My first Bandh in 8 years, yay! I had not figured this part of the country was subject to such forced long weekends. Having grown up in good old babu land, I was not looking forward to it.
The global oil price crisis has caught up with India and the local politics is beginning to heat up over it. Only if we had invaded an oil rich gulf state!
That reminds me, GM might be discontinuing Hummer. Why don’t they strike?
Ishant and I sat down for lunch on sunday…different tables.. but still I was in the same restaurant at the same time 
I was transiting through Cal on my way to home when I stopped for lunch and to meetup couple of friends. The team was staying at the same hotel and slowly half the team was sitting two tables away: Ishant, Murli, Agarkar, Hussey and Butt. Missing were the big names: SRK, Dada and Akhtar.
They were courteous and entertained onlookers like us with autographs ( though most of them are illegible). I snapped couple of photos with my camera phone (never thought I would use it ever). I will post it once I figure out how to get it off it.
Today, I went hunting for wines. My search took me to the local immigrant store, a little “amrika” tucked away in the leafy part of the town. The store reminded me of Mayuri in many ways. I was there trying to find “imported” goods that I have grown so used to..only in reverse. Guess what, I found Hagan Daz Mango! (It had been out of supply in the QFCs in my previous home town). Unfortunately, they only carried non-alchoholic versions of there sparkling beverages.
The back-stop was the local five star hotel which is celebrating a french festival month. But the price tag was too high. So I am back to base and the search continues…
Not much happening this week, IPL is is little predictable at this stage, couple of pre-season showers have brought the temperatures down. The project for this weekend is to find some local wines. Given the slow week, I picked up a book as well. I am reading “Crossing the Chasm”… it is an excellent read..almost a bible for those of us looking to make a super-innovative idea mainstream.
PS: Yes, In five years, I have learnt to “superfy” words
He has ruled the world of cricket for 20 years. Finally, I had a chance to witness the Master Blaster, Sachin, in action for the first time. My generation has literally grown up with him so watching him today was dream come true. The security was super tight (given the happenings of last week) so I did not get a chance to take any pictures.
Our seats were right above the players dug-outs. I was drunk and vocal enough to get sachin to look, smile and wave my way There were some pretty faces in the crowd as well like Sania and Shonali but Sachin clearly was the crowd favorite.
Today I went to cheer my ”local” team who were playing against the King Khan’s team. Unless you have been living under a rock, you could not have missed all the hype and glitz attached with the IPL spectacle. And today’s game lived up to all the hype. Latest songs, cute cheerleaders, reasonably well managed crowd …oh and good all round cricket as well. Dada reigned supreme with a sinscillating knock. Local boy “Venu” provided some last minute heroics but they were not enough to stop the Knight-riders from winning.
If you said WTF when you read the title, see the video below.
The best advice I received while I was in the process of deciding to relocate, was come with an open mind for everything.
As I go about settling myself, the above advice is really coming in handy. One of the things I am getting re-adjusted to is the notion of privacy. Everyone has an interest (and even a stake! at times) in everyone else. Advice, opinions, help is always on offer. Personally, I like this part.
The part that feels awkward is the curiousity and level of personal questions that I get asked by my driver, helper, shopkeeper, cook, aunty in #209, and the speed with which this news spreads around. Saying something like, “it is a personal thing…” is considered rude and an indication of “daal mein kuch kala hai..” (there is something fishy)
My current response pattern is to dive into my own series of questions to put the interviewer under spotlight and avoid having to talk about myself.
I dropped by ”F lounge” last night. Nice place, decent music. I ordered a Kingfisher. They did not have it… “would you like a Budweiser instead” huh? Is the “king of good times” being overtaken by the “king of beers” ?
Bumped into Steve from Deloitte. Apparently, they have a huge operation here. After 2 weeks the underlying challenge of running an operation is becoming clear and is common across most companies. Any cost savings promise is offset by high attrition rates and lower productivity. Organizations needs to grow organically and have quality senior leadership. Hiring quality senior folks is a challenge and promising youngistanis in which the company invests end up jumping ships just when they start showing return on investment.
Back at “F lounge”, Steve rambled about his local experiences, expecting me to relate to them, I could not. (Thinking more about it, I am happy I was unable to relate to it). After couple of hours, I stepped back into reality. Vijay, the driver, was fast asleep and I had to knock for a good 5 mins to wake him up. We drove home…
Life 2.0