

The age old story of the frog staying back in its well and considering it to be the entire world is known to most of us. And I almost enacted the frog in its behaviour for the past 30 days or so.

But today was a deviation from the story - a welcome one at that. Thanks to the ever changing schedules at my MBA course some of the students had a "field" trip today, and I was among the fortunate few. Well, fortunate in terms of getting out of college and getting to see a new place, not so much in terms of what one had to endure to do that.

The trip was divided into two parts, first we had to go to SATS - Singapore Air Terminal Services; and the second was a visit to one of the NTUC contact centers. One was left to wonder the utility of such a trip to future MBAs (our group is specializing in IT) - and everyone had her/his own views about it at the end of the day. While the presentations were as dry and dull as they could possibly be, for me it was a welcome change from the same old routine on campus - though this meant I would miss out on my daily dose of chatting with my girl-friend (she is almost my fiancee, nay, my wife).

Learning or no learning, the day was damp in most parts, with a cool breeze of air giving us the respite. The SATS personnel ended up talking about their company in general and HR practices in particular. One was amused at their novel way of defining an "in-house" IT project - they meant no development or support (that was to be done by the vendors), but since they "owned" this particular product with business users providing all the know-how of the system, they had all the legitimate rights to call it an "in-house" project!!

The mid-trip break took us to Century Square Mall, or thereabouts. A swift search for easing up our taste buds meant we spread out in little groups to find what was suitable. The vegetarians had a rough time in getting a decent meal, and the rest of us tried out the chicken and sea food with utmost delight. We were joined by some other students from the college as we left for the NTUC contact center.

Again, although the personnel in the contact center did their best in explaining the nitty-gritty's of their operations, very few of us seemed interested in their prophesies!! A pizza bite before we left back for the campus meant that I had spent the most in a single day on food after I landed in Singapore. Relax folks, history and my burgeoning waist line tells me I can break such records easily :-).

The frog finally decided to pop back to its well, but hey - isn't it cool for a frog to croak out its thoughts in the middle of the night for everyone out there? You bet it is!!

Cricket is still a funny game

This statement was reiterated all over again the past weekend in the Indo-SA test series. Indians have had a terrible time in the ODI leg of the South African tour - they have returned back to their hopeless ways of playing cricket, meaningless and without application. With a 4-0 thrashing that they received from the South Aricans in the ODI series, one feels even the best of Indian supporters gave them no chance what-so-ever to give a real fight to the opponents, let alone winning a test match in foreign soil.

History was against them (they had not won a single test match in South African soil), and so was the formbook. With a certain Saurav Ganguly returning back to add some meat (if not matter) to the middle order, one realized that the Indian cupboard is bare - with no fresh talent to grab a position in the team. Those youngsters who had been given chances were disappointing. The bowlers were performing decently, but was it enough?

Come the D-day and India decided to grit it out in their performance on field. A determined batting approach ensured a respectable total on the scoreboard with Ganguly top scoring with a patient 51 not out. But the South Africans had not anticipated what was coming at them. Awesome bowling from the Indians, primarily from Sreesanth, meant the South Africans were shot out for 84, playing out a mere 25.1 overs in all.

From then on, the Indians had to play out to the set theme - and they emerged victorious with more than 5 sessions to spare in the game. On a different part of the globe, the Australians continued their English route, and duly captured back the Ashes. But the Indians had entered a new territory, they have test victories in all the test playing nations now. And they achieved this in a period which was full of turmoils and uncertainities.

The South Africans were given a rude awakening. The roles had reversed, the hunters became the hunted...and man of the match Sreesanth saw the funnier side of it as evident here.

A certain someone...

...is here to update you with the latest from Dubai. It is hot, it is humid and it is all sand around the place this individual lives in.

Phewww...it has been hectic right from day one - the program is structured such that you go back to your villas (that's what my hostel is) only to study or sleep. I must admit I have been a lame duck doing nothing more than that - except for a trip to a shopping mall (that was to buy a SIM card).

Call it my love for the motherland or my love for nature - I hate Dubai....

It is a city which is almost eternally into construction and infrastructure upgradation. The outcome - you have posh residential districts/ apartments/office buildings/malls...picture perfect roads and so many other construction wonders [one has to check Burj-Al-Arab, amazing place - ofcourse I can't afford even peeping in the place as of now ;-) ]. They have managed to create a buzzing city in the centre of a desert ....one realizes that when you go to the outskirts of the city. I stay in an area which is called - Al-Barsha - the only thing you see here is majestic villas - and sand. You have no people moving outside - even in the evenings when the sun is down....and one who comes from the second most populous nation certainy doesn't feel amused.

The misery continues in term of the food we get here - the prices charged in my college campus and residential area are so exorbitant that one has to resort to veggies most of the time :(......with all due respect to the vegetarians, imagine having to survive with ghaas-foos (that too in a desert!) when you are known to nod the head in disapproval for any all-veg meal.

And the icing on the cake is the hostel blues that one has had to face over the past 4 weeks...the college admin hasn't been up to the mark and things ranging from non-availabilty of water to shifting villas to avoid being thrown out of the community (municipality served a notice to vacate the premises coz we were an overwhelming number of bachelors staying in a residential community).

All that has been negated in a certain way by the excellent faculty that have visited the campus since day one. One feels a bit safe if you judge the program based on the faculty/curriculum for your ROI, but mind you - am just talking about a bit, one is never satisfied enough ;-)

My attempt at reviewing a book

Book Review of Free Lunch, Easily Digestible Economics
Authored by David Smith

Book Introduction

Free Lunch, Easily Digestible Economics by David Smith is an attempt on the part of the author to help people, especially non-economists, come to terms with the rather despised subject of economics. It is despised not because of what it deals with – but because of the clarity, or the absence of it, that most of the texts on economics provide. Something that is an integral part in the life of the common man has to be understood properly by the hoi-polloi, but unfortunately that has not been the case with most of the books on the subject so far. Free Lunch has been a welcome change on that front – and as the author claims, it does not seek to replace the gargantuan manuals full of mathematical equations and diagrams; but it does intend to make the life of a person easier with real life examples and analogies associated with several economic instruments and terminologies.

Book Layout

The author has managed to draw a wider section of audience to the book by making it a light-read, interspersed with a generous dose of humor and wit. The title of the book builds up the interest of the reader – many of us have heard the phrase “There is no such thing as a free lunch”. The book tries to find out why such a phrase is apt for the society which we live in. The book layout – in tandem with the title – has been set out as a meal plan with appetizers, a set of main courses, desserts and coffee. Many well known economists such as Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes don the apparel of guest speakers and their contributions to economics have been examined in the book. Works and beliefs of some lesser known economists such as Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, Milton Friedman and John Stuart Mill have also been discussed by the author. The hand-book is complete with a glossary of key words/phrases mentioned at the end; and for the benefit of the interested reader, Smith goes on to mention economic websites worth visiting and a few recommended books on the subject.

Book Content

The book starts with the general definition for economics and a discussion on housing prices with an analogy with potatoes. The discussion moves on to illustrate how the economic behavior of people affects the functionality of the financial system. Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, is then introduced as the guest speaker and his ideologies in The Wealth of Nations are discussed briefly. The concept of “the invisible hand” is described at length and so are issues like division of labour and economic freedom.

The book then talks about the concept of macro-economics, economics as a whole rather than about individual parts of the economic system. Value added tax (VAT) and saving tendency of people is discussed after that. The content drifts to consumer spending, government spending, investment, exports and imports and how they end up as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Smith then discusses other economists namely as Robert Malthus, David Ricardo, and John Stuart Mill and their philosophies.

After that Smith tries to educate the reader about businesses, individual firms and how they operate. Costs and profit making, monopolies in business, real world competition, investments in business, business game theories and business ethics is discussed over a few pages at this stage of the book. The role of internet in business also makes waves in print at this stage. The discussion veered to another giant in the economic world, Karl Marx. Marxism is discussed briefly and Marx’s view on capitalism is showcased. Marx’s Das Kapital is mentioned as one of three greatest books on economics ever written. Another important aspect of the economics is then discussed – namely the role of governments. Government spending is spoken about in an elaborate manner – why is it necessary, what is the right level of spending, how to multiply government spending, all about taxes and the budget, various fiscal rules, response to the taxes imposed, etc. are mentioned briefly.

Smith then dedicates an entire chapter to John Maynard Keynes describing how influential he has been for the various economic theories over the years. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money gets a mention in the book, so does other Keynesian philosophies. No discussion on economics is complete without the reference to Money. The origin of money and monetary policies are discussed, the reader is made to understand how it is related to inflation and growth, and how monetarism is linked to economics.

So far Smith had been discussing economics with the British or European context. He then describes the American connection to the entire story – and how they have been the true leaders in the world of economics in the recent past. Key American economists like Irving Fischer, Paul Samuelson, Milton Freidman, Robert Lucas, etc. are mentioned after that. In the final stretch of the book, Smith addresses common economic debates that have been occurring over a long period of time. He tries to analyze key questions like why are some countries richer than others, is globalization a bad thing, is Euro a good idea, etc.

The Critique’s Approach

There is a slight glitch or two in this attempt by David Smith to educate the reader on the not-so-glamorous world of economics. Smith has based his entire discussion more-or-less with examples of the United Kingdom economy. While the general concepts and scenarios are applicable to one and all – still a variety in the settings could have helped the reader to co-relate the issue with her/his surroundings. There is a cardinal mistake on Smith’s side as he wrote the book with a certain bias towards capitalism and its merits. Ideally he would want the readers to have knowledge on different aspects of economics, not impose his beliefs on why a certain philosophy is right or wrong. While he mentions Karl Marx, his theories are showcased as wrong because they are not working in most part of the world as of today. Smith also mentions Japan, China and “tiger economies” of Asia – but hasn’t thrown light on how they operate – for there one could have been presented with a different point of view.

Conclusion

The book has been successful in making one understand how different elements of economics combine to shape the financial system. Without complicating things, Smith has managed to create awareness of the various economic principles - there will always be a category of people whose appetite has been whetted further and they would like to delve more into the subject. At the end of it, the reader will be assured that she/he can deal with the finer nuances of economics and related topics.

Loan Drone

I am not doing any justice to my blog. I am not a frequent writer, not because I don’t have anything to tell – but because I am too lazy to jot down the feelings/incidents that take place. That classifies me as someone who cannot be a writer material – whatever – I will write when I feel like doing so – as I am doing now.

The past few days have been pretty significant – as have been the recent months. After having secured an all important admission to one of the B-schools, taking that education loan was a major decision that I took. It involves financial obligations – and I am totally against adding unnecessary hazards to my already hazardous life (we all have this affinity to hazards you know!). All said and done – in spite of my quarrels with my parents (read my father), I took the loan eventually. Sadly - I am 8 lakhs (plus interest) under – and nothing can change the figures now.

Getting the loan sanctioned and then sending it to the institute was a big headache. Unlike others, I had the advantage of "knowing" influential people to get things moving. Everything took place in a short span of 3 working days. That included my parents moving to Kolkata, me moving to Kolkata, the trip to Sambalpur – and a final formality back at Bhubaneswar. The 3 days of train travel left me black faced – that’s because of all the soot and dirt that I accumulated in my face, hairs and body. It took me an hour of dedicated bath time to feel a bit cleansed – so much so for better railway facilities!

V!

The following write up has no contribution from my side – I have just reproduced it from the forward I received by my friend. I found the content a touch Venerable in the sense it makes up for some Very Voluble Voluntary writing by some Vivacious (V)idiots…(*_*)

--Quote—
See how the intellect is flowing at onsite..Read from the bottom
Context : All of us went to watch a movie called ' V' for vendetta y'day and these are the crapivity of the screenplay writer.

Regards,
Ujjwal
------------------------------------
Vanda

Thanks,
Arindam Choudhury
------------------------------------
Does "V" stand for "victory," "virtue," or "vile" and "vapid"?

Regards,
Santosh

------------------------------------
Oye chaaasiiii......

Regards,
Anurag

------------------------------------
Ek Do Tin Chaar band karo yeh 'V' waali atyachar....

Regards,
Judhajit

------------------------------------
Remember, Remember the Fifth of November
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot
I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot

Thanks,
Arindam Choudhury

------------------------------------

"Behind this mask is a man, and behind this man is an idea. And ideas are bulletproof."

Regards,
Sumit.

------------------------------------

Vumit u r just vivacious!

Regards,
Judhajit
------------------------------------

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both
victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere
veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished,
as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands
vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin
vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious
violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as
a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day
vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of
verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my
very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

Regards,
Sumit.
--UnQuote—
Ve Vend!
(The End)

Green Revolution!!

The Bird/Avian Flu scare in India has prompted this chicken (& chick ;-) ) lover for the past 24 odd years to turn green – not with envy – but with desperation to eat something reasonable. It has been around 10-12 days since I laid my hands on a chicken tangdi – the very thought of which makes me sad for a while. Fish, Mutton or shrimp/prawn don’t really make up for the absence of chicken in my life – the agony of waiting this long (I don’t even know HOW long) has forced me to look into other culinary delights.

Yesterday when I went shopping for vegetables with one of my friends – I felt good – real good to see various shades of green on the veg mart. For the people who dislike monochrome – let me assure you that the red, purple, yellow, orange hues in the tomatoes, brinjals (eggplant), lemon, melons, etc. made the canvas in my eyes as proud as the ones in front of Pablo Picasso in his heydays! Unfortunately it was my friend who needed to shop – and not me. I made up my mind to stock the refrigerator back in my apartment with mint fresh veggies in the forthcoming weekend – and grabbed a few fresh looking capsicums in the bargain.

This morning when I was about to leave for office, our cook (Aurobinda) asked me what to prepare for lunch and dinner. I instructed him to make any curry from the vegetables we have. To my dismay he uttered the same set of vegetables he prepares on a daily basis (or so I feel)….and I yelled at him for not bringing other vegetables. He claimed that there aren’t many vegetables on offer at this time of the year (wasn’t this his excuse some 4 months back as well?). I stormed off the house in disgust and placed a bet with him – next time we go to the veg mart; if we get any additional vegetable in the market which was not in his usual list – I shall deduct 100 bucks from his monthly salary – if not I won’t grumble again. Not so fair deal I guess – he ought to be rewarded if he won – but then, I know I will win – for I have seen them all in the mart already. This is Renaissance revisited – a chick(en) lover turns into an agitated activist – a Green revolutionary at that!

I AM BACK!!!

I AM BACK!!!

I indeed am back from an interesting 13 day sabbatical. Right from the moment I left the office premises on the 15th of February, 2005; I was dreaming of the lovely golden beaches of Goa. This trip was the outcome of 60-80 days of planning, much more of coaxing and finally the willingness of all the people involved. The last fortnight has been a helluva experience for me and it will take something really outstanding to remove its imprints from my heart. I have tried to gather some of the moments of the trip in this collage of mine; and you might as well call this a highlight package.

The anticipation & excitement of the trip (14th and 15th February, 2005)

Whoa…Valentine Day and am a singleton wastrel. Who would have thought of my bachelor blues after the honeymoon period that I spent in the four years of my graduation? But then things happened and things happened, and I am somehow glad that I am single. Isn’t it wonderful to have all those pretty options all around you? You crave for them, and yet they somehow manage to slip away.

What the heck! I am supposed to jot down my excitement about the trip. Bah, I don’t have a proper luggage item where I can pack my things. What on earth will I do??? Darn, another shopping extravaganza….this time it is a backpack. I hope it is “constructive investment” of sorts. I always have this guilt feeling of spending more than I earn. Can’t help it though….this one cost me 1125 bucks, quite a lot is it?

What shall I do in the 32 hour train journey? Last time I took this train, it rained all throughout the trip and I couldn’t see a thing outside. What a waste of time….I wish I earned more, but then am not used to flights! Whatever, a 2AC ticket isn’t exactly a cheap alternative, but then…..won’t I get the amount classified as non-taxable from the company LTA? Anyway, I took some novels along with me for “time-pass”. That dazzling babe back in the bus took away the Anurag Mathur waala novel, but then….kuch pane ke liye kuch khona padta hai;-)

Office on 15th came and went, but I didn’t do any work. There was no teleconference, no excel sheets, no word pads (this is basically my tool set these days!)….absolutely nothing. Arindam got the news that he was indeed going to Chicago. It was only a matter of pinpointing the exact date. I might not be around when he leaves, but I was glad for him. He had been counting on this opportunity for a long time, and this was his moment of glory. Good luck Ary Baby!

On Train….the journey starts (15th and 16th February, 2005)

People may come and people may go, but I go on for ever…read this somewhere during my matriculation days…the book’s name was Flights of Fantasy…good collection of poems I must say. Such was my tryst with the Indian Railways that the journey never seemed to end. Thankfully I had the company of certain people whose background was as diverse as it could possibly be. There was a chef, and he worked in Wimbledon; there was an oil rig digger; there was a gentleman from JK Paper Mills, who was the IT department head albeit he didn’t know anything about IT; and there was this elderly person who happened to have a fair amount of idea about anything and everything under the sun. Never had I been in such a group at any stage of my life. It was an insightful journey, and I figured out that there is so much more to this world than what I could possibly comprehend. And to top it all, I met the most beautiful face in my entire trip in the first leg itself. Short hairs, slightly chubby cheeks, and that glint of mischief in her eyes…..she must be around 7 years of age at most. It was not until I was 200 odd kms away from Pune that I finally got her name from her mother…..and the bloody careless person that I am..…I instantly forgot the name. It doesn’t really matter, the outlines of the face are still etching in my memories, and somehow I linked the face to that of my elder sister. Call it brotherly affection for my sis, but there was a moment I wanted my daughter to be just like that….a mix between the sweet and naughty!

Amidst all this ga-ga stuff, I must not forget my motto when I boarded the train. The first thing that I did was to check in the reservation list pasted outside the compartment any “F” between 20 and 30. There was a solitary entry….aged 28….I didn’t read the name. She was around 10 seats away from me, and I just hoped she was a good one. She indeed was, a stunning and gracious woman….only she was the mom of the kid I was earlier talking about. Now you all must have got the idea why I forgot the kid’s name in the first place……deceptive feelings…..that’s the generalized male brain for you!

Pune and the Goa bus journey (17th and 18th February, 2005)

After having slept soundly the previous night at Utpal’s place, I had no specific plans for the day. Tapan joined us at Utpal’s apartment, and later we went for the matinee show of Page 3. It is cool movie, though I enacted the critic when I felt that the first half had way too much of the parties shown. Anyway, all said and done, it was a good movie. Period.

The bus was at 1730 hours and we boarded it on the first stoppage itself. That meant we spent another 90 odd minutes in Pune itself covering virtually all the parts of the city. Again, the search for the “eternal babe” was very much on and we were excited as there was a group of girls in the bus. A dinner of roti and dal (for the three of us) at a highway hotel cost us 105 bucks but it didn’t matter because our gaze was fixed at the energetic group. As luck would have it (must be jealous, after all they always call it Lady Luck), the girls got down at Kolhapur around midnight and with that some of our fantasies got squashed. We reached Goa around 8 o’clock in the morning and Sarkar was there to receive us! The guy was to be admired at, he had been on the train for 40 odd hours, was the least expected to come…and here he was, the first person to reach Goa.

Goaaaaa…..Sun, Sand, Sex and …….Sleep??????

Day One

The hotel in Goa was pleasantly comfortable, neat rooms with all basic facilities. We had opted for a budget hotel, and thought the hotels of GTDC would be modest at best. But our hotel, Colva Residency offered more than what we expected. Located on the beach, it was reasonably cheap. Colva is 8-10 kms from Margao (Madgaon) and the cheapest means of transport is the local bus service. It would cost you 7 bucks and after 45 minutes of old worldly, natural and laidback charm you would land up at the beach at Colva. It is a quaint little place, and boasts of the second longest beach in India.

Our reservation at the hotel was from noon onwards and all of us had landed at Colva by 9 o’clock. The lady at the counter was kind enough to let us check in a room so that we could refresh ourselves. She found me resembling some person she knew and verified which place I was from. I must be her Kumbh ke mele mein bichda hua son!

Utpal, myself, Tapan and Sarkar were having our breakfast at Kentucky’s (wrong spelling…..can’t recollect the original one, and definitely not the franchisee of the original chain) when Som and Jami joined us. Mota, Polly, Kaustav and Deva couldn’t make it because of various reasons. We all headed for the sea as soon as all of us had finished our “natural” business. It was then that Richard joined us. We had a gala time at the calmer Arabian Sea. It was a welcome respite to the heat of the Goan sun. Lunch was a lavish affair at the GTDC restaurant “Little Goa”. Somehow I felt this was the best place where I had food all throughout the trip. But then, this is just my opinion. It is always advisable to explore rather than sit in exotic dining halls. The fatigue of journey set in and we all snored away to glory in the post lunch session. This was only the first of occasions when we felt that we are doing injustice to our travel mood by dozing, but then…..body rules!

Come evening and we decided to explore Colva before venturing out to other parts of Goa. We visited the market area and the beach again. A bottle of Smirnoff along with some Sprite accompanied us to the beach. I tasted the spirit and the sprite which were mixed in crazy proportions. I was thinking…what the heck….isn’t this supposed to be a hic and kick kinda feeling? It was then that my friends told me that I have taken in what is supposed to be a droplet in an ocean. We enquired about the local discotheque. It sounds kind of crazy but many of us had never visited a disc until that point. We got the details and set to “Gatzby’s” around 2200 hours. The entry fee at the disc was 250 per couple, and if you happened to be a stag, still you paid 250 bucks. Certain numbers of free drinks were attached to the entrance fees. Down went 1750 bucks, and the 7 of us were assured at the door that the place had innumerable babes inside. With the entry seal in our forearms, in we went with great expectations of swirling in the crowd of scantily dressed women.

Open door one….a small corridor….open door two….and then you see a square room with the bar on one side (there were 5-6 guys….and a couple), an empty dance floor and then a staircase on the opposite end of the bar which takes you to a lounge kinda space. It wasn’t dark as hell though and some weird music was being played by the DJ. Wait a minute…..didn’t he say innumerable babes?? Duh…7 of us…250 bucks each….and this is just the first day at Goa….why the f**k it happens to us??? The gang decided enough was enough….so what if they bluffed us….lots of drink will compensate and the other 6 (minus me) decided to showcase their dancing skills. I must highlight here that I chose to gaze at them from the bar stool because yours truly happens to be a non-descript reckless machine doing a rewind of one particular step when it comes to dancing. And there wasn’t any crowd present where I could have possibly hidden during my incomprehensible exercise. But my friends were very enthusiastic and they were joined by some others as well. It wasn’t until midnight that people started pouring in the disc. The guy of the couple which was there right from the start was already there at the floor. I took some neat glances at his companion and was wondering if I could use my non-existent conversational skills at this moment. Too late….she started dancing and I was left mumbling. Another 15 minutes passed or so and I realized that it was a crowd in front of me. Time to hide….and shake my hips! I joined my friends and apart from some warnings by the bouncer to our group for being toooooooo casual with the people (read women) around us, there wasn’t much to write about.

We trudged back to the hotel in snail’s pace…..giggling and laughing all the way. It wasn’t a bad investment after all….all of us enjoyed though Utpal looked like he had been listening to lalla lalla lori instead of rock music! All of us but Sarkar and Jami headed for the rooms. It was 2 o’clock and we needed to catch up with some sleep before we started our next day’s rendezvous with Goa. Jami and Sarkar had an adventure of sorts…they claimed to have seen a couple doing what only a couple can do….right there on the beach. Some people have this lifetime dream of having sex on the beach in moonlight…..call me stupid but all I can think of is the moist and cold sand…instead of the moist me! And anyway, wasn’t sex supposed to be a cozy warm affair???

Day Two

We were up early as Som was pretty clear that he wanted to visit all the “happening” beaches in Goa. Apart from Sarkar’s antics, we all somehow managed to get going. The “budget” concept didn’t leave us this time as well and after much deliberation, we took local buses to Margao, and then to Panjim, and then to Calungate. In hindsight, we all realized that we wasted much time in planning and deciding. Here I would like to advice something to all readers. It is a piece of advice I read in some travel magazine and I found it pretty relevant. When you travel, travel light and travel with luxury, compromise on either and your travel is not all that pleasurable.
Calungate is the most popular beach in Goa, and the most frolicked by foreigners. Our group was excited to be in a busy area. Jami coaxed us all into a veggie restaurant for our breakfast. But to his credit, the food was good. A few topless beauties, and the adrenalin (I don’t really know the names of other hormones) started pumping and we all were excited to the core despite the hot weather. We moved on to Anjuna beach, and were instantly in love with the rocky beach. Jami especially was at his nariyal (that’s his pet name) best, and he hopped all around the rocks. We had a great lunch at the cliff edge and it was surprisingly not that highly priced in spite of the location. It was late in the afternoon and Utpal had a bus to catch. He left after getting a real thrashing from us. But it was very sporting of him to come for the trip in spite of being amidst the middle of mayhem at his workplace.
The rest of us decided to walk in the beach for some more time. The interest to walk was waning and the heat was taking its toll. But then we realized we were in right place at the right time. Fascinating women with sun burnt bodies were the dose that we all needed. The sea looked spectacular and inviting. But sense prevailed and we realized we had a long way to cover to get back at Colva. The return trip was again a decision making session and like always, it led us no where.

Day Three and Four

We all took some time to wake up and get ready for the day ahead. Richard, Som and Jami were supposed to leave at different times in the day. We had decided that we will be visiting the churches in old Goa. We took the bus to Margao. Since Richard had to catch a bus from Panjim, we decided to take an early lunch and then hired a van for the old Goa trip. It was a bumpy sort of ride as we reached the Basilica. It is an enormous structure and is dated pretty old (don’t ask me the dates; I was always poor at history). It was only after entering the church that I felt that we missed out on spending more time in these places. The paintings were beautiful and the façade of the inner walls of the church were brilliantly ornate. This was Goa of yesteryears. The Portuguese stamp was evident in the architecture of the houses all across Goa, but the “divine” touch could be attained only after one reached this cathedral.

Richard left to catch his bus from Panjim and we came back to Colva to the hotel. Som and Jami left soon afterwards to catch their buses and just the three of us, I, Tapan and Sarkar were left out. We decided to spend the evening at the beach itself. We walked a lot that night, and spoke a lot about life and its twists. A sound slumber in the hotel beds followed after our dinner. The next morning we decided to splash about in the Arabian Sea once again. The morning chill and the cheerful mood meant that we bathed for a long duration in the salty waters. And we ventured quite deep into the sea, the water level being around my chest height.

We had to check out by noon, and we left together for Margao. Sarkar’s train was due at 2 o’clock whereas our bus for Pune was scheduled at 5. It was tough to kill time and we somehow managed to make it past 5. The journey from Margao to Panjim takes about 45 minutes. Just after the bus left Margao, I realized that it was high time I took a leak. Damn….I thought it would be silly of me to stop the bus and decided to wait until Panjim arrives. The next 45 minutes for me were the most excruciating moments in recent times. Come Panjim and I couldn’t walk fast enough fearing I would drench my pants!

There was this final twist to our Goa sojourn. Thanks to the northern disturbance, which was creating havoc in Kashmir, the trip from Goa to Pune was extremely cold. Tapan and I clung on to each other as we barely managed to spend the night in the bus. We both sighed at the sight of Swargate, a major commercial area in Pune.

Pune and the trip back home, 22nd to 25th February, 2005

I spent the next day and a half in Pune visiting Tapan’s PG college and some shopping centers. The mood was somber and my thoughts were still in Goa. I didn’t want to go back home.

I boarded the train back home, and to my horror, found a woman with the figure of a sumo wrestler seated next to me along with her husband and kid. She was very friendly and readily flashed her 32 teeth on every possible occasion, and was also very grateful in displaying her Mariana trench cleavage. I chose to sleep most of the time in the 32 hour journey or simply lie down to avoid talking to her! Her daughter added to my misery by repeatedly singing “it’s the time to disco”, a popular Bollywood flick, complete with the swing of the hips that somehow looked good on Preity Zinta, but not so in this case!!

My 2 day trip to my hometown, Sambalpur – 26th and 27th February,2005

I took another train on 25th night to reach Sambalpur, a 5 hour journey from Bhubaneswar. I spent the next two days telling my parents about my exploits at Goa, including the women and the alcohol part. Things are somewhat frank these days, now that I am getting older….and am kind of glad about that!

The bus journey from Sambalpur and back in the office, night of 27th February and 28th February, 2005.

My father had booked a ticket for me in this new bus from Sambalpur. The uneventful journey had one humorous, albeit grave exception. This was a new bus that I was traveling in, and all the window panes were rolled up. This particular gentleman in the rear end of the bus was very wary of mosquitoes. Keeping all concerns of health hazards aside, I still could not comprehend how he could come up with the idea of kachua chap in the bus. As luck would have it, one of the screens got alighted and that set the panic button inside the bus. Passengers rushed to the front end crying out fire, fire! Sheer pandemonium ruled as the bus came to a stand still. The fire was doused out, and upon learning the reality behind it, even the bus conductor and driver couldn’t help out laughing their butts off!

I came early to the office anticipating huge amount of work. The chaos of life hadn’t parted ways with me, as I realized all network and connectivity was down. I couldn’t check my mails, could not log onto the LAN to reach my workspace, and was unable to check the intranet as well.

That left me with only one choice……punching down what you have been reading for quite some time now!