About Me
Monday, November 10, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
I'm in Tokyo
As the plane took off from Sahar International Airport, Mumbai I headed to another new country, towards the eastern most part of the globe, towards the land of rising sun, towards the magnificent Japan. It was a jumble of feelings inside me. I was sad because for first time after marriage we wouldn’t be able to see each other for so long. I was scared thinking about adjusting in a non-english speaking country. I was excited as this will be another new country to explore, in fact third country for me. And I was so sleepy because the flight took off at 6 o’clock in the morning.
As my Cathay Pacific aircraft ascended above the Mumbai thundering clouds, I had about 10-11 hours before me to kill. This was not a direct flight. I had to change the flight at Hong Kong and I was desperately hoping this flight to land on time as I had less than 2 hours for transit. My stomach started gurgling as soon as we reached the cruise altitude. No, not because of height but I started getting hungry. Finally, the beautiful red-polka dressed stewardess brought me my breakfast and as it landed on my meal tray I was digging into it until not a piece was left. Satiated, I sat back and decided to try a movie on the in-flight entertainment system. Many new movies were on. I decided on ‘Kung-Fu Panda’ (somehow Japan was already started getting into my systems). A good timepass for about two hours and I was already started feeling sleepy. The flight was quite comfy, everybody’s window shutter were down, AC was perfect, I had my quilt, seats were relaxing and in no time my eyes were closed and I was in dream world.
It was surprising that I was able to sleep for over an hour owing to the fact that I can hardly sleep while I’m traveling. But it was well needed sleep. We had already begun descent to Hong Kong International Airport. I opened up my window shutter and the weather was clear, sunny and pleasant. As the plane descended flying over the city, I was so mesmerized by the grandeur of Hong Kong. Whatever I had seen, read or heard about the city, it was perfectly in accord. The majestic skyline, the beautiful roads and sea-link bridges, the sparkling green water of South China Sea and myriad of ships, boats, cruisers etc sailing over it gave me quite extraordinary view from thousands of feet above ground. Only I didn’t had the camera ready in my hand at that moment. I would have got some excellent shots.
The Hong Kong airport was as beautiful as the city looked from above. Comparable to London Heathrow but not as crowded and busy than former. My flight was in another one hour and forty minutes. As soon as the boarding started I realized that I’m surely going to Japan. All around me there were Japanese people only. While coming from Mumbai, there were quite a number of Indians or people of different races. But here the scene was entirely different. I could make out about only 5-6 people of different origin amongst the bunch. Even the English accent of flight stewardesses started to sound incomprehensible. I took one of them to repeat the question thrice before I got the gist of it. Anyways, again my stomach needed food and luckily I was one of the first few to get the lunch. I relished the food to the fullest, especially the sweet dish which contained 4 gulab jamuns. Ymmmm.
By the time we were over islands of Japan, it was pitch dark and I could make out that it is quite cloudy too. Many times I could see some fierce lightning over some places. Fortunately, it was not that bad when we landed at Narita International Airport. The immigration check didn’t take much time because I think this was the only flight that landed at that time. But it took almost an hour for the baggage to arrive. I knew I will face problem getting a transport to my apartment at this time and I was quite right. The regular Airport Bus Service was done for the day and I didn’t know the train system over here. Eventually I decided to spend almost 27 K yen for a cab direct from airport to my place.
It was post-midnight hour when I entered Tokyo and the city looked amazing. I was especially impressed by the road infrastructure. It was such an intricate web of roads and flyovers that any person without a GPS system in his car will easily get lost. At one time there were at least four level of flyovers one upon other. Tokyo represents the true essence of a mega-city. I’m sure going to be getting more and more impressed by the city in my coming 5 wks of tenure here.
With a little difficulty the taxi driver was finally able to drop me at my place of stay. As I entered my apartment I was a little disappointed by the size of it. It was just one straight room with a kitchen area, living area and a bed and an attached bath. There was one bed up at attic which was kind of cute. But for a single person I was quite satisfied with it finally. It had all the facilities needed for survival. Although TV doesn’t show anything except Japanese channels, I’m glad that internet connection is there for entertainment. I have killed today’s time with sleeping most of the time. From Monday starts the work for which I have come over here. I don’t know how much hectic its gonna be but if its hectic its good for me as that will keep me busy.
Sayo-Nara.
As my Cathay Pacific aircraft ascended above the Mumbai thundering clouds, I had about 10-11 hours before me to kill. This was not a direct flight. I had to change the flight at Hong Kong and I was desperately hoping this flight to land on time as I had less than 2 hours for transit. My stomach started gurgling as soon as we reached the cruise altitude. No, not because of height but I started getting hungry. Finally, the beautiful red-polka dressed stewardess brought me my breakfast and as it landed on my meal tray I was digging into it until not a piece was left. Satiated, I sat back and decided to try a movie on the in-flight entertainment system. Many new movies were on. I decided on ‘Kung-Fu Panda’ (somehow Japan was already started getting into my systems). A good timepass for about two hours and I was already started feeling sleepy. The flight was quite comfy, everybody’s window shutter were down, AC was perfect, I had my quilt, seats were relaxing and in no time my eyes were closed and I was in dream world.
It was surprising that I was able to sleep for over an hour owing to the fact that I can hardly sleep while I’m traveling. But it was well needed sleep. We had already begun descent to Hong Kong International Airport. I opened up my window shutter and the weather was clear, sunny and pleasant. As the plane descended flying over the city, I was so mesmerized by the grandeur of Hong Kong. Whatever I had seen, read or heard about the city, it was perfectly in accord. The majestic skyline, the beautiful roads and sea-link bridges, the sparkling green water of South China Sea and myriad of ships, boats, cruisers etc sailing over it gave me quite extraordinary view from thousands of feet above ground. Only I didn’t had the camera ready in my hand at that moment. I would have got some excellent shots.
The Hong Kong airport was as beautiful as the city looked from above. Comparable to London Heathrow but not as crowded and busy than former. My flight was in another one hour and forty minutes. As soon as the boarding started I realized that I’m surely going to Japan. All around me there were Japanese people only. While coming from Mumbai, there were quite a number of Indians or people of different races. But here the scene was entirely different. I could make out about only 5-6 people of different origin amongst the bunch. Even the English accent of flight stewardesses started to sound incomprehensible. I took one of them to repeat the question thrice before I got the gist of it. Anyways, again my stomach needed food and luckily I was one of the first few to get the lunch. I relished the food to the fullest, especially the sweet dish which contained 4 gulab jamuns. Ymmmm.
By the time we were over islands of Japan, it was pitch dark and I could make out that it is quite cloudy too. Many times I could see some fierce lightning over some places. Fortunately, it was not that bad when we landed at Narita International Airport. The immigration check didn’t take much time because I think this was the only flight that landed at that time. But it took almost an hour for the baggage to arrive. I knew I will face problem getting a transport to my apartment at this time and I was quite right. The regular Airport Bus Service was done for the day and I didn’t know the train system over here. Eventually I decided to spend almost 27 K yen for a cab direct from airport to my place.
It was post-midnight hour when I entered Tokyo and the city looked amazing. I was especially impressed by the road infrastructure. It was such an intricate web of roads and flyovers that any person without a GPS system in his car will easily get lost. At one time there were at least four level of flyovers one upon other. Tokyo represents the true essence of a mega-city. I’m sure going to be getting more and more impressed by the city in my coming 5 wks of tenure here.
With a little difficulty the taxi driver was finally able to drop me at my place of stay. As I entered my apartment I was a little disappointed by the size of it. It was just one straight room with a kitchen area, living area and a bed and an attached bath. There was one bed up at attic which was kind of cute. But for a single person I was quite satisfied with it finally. It had all the facilities needed for survival. Although TV doesn’t show anything except Japanese channels, I’m glad that internet connection is there for entertainment. I have killed today’s time with sleeping most of the time. From Monday starts the work for which I have come over here. I don’t know how much hectic its gonna be but if its hectic its good for me as that will keep me busy.
Sayo-Nara.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Aye Has It ....
Aye Has It. Aye Has It.
Was the cry of Lok Sabha Speaker as he declared the results of the most popular trust vote in history of Indian democracy. I was following the Lok Sabha session the minute I reached home after office. And what a comedy show it was. Those were the leaders of our country making a sheer mockery of Lok Sabha. Was there any maturedness, any decensy, any sense of responsibility shown by them? None. All I could see was bunch of rowdies throwing brickbacks at each other, slurring each other's images, holding baseless allegations against each other and hoping that lakhs of Indian citizens who are tuned to their TV sets are going to vote for them in next elections. Whether it was UPA or NDA or Left, they are all riders of the same boat. Indian people are nothing more than mere vote banks for them on which they want to cash on as much as possible. The real motive of the parliamentary debate and corresponding trust vote was long lost somewhere under those benches somewhere. I wonder if even half of our esteemed politicians had any idea about the topic of debate. All they had in mind was whether the government will sustain or shatter. If you had asked what the world nuclear means, they would have gladly translated it into Hindi as 'Parmanu' but wouldn't know anything beyond that. And If some intelligent person (which is rare in that flock) tries to explain the pros or cons of it, they will shut him/her up. It was unbelievable. It was comedy just because it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable to see our distinguished MPs create such a scene. It was unbelievable to see the disrespect for even our PM when they didn't allow him to give his speech. It was unbelievable when some of them brought bundles of cash in the Sabha.
But I still watched it till the end because I wanted to believe in this. But couldn't.
Was the cry of Lok Sabha Speaker as he declared the results of the most popular trust vote in history of Indian democracy. I was following the Lok Sabha session the minute I reached home after office. And what a comedy show it was. Those were the leaders of our country making a sheer mockery of Lok Sabha. Was there any maturedness, any decensy, any sense of responsibility shown by them? None. All I could see was bunch of rowdies throwing brickbacks at each other, slurring each other's images, holding baseless allegations against each other and hoping that lakhs of Indian citizens who are tuned to their TV sets are going to vote for them in next elections. Whether it was UPA or NDA or Left, they are all riders of the same boat. Indian people are nothing more than mere vote banks for them on which they want to cash on as much as possible. The real motive of the parliamentary debate and corresponding trust vote was long lost somewhere under those benches somewhere. I wonder if even half of our esteemed politicians had any idea about the topic of debate. All they had in mind was whether the government will sustain or shatter. If you had asked what the world nuclear means, they would have gladly translated it into Hindi as 'Parmanu' but wouldn't know anything beyond that. And If some intelligent person (which is rare in that flock) tries to explain the pros or cons of it, they will shut him/her up. It was unbelievable. It was comedy just because it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable to see our distinguished MPs create such a scene. It was unbelievable to see the disrespect for even our PM when they didn't allow him to give his speech. It was unbelievable when some of them brought bundles of cash in the Sabha.
But I still watched it till the end because I wanted to believe in this. But couldn't.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Why so serious, son?
Joker in a heavy duty truck speeding down the road and Batman in his all-black Batpod racing in the opposite direction with full determination to stop Joker. They are on track for a full head-on collision, when suddenly Batman swerves his Batpod, fires something to the truck, goes under and around it and the lampposts tangling the monster in a web of ropes. The huge monster takes a plunge in the air and come crashing down, thus ending the high speed chase. Batman maneuvers his Batpod on rear wheel, turns around and again speed towards the crashed truck to confront Joker. This was one of the many amazing scenes in the Warner Bros latest superhero movie ‘The Dark Knight’. After a long time I have come out of the cinema hall thoroughly satisfied and mesmerized. This movie is totally a work of art by Christopher Nolan which will definitely be filed in Hollywood records as one of the best movies of the year, of the decade and of the century.
Breath-taking performance by late Heath Ledger was the selling point of the film. It was the darkest portrayal of any villain ever in the role of ‘The Joker’, the arch enemy of Batman. Critics and fans have already reserved one nomination for Best Actor role for Oscars next year and this time it is going to be first very posthumous nomination. Ledger totally overshot the performance of Jack Nicholson in his last role of Joker. Alas, this talented actor is no more. I wonder who is going to fill in Ledger’s shoes in subsequent Batman sequels.
Christian Bale had already proved that he is best suited for Batman’s outfit in previous ‘Batman Begins’ and this performance just reasserted that claim. Batman continued his internal fight with Bruce Wayne while externally facing the wrath of Joker and in later part of Harvey Two-Face. The question whether Gotham City needs a masked hero or a real face tormented Batman throughout the movie forcing him to put Batman on the run in the end. A brilliant performance by Bale and here is another talented actor.
The direction was superb. The whole plot was excellent. Special effects were jaw dropping. It was not like any other super hero movie with a hero and villains but it was much more than that. Nolan has made an epic over here. The dialogues were awesome especially those delivered by Joker. All-in-all it was worth my money spent and my eyes strained sitting in the front row (I wasn’t able to get any other seats). I’m definitely going to watch it one more time.
Go guys, don’t miss the movie at any cost.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
My First Infy Open House
Even years of years of experience can’t teach etiquettes or bring a hint of maturity in some people. Infy’s one of employees displayed it quite successfully in front of some thousands people and most importantly in front of the most revered person in today’s entrepreneurial world, Mr. Narayan Murthy. It was embarrassing to see a 8 year experience software professional first interrupting Mr. Murthy in middle of his dialogue and then asking the most stupid question that anyone can ask in a company’s open house session. I had thought these sessions serve the purpose to address their queries, grievances or inputs directly to the topmost management and hearing their response then and there. But I guess this was wholly changed by that immature person by asking questions such as ‘Will we able to catch our bus after this?’ or ‘Was there a forest before this campus was constructed?’. And that is not all, after asking his dim-witted questions he had the audacity to run outside uttering ‘I have to catch my bus’ through the mike to everyone’s hearing.
But let’s leave him aside. This episode didn’t change the rest of the assembly. I was quite looking forward to attend this as I wanted to see the man in person myself. And so did most of my other thousand odd colleagues too because as Mr. Murthy entered everybody rose from their seats, pushing people around to catch a glimpse. He is definitely a celebrity in the IT universe. And why not as in 27 years he has put Infosys on the global IT map as one of the most reputed software firm. Starting with Rs 10,000 and 7 employees, it is now a 5 billion $ company with employee strength touching 100,000. But the man himself is a legend, an idol for most of today’s budding entrepreneurs.
Mr. Murthy spoke in length how he had started Infosys in Pune in 1981 and where the company has reached in 2008 and what it is going to achieve in 2018. He has a way to address the young crowd of Infosys which just binds everyone to shut up and listen to the visionary man at the dais in front of them. With little anecdotes about his personal life intermingled with his professional experience, he kept everyone listening. I especially liked the way he started his speech by reminiscing that 33 years back in Pune he was busy chasing his girl which now most of us would be doing now. That is the way to touch the young nerve, to make them like you in first few words and to make them hear rest all what he has to say.
At that moment, watching scores of Infoscions around me gathered to hear their chairman and chief mentor, for the first time in my career, made me feel happy and proud for the company I’m working for. No other CEO or MD or Chairman of any of my prior organization had such an effect, had such a charisma, and had such a larger that life persona as Mr. Murthy. And in none of those companies I have seen its employees enthusiastic to attend open house sessions.
But let’s leave him aside. This episode didn’t change the rest of the assembly. I was quite looking forward to attend this as I wanted to see the man in person myself. And so did most of my other thousand odd colleagues too because as Mr. Murthy entered everybody rose from their seats, pushing people around to catch a glimpse. He is definitely a celebrity in the IT universe. And why not as in 27 years he has put Infosys on the global IT map as one of the most reputed software firm. Starting with Rs 10,000 and 7 employees, it is now a 5 billion $ company with employee strength touching 100,000. But the man himself is a legend, an idol for most of today’s budding entrepreneurs.
Mr. Murthy spoke in length how he had started Infosys in Pune in 1981 and where the company has reached in 2008 and what it is going to achieve in 2018. He has a way to address the young crowd of Infosys which just binds everyone to shut up and listen to the visionary man at the dais in front of them. With little anecdotes about his personal life intermingled with his professional experience, he kept everyone listening. I especially liked the way he started his speech by reminiscing that 33 years back in Pune he was busy chasing his girl which now most of us would be doing now. That is the way to touch the young nerve, to make them like you in first few words and to make them hear rest all what he has to say.
At that moment, watching scores of Infoscions around me gathered to hear their chairman and chief mentor, for the first time in my career, made me feel happy and proud for the company I’m working for. No other CEO or MD or Chairman of any of my prior organization had such an effect, had such a charisma, and had such a larger that life persona as Mr. Murthy. And in none of those companies I have seen its employees enthusiastic to attend open house sessions.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
A Welcome Escape
Read about our latest trip to Kashid and Murud-Janjira at:
http://lothikakshitiz.blogspot.com/2008/01/welcome-escape.html
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