July 11th 2008,
Clishé Clishé the title?… ah well what to do… at least I did not make my face book status as ‘Ashish is now a graduate’ on May 18th 2008 like half my friends did : )
And yet again I am writing… like the zillionth start… no promises as to how long and how many times will I start to write… but I think I should continue … lets see
May 18th 2008, the Wharton Class of 2008 graduated – graduated as the heavens opened up and soaked all and sundry with emotions and rains… believe me tons of it. It was funny sitting on Franklyn fields waiting to walk the isle… mixed feelings from finally the D day arriving to the pains of the rains… did not know what overpowered which ? I mean which overpowered what… … But that was the saga of the day…. And that was the last time I ever met more than half of my classmates… yes that’s true… once normal life has resumed or resuming for many… we won’t have the time or opportunity to meet so many of these wonderful people ever again… what a shame. But there in lies the beauty of the MBA… bringing these wonderful people together… at one time for 2 years… and for those looking to do an MBA… go for it if only for this one reason if nothing else….
So after thinking, dreading, partying, celebrating, crying (some of us did) and anticipating the end of the MBA – the best 2 years of our lives (most of us)… it finally happened… and it came and went, like one day life will for a lot of us…
It was a great moment though, all my family with the people who I love and respect the most were present, seeing me walk – leading the cohort as the cohort marshall… and I felt blessed… I was proud that I made them proud… and so were all other 799 of my mates feeling the same…
...I don’t know still how life is post it though… I am still discovering…
But surprisingly I was not sad on graduation… partly because at the end of beach week, when the Black Party ended (unfortunately 3 hours before scheduled close) I was real sad…. The last time I would be partying Wharton style with just Wharton kids… or my friends… all together… and I was somber and in denial… But till graduation came, philly was a big party centre with parents and students and families and extended families descending and making the place come alive with talks and emotions and happiness and grace… and so it felt like it was all great…. And no one had the time to think and ponder…
The even better thing was that I, after graduation, had decided to go all around the world (oops I mean America – got confused because they say world cup of baseball and the only teams playing are all American… I wonder why) and visit friends in all corners or rather parts of this incredibly insane and amazingly wild but serenely calm and interestingly diverse country… ya I traveled up and down the east and west coast… and stopped over in Chicago… and ended with Stef’s wedding – my first American wedding in Seattle… beautiful
I flew most places, amtracked some… and drove a bit… all in all I will say is that the American flying has to be one of the worst in my limited travel of the globe… but the American driving experience has to be one of the best … Delayed flights and more than rude staff of these airlines didn’t help, but Southwest made my day… late discovery… but at least I discovered….
And guess what, I was welcomed- from up there in Main to down in Atlanta, in Sandiego to Seattle… welcomed by all parents and family members…. It never felt that I met them then, many for the first time…. And my US experienced was enhanced manifolds… I enjoyed each and every conversation with my friends’ parents and family… it was incredible to see where these amazing gems of mine (I mean my friends) come from… and what makes them what they are… I had a great time listening listening and more listening (the parents were such knowledgable and nice people that I had no reason not to ask questions and understand America and its people from the people who have made it)… Every place I went, I wanted to stay longer… every place I went I thought I made a connection… and every place I went I spent some valuable time with my friends… Who said I had graduated… in fact I was living a perfect life… with friends in teir backyard… being shown around, entertained and taken care of… spoilt ah well… I can’t thank all of them and their families enough…
I will remember so many conversations… at random places and random moments… allowing me to discover these friends (and guess what this time, not outside their comfort zone, but right on their hometurf). I am closer or so I feel – to so many of them now… don’t know when will we meet… but when we meet- it will be one step closer if not more…
I will try and write about every place in separate blog entries (I wish I do) else this one will never end…
And this trip had many firsts… for me….. but let me just mention one of them… On the beautiful Santa Monica promenade – one june morning – I went biking – yes tandem biking with Ed Meylon… So whats the big deal… right… nopes… it is a big deal… first time to LA. : ) kiddin I mean that’s nothing… but the fact that I was biking after 15 years of my life and able to bike again – for a straight 2 hours… at speed so fast that I would wonder if we crashed what would happen… and the freedom to spin the wheel fast and furious with gay bandon… can’t describe… sorry… I never thought I would bike again… not after losing my sight… and there I was free… free to do what I liked … standing while cycling… bending left and right… leaving the handle and letting go… (although I sat on the back seat so this is not as dramatic as I am making it ) exept I didn’t figure how would I do willy in a 2 seater … lol…
My trip is full of memories… memories that I did not capture in x thousand photographs… but did capture in some maybe 100 audio files… most of them moments with friends… and conversations… may be I will figure how to post them somewhere at least a couple. But the idea was very clear… I did not want to go and see the tourist attractions… in fact imagine I didn’t even go to anything related to Hollywood in LA…(I know what a shame ) but the idea was to live the American life in these different places through and with people and people as diverse as Wharton is… and I can proudly say that I achieved that and much more…
So then came the time to leave America and from NYC… straight to where it all started… back to Mumbai… and this time not even a stop anywhere… a direct flight… July 11th I left the Us… and I had gone July 14th… so almost exactly 2 years… wow…. As excited as I was to go to the US… surprisingly as sad I was leaving the country… going back with no place or a visa to come back to… but leaving some of my closest friends all over the country… those who made my Wharton experience and kept me sane at Wharton… I never thought In my wildest dream that I would miss NYC… or America… well I was wrong… or rather I concluded it this way… it was difficult saying goodbye at every point of time … and I am a very bad good bye sayer… but especially from NYC that day… when I met like 7 of my close friends in a matter of 2 days I was in philly/NYC … I was almost in tears waiting alone at the airport going back home… and it fel that for me ggraduation had just come – I graduated July 11th 2008….
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Friday, February 1, 2008
Life is full of options...
Feb 1 2008
Took me a while to start writing again : )… I knew this would happen once I came back to Wharton… but then what the heck.. I am writing now…- and I guess I had written enough for people to read anyways… a bit too much maybe…
Well coming back to school- for the last semester (its insane actually how time has flown by) I have been consumed in decision making… - life here is full of options.. and its crazy some times…
I am not even going to start talking about the options facing the American people- Republicans again or Democrats… Clinton or Obama… war or no war… cut interest rates or not cut rates… its all beyond my comprehension (though I have my own opinions on all of these)…
What I am talking about is small decisions- for example when I decided to go to Australia over the break – it was a trade off between going to Brazil with my friends… I really wished I could have done that… or leading the India trek… I wish I could have done that as well… and though after coming back I definitelty feel I have missed out on both these… well I am happy to say that Australia was maybe even my best vacation ever… and I have no regrets…
When I went back to class – the classroom has a semicircular seating pattern… and I saw myself gravitate towards the right hand side of the Professor… not because I am not a Leftist : )… just that that’s another choice I had to make… and invariably I don’t sit straight or to the left… but always to the right.. funny I don’t know why…
Another choice to make was classes… I thought I had it all figured out…. But was it so… I have churned like 4 classes in the space of 2 weeks and I am going to drop and replace a fifth one… well decisions and more decisions.. The fact is that this is my last real time to study… or meet some amazing people… or do some cool stuff… or travel with people on organized treks etc…
Talking of organized treks… well another decision facing is what do I do over spring break… ? Japan…. The best trek organized at Wharton… Egypt which will be fascinating… or go with Amit and Ali to some Carribbean islands…? No clue… or maybe…
But one choice I have made… and I gave myself no options… I have decided to seriously take on the swimming pool (for swimming of course) and am enjoying it… like nothing else… time to concentrate on real issues in life I guess : )
And I round off this note- saluting the Indian cricket team… great show guys… amazing performance… well played and please most importantly keep it up… Sachin Sachin…
Took me a while to start writing again : )… I knew this would happen once I came back to Wharton… but then what the heck.. I am writing now…- and I guess I had written enough for people to read anyways… a bit too much maybe…
Well coming back to school- for the last semester (its insane actually how time has flown by) I have been consumed in decision making… - life here is full of options.. and its crazy some times…
I am not even going to start talking about the options facing the American people- Republicans again or Democrats… Clinton or Obama… war or no war… cut interest rates or not cut rates… its all beyond my comprehension (though I have my own opinions on all of these)…
What I am talking about is small decisions- for example when I decided to go to Australia over the break – it was a trade off between going to Brazil with my friends… I really wished I could have done that… or leading the India trek… I wish I could have done that as well… and though after coming back I definitelty feel I have missed out on both these… well I am happy to say that Australia was maybe even my best vacation ever… and I have no regrets…
When I went back to class – the classroom has a semicircular seating pattern… and I saw myself gravitate towards the right hand side of the Professor… not because I am not a Leftist : )… just that that’s another choice I had to make… and invariably I don’t sit straight or to the left… but always to the right.. funny I don’t know why…
Another choice to make was classes… I thought I had it all figured out…. But was it so… I have churned like 4 classes in the space of 2 weeks and I am going to drop and replace a fifth one… well decisions and more decisions.. The fact is that this is my last real time to study… or meet some amazing people… or do some cool stuff… or travel with people on organized treks etc…
Talking of organized treks… well another decision facing is what do I do over spring break… ? Japan…. The best trek organized at Wharton… Egypt which will be fascinating… or go with Amit and Ali to some Carribbean islands…? No clue… or maybe…
But one choice I have made… and I gave myself no options… I have decided to seriously take on the swimming pool (for swimming of course) and am enjoying it… like nothing else… time to concentrate on real issues in life I guess : )
And I round off this note- saluting the Indian cricket team… great show guys… amazing performance… well played and please most importantly keep it up… Sachin Sachin…
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Of in flight entertainment and my almost expensive jeans....
Jan 14th 2008
Often I keep switching music channels and movies on the in flight entertainment available on these flights, wondering what to see or hear… the choices are generally between the poor and more poor… shere waste of time some of these…
But in the last one month in all my travel from the left most continent of the map to the right most continent and back (whoops that was too much of flying believe me- I would never want to be a flight attendant ever)… I have luckily stumbled on 2 modes types of things that I love watching/listening to…
The first is the British comedy shows available on some of these flights followed by the American comedy… (Brits have a way of being sarcastic you know ) … some of them are funny and some of them are ridiculously funny… giving you a flavour of life in these countries and often exposing you to corporate and general life… Most importantly the entertainment is worth your sleeping time in the flights…
But even more interesting and my favourite source of entertainment (keeping aside chatting with flight attendants : ) is watching these business videos… Guess what – I stumbled over the best of the lot on the BA flight – an evening of Q and A for a university students with Warren Buffet and Bill Gates together… holds no bar, brilliance no bar, humility no bar, genius’ no bar, intellectual odacity no bar, humour no bar and shere great human nature no bar… I think that 1 hour was one of my best spent 1 hour on a flight ever… From the intelligence and common sense of Buffet to the sharp mind of Mr. Gates- from the wit of the greatest investor in the world to the humility of the world’s richest man... I was delighted… Their thoughts, actions and behaviour was just too much and I was floored by the world’s 2 biggest donors ever….
The beauty of it all was their simplicity and their thoughts about running businesses/ investing and also how to be a good human being… and I was seeing 2 of them- to top it all their mutual admiration and camaraderie was striking beyond words… I am so surprised and touched with the fact that both of them are going to donate most of their hard earned wealth to philanthropy without a blink of the eye… and how different though effective their styles of functioning still effective were they… let aside the fact that both of them claim to not understand how the other man does his stuff : )
On a separate note – when I was in Mumbai – it was great hosting 3 of my friends from Wharton…I was in the perfect world… back home with family… and also my friends with me at home… does it get better… alas it had to change.. I am back – all alone in my apartment - : ) – but then what the heck… happy memories and moments to cherish…
So when in Mumbai- I went shopping- and guess what – I tried on a pair of jeans… good fit… one of the famous brands… starts with C… or maybe K… I don’t remember clearly now… may be even made of 2 words… forget it… so I like the jeans and go to pay for it at the counter… The guy asks for Rs 5500/- or $137.5… now in the US it is easily the normal price for high end jeans… but that came as a shocker to me… I have not often been brain frozen … for a moment I was… my mind could not accept what I heard… I was baffled… and asked – ‘I have just bought one pair of jeans right?’… of course… and guess what – I walked off… profusely apologizing to the shop staff and to my friend who might have bbeen embarrassed at my behaviour… but then no way on earth in India was I paying anything like this… i would have never come out of the fact I just went and spent some ridiculous money for something that could have helped millions and millions of individuals to eat meals for even a year maybe…
The fact is that last I remembere- prices were ¼ of this before I left a year back and whatever the economic development and India shining and inflation and real estate/ stock market developments… this was just not acceptable… I have never done this before- walking away from a deal… especially when someone else is with me… coz it is about pride and self respect- honouring your words… but something like this was atrocious and I just instinctly turned around – apologized to everyone and explained my decision… and had to walk away… For the next few minutes I was shocked and wondering how embrrassing it was… but redemption came next moment… my friend walked us into another shop… another famous brand… and guess what my priceline was quite right… not everything in India has gone berserk and thank God for that… I picked up a couple of pairs for the right amount… and came back satisfied …
One interesting thing to note is that if these guys are selling jeans at these prices- I am sure someone is buying all of it… or may be? Well – I leave each one to decide… But I think I made the right decision….
Often I keep switching music channels and movies on the in flight entertainment available on these flights, wondering what to see or hear… the choices are generally between the poor and more poor… shere waste of time some of these…
But in the last one month in all my travel from the left most continent of the map to the right most continent and back (whoops that was too much of flying believe me- I would never want to be a flight attendant ever)… I have luckily stumbled on 2 modes types of things that I love watching/listening to…
The first is the British comedy shows available on some of these flights followed by the American comedy… (Brits have a way of being sarcastic you know ) … some of them are funny and some of them are ridiculously funny… giving you a flavour of life in these countries and often exposing you to corporate and general life… Most importantly the entertainment is worth your sleeping time in the flights…
But even more interesting and my favourite source of entertainment (keeping aside chatting with flight attendants : ) is watching these business videos… Guess what – I stumbled over the best of the lot on the BA flight – an evening of Q and A for a university students with Warren Buffet and Bill Gates together… holds no bar, brilliance no bar, humility no bar, genius’ no bar, intellectual odacity no bar, humour no bar and shere great human nature no bar… I think that 1 hour was one of my best spent 1 hour on a flight ever… From the intelligence and common sense of Buffet to the sharp mind of Mr. Gates- from the wit of the greatest investor in the world to the humility of the world’s richest man... I was delighted… Their thoughts, actions and behaviour was just too much and I was floored by the world’s 2 biggest donors ever….
The beauty of it all was their simplicity and their thoughts about running businesses/ investing and also how to be a good human being… and I was seeing 2 of them- to top it all their mutual admiration and camaraderie was striking beyond words… I am so surprised and touched with the fact that both of them are going to donate most of their hard earned wealth to philanthropy without a blink of the eye… and how different though effective their styles of functioning still effective were they… let aside the fact that both of them claim to not understand how the other man does his stuff : )
On a separate note – when I was in Mumbai – it was great hosting 3 of my friends from Wharton…I was in the perfect world… back home with family… and also my friends with me at home… does it get better… alas it had to change.. I am back – all alone in my apartment - : ) – but then what the heck… happy memories and moments to cherish…
So when in Mumbai- I went shopping- and guess what – I tried on a pair of jeans… good fit… one of the famous brands… starts with C… or maybe K… I don’t remember clearly now… may be even made of 2 words… forget it… so I like the jeans and go to pay for it at the counter… The guy asks for Rs 5500/- or $137.5… now in the US it is easily the normal price for high end jeans… but that came as a shocker to me… I have not often been brain frozen … for a moment I was… my mind could not accept what I heard… I was baffled… and asked – ‘I have just bought one pair of jeans right?’… of course… and guess what – I walked off… profusely apologizing to the shop staff and to my friend who might have bbeen embarrassed at my behaviour… but then no way on earth in India was I paying anything like this… i would have never come out of the fact I just went and spent some ridiculous money for something that could have helped millions and millions of individuals to eat meals for even a year maybe…
The fact is that last I remembere- prices were ¼ of this before I left a year back and whatever the economic development and India shining and inflation and real estate/ stock market developments… this was just not acceptable… I have never done this before- walking away from a deal… especially when someone else is with me… coz it is about pride and self respect- honouring your words… but something like this was atrocious and I just instinctly turned around – apologized to everyone and explained my decision… and had to walk away… For the next few minutes I was shocked and wondering how embrrassing it was… but redemption came next moment… my friend walked us into another shop… another famous brand… and guess what my priceline was quite right… not everything in India has gone berserk and thank God for that… I picked up a couple of pairs for the right amount… and came back satisfied …
One interesting thing to note is that if these guys are selling jeans at these prices- I am sure someone is buying all of it… or may be? Well – I leave each one to decide… But I think I made the right decision….
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Story of 2 schools... or 3...
Jan 8th, 2008
My undergrad college is located in the famous Juhu area of Mumbai and is one of the best commerce colleges in the country… Narsee Monjee or NM as known to all. I actually happened to be there a couple of days ago – went to the office for some work…. I reached during lunch time and was given a comfortable sofa to sit… and wait… Now that itself was a change from the time I went to school… The entire school is now airconditioned and granite flooring etc..
Apologies for me interchanging school and college… the problem is that my Indian learnings have been conditioned by my American learnings and now I am like a scrambled brain or a scrambled egg… or scrambled something…
I happened to over hear… purposely or not is left for you to decide… and come on you guys always keep seeing things – who is doing what and what not and with whom… and I don’t have a hint of what’s happening… so why can’t I over hear? a few students impatiently or nervously waiting for their oral / viva exam to happen in the next few minutes… “I want to get this done with… what kind of questions is he going to ask… what a 100 mark presentation … “ and likes…
Suddenly I was transformed back to my undergrad days… those huge classrooms with 130 students… a classsize of 1200 plus… everyday coming to school… deciding whether to attend lectures or sit in the famous Mithibai canteen… whether I was cool enough to impress people or why did that girl talk more to my friend and not to me… etc… how a professor was sooooo boring… and how a professor was cute… : ) and how do I crack my next accounting exam… and eco was my favourite… and I hated theory subjects… the integration of the derivative confused me… and Bhatia sir and Jiwani sir were exact opposites that both taught equally well and still were diametrically against each other…
So anyways those were fun days… entering a new world… figuring out freedom and other things first hand…and slowly learning the ropes of life… It was also particularly challenging for me as I had started losing my eyesight at that time… and as a young boy with disparit vision I did not really know where life was headed…
I had my few friends to be with and became an invisible man for the rest of the world… I knew of those cool people around me… but don’t think out of those 1200 people anyone even knows me… or did then… coz I became this weird guy who would not talk to anyone… not smile… sometime fall down… run into people… “what a jerk”… or was i? I was only losing my eyesight gradually and could not see things or people… but how could I explain this to my friends who I wanted to be like or even behave like… or copy… how… as a young man how could I accept or tell the world that I was different and less in some way... Those days still give me goose bumps… it was something undescribable…
I actually blank out or have erased a lot of my memories from that period… literally 4 years of my life… as I did not make any friends… and did not really get to know people… never did justice in studies to my abilities… and it was all so weird…
So back to the present… I was remembering about all those wonderful but sad days and was wondering where all those superstars I went to college with would be now and how I missed knowing some wonderful people…
Anyways the lunch time was over and I was called and a well hearted individual of the staff gave me things that I needed in 5 minutes… That’s my NM college for you…
Then I left to go to a super stud college in South Mumbai’s Churchgate area – its called S….. (full name left out for obvious reasons : ) ) … same work… no lunch time this time… and guess what the wait was 1 hour and 25 minutes. Were they busy? Nopes… did they need that much time… nopes… were there a lot of people? Nopes…. So what was the problem… Well this college that is known to be Mumbai’s cool south Mumbai hub was quite a government office full of red tape and ridiculously unfriendly staff… oops… well being honest as usual… I personally don’t understand what adds to the coolness of this college… this silly and hopeless staff I guess who could not figure out some glue to give me or a stamp – each taking 30 minutes where in it should have taken like 30 seconds really… but then what the heck… it’s the place where students think they are sent from South Mumbai… (heaven I mean)… lol… (I am going to be killed for this one : )
Talking of colleges, I managed to meet up with my friends on the Incredible India Trek from Wharton… they all were down in Mumbai after a grueling few days in Delhi and Rajasthan… and guess what they were fascinated and overwhelmed… I was sure that India cannot be described in words and all of their experiences definitely confirm this… They had a great time and I must congratulate the organizers of this trek- Sanjeev, Charishma, Deepti and John – they did a great job… and all Indians chipped in, in some way or the other… So a bunch of Wharton students are going back – experiencing this paradox first hand- I guess more confused than before… but definitely appreciative of what they saw and experienced…
It was great meeting these friends of mine… I have realized how I already miss my Wharton friends… and how I was soooo happy to meet them… I cannot believe that we will graduate this May... but well well… Life goes on…
Jan 8th, 2008
My undergrad college is located in the famous Juhu area of Mumbai and is one of the best commerce colleges in the country… Narsee Monjee or NM as known to all. I actually happened to be there a couple of days ago – went to the office for some work…. I reached during lunch time and was given a comfortable sofa to sit… and wait… Now that itself was a change from the time I went to school… The entire school is now airconditioned and granite flooring etc..
Apologies for me interchanging school and college… the problem is that my Indian learnings have been conditioned by my American learnings and now I am like a scrambled brain or a scrambled egg… or scrambled something…
I happened to over hear… purposely or not is left for you to decide… and come on you guys always keep seeing things – who is doing what and what not and with whom… and I don’t have a hint of what’s happening… so why can’t I over hear? a few students impatiently or nervously waiting for their oral / viva exam to happen in the next few minutes… “I want to get this done with… what kind of questions is he going to ask… what a 100 mark presentation … “ and likes…
Suddenly I was transformed back to my undergrad days… those huge classrooms with 130 students… a classsize of 1200 plus… everyday coming to school… deciding whether to attend lectures or sit in the famous Mithibai canteen… whether I was cool enough to impress people or why did that girl talk more to my friend and not to me… etc… how a professor was sooooo boring… and how a professor was cute… : ) and how do I crack my next accounting exam… and eco was my favourite… and I hated theory subjects… the integration of the derivative confused me… and Bhatia sir and Jiwani sir were exact opposites that both taught equally well and still were diametrically against each other…
So anyways those were fun days… entering a new world… figuring out freedom and other things first hand…and slowly learning the ropes of life… It was also particularly challenging for me as I had started losing my eyesight at that time… and as a young boy with disparit vision I did not really know where life was headed…
I had my few friends to be with and became an invisible man for the rest of the world… I knew of those cool people around me… but don’t think out of those 1200 people anyone even knows me… or did then… coz I became this weird guy who would not talk to anyone… not smile… sometime fall down… run into people… “what a jerk”… or was i? I was only losing my eyesight gradually and could not see things or people… but how could I explain this to my friends who I wanted to be like or even behave like… or copy… how… as a young man how could I accept or tell the world that I was different and less in some way... Those days still give me goose bumps… it was something undescribable…
I actually blank out or have erased a lot of my memories from that period… literally 4 years of my life… as I did not make any friends… and did not really get to know people… never did justice in studies to my abilities… and it was all so weird…
So back to the present… I was remembering about all those wonderful but sad days and was wondering where all those superstars I went to college with would be now and how I missed knowing some wonderful people…
Anyways the lunch time was over and I was called and a well hearted individual of the staff gave me things that I needed in 5 minutes… That’s my NM college for you…
Then I left to go to a super stud college in South Mumbai’s Churchgate area – its called S….. (full name left out for obvious reasons : ) ) … same work… no lunch time this time… and guess what the wait was 1 hour and 25 minutes. Were they busy? Nopes… did they need that much time… nopes… were there a lot of people? Nopes…. So what was the problem… Well this college that is known to be Mumbai’s cool south Mumbai hub was quite a government office full of red tape and ridiculously unfriendly staff… oops… well being honest as usual… I personally don’t understand what adds to the coolness of this college… this silly and hopeless staff I guess who could not figure out some glue to give me or a stamp – each taking 30 minutes where in it should have taken like 30 seconds really… but then what the heck… it’s the place where students think they are sent from South Mumbai… (heaven I mean)… lol… (I am going to be killed for this one : )
Talking of colleges, I managed to meet up with my friends on the Incredible India Trek from Wharton… they all were down in Mumbai after a grueling few days in Delhi and Rajasthan… and guess what they were fascinated and overwhelmed… I was sure that India cannot be described in words and all of their experiences definitely confirm this… They had a great time and I must congratulate the organizers of this trek- Sanjeev, Charishma, Deepti and John – they did a great job… and all Indians chipped in, in some way or the other… So a bunch of Wharton students are going back – experiencing this paradox first hand- I guess more confused than before… but definitely appreciative of what they saw and experienced…
It was great meeting these friends of mine… I have realized how I already miss my Wharton friends… and how I was soooo happy to meet them… I cannot believe that we will graduate this May... but well well… Life goes on…
My undergrad college is located in the famous Juhu area of Mumbai and is one of the best commerce colleges in the country… Narsee Monjee or NM as known to all. I actually happened to be there a couple of days ago – went to the office for some work…. I reached during lunch time and was given a comfortable sofa to sit… and wait… Now that itself was a change from the time I went to school… The entire school is now airconditioned and granite flooring etc..
Apologies for me interchanging school and college… the problem is that my Indian learnings have been conditioned by my American learnings and now I am like a scrambled brain or a scrambled egg… or scrambled something…
I happened to over hear… purposely or not is left for you to decide… and come on you guys always keep seeing things – who is doing what and what not and with whom… and I don’t have a hint of what’s happening… so why can’t I over hear? a few students impatiently or nervously waiting for their oral / viva exam to happen in the next few minutes… “I want to get this done with… what kind of questions is he going to ask… what a 100 mark presentation … “ and likes…
Suddenly I was transformed back to my undergrad days… those huge classrooms with 130 students… a classsize of 1200 plus… everyday coming to school… deciding whether to attend lectures or sit in the famous Mithibai canteen… whether I was cool enough to impress people or why did that girl talk more to my friend and not to me… etc… how a professor was sooooo boring… and how a professor was cute… : ) and how do I crack my next accounting exam… and eco was my favourite… and I hated theory subjects… the integration of the derivative confused me… and Bhatia sir and Jiwani sir were exact opposites that both taught equally well and still were diametrically against each other…
So anyways those were fun days… entering a new world… figuring out freedom and other things first hand…and slowly learning the ropes of life… It was also particularly challenging for me as I had started losing my eyesight at that time… and as a young boy with disparit vision I did not really know where life was headed…
I had my few friends to be with and became an invisible man for the rest of the world… I knew of those cool people around me… but don’t think out of those 1200 people anyone even knows me… or did then… coz I became this weird guy who would not talk to anyone… not smile… sometime fall down… run into people… “what a jerk”… or was i? I was only losing my eyesight gradually and could not see things or people… but how could I explain this to my friends who I wanted to be like or even behave like… or copy… how… as a young man how could I accept or tell the world that I was different and less in some way... Those days still give me goose bumps… it was something undescribable…
I actually blank out or have erased a lot of my memories from that period… literally 4 years of my life… as I did not make any friends… and did not really get to know people… never did justice in studies to my abilities… and it was all so weird…
So back to the present… I was remembering about all those wonderful but sad days and was wondering where all those superstars I went to college with would be now and how I missed knowing some wonderful people…
Anyways the lunch time was over and I was called and a well hearted individual of the staff gave me things that I needed in 5 minutes… That’s my NM college for you…
Then I left to go to a super stud college in South Mumbai’s Churchgate area – its called S….. (full name left out for obvious reasons : ) ) … same work… no lunch time this time… and guess what the wait was 1 hour and 25 minutes. Were they busy? Nopes… did they need that much time… nopes… were there a lot of people? Nopes…. So what was the problem… Well this college that is known to be Mumbai’s cool south Mumbai hub was quite a government office full of red tape and ridiculously unfriendly staff… oops… well being honest as usual… I personally don’t understand what adds to the coolness of this college… this silly and hopeless staff I guess who could not figure out some glue to give me or a stamp – each taking 30 minutes where in it should have taken like 30 seconds really… but then what the heck… it’s the place where students think they are sent from South Mumbai… (heaven I mean)… lol… (I am going to be killed for this one : )
Talking of colleges, I managed to meet up with my friends on the Incredible India Trek from Wharton… they all were down in Mumbai after a grueling few days in Delhi and Rajasthan… and guess what they were fascinated and overwhelmed… I was sure that India cannot be described in words and all of their experiences definitely confirm this… They had a great time and I must congratulate the organizers of this trek- Sanjeev, Charishma, Deepti and John – they did a great job… and all Indians chipped in, in some way or the other… So a bunch of Wharton students are going back – experiencing this paradox first hand- I guess more confused than before… but definitely appreciative of what they saw and experienced…
It was great meeting these friends of mine… I have realized how I already miss my Wharton friends… and how I was soooo happy to meet them… I cannot believe that we will graduate this May... but well well… Life goes on…
Jan 8th, 2008
My undergrad college is located in the famous Juhu area of Mumbai and is one of the best commerce colleges in the country… Narsee Monjee or NM as known to all. I actually happened to be there a couple of days ago – went to the office for some work…. I reached during lunch time and was given a comfortable sofa to sit… and wait… Now that itself was a change from the time I went to school… The entire school is now airconditioned and granite flooring etc..
Apologies for me interchanging school and college… the problem is that my Indian learnings have been conditioned by my American learnings and now I am like a scrambled brain or a scrambled egg… or scrambled something…
I happened to over hear… purposely or not is left for you to decide… and come on you guys always keep seeing things – who is doing what and what not and with whom… and I don’t have a hint of what’s happening… so why can’t I over hear? a few students impatiently or nervously waiting for their oral / viva exam to happen in the next few minutes… “I want to get this done with… what kind of questions is he going to ask… what a 100 mark presentation … “ and likes…
Suddenly I was transformed back to my undergrad days… those huge classrooms with 130 students… a classsize of 1200 plus… everyday coming to school… deciding whether to attend lectures or sit in the famous Mithibai canteen… whether I was cool enough to impress people or why did that girl talk more to my friend and not to me… etc… how a professor was sooooo boring… and how a professor was cute… : ) and how do I crack my next accounting exam… and eco was my favourite… and I hated theory subjects… the integration of the derivative confused me… and Bhatia sir and Jiwani sir were exact opposites that both taught equally well and still were diametrically against each other…
So anyways those were fun days… entering a new world… figuring out freedom and other things first hand…and slowly learning the ropes of life… It was also particularly challenging for me as I had started losing my eyesight at that time… and as a young boy with disparit vision I did not really know where life was headed…
I had my few friends to be with and became an invisible man for the rest of the world… I knew of those cool people around me… but don’t think out of those 1200 people anyone even knows me… or did then… coz I became this weird guy who would not talk to anyone… not smile… sometime fall down… run into people… “what a jerk”… or was i? I was only losing my eyesight gradually and could not see things or people… but how could I explain this to my friends who I wanted to be like or even behave like… or copy… how… as a young man how could I accept or tell the world that I was different and less in some way... Those days still give me goose bumps… it was something undescribable…
I actually blank out or have erased a lot of my memories from that period… literally 4 years of my life… as I did not make any friends… and did not really get to know people… never did justice in studies to my abilities… and it was all so weird…
So back to the present… I was remembering about all those wonderful but sad days and was wondering where all those superstars I went to college with would be now and how I missed knowing some wonderful people…
Anyways the lunch time was over and I was called and a well hearted individual of the staff gave me things that I needed in 5 minutes… That’s my NM college for you…
Then I left to go to a super stud college in South Mumbai’s Churchgate area – its called S….. (full name left out for obvious reasons : ) ) … same work… no lunch time this time… and guess what the wait was 1 hour and 25 minutes. Were they busy? Nopes… did they need that much time… nopes… were there a lot of people? Nopes…. So what was the problem… Well this college that is known to be Mumbai’s cool south Mumbai hub was quite a government office full of red tape and ridiculously unfriendly staff… oops… well being honest as usual… I personally don’t understand what adds to the coolness of this college… this silly and hopeless staff I guess who could not figure out some glue to give me or a stamp – each taking 30 minutes where in it should have taken like 30 seconds really… but then what the heck… it’s the place where students think they are sent from South Mumbai… (heaven I mean)… lol… (I am going to be killed for this one : )
Talking of colleges, I managed to meet up with my friends on the Incredible India Trek from Wharton… they all were down in Mumbai after a grueling few days in Delhi and Rajasthan… and guess what they were fascinated and overwhelmed… I was sure that India cannot be described in words and all of their experiences definitely confirm this… They had a great time and I must congratulate the organizers of this trek- Sanjeev, Charishma, Deepti and John – they did a great job… and all Indians chipped in, in some way or the other… So a bunch of Wharton students are going back – experiencing this paradox first hand- I guess more confused than before… but definitely appreciative of what they saw and experienced…
It was great meeting these friends of mine… I have realized how I already miss my Wharton friends… and how I was soooo happy to meet them… I cannot believe that we will graduate this May... but well well… Life goes on…
Monday, January 7, 2008
When champions don't play like champions.... Its a shame for the game...
Jan 6 2008
Whatt happened at the Sydney cricket ground over the last 5 days will definitely be remembered as a record equaling victory for the Australians- 16 test wins in a row… but what also will be etched in the memories of the cricket lovers is how India got robbed of a definite win and instead was handed out the worst umpiring debacles and the very disappointing un sportsman like behaviour of the Australian cricket team which in many ways would not be wrong to be called outside the rules… or breaking the laws… or at least outside the sportsman spirits…
The fantastic match, with India bouncing back in style and showing the world that Australia can be challenged and defeated… was turned into one of umpires blatantly giving wrong decisions favouring the home team… not once… not twice… but 6 times… and at crucial moments and for key players… and the Australian team that is well respected for being champions and playing the game hard… forgot the playing fair part of it…
Let me put it in simple words… my faith in umpires is lost because this happens too many times nowadays… even going back to the 2003 series and the same umpire Bucknor was after Tendulkar’s life… giving him out in all ridiculous decisions… and twas supported by an aussie umpire then… and this time has Benson’s support… snatching from India what was a definite win…
And secondly and most importantly… my respect for the Australian cricket team has diminished substantially… their hunger to win has made them do definitely wrong things – things that champions are not expected to… tactics or behaviour that puts them in shame…
And my respect for the Indian team has gone up- Well played boys… don’t let this affect you… go out and put this disappointment behind and show the world what you are made of…
Its anyways difficult touring Australia as a country… they are the best in the world… but its almost impossible beating them if the umpires decide to support them (the CEO rules right) and the Australian team plays dirty…
I am not sorry to be so direct and apologize if I have hurt any sentiments… I still like the country a lot and the people – but this team is different from the Steve Waugh team that faught hard… but within the rules of the game…
I guess there are 2 kinds of champions… Tiger Woods one type… great champion and a great person (Sachin Tendulkar falls here as well and so does Don Bradman) and then there are the others… Maradona (great champion… but we all know what he was…)… and unfortunately this Australian cricket team doesn’t find a place in the first types…
So a sad day for the game of cricket… like I said :
IT’S A SHAME FOR THE GAME WHEN CHAMPIONS DON’T PLAYLIKE CHAMPIONS….
COME BACK INDIA… DON’T PLAY ANYMORE WITH THOSE BOYS THAT CHEAT…
Whatt happened at the Sydney cricket ground over the last 5 days will definitely be remembered as a record equaling victory for the Australians- 16 test wins in a row… but what also will be etched in the memories of the cricket lovers is how India got robbed of a definite win and instead was handed out the worst umpiring debacles and the very disappointing un sportsman like behaviour of the Australian cricket team which in many ways would not be wrong to be called outside the rules… or breaking the laws… or at least outside the sportsman spirits…
The fantastic match, with India bouncing back in style and showing the world that Australia can be challenged and defeated… was turned into one of umpires blatantly giving wrong decisions favouring the home team… not once… not twice… but 6 times… and at crucial moments and for key players… and the Australian team that is well respected for being champions and playing the game hard… forgot the playing fair part of it…
Let me put it in simple words… my faith in umpires is lost because this happens too many times nowadays… even going back to the 2003 series and the same umpire Bucknor was after Tendulkar’s life… giving him out in all ridiculous decisions… and twas supported by an aussie umpire then… and this time has Benson’s support… snatching from India what was a definite win…
And secondly and most importantly… my respect for the Australian cricket team has diminished substantially… their hunger to win has made them do definitely wrong things – things that champions are not expected to… tactics or behaviour that puts them in shame…
And my respect for the Indian team has gone up- Well played boys… don’t let this affect you… go out and put this disappointment behind and show the world what you are made of…
Its anyways difficult touring Australia as a country… they are the best in the world… but its almost impossible beating them if the umpires decide to support them (the CEO rules right) and the Australian team plays dirty…
I am not sorry to be so direct and apologize if I have hurt any sentiments… I still like the country a lot and the people – but this team is different from the Steve Waugh team that faught hard… but within the rules of the game…
I guess there are 2 kinds of champions… Tiger Woods one type… great champion and a great person (Sachin Tendulkar falls here as well and so does Don Bradman) and then there are the others… Maradona (great champion… but we all know what he was…)… and unfortunately this Australian cricket team doesn’t find a place in the first types…
So a sad day for the game of cricket… like I said :
IT’S A SHAME FOR THE GAME WHEN CHAMPIONS DON’T PLAYLIKE CHAMPIONS….
COME BACK INDIA… DON’T PLAY ANYMORE WITH THOSE BOYS THAT CHEAT…
Sunday, January 6, 2008
The Best Day of my Aussie experience...
Jan 4, 2008
Well each day I have spent down under has been a great day… I have thoroughly enjoyed the country and the people and the weather and the experience… but Jan 4 will be my most exciting and best day of the entire trip…
So it can be divided into 2 parts… the day and the evening/night...
Day : Many of you would not have heard the name Sachin Tendulkar – to most others he is someone absolutely special – as he is the best cricketer India has ever had and one of the best cricketers (top 3) to have ever played this game across the world… but the fact is that none of you know what he means to me… for me he is my inspiration and my icon…. He is one person who I have drawn courage and strength in my most critical times of life and ones when I felt the most alone and low on confidence… The man has not only given millions of people across the world happiness and joy with his cricket… but also inspired millions by the way he plays the game and lives his life….
So anyways… on the 3rd day of the Sydney cricket test match – the man scored his 38th test hundred… it was an innings worth watching not only for the shere class and mastery of the genius at work but also the ease and sublime touch with which he made everything look so easy. His presence in the middle got the best out of not only him but also the other members of the team and he looked at his defiant best…. And the crowd at the Sydney crickeyt ground saw one of the best innings by him… and gave him a huge round of applause… a standing ovation… not seen by many… Well my day was already made… or my trip was made… my hero played like a hero…
The most interesting and funny thing is that the Australians like him as we Indians like him… and in all my conversations with others… they wanted him to do well and Australia to win… : )… interesting…he is admired and cherished as if he is one of them… like no other sportsman in the world of cricket or maybe even otherwise? …
So a note here about the Australians… well I was pleasantly surprised again… wonderful people… happy, good over all, helpful… of course confident… but also friendly… jovial… But they sometimes get a little cranky… especially when their cricket team performs poorly… (which it rarely does)… and become slightly irritated and also aggressive… we faced that on the first day of the Sydney game- we were only 2 indians in the section of the crowd… surrounded by all Aussies… and guess what India had them on the mat… and they lost it a bit… they started teasing us and trying to make fun of us…. : )…. But all they could do was try… : )… we took care of them and when they became a little weird… our stares were enough to take care of things I guess… But overall I love the aussie public… great sportsmen… and nice people… and they believe in work hard and play hard… One other example of how sporting they are is when one of their bowlers was not doing well – they were giving him a hard time at the boundary as well… making jokes and having fun with him… but they were equally happy about applauding Laxman and Tendulkar when they did well….
Night : Well the Sydney harbour bridge is a unique bridge, suspended from the top by an arc which supports it by 4 huge pillars… no support from the bottom… for those who don’t know I guess this is a similar but different technology to the Howrah bridge in Calcutta India… The Sydney bridge was built in 1932… so many years back and is a fascinating structure…
So in 1999 a private company leased the bridge climb (a journey to the top of the arc) and got permissions to throw it open to the general public… and on jan 5th… we did this bridge climb at 9.15 pm in the night…
We went there, you better have prior bookings else you might be disappointed, and they spoke to me to see whether I would be comfortable… all I said was I am confident and I leave it to them to decide if they think I can do it… and they agreed fortunately… So we got changed into climbing suits and kept away all our belongings into a locker… the funny thing is that they took away my cane (the white stick I use to walk) as well because it could not be attached to me… So the suits are those one piece ones in which you enter from the back and it covers all of you with a zip on you back…. Then we were introduced to our instructor Mick… nice guy… it is a group of 12 that goes… at a time… and in all it takes 3 hours to go up and come down… Till date 2 million people from across the blobe have done the climb…
Going on, so they gave us harnesses, we were safely tied… and given a strong hook that would be attached to the railing of the bridge climb ladders… so that we remain attached all times…
Ok a little more about the climb before I go on… it consists of 1437 steps… and is at a height of 134 meters… and you start at the bottom, climbing through normal steps, bridges, passages (very small), vertical ladders (the toughest part)… and long walks on narrow walkways… up in the air through the train and road bridges and way up above all of them… The entire path is very narrow… with max of 12 inches and at most time 4 inches space other than that of a person crossing, whereas at timesnot enough space for one person to cross alone… squeezing by…
So after the hooks, we were given a bag flees attached behind us… a rain coat attached behind again on the harness… a radio with a headset attached behind… and also a torch in a headband…
Then we were made to climb and walk down a smmulation few steps… before we started the ascend…
So imagine… it’s a quite quiet area… and it was dark at around 10 in the night… when just 13 of us (including the instructor) started the walk… we first went up some 30 meters… and walked a narrow passage in the open with railings on both sides for some part and only one on others… the walk was about 30 meters long as well… and it was funny being up not being surrounded by anything really… but having the train and road bridges above us… it was slightly scary as I couldn’t see anything… no cane…and all I could feel was the railing… and didn’t even have anyone to hold on to… but was at the same time quite exciting… some thing different… why not… we walked a bit more and started going up the stairs again… I was carefully sensing the steps with my feet… the rails with my hands… slow at some places… almost confidently running at some others… of course the person behind me was verbally helping at times… and my friend who was ahead of me was also guiding me at a few places… but most times it was me alone and the darkenss.. and the wind… and the smell of sometimes nothing… We went up a little mor… 60 meters… and then came the toughest part… the vertical ladders… that passed between the actual car bridge and on the way down the train bridges… Well I should mention this… when I was parallel with the car bridge at the time of climbing one of the 4 such vertical ladders… I was super excited… I could hear cars zooming by me 10 feet away… at high speed… and there was nothing around me… I was up in the air… literally… and these fast cars that have always fascinated me flying by… the sound… the feel… undescribable…
So we condinued climbing up… way above everything else in Sydney now… all we could see was the illuminated harbour… buildings… and the world below… except for that 2-3 feet of stpes/ passage/ bridge… we ad nothing supporting us… we were up in the sky all by ourselves… although I had 12 others with me… the feeling was being all by yourself… alone and enjoying flying high in the sky… guess what I actually started singing “I believe I can fly”… So we finally reached the top of the arc… 134 meters above the harbour… the feeling was incredible… mesmerizing…. Standing alone with high winds blowing right into your face… body…. Touching the face… the hands… all you can see is lights… and feel is open space all around you… no obstructions… no disturbances… no sound except for the wind and the breathing… and even the foot steps at times… the feeling of being in control but totally helpless out there… the feeling of just being with yourself… and of such immense pleasure and joy… I was excited and happy… sorry guys I cannot put inwords what I felt… it was just incredible… I was in a different world… and on the way back from there my slow and careful steps as well the sensing of the rails with my hands became faster, more experimentative… confident… and bolder…
Just standing up there was something will be etched in my memory forever… that whole climb was one of the best experiences of my life… especially because it was the nightand the world was beautiful when I stood up there…. And I was transferred into a unreal world… peace yes this is the word peace was what I felt… no fear of anything… calmness… and satisfaction….
Anyways we came back… and that ended a great day for me…. the best of my Australia trip…. One I will remember for ever… got down at 1am… totally worth everyting… and my one recommendation for Sydney… must do… an experience of the lifetime….
We were not allowed cameras… but the guide took a couple of photographs… which I will put up on facebook…
In between these 2 special parts of the day… was another special occasion…. Meeting Anthony (who was a great help on this trip with his suggestions and recommendations and local guide in sydney), Angela, Ali and Shiri… Go Wharton… we met at Bondai… had some delicious Thai food… and it was so nice to meet my Wharton friends… I of course miss them… or rather you (if any of you is reading my blog at all : )
Other things I did in Sydney other that watching the game… went to Manley beach… in a boat or Fairy (sorry for the spelling again)… well this was also a lot of fun… the cruise on the water so was so nice… we were on the deck… standing… it was late evening and again mild winds coped with the sound of the ocean… with the well illuminated harbour… wow… the beach was nice… and the coastal walk was also fantastic… We went with Nalinka- Ganeka’s friend…. She was an interesting and a very nice person … and we went then to her favourite restaurant… Alfredo’s for Italian dinner – where an old gentleman was churning old tunes on the piano… excellent evening…
I have had an amazing vacation… lucky and thankful for this… and am going to go back to India and then to the US all happy and ready to refocus on where I left off….
In the meanwhile… I have fallen in love again… : ) Australia…
Well each day I have spent down under has been a great day… I have thoroughly enjoyed the country and the people and the weather and the experience… but Jan 4 will be my most exciting and best day of the entire trip…
So it can be divided into 2 parts… the day and the evening/night...
Day : Many of you would not have heard the name Sachin Tendulkar – to most others he is someone absolutely special – as he is the best cricketer India has ever had and one of the best cricketers (top 3) to have ever played this game across the world… but the fact is that none of you know what he means to me… for me he is my inspiration and my icon…. He is one person who I have drawn courage and strength in my most critical times of life and ones when I felt the most alone and low on confidence… The man has not only given millions of people across the world happiness and joy with his cricket… but also inspired millions by the way he plays the game and lives his life….
So anyways… on the 3rd day of the Sydney cricket test match – the man scored his 38th test hundred… it was an innings worth watching not only for the shere class and mastery of the genius at work but also the ease and sublime touch with which he made everything look so easy. His presence in the middle got the best out of not only him but also the other members of the team and he looked at his defiant best…. And the crowd at the Sydney crickeyt ground saw one of the best innings by him… and gave him a huge round of applause… a standing ovation… not seen by many… Well my day was already made… or my trip was made… my hero played like a hero…
The most interesting and funny thing is that the Australians like him as we Indians like him… and in all my conversations with others… they wanted him to do well and Australia to win… : )… interesting…he is admired and cherished as if he is one of them… like no other sportsman in the world of cricket or maybe even otherwise? …
So a note here about the Australians… well I was pleasantly surprised again… wonderful people… happy, good over all, helpful… of course confident… but also friendly… jovial… But they sometimes get a little cranky… especially when their cricket team performs poorly… (which it rarely does)… and become slightly irritated and also aggressive… we faced that on the first day of the Sydney game- we were only 2 indians in the section of the crowd… surrounded by all Aussies… and guess what India had them on the mat… and they lost it a bit… they started teasing us and trying to make fun of us…. : )…. But all they could do was try… : )… we took care of them and when they became a little weird… our stares were enough to take care of things I guess… But overall I love the aussie public… great sportsmen… and nice people… and they believe in work hard and play hard… One other example of how sporting they are is when one of their bowlers was not doing well – they were giving him a hard time at the boundary as well… making jokes and having fun with him… but they were equally happy about applauding Laxman and Tendulkar when they did well….
Night : Well the Sydney harbour bridge is a unique bridge, suspended from the top by an arc which supports it by 4 huge pillars… no support from the bottom… for those who don’t know I guess this is a similar but different technology to the Howrah bridge in Calcutta India… The Sydney bridge was built in 1932… so many years back and is a fascinating structure…
So in 1999 a private company leased the bridge climb (a journey to the top of the arc) and got permissions to throw it open to the general public… and on jan 5th… we did this bridge climb at 9.15 pm in the night…
We went there, you better have prior bookings else you might be disappointed, and they spoke to me to see whether I would be comfortable… all I said was I am confident and I leave it to them to decide if they think I can do it… and they agreed fortunately… So we got changed into climbing suits and kept away all our belongings into a locker… the funny thing is that they took away my cane (the white stick I use to walk) as well because it could not be attached to me… So the suits are those one piece ones in which you enter from the back and it covers all of you with a zip on you back…. Then we were introduced to our instructor Mick… nice guy… it is a group of 12 that goes… at a time… and in all it takes 3 hours to go up and come down… Till date 2 million people from across the blobe have done the climb…
Going on, so they gave us harnesses, we were safely tied… and given a strong hook that would be attached to the railing of the bridge climb ladders… so that we remain attached all times…
Ok a little more about the climb before I go on… it consists of 1437 steps… and is at a height of 134 meters… and you start at the bottom, climbing through normal steps, bridges, passages (very small), vertical ladders (the toughest part)… and long walks on narrow walkways… up in the air through the train and road bridges and way up above all of them… The entire path is very narrow… with max of 12 inches and at most time 4 inches space other than that of a person crossing, whereas at timesnot enough space for one person to cross alone… squeezing by…
So after the hooks, we were given a bag flees attached behind us… a rain coat attached behind again on the harness… a radio with a headset attached behind… and also a torch in a headband…
Then we were made to climb and walk down a smmulation few steps… before we started the ascend…
So imagine… it’s a quite quiet area… and it was dark at around 10 in the night… when just 13 of us (including the instructor) started the walk… we first went up some 30 meters… and walked a narrow passage in the open with railings on both sides for some part and only one on others… the walk was about 30 meters long as well… and it was funny being up not being surrounded by anything really… but having the train and road bridges above us… it was slightly scary as I couldn’t see anything… no cane…and all I could feel was the railing… and didn’t even have anyone to hold on to… but was at the same time quite exciting… some thing different… why not… we walked a bit more and started going up the stairs again… I was carefully sensing the steps with my feet… the rails with my hands… slow at some places… almost confidently running at some others… of course the person behind me was verbally helping at times… and my friend who was ahead of me was also guiding me at a few places… but most times it was me alone and the darkenss.. and the wind… and the smell of sometimes nothing… We went up a little mor… 60 meters… and then came the toughest part… the vertical ladders… that passed between the actual car bridge and on the way down the train bridges… Well I should mention this… when I was parallel with the car bridge at the time of climbing one of the 4 such vertical ladders… I was super excited… I could hear cars zooming by me 10 feet away… at high speed… and there was nothing around me… I was up in the air… literally… and these fast cars that have always fascinated me flying by… the sound… the feel… undescribable…
So we condinued climbing up… way above everything else in Sydney now… all we could see was the illuminated harbour… buildings… and the world below… except for that 2-3 feet of stpes/ passage/ bridge… we ad nothing supporting us… we were up in the sky all by ourselves… although I had 12 others with me… the feeling was being all by yourself… alone and enjoying flying high in the sky… guess what I actually started singing “I believe I can fly”… So we finally reached the top of the arc… 134 meters above the harbour… the feeling was incredible… mesmerizing…. Standing alone with high winds blowing right into your face… body…. Touching the face… the hands… all you can see is lights… and feel is open space all around you… no obstructions… no disturbances… no sound except for the wind and the breathing… and even the foot steps at times… the feeling of being in control but totally helpless out there… the feeling of just being with yourself… and of such immense pleasure and joy… I was excited and happy… sorry guys I cannot put inwords what I felt… it was just incredible… I was in a different world… and on the way back from there my slow and careful steps as well the sensing of the rails with my hands became faster, more experimentative… confident… and bolder…
Just standing up there was something will be etched in my memory forever… that whole climb was one of the best experiences of my life… especially because it was the nightand the world was beautiful when I stood up there…. And I was transferred into a unreal world… peace yes this is the word peace was what I felt… no fear of anything… calmness… and satisfaction….
Anyways we came back… and that ended a great day for me…. the best of my Australia trip…. One I will remember for ever… got down at 1am… totally worth everyting… and my one recommendation for Sydney… must do… an experience of the lifetime….
We were not allowed cameras… but the guide took a couple of photographs… which I will put up on facebook…
In between these 2 special parts of the day… was another special occasion…. Meeting Anthony (who was a great help on this trip with his suggestions and recommendations and local guide in sydney), Angela, Ali and Shiri… Go Wharton… we met at Bondai… had some delicious Thai food… and it was so nice to meet my Wharton friends… I of course miss them… or rather you (if any of you is reading my blog at all : )
Other things I did in Sydney other that watching the game… went to Manley beach… in a boat or Fairy (sorry for the spelling again)… well this was also a lot of fun… the cruise on the water so was so nice… we were on the deck… standing… it was late evening and again mild winds coped with the sound of the ocean… with the well illuminated harbour… wow… the beach was nice… and the coastal walk was also fantastic… We went with Nalinka- Ganeka’s friend…. She was an interesting and a very nice person … and we went then to her favourite restaurant… Alfredo’s for Italian dinner – where an old gentleman was churning old tunes on the piano… excellent evening…
I have had an amazing vacation… lucky and thankful for this… and am going to go back to India and then to the US all happy and ready to refocus on where I left off….
In the meanwhile… I have fallen in love again… : ) Australia…
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Welcome 2008- Sydney style....
Jan 1 2008
First of all a very happy new year to everyone… ‘time flies’ is something we all are reminded at various moments of life… but nothing more than on your x + 1 birthday and the new years…. All you need to do though is make that time count and live life gracefully (or so I think )
So every new year for the last 11 years, I have been out with friends enjoying either get to gethers, parties or clubs etc… but this time it was slightly different…
15 minutes of the best fireworks one will ever see, preceeded by the best performances from the most famous operas, followed by a walk down town in Sydney’s CBD … it was an marvelous way of bidding adieu to what has been an incredible 2007 and welcoming a hopefully even better 2008…
Exactly at 12am – we observed what is known as the world’s best fireworks display… we were at the South foyer Opera house in Sydney with 100,000 other people outside on the roads… and suddenly the sky was full of colours and illuminated the whole harbour as well as the CBD of Sydney… It was a sight to imagine… millions of small crackers going up in the sky and lighting themselves up to emit some light… and all of it collecting together to light up the entire world (well at least there ) … this was the biggest firework display that Sydney has ever had… and it only becomes better every year.
So the setting was like this… we walked out of the opera house on level 2 to the foyer…. Looking straight at the harbour bridge and to our left were the tall buildings of the CBD…. There was water in front of us… and small ships or cruises with bright lights of all kinds and colours… there was a sense of excitement and expectations with a couple of hundred people around me… and like I mentioned thousands around the entire Opera house… CBD… harbour area… there was soft and invigorating music flowing from 2 different directions… and the world just lit up… For 14 or 15 minutes continuous there was a dazzling display of some enthralling fireworks… to the right, left… dead cenntre… above us… all around…
Well guess what – I have myself shot a video of the entire display and will try and put up the video on you tube (btw I just realized the youtube was youtube and not utube… funny how things can sound something and spell something else)
The evening earlier was also quite an interesting one… in fact my romance with Australia continued in an wonderful manner… I reached the CBD in the evening and got off at the point where no more vehicles were allowed … for the new years arrangement… the walk down CBD was incredible… open roads… We reached Hyde park which is in CBD at 8pm… started walking towards the opera house… so the feel of this was just extra ordinary… there were no cars or vehicles- as the area was cordoned off for the new year’s celebrations- there were scores of people walking… drinking… laughing… excited… jumping… trying to move closer to the viewing area of the fireworks…
only happy people walking… we in the midst of some astonishing buildings and trendy shops… totally festive… and reached the Opera house… Now I didn’t know what to expect… the fact remains that we were told it is a concert and nothing else… so I went in with no idea what I was in for and to an extent was wondering if I had taken the right decision to go to an opera on new years eve…?
All my fears were set to rest in a very vocalmanner… the 4 singers we heard were some of the best from across the globe, flown in especially for the new years, and they were performing the best bits and parts of the best operas from different generations … and it was divine… the singing, the orchestra, the emotions, the pitch, the voice… wow… 2 hours of enchanting performances one after the other… and a very knowledgeable crowd… I could not believe my luck… listening to the opera at the Sydney opera house on a new years special performance…
Well this performance was followed by the fireworks outside, to which we all, who saw the concert, had a special viewing area – from the opera house…
In fact this opera concert also sums up this year for me.. which was so unlike my first year at Wharton… Before I went to the US, I had a very social life and went out quite a bit to different things… but in my first year at Wharton, I just got caught up with adjusting to my new life… and missed out on different things… not once did I go for a play, or a musical, or did any such activity that I would rather do living in Mumbai (of course we don’t have musicals but we have tons of other things happening…)
So I decided to change things in the summer last year when I went to Mumbai before going to London for my summer job… I started off by revisiting my favourite drama theatre in the world… a small 175 seater theatre called Prithvi in almost the heart of the city of Mumbai – at Juhu… its small, cozy and right in the action where in the stage is at the same level as the first seat and if the person sitting in the first row extends his/her legs… he will be actually stepping on the stage… its such an intimate setting and so real… Then came London… first I went to watch India play England in the cricket… Chelmsford (3 hours from London), Lords (the mecca of cricket) and the Oval … it was great being at the incredible ground ofLords… and enjoyed the first series victory India achieved in England after 21 years…
Then came the Shakespear globe theatre… well well… honestly and embarrassingly I admit… I could understand only 50% of what was being spoken… duh… anyyways… but it was followed by Wicked… the musical – in London again…my first musical ever… and what a great one to start with… lively… melodious, interesting and actually rocking… and London was rounded off by a beautiful day visit to the Roman Bath…
Time to move to the US in August and I started off the fall semester with the US open’s tennis men’s finals… went up to NYC… with Karthik, Ali and Guillaum… it was a great day out and what a fantastic contest where Federrer showed why he was the champion yet again but was given a real run for his money by the young Serbian… Jocovich (I am sure I have messed up the spelling)…
Next was my viewing of Anuradha Pal’s tabla concert at the Irwin auditorium in Philly… the first time I saw a lady tabla player… and boy was she good… her fingers moved like nobody’s business and she actually brought the audience to their feet…
The Met or the Metropolitan in New York next… we watched Aida… thanks to Florian and Guillaum… my first ever opera… and believe again one of the best… in fact Florian who is an expert in understanding operas said that it was one of her best viewings… it was so different from regular operas… they had so many props… and dancers… and actual horses on stage : )… lively… romantic… tragic… thrilling… it had everything… And guess what, the Met is the only second opera hall with individual screens for translations… and I started liking operas… because of the emotions they convey…
What followed, according to me, is the best musical performance I have ever seen… Ustaad Zakir Hussain (for you all who don’t know who this is- he is the best tabla player in the world)and Rahul Sharma )son of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma- the best in Santur) performed a duo… it was like the 2 instruments (tabla for Zakir and the Santur which is a 90 string instrument, for Rahul)… as if they were talking to each other… they were in tandem… complementing and mimicking each other… not once in 2 hours did we feel any change in the synchronization… or the effort and passion and performance… definitely and easily my best ever musical concert… thanks to my friend Meera I was able to go and took a bunch of friends as well – 11 of us…
Before I left Philly, I also managed to go to the Barnes Foundation to see one of the greatest collection of paintings from the 17th to the 20th century… 180 paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 69 by Paul Cézanne, and 60 by Henri Matisse, as well as numerous other modern masters, including George de Chirico, Paul Gauguin, El Greco, Francisco Goya, Edouard Manet, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Maurice Utrillo, Vincent Van Gogh, Maurice Prendergast, etc. Thanks to Dominique I learnt so much about paintings… and the different painters and their styles… it was an amazing experience…
And I ended the year by going to the Melbourne cricket ground for the big Boxing Day test match… followed by the opera at the Sydney opera house… Now this is what Ashish was before he came to Philly… and I am glad to discover him back… and hopefully he keeps up with his interests outside…
I have been often asked, what do I do at these different places mentioned above… “you can’t see right?..” well my answer is simple… I have tons of interests… and believe its just a different feeling being there at these places and some or many of them don’t even need viewing… for others either I have learnt to appreciate them in different ways or with help from instruments (like a radio with live commentary at the cricket) or with the help of my friends who describe things… In fact it is so funny when people (absolutely in good faith) assume that I don’t do these things or go to these places… : )…
So anyways, back to the new year celebrations… after the fireworks, we walked around the CBD in Sydney… beautiful… thousands of people on the streets… drunk (most of them)… enjoying the new year in all kinds of ways… living it up… and I enjoying observing all of this…
So more from down under later…
Wish you a very satisfying and successful new year…
First of all a very happy new year to everyone… ‘time flies’ is something we all are reminded at various moments of life… but nothing more than on your x + 1 birthday and the new years…. All you need to do though is make that time count and live life gracefully (or so I think )
So every new year for the last 11 years, I have been out with friends enjoying either get to gethers, parties or clubs etc… but this time it was slightly different…
15 minutes of the best fireworks one will ever see, preceeded by the best performances from the most famous operas, followed by a walk down town in Sydney’s CBD … it was an marvelous way of bidding adieu to what has been an incredible 2007 and welcoming a hopefully even better 2008…
Exactly at 12am – we observed what is known as the world’s best fireworks display… we were at the South foyer Opera house in Sydney with 100,000 other people outside on the roads… and suddenly the sky was full of colours and illuminated the whole harbour as well as the CBD of Sydney… It was a sight to imagine… millions of small crackers going up in the sky and lighting themselves up to emit some light… and all of it collecting together to light up the entire world (well at least there ) … this was the biggest firework display that Sydney has ever had… and it only becomes better every year.
So the setting was like this… we walked out of the opera house on level 2 to the foyer…. Looking straight at the harbour bridge and to our left were the tall buildings of the CBD…. There was water in front of us… and small ships or cruises with bright lights of all kinds and colours… there was a sense of excitement and expectations with a couple of hundred people around me… and like I mentioned thousands around the entire Opera house… CBD… harbour area… there was soft and invigorating music flowing from 2 different directions… and the world just lit up… For 14 or 15 minutes continuous there was a dazzling display of some enthralling fireworks… to the right, left… dead cenntre… above us… all around…
Well guess what – I have myself shot a video of the entire display and will try and put up the video on you tube (btw I just realized the youtube was youtube and not utube… funny how things can sound something and spell something else)
The evening earlier was also quite an interesting one… in fact my romance with Australia continued in an wonderful manner… I reached the CBD in the evening and got off at the point where no more vehicles were allowed … for the new years arrangement… the walk down CBD was incredible… open roads… We reached Hyde park which is in CBD at 8pm… started walking towards the opera house… so the feel of this was just extra ordinary… there were no cars or vehicles- as the area was cordoned off for the new year’s celebrations- there were scores of people walking… drinking… laughing… excited… jumping… trying to move closer to the viewing area of the fireworks…
only happy people walking… we in the midst of some astonishing buildings and trendy shops… totally festive… and reached the Opera house… Now I didn’t know what to expect… the fact remains that we were told it is a concert and nothing else… so I went in with no idea what I was in for and to an extent was wondering if I had taken the right decision to go to an opera on new years eve…?
All my fears were set to rest in a very vocalmanner… the 4 singers we heard were some of the best from across the globe, flown in especially for the new years, and they were performing the best bits and parts of the best operas from different generations … and it was divine… the singing, the orchestra, the emotions, the pitch, the voice… wow… 2 hours of enchanting performances one after the other… and a very knowledgeable crowd… I could not believe my luck… listening to the opera at the Sydney opera house on a new years special performance…
Well this performance was followed by the fireworks outside, to which we all, who saw the concert, had a special viewing area – from the opera house…
In fact this opera concert also sums up this year for me.. which was so unlike my first year at Wharton… Before I went to the US, I had a very social life and went out quite a bit to different things… but in my first year at Wharton, I just got caught up with adjusting to my new life… and missed out on different things… not once did I go for a play, or a musical, or did any such activity that I would rather do living in Mumbai (of course we don’t have musicals but we have tons of other things happening…)
So I decided to change things in the summer last year when I went to Mumbai before going to London for my summer job… I started off by revisiting my favourite drama theatre in the world… a small 175 seater theatre called Prithvi in almost the heart of the city of Mumbai – at Juhu… its small, cozy and right in the action where in the stage is at the same level as the first seat and if the person sitting in the first row extends his/her legs… he will be actually stepping on the stage… its such an intimate setting and so real… Then came London… first I went to watch India play England in the cricket… Chelmsford (3 hours from London), Lords (the mecca of cricket) and the Oval … it was great being at the incredible ground ofLords… and enjoyed the first series victory India achieved in England after 21 years…
Then came the Shakespear globe theatre… well well… honestly and embarrassingly I admit… I could understand only 50% of what was being spoken… duh… anyyways… but it was followed by Wicked… the musical – in London again…my first musical ever… and what a great one to start with… lively… melodious, interesting and actually rocking… and London was rounded off by a beautiful day visit to the Roman Bath…
Time to move to the US in August and I started off the fall semester with the US open’s tennis men’s finals… went up to NYC… with Karthik, Ali and Guillaum… it was a great day out and what a fantastic contest where Federrer showed why he was the champion yet again but was given a real run for his money by the young Serbian… Jocovich (I am sure I have messed up the spelling)…
Next was my viewing of Anuradha Pal’s tabla concert at the Irwin auditorium in Philly… the first time I saw a lady tabla player… and boy was she good… her fingers moved like nobody’s business and she actually brought the audience to their feet…
The Met or the Metropolitan in New York next… we watched Aida… thanks to Florian and Guillaum… my first ever opera… and believe again one of the best… in fact Florian who is an expert in understanding operas said that it was one of her best viewings… it was so different from regular operas… they had so many props… and dancers… and actual horses on stage : )… lively… romantic… tragic… thrilling… it had everything… And guess what, the Met is the only second opera hall with individual screens for translations… and I started liking operas… because of the emotions they convey…
What followed, according to me, is the best musical performance I have ever seen… Ustaad Zakir Hussain (for you all who don’t know who this is- he is the best tabla player in the world)and Rahul Sharma )son of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma- the best in Santur) performed a duo… it was like the 2 instruments (tabla for Zakir and the Santur which is a 90 string instrument, for Rahul)… as if they were talking to each other… they were in tandem… complementing and mimicking each other… not once in 2 hours did we feel any change in the synchronization… or the effort and passion and performance… definitely and easily my best ever musical concert… thanks to my friend Meera I was able to go and took a bunch of friends as well – 11 of us…
Before I left Philly, I also managed to go to the Barnes Foundation to see one of the greatest collection of paintings from the 17th to the 20th century… 180 paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 69 by Paul Cézanne, and 60 by Henri Matisse, as well as numerous other modern masters, including George de Chirico, Paul Gauguin, El Greco, Francisco Goya, Edouard Manet, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Maurice Utrillo, Vincent Van Gogh, Maurice Prendergast, etc. Thanks to Dominique I learnt so much about paintings… and the different painters and their styles… it was an amazing experience…
And I ended the year by going to the Melbourne cricket ground for the big Boxing Day test match… followed by the opera at the Sydney opera house… Now this is what Ashish was before he came to Philly… and I am glad to discover him back… and hopefully he keeps up with his interests outside…
I have been often asked, what do I do at these different places mentioned above… “you can’t see right?..” well my answer is simple… I have tons of interests… and believe its just a different feeling being there at these places and some or many of them don’t even need viewing… for others either I have learnt to appreciate them in different ways or with help from instruments (like a radio with live commentary at the cricket) or with the help of my friends who describe things… In fact it is so funny when people (absolutely in good faith) assume that I don’t do these things or go to these places… : )…
So anyways, back to the new year celebrations… after the fireworks, we walked around the CBD in Sydney… beautiful… thousands of people on the streets… drunk (most of them)… enjoying the new year in all kinds of ways… living it up… and I enjoying observing all of this…
So more from down under later…
Wish you a very satisfying and successful new year…
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