Sunny Florida August 23, 2006
Posted by Simba in : General, Travel Bug , 2 comments
I have been trying to make this post for sucha long time.. This will be a small post! I am having sucha hard time aligning the pictures. This is the best I can do with my limited time, so bear with me. 
Ok, after the edit, this post looks goooood!!
Almost a year here and I finally managed my first real vacation last week - Universal Studios, Island of Adventure & Sea World, Florida. Yeah, Disney world has to wait for now. The drive was a tad too long close to 10 hrs from here but sure was worth it! I had an amazing time! I haven’t been on any kind of rides for a long time but managed to sit on many of the deadly roller coaster rides and actually survived it! 
I am so proud of myself LOL!
Remember the talking donkey in Shrek… He actually talks soooo much! Some of the best theme rides in Universal Studios were, Back to the Future and the Mummy! Havent laughed & screamed at the same time for a long time now…
And I move on… August 11, 2006
Posted by Simba in : Work & Beyond, General , 10 commentsAs I sat across the table having our last lunch with our Director, I just realized how swiftly the whole of summer had gone by, at least with respect to my job. Exactly 2 months ago (yeah, it’s ‘ago’ here 
) I was sitting with the same people getting to know them and trying to be nice.. today, it was a more relaxed atmosphere… talking about the project, the work for them after I leave and the forward strategies for our department. On a scale of 10, I would give myself a 7 considering how much better I could have done stuff, quicker way of getting organized, faster way of meeting the right people etc etc. But ain’t that the way always?! In hindsight, everything could have been done better and faster.
I have given the same presentation about 4-5 times with a little bit of modification after each. And by the time we got to today’s last one, I was so tired but it is so fascinating how each team perceives the work. It was amazing how the senior management started working on the action items & timelines looking at my recommendations where as some of the other team members rolled up their eyes seeing more work coming their way. Some are so open to change where as others are so closed to all new ideas. It is pretty fascinating how the management tries to please both the extremes and in the end, get them to do exactly what it wants to be done!
And the big ‘O’ question - Did I get an offer from Lowe’s? Well, at least, they literally didn’t invite me to a room and hand me a package saying so but they were pretty impressed with the work and the efforts that went in. As I was discussing with a close friend, I didnt get much of the negative feedback which is one way good, but obviously, they have been nice while appraising my work. But that kind of candid feedback would have given me a chance to understand things I should have done better and areas in myself which needs serious improvement. Retail is fascinating and the talk about ‘home-improvement’ will never go out of fashion! I dont know if I want to come back but it would be great to at least get an offer, it would validate my work, boost my confidence but to even get there, they need to have an open position in that department. I so wish I had gone ahead and met up with the people in some of the departments I wanted to work in but my health doing a roller-coaster this summer, I had to play it easy!
One thing I was absolutely thrilled about were the people I have worked here with. They are probably the best I have seen in the corporate world. 6 years into corporate before B-school and I haven’t met anyone even close to how nice these people have been! But then again, I was here for too short a time to make some gradiose statements but at least I got see happy faces and genuine smiles .. people truly loved their jobs, though I constantly felt like shaking up some of them to get things done faster!
And I got a chance to make some fantastic friends here.. some of the things I have learnt now…roll up my eyes when I see disgusting things, use a lot of ‘whatever’ & ‘hell’, sigh loudly, try to blow my “where’s” & “when’s” (to accentuate the ‘w’ in them!), make up my own veggie dishes on any restuarant’s menu, pick up some great accessories and blow up big $ on them and pretend that it doesn’t matter….. all these & more. But seriously, learnt a lot of things from my fellow interns and it has been amazing… tweak my dressing sense, eat more salads & less of spice, take less coffee & soda, work out more religiously, keep going on that treadmill even when my heart is threatening to stop any minute, work on learning more about Hindu scriptures and visiting more churches! I have a lot of friends who hail from different churches around and so badly wanted to go with them on every Sunday but somehow couldnt make it … will start doing it once I get back to school. My fellow intern and close friend was a Mormon with whom I spent a large part of one Sunday, knowing so much about their beliefs & faith. It is amazing how strongly they connect with God! Hopefully, some of her great attributes will rub off on me.. also received a lovely parting gift - “The Book of Mormon”
I start school in a week’s time. Though I am kind of sad about leaving Lowe’s and missing the people here, I am pretty excited to start off school, meet good ol’ friends, start worrying about grades & quizzes, nag about crazy schedules and curse some of the course works! Ah, blissful second year…. I wish! I think I am over loading much stuff this year than last, but not on the academic part. I will try to pen in some of the interesting stuff I will latch onto pretty soon. But by the looks of it now, it sure seems like a big year with a lot of ‘ACTION’ items.. things to set into motion, plans to work on, things to lay down and kick start new beginnings! And I move on…
Mumbai rules August 3, 2006
Posted by Simba in : Life Marvels, Frivolous Me , 9 comments“Where is he from?” - asks the driver
“New Zealand” - says Prabhakar
“New Zealand?”
“Yes. New Zealand. In Europe”
.. blah blah blah…
“And make sure he doesnt learn any bad words. Don’t teach him any swearing. There are plenty of arseholes and bastards around who will teach him the wrong sisterfucking words. Keep him away from motherfuckers like that.” - driver retorts.
Tears welled up as I bursted out in laughter. This incident from the book ‘Shantaram’ so beautifully encaptures the essence of everyday happennings back home. This conversation happens between the bus driver of one of those Maharastra State Board buses, referring to the ‘gora’ on board who is the author himself & the Bombay guide who is showing the ‘gora’ around! I have been reading this book for a while which brings home, so many so sweet memories of Bombay, Mumbai… it feels so nice as the author describes the city as if it is something that has a life of its own. He says something like - “If there were any other place like Mumbai with all Americans, or all Australians or all Europeans so cramped up in sucha small place… there would have been so much more violence and hatred.. but not here, not in Mumbai, not in India!”. LOL, reading so much about the place I love, I almost dont want the book to end.. I want to go on with it for a long time! Reading this book brings home so many feelings about the city, the people, the life! I usually dont mush around too much on my blog but what the heck! I fell in love with Mumbai the minute I landed there and have always felt one with it ever since, the pulse of the place, the pace of life there and other zillion things..Oh, miss the Amchi Mumbai!
I was born in Bangalore and spent a majority of my childhood & adult life there but never got to love the city not as much as I would have liked to, didnt get it under my skin… didnt speak to it as I would have liked to, everyday as I rode back home hiding my face, my feelings & much of myself in the head-gear (the ugly looking helmet!) in the musty, over-crowded traffic, always dreaming of a better life and better days. Not that I was unhappy but I didn’t think I belonged to the city, it didn’t own me! As the flight took off from Bangalore, I still remember the excitement I felt. I was thrilled to start off something afresh, not everything turned out the way I wanted but right from day one, Mumbai was my home. Being so away from the main city, staying almost on the outskirts, I could feel the verve of the city, its busy life, the thin heartline connecting so many people, bringing so many religions & castes & languages so closer to one another. I love it when I woke up to hear the noisy traffic outside, something stirred inside which used to make me feel so alive. The people, the language…everything about the city was fascinating.
Never having had the need to travel by public transport, I started learning the tricks of traveling on the Mumbai buses & local trains. It was an amazing discovery each time, just to see how fast you could get from one place to another. I have known a lot of people who took the train daily and weren’t crazy about it! But I loved the local train… as I used to go into the city for multiple B-School receptions, talks, fairs, conferences, interviews et al, I actually looked forward to such train time. It was amusing to see the city go on & on & on while there was an almost inner life to the trains themselves. It was a time for me to get lost into the world of my own thoughts. Dreams I spun a many, worked up many a goals as I sat crammed on those wooden seats…bearing the sights, smells & sounds of everyone around me. But I liked it… I, infact, enjoyed it! Sometimes, I would let my mind blank & observe the people around me… it was so fascinating! So many things were said.. so many things were left unsaid, all smiles, laughter, anger, curses.. all of them vibrated through the very compartment simultaneously…the old women haggling over small items and trying on some designer head bands, the sellers of cheap fake jewellery trying to make a quick buck, the young girls keenly observing the dressing, walking & talking style of the executive women, a bunch of giggling girls constantly talking about boys, younger women stuck to their cellphones either incessantly arguing with their male counterparts or complaining about some men at work, some lost souls…lost in their i-pods & cd-players, women busy chopping veggies to take back home & cook, girls immersed in their books while they hang on to the bars with their other hands, group of women chanting their bajans & devotional songs on their way back home from a busy day at work… oh my god, it was like a movie shot at one stroke… no cuts, no edits, no retakes.. it was beautiful to watch a live movie! No wonder I stayed glued to my laptop watching NDTV & Times for latest news & photos when I got to know of the train bombings! 
Phew, now I am almost home sick… If ever I want to live in one particular place, it might just be Mumbai! But will I ever do it, will I ever make that decision or will life just go on without forever deciding where I want to rest & lay back? Who knows? But I really don’t think it is that important now but reading about places, people, experiences you have seen, met and felt kinda walks you down the trodden memory lane…
Edit >> Check out http://www.shantaram.com