Thinking Aloud!

Just about a week left for the big day and I think I can squeeze in one small post and some internal travel too.

In a country where millions find it difficult to even manage two square meals a days I feel blessed to have the privilege of going on such a wonderful holiday. I thank god for showering me with such good fortune!

My solo travel to Singapore in August has made me more organized and equipped to avoid last minute rush. As I come to the end of my packing spree I must give a big thumbs up to the sachet culture in India. Every traveler will be proud of our consumer product companies. I was pleasantly surprised to find almost everything under the sun available in small sachets costing just about Rs 2 (5 cents!!)..tea, coffee, soap, shampoo, snacks etc you name it and they have it in sachets.

I read somewhere that the most important thing to pack while traveling is an open mind! Despite all the amazing people I have networked with in countries I will be visiting I will remember the fact that there are also not so nice people in every country of the world and tourists are soft targets. Ergo, better safe than sorry would be the mantra where ever I go.

To all my friends who are looking forward to my visit as much as I am excited about seeing them here’s a special message. “Whilst i'm sure I’ll be a good boy…if on the odd occasion I get difficult, impatient, blunt or show a bit of temper….please bear with me! I’m sure though that there is nothing I cannot make up with a bit of humour plus I’ve never known anyone who doesn't like Santa. :))

Travel they say not only broadens the mind but broadens the body as well. So to hell with cholesterol and sugar for the next two months coz I always say…you haven’t lived if haven’t lived it up!

To all my friends who helped me put together this trip...muchas gracias...what would I do without you??

As much as I look forward to exploring an amazing continent and my first couch surfing experience I am sure to miss home and people the moment my flight takes off! That’s human nature I suppose…

It's almost now!

http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/63721/Counting-Down-tick-tok-tick-tok-1

Ready Steady Go!

Trying to avoid repitition I've given the link to my latest post which is on TravBuddy. See link below:

http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/63080/Ready-Steady-Go-1

Add Friend Request!!

I’ve always loved writing letters. While at school I would look forward to running back home to check if the postman had any international mail for me from my pen friends. I remember the time when Radio RSA (South Africa) had announced my name as a pen friend from India and I was overwhelmed when I received over 150 letters from all over South Africa! It used to be fun going to the GPO and buying newly released stamps and first day covers (I wonder if they still have them!). Over the years some lost touch some just disappeared and by the time I finished college there was hardly any time for such indulgences.

Once you are bitten by the writers bug the effects are irreversible and you get hooked to writing in one form or the other. Soon personal communication skills got moulded into effective business communication until the internet revolution took place.

Although I was always excited about meeting people and making new friends I was quite a skeptic as far as online socializing was concerned. My nephew then introduced me to ICQ which was big those days. It was nice as a novelty but something seemed to be missing. MSN messenger was the next big thing, introducing all of us to the wonderful world of instant messaging and “Add friend request”. This was more acceptable as most contacts would be people who I used to correspond with via hotmail.

Very soon there was an explosion of social networking sites none of which really excited me. ICQ went into oblivion and Orkut was the flavor of the month. It seemed too frivolous to me and Facebook in part plugged the loopholes Orkut had. I don’t have an account on either of them and I surprised myself when I registered on Livemocha.com . Being an extremely private person this was a leap of faith for me but my desire to learn Spanish and travel to LatAm was so strong that I just could not stop myself from being there.

Today, I am absolutely thrilled about being on livemocha and meeting some incredibly amazing friends. I’m looking forward to meeting Silvia and her cute little daughter Luciana in Costa Rica and celebrating my birthday with Suzana and her friends in Brazil. I am sure I will be meeting more virtual friends during my travel and get to know them better. During the last few weeks I have been surfing almost 8-10 hrs a day planning my trip and discovered two more amazing sites for those who love travel. TravBuddy.com and CouchSurfing.com. If you are someone who travels a lot or just loves traveling do give these sites a dekkho. I bet you will be awed by the endless opportunities they offer. You can check me out on these sites, under the user name - Vyne.

Last but not least a special thanks to Silvia and Suzana for being such wonderful buddies. The warmth and affection displayed by you to a total stranger makes you true ambassadors for your country. Because of you I have started enjoying my vacation even before it has begun.

Noise..Noise..Noise..

You must have thought that baby blog turned one and then went to sleep :) Well, not exactly, the blog has had no post for a long time owing to a little bit of lethargy on my part and a lot of excitement involved in planning my dream holiday to Latin America, which kept me busy. I’m back now and with all the festivities around the only thought that comes to mind is NOISE!

Why are you shouting? I can never forget this “welcome back question” from a friend the moment I landed back in Dubai (on a holiday) after relocating to India for good! That’s the first time I realized the kind of ‘background noise’ we are used to back home. Then on, I had to be conscious of my decibel levels throughout my visit!

The more I see the world the more I am convinced that we must be one of the noisiest countries in the world, especially our cities. It all starts at home when you need the ceiling fan to be at full speed to brave the hot humid climate. The noise made by the fan forces us to increase the television volume in order to make sense of what is being said. The sound from the streets (courtesy, open windows-for the elusive breeze) gives you copyright free access to high decibel surround sound generated by auto rickshaws, cars, buses, motor bikes, repair work etc. This again leads you to keep your door bells and telephone ringers on high volume.

The vicious circle of noise creating more noise is only exasperated during the second half of the year when festivities for Ganesh Chaturti, Dussera and Diwali begin! We are unable to enjoy ourselves unless we are also ‘heard to be having fun’. Music blasting from pooja mandals and every nook and corner makes you wish you were deaf for most part of the time these festivals are celebrated. No one seems to have a clue to celebrating events without being loud. Thankfully government restrictions are trying to make sure these pathetically noisy celebrations don’t go beyond a certain time at night.

Oh! How can I forget the big fat noisy Indian weddings, 'thread ceremonies' etc where you cannot communicate with each other unless you speak into the other persons ear….literally! God has been very kind to us...it’s a miracle that so many of us are not already deaf!

Ok, now that I have let the steam out, I can move to other things. Of all the things that have happened in the past few weeks the ones I recollect immediately are:

Nearly one year after giving investors a heart attack Ramalinga Raju got one for himself. I am still not sure if it was real or exaggerated in order to get VIP treatment at the hospital.

After Advani its Jaswant Singh who was at the receiving end for his Jinnah glorifying comments. BJP is soon becoming a Bharatiya Jinnah Party, much to the amusement of other political outfits.

Economy class now has a new name, ‘cattle class’. Outbursts against Tharoor proved once again that we have absolutely no sense of humour. If you are unable to laugh at yourself be sure others will gladly do it for you!

The moon mission has had its own sense of humour. Apparently they seem to have found a thin invisible layer of water on the moon. Hmmn wonder how they found it if it was invisible :) Poetically too I am not convinced that it is true…such mein agar chand par pani hota toh chand ab tak apna daag na dholeti? :)

Finally, it’s the joy of giving week in India…so all pretty and intelligent women can have their share of joy by giving me their contact details!! I know one person reading this blog who will chide me and say – “always fishing”. Well, young lady I would like to borrow and adapt a line from the movie “Scent of a Woman” and say. ‘The day we stop fishing, Nihi, is the day we die”!!!

Talk about movies and I finally managed to see the movie I've been wanting to see for a long time - The Bucket List. An amazing movie which is funny and yet so touching. A million percent my kinda movie. It also catalysed my sky diving dreams in Brazil!

Wishing you all a Happy (noise free) Dussera.

Baby Blog turns ONE :)

It’s hard to believe but true that its exactly a year since I started this blog and despite being away in Singapore I had to take time this morning to upload my first anniversary blog post!

I’m glad I have managed to keep it going for one whole year albeit at a slower pace than desired. Posting once a week, I was pretty regular during the first three months but then my Spanish classes and a whole lot of unplanned travel meant very little time for writing. This has made me admire people who despite their busy schedules find time to update their blogs at a prolific pace.

My main aim of capturing my thoughts during the past year has been fulfilled and when I read some of my earlier posts my reaction is either – “did I write that” or “why did I write that”.

Here’s a BIG thanks to all you guys out there for your encouragement and more importantly finding time to go through the stuff I’ve been throwing at your through my posts.

First anniversaries normally call for some important / interesting announcements and I shall follow the tradition by stating that I have an ambitious writing plan in the making. I’ve bounced the idea with a few people who have given me a positive feedback but more on this when plans crystalise.

It has been just over a year since I last travelled abroad and I was pleasantly surprised to notice a whole lot of changes at the Mumbai International Airport. It has transformed itself from looking like a railway platform to actually looking like an international airport. While admiring the new structure I could hear hushed whispers between some senior citizens about the prices of eats at coffee shops and restaurants. Any further increase will also mean that paramedics need to be on standby when senior citizens go through the prices which have multiplied over 10 times from what they were used to paying. Seriously though, if we want airports of international standards then prices too will shoot up! It will be amusing when they start charging User Development Fees for passengers using the new airport. Imagine the irony when, in order to pay Rs 150 for a sandwich you will first have to pay Rs 1,500 to enter the airport! That’s what they call a double whammy!

A conversation with co-passengers always brings out one of the “Most Likely Questions” (a subject of my earlier post) and the most popular one as usual is “Why are you still single”? I was getting tired of the same old answers I am used to giving so I have a new one these days. Here goes “I was looking for the perfect woman and I also found one, but unfortunately, she was looking for the perfect guy! I have to start all over again and am now looking for a perfect woman who is not looking for a perfect guy”!

Singapore Airlines has always been touted to be the best airline in terms of customer satisfaction / service levels and they were bang on. The new A380 aircrafts are a real treat. I almost missed my seat in economy class as I kept moving forward assuming that I was in Business Class! The seating comfort and leg space is as good as the business class in most rickety airlines with outdated aircrafts.

Emirates is the airline which is invariably compared with Singapore Airlines but having travelled on Emirates umpteen number of times I can safely say that Emirates is unlikely to catch up any time soon. The work culture at Emirates just does not permit the crew and ground staff to make the customer feel at ease and that’s irrespective of whether you are travelling First, Business or Economy. Even when I travel Business Class on Emirates there is always that subtle hint of arrogance or snootiness which overhangs their service. I can only imagine how the economy class gets treated.

SingAir on the other hand is totally chilled out. There is nothing intimidating and a general sense of pleasantness pervades the entire experience. The best part is that the ground staff and crew members seemed to be trained to go out of their way even without making you feel they are going out of their way. That to me is the secret of their excellent service. I experienced this first hand at Changi Airport when the girl at the currency exchange counter advised me in a very matter of fact manner that since I have a debit card too I should withdraw money from the ATM and not buy it from her as her rates were much higher than the ATM. I don’t remember the last time when a salesperson directed a customer to a cheaper option. Welcome to Changi International Airport!

I must not forget to add that I also met a crew member who was in the wrong job! She seemed far too efficient to be a part of the cabin crew and when I told her she was wasting her time in that job she was quite perplexed. She seemed more relaxed when I added that with the kind of diction and voice strength she had together with her personality she could easily be a successful anchor on television either for a news network or a lifestyle / travel channel. A little bit of training could also make her a good voice-over or dubbing artist.

In any case, she could not get me my ultra hot masala chai and seriously couldn’t believe my definition of ultra hot. She better look for career better than trying to serve ultra hot tea to a passenger with a heat insulated tongue or telling people to switch off their mobiles or fasten their seat belts! Most of all, crew members are more identifiable with names like Anna, Rita, Valerie or Neha. The name Uttara Deshpande sounds more suited to a news anchor…think about it! Uttara, you can do much better...certainly better than having U.D. on a SingAir uniform!

Much has been happening between my Goa post and this one.

Inflation is going down but prices are going up!

Metro bridges are coming down and Mayawati statues are going up. Congress has forgotten Kalavati and concentrating on Mayawati. There is a big hue and cry over the erection of her statues. What people don’t realize is the fact that this is the only kind of erection she can possibly enjoy.

Yuvraj Singh is worried about his privacy as far as dope testing is concerned. He should be told that WADA stands for World Anti-Doping Agency and not World Aids Detection Agency. I am sure he will relent.

Lot more is happening but they will have to wait till I get back home.

The Customer is Always 'Tight'!

Goa being almost synonymous with holidays, going there for work sounded different and I looked forward to this rather unplanned second visit to Goa. My first visit was a disaster as I went there during peak summer and didn’t not enjoy it one bit. In a way I was giving myself and Goa a second chance!

I had read and heard loads about the Konkan railway stretch from Mumbai to Goa being an amazing journey, especially when it rains, so I decided to go by train. Within a few hours I was convinced that however much you write you cannot do justice to this truly blissful journey. This is a must for all those who love landscapes, tunnels and bridges. It is truly a modern day engineering marvel and one of the few things Indian Railways can be proud of. The countless tunnels and bridges not only remind you of the awesome amount of research and planning required to pull off such a feat but also strengthens your belief in the statement “Nothing is Impossible”. Cutting through the terrain deep into the mountain took years but the results are impeccable. The lush greenery of the landscape is perfectly punctuated by the dozens of waterfalls throughout the journey. The 12 hour journey seems too short and I won’t mind spending all of it standing near the door. This is one time when you won’t mind unscheduled halts and red signals on the way. The icing on the cake though was the service provided on the Mandovi Express. There is a non-stop supply of goodies to eat. They are very reasonably priced and surprise surprise even the branded eats are sold at MRP and no more! Try catching this train on a weekday and you will almost have the entire compartment to yourself :)

Of late, 'Goa in the rains' as a concept has been aggressively marketed and I can confirm that it’s been done with good reason. The lushness in the landscape gives a very fresh and bold look to the entire region. The intermittent rains and the sight of people scampering around for shelter during spells of cloud burst instantly brings smiles to many faces and the rains seem to have a very calming effect on everyone around. Strangers literally coming under one umbrella even for a few minutes means a new acquaintance made. The subtle nod of the head or a warm smile as a thank you gesture is what humanity is all about. Small acts invariably make big statements.

With such a beautiful weather outside the thought of going into an office for work was hardly something to look forward to. Some documents were to be signed, discussions to be held and the future course of action was to be decided. Everything seemed so dull and boring about the meeting until a smart dusky girl walked in. She was introduced as Meghana, the CFO. As I started interacting with her I realized that she was the Cutest Financial Officer I have met in a long time. She had an extremely warm and pleasant disposition and I couldn’t stop myself from going up to her after the meeting and complimenting her for her sweet personality.

With work out of the way, the next few days were spent going around Panaji and even venturing into the South of Goa where the sprawling Taj property, Taj Exotica is located. It's big, beautiful but expensive. The right place to splurge windfall gains and a perfect hide-out for lovebirds. I even managed to catch a movie and explore some little known restaurants in town. Also visited a friend at the Goa Institute of Management which is housed in an old Portuguese style building, which used to be a hospital once. It has a nice cozy campus and there is a magnificent water front just outside the building.

If you love your fish and booze, Goa is the place to be. Like most coastal cities Goan food too uses a lot of coconut. Fish, chicken and all kinds of meat are available in plenty. Goan vegetarian food by far seems to be cooked with the sole intention of making guys like me feel totally out of place…really! The subtle question seemed to be “What are you doing in Goa if you don’t eat non-veg or take liquor?” Booze is extremely cheap and the whole place is dotted with liquor and wine shops so much so that when you try to get a good cup of tea or coffee what you get is almost a rebuke for not ordering liquor in liquorland! The tag line Goa seemed to wish for is “The Customer is Always 'Tight'!” Within a few days I gave up my quest for a decent cup of tea or coffee and decided to bring in my own tea bags and coffee powder for my next visit.

All said and done a great trip to a beautiful place with a laid back lifestyle and some pretty friendly locals. If you enjoy your booze and fish you have to look no further.