The Global Indian

So i got touristy in Barcelona over the last two weeks. the reason for this change in heart? Indian friends exploring the city and I going along with them to experience the fun and the beauty.

So the list began with an Indian couple from Dublin, an Indian from London, another one from Canada, and another from North Carolina, another from California and one more from Dubai. One more from Prague and then one from Germany are next in line. and oh btw, the first couple, the wife is studying in Hamburg.

phew. talk about being ubiquitous. and then we wonder why we have to go through the pain of getting visas. if now with the requirement of visas, one can find a mini-India everywhere you go, imagine what the world would be like if visas were not required for Indians. :)

But then, thats essentially a part of Indian culture as well. like hutch. wherever you go, our network follows. we are a big happy family, and that also means, we are there for each other through thick and thin. and then we may bicker when living in the same house back home, but distances make the heart grow fonder. remember the ever-gracious sindhi couple on my first day in Barcelona? they helped me call up family back home, drove me to the city from the airport, gave me food at home and put me on the bus that dropped me within a block from my new home. then another time when Nairobi was a question mark in my head, i got an indian contact who gave me information i needed, promptly and honestly. i can keep going, the list of examples is endless...

guess it comes from the warm natured people. no matter how "modernized" we get, the small things, of sharing and caring, of "atithi devo bhava", of bollywood and spicy food, of saving on self and spending on the other, Indianness is a way of life.

u cant wish it away. guess u dont wanna. To India in the New Year!! Cheers!

a matter of perspectives

Beauty and Indian-ness are two topics, the perspectives on which i want to talk about.

Beauty is a function of time whereas character is permanent. so while we accept beautiful people in our social circle with glee, we also end up ignoring people who dont comply with our definition of beauty. and one day when the black duckling becomes a swan, we do an about-turn. of course the duckling should feel good about being accepted now. but does it?

i do not want to create the impression of being cynical towards beauty. let me also add, that appearance and character both contribute to the personality. i am only questioning the attitude towards considering which one as a more important measure of a person being acceptable in a social circle. what would you base your evaluation of a person on? appearance or character? framing this question makes us think in obvious terms. but when faced with real life situations, we flounder. so to keep it simple i follow a rule. if you change your behaviour towards me as a function of my appearance, i do not give you the chance to do that anymore. i stay away.

Indian-ness is about tolerance. on one hand tolerance has given us the treasure of diversity - a rich heritage of cultural influences, a highly-evolved multi-religious fabric, and extensive thought leadership spanning back to centuries ago. on the other hand it has led to the tendency of accepting what should not be accepted. right from the plundering during the British era, to today's corruption and lack of discipline.

also we like to live in past glory, and like to blame the british for our lack of progress. i believe the problem is with us people. we chose to remain as they left us. why do we look the other way when someone breaks the law? why do we restrict the freedom of thought in our children? why do we mix religious preferences and political views? we choose to live in our limited world because we cannot afford to spend time and money on changing the society. for it will not change by the efforts of one person. if you don't be like the crowd, you will be crushed, and the crowd will continue to be as it is.

when i thought about social initiatives i didnt find any takers in India who thought this could be a profession after MBA. here almost everyone, including Indians, thinks about giving back to the society and how MBA will make the process faster and more efficient. its time to refine out tolerance levels, customizing them to different aspects of life.

let me leave you with some food for thought. this article to me reflects how tolerance to being segregated and victimized has led a section of people to continue to struggle to become a part of the society at large.

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indus-calling/entry/the-liberal-hindu-is-on

Blackmail 1973

first movie i watched online and ended up watching it in a span of three days.. the streaming speed, and the memory limit made sure i couldn't watch it all in one go. but Dharmendra's acting and Vijay Anand's direction kept me hooked.

i literally bumped into this movie. i was watching the song "chori chori hum gori se pyar karenge" on youtube, my spanish friend "sarita" had just watched it and we were gossiping about it. and in the suggestions window, there was a song "mile mile do badan". i went to that link and then from there i found out that the evergreen hit "pal pal dil ke paas" is from the same movie, named "Blackmail". the old movies buff that i am, i hadnt seen this movie, so decided to check it out. another one of my word pulling stories there.

so this movie interestingly has only one review comment on the whole of the internet, and which is why i am attempting one here. i found it quite well-made, ably supported by masters of acting Dharmendra, Rakhee, Shatrughan Sinha, Madan Puri and Iftekaar. the editing is crisp and every scene adds to the story, credit to which would definitely go to Vijay Anand. While this movie may not be counted mong his masterpieces Guide, Teesri Manzil and Jewel Thief, the engaging pace and depth of linkages between each scene is evident here as well.

Let me quote a few examples. the relationship between Shatrughan Sinha and Rakhee is conveyed through a song which is light hearted, has them both jumping around and uses the lyrics "sharbati aankhen" from the previous scene. showing that somehow the depth is lacking. whereas, the same between dharmendra and rakhee is shown through "pal pal dil ke paas", a song which i can't praise enough. the lyrics are deep, the location is romantic and the pace slow to leave the lingering effect. no wonder it is a classic. then the way the story progresses, does justice to the 145 min duration of the movie. there is a lot of attention to detail as well, how shatrughan sinha times his revelation to rakhee with the entry of dharmendra, (which turns the movie around), the way rakhee's father is involved and yet unaware of the true story (so that he cannot be held guilty) and more. then there are the short but deep lessons on trust, understanding, loyalty, friendship and responsibility conveyed throughout the storyline.

the film also has its bollywood glitches, the action and chase sequences, dharmendra beating up the whole world, a man shot in the neck still alive to say the one last important line, but i can overlook all that to still say that the movie was quite a make.

check it out for yourself if this intrigues you!

the power of words

life during vacations is about finding a word and digging deeper.. the beauty of this is how you find one word and then it reminds you of Draupadi's Sari, albeit in a different way.. you keep pulling, the flow can go on endlessly, one word leading to another and another.

random musings of a desi about some firsts she experienced here.. that's what this space is all about. so this time it was the storehouse of information that is internet. (i will not use the word knowledge here, given the scope and retention of information being limited and variable from person to person.)

So the christmas break starts and suddenly i realise i was fitting in so much in a single day during the first term that just ended, that my day suddenly feels malnourished without new information. so i move beyond the five elements of the net and approach it with the eyes of an explorer. and the search begins.

house music: so Bob Sinclar performed here last weekend. if that name isnt familiar then this blogpost is meant for you. while my frnds went to his party, i looked up on google and found the word house music. and since then i have a youtube window open listening to his and other house artists' famous songs, and have realised how familiar these tunes are. i had danced to his songs and never cared about finding what they were or who they were by .

pantomime: this was a random fluke, some news website led me to an article about how Pamela Anderson was in the eye of a storm for having taken up a pantomime role. so i got to know about this completely different aspect of theatre in the UK which happens around Chrsitmas and New Year, and has its own set of performances and celebrities. just for trivia this year they are performing Alladin and Pam is the genie.

CSR: this goes back to the DGDW conference while searching for people, attendees, participants interested Corporate Social Responsibility, and i realise how this world is indeed thriving on a common fabric. it seems to me that people who are making something of their lives are increasingly cognizant about giving back to the society. but their efforts although congruent, aren't yet coinciding. it seems that everybody has the same aim and is working in silos. the future seems bright and this gets added to my "someday" list.

camel jockey: this is a classic example of endless-pulling of the sari. it started with a post on facebook about this interesting video on TED about sixth sense technology. (TED is a non-profit about spreading ideas and stands for Technology Entertainment Design and their last conference was held in Mysore). while this video on Sixth Sense Technology by Pranav Mistry was immensely interesting, what caught my attention was Sunitha Krishnan's talk on sex slavery. it was hitting and had a deeply unsettling influence. very similar to those stories that stay back with you forever. making you feel fortunate for all that you are and have, thanking Him for protecting you from tortures that others have suffered from. camel jockey is what it sounds like- a person riding on a camel in a race. the difference and relevance to this comes into picture because these riders are children who are sold off by their parents particularly in west Asia. i still remember the line on wiki quoting a person that these child camel jockeys live in conditions worse than prisoners. the tortures and abuse they suffer from is what relates it to sex slavery. if you still dont get it, think Shantaram in Arthur Road Prison, think Neil Nitin Mukesh in Jail and you might get your endless sari.

absynth: the one alcohol that is banned, and somehow this makes me feel justified in my apprehensions towards alcohol. i found out about how indian bhaang is a happy drug, not smooth but making you do the same things over and over again, while absynth brings out your violent tendencies, sending your life into a spiral devoid of all control. reading on about both smoking and alcohol, how alcohol is seemingly harmless but has long term effects on your health, while smoking tops the list of causes of most preventable diseases.

leaving you with a lingering thought.. Sunitha left me with a question, can i open my mind in my limited world? which brought me to another one, do i realise how limited my world is? which brings me to my new aim of finding answers to these questions. perhaps, just for the fun of it, i can call it my new year resolution. now thats another pulling-word, and i go back to pulling it.

The Internet Warp

Life goes on outside the MBA zone, and those in it are caught in their own world. Thanks to technology, we are still connected. in fact my world has shifted from the 5 elements of Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Space to the five elements of Emails, Websites, Adobe, Facebook, and Save. I can vouch to say that my world revolves around them.

When my niece was born two days ago on 7th Dec, I got the news, saw her pics and heard her voice over Email. I searched Websites looking for recipes to make an apple pie in celebration, giving the event an international twist. these webpages were fighting for memory space with several Adobe pdf documents spelling out Financial Accounting and Decision Analysis. then i posted the news with pics of the apple pie on Facebook. And now I am saving her pics all over, and in my mindspace.

You name the analogy and I can fit it into these new 5 elements of my conscious. and my world is crazier with the inclusion of internet on mobile. When is the next bus coming to my stop? Who got crazy on facebook? What does the S&P500 index read today? How do i get to blah blah metro station? What is the temperature today? all at the click of a button.

In the past two days, I have also experienced revelations online. yes very soulful revelations. How human relationships are stretching across the globe, at any time there are more than 1 country locations flashing gtalk window, and more and more of us are touching foreign waters. Family, friends, known, unknown all merging onto one fabric of communication. And then you start encountering truth, that people may have been shy talking face to face, but feel comfortable mailing or chatting about. or simply posting on social networks or blogs.

And its not just fun, its serious business. from banking to blogging, I don't want to start writing the 5th grade student's essay on the utilities of the internet. But i do want to take this moment, to stand back and see the revolution i have been a part of, and am racing along to keep pace with. the internet revolution, the one that puts your body, mind and soul in the virtual world.

so step back, take it in, and then go on, keep running!

Driven by ambition.. but

Guided by values.. this is what this MBA experience is teaching me. i dont know if this program found me or i found it, but in the end the find is worth it. be it the combination of search for my passion with sophisticated management tools and matrices, or the juxta-positioning of making money with doing good in the society, the experience could not have been closer to a perfect balance.

the idea i want to highlight today is the importance of keeping a slow and steady pace, to have your eyes firmly set on your goal, but without losing sight of the path taken and the potential obstacles in it. it is good to be driven by emotions, but it is ignorant behaviour to follow the herd and not pay attention to facts indicating a fallacy in what drives your emotions.

For example, the tendency of bunking a class. Someone wants to bunk the class, some more join his herd. the herd gets bigger and so does the adhesive pull of the herd. no matter the attendance policy of the administration, the potential action, the low marginal advantage of missing class, and the bigger disadvantage of bring rude to a fellow human being, the loved or hated professor.

On a bigger scale, i came across the example of why NASA's Challenger mission failed. on the one hand, there was scientific and logical evidence of flaws in the design which predicted the accident with enough accuracy. engineers said that weather conditions below a certain temperature would lead to the rubber rings in the rocket launchers to burst, thereby causing a possible explosion. however, the pressure to launch was building up. the mission was being followed keenly, with live telecast of the launch being planned across the country's educational institutions. In fact, the above mentioned conclusive evidence led to postponing the launch couple of times, but the effect did not hold on, and the pressure of expectations caught up again. and in the end the launch led to killing of 7 astronauts and it was a pity that ambition had to take precedence over safety of lives.

and perhaps on the biggest scale so far, ambition drove the world into a global financial crisis. the sub-prime bubble burst, leading to a credit crunch, severely affecting demand and supply equilibrium all over the world, sending the world into the worst recession ever. this was driven by the ambition of cleverly making money by betting on a risk someone else had already taken. everyone was doing it, so why should i be the one to not take advantage of this windfall? there was enough evidence about the incapability of the borrower to repay his loans, about the gaping flaws in the financial cycle based on ignoring the lop-sidedness of credit rating of borrowers, of disassociating debts with liabilities to pay it back. of basically warming your hands off the fire burning on someone else's firewood. the result as everyone knows, shook the entire global economy and to such an extent that the struggle to revive continues.

the bigger the ambition, the bigger are the chances to get blinded by it. although it is also true that higher the risk, higher is the gain, but then for the gain to be realized, the ambition-holder has to sustain the risk, and not at the cost of someone else. courage cannot be borrowed, and neither can rewards.

Doing Good and Doing Well

The Doing Good and Doing Well Conference is being hosted by Responsible Business Club at IESE Business School on the 26 and 27th of February 2010. This conference is a leading event on responsible business in Europe and this year, expects to attract over 100 speakers and over 800 students and professionals. It will provide the opportunity for a dynamic exchange of ideas and information on the latest advances in fields ranging from agribusiness to CSR measurement.

The conference events include two days of major keynote addresses, panel sessions, a Career Forum, a Cleantech Investment Round and a Social Entrepreneur Workshop. In addition to providing education and awareness on Responsible Business, the conference is a premier networking event for key executives.

Keynote speakers include Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of the IMF from 1987-2000 and Zein Abdalla, CEO of PepsiCo Europe. We have additionally confirmed over 50 speakers from such firms as Charity Bank, Pfizer, Generation Investment, Aavishkar Investment, Roshan, UNDP, FAO, AGRA and Adidas. Please see our website at http://dgdw.iese.edu for the full list of confirmed speakers.

I am highly excited by this event as I am leading a panel on CSR in Service Sector (in the sense that I am organising it). We have a exciting line-up of panel discussions and at the moment, this is the reason why I have lost meri raaton ki neend and mere din ka chain.

Opinions, comments, are most welcome! If you can think of someone who might be interested in attending this conference, as an individual or as a company, feel free to direct him/her to me.

Questions: how to find answers?

where will i be without you? (translated from the songs playing on my laptop right now)
which case for tomorrow? rather how many cases for tomorrow?
how do i change the currency setting in MsExcel to reflect international denomination instead of national denomination?
how many internship applications did you make? God will I get calls?
how many of my friends are getting married this yr? When's mom gonna be back from the family weddings i am missing? and what about me?
as my capital markets prof would ask: "WHEN THE YIELD GOES UP, THE PRICES GO????? if you were getting tomatoes for 180 versus 200, which ones would you buy?" and so on. i should have asked him, "will i get a C?"
my company logo used to say: "consulting. technology. outsourcing." my life currently says: "consulting?banking?industry?"
i would be on a call with mom and all of a sudden she would ask me, "are you asleep? did you eat yet?" all are a luxury now. sleep, food, and calls with mom.
when will i see my nephew (i want her to be a niece)
and now for the compounding confounding one; what is my passion? salsa? (maybe i should think more seriously about the business plan with Sam) does problem-solving inspire me? or is it analytical skills? or is it people and resources? how much salary do i want? where do i want to work? where do i see myself 5 years from now?

who wants to be a millionaire? i can give you a million thanks if you answer any of the above :)

and now this is for you guys: what is doing good doing well?

watch out for the next post.

learning from people

its amazing how you start looking up to people. some of them just click, from the first interaction onwards, some others grow on you. i have found one and as my teammate Sara says, "when i grow up, I want to be like him".

Fernando Penalva, our accounting professor is this person. you will say, an accounting prof? this is crazy! i would have thought the same, like i did when i got similar reviews from seniors. i mean why would they be in LOVE with him?? wasnt it one of the least exciting subjects? and then suddenly i realized i was a part of this craze.

the story begins like this. once upon a time, in a far-away land, i received an email from my to-be accounting professor. 'this is the exercise, if you can't finish it, sign up for this online course, if you are not good at it, join the pre-course class.' i thought aah, i am not worried about that! the quiz seems doable with a peek at the answers, i mean i can match up my answers with that for sure! then the seriousness grew, we had to buy this book costing 140 euros. what!!?! why?? but I not even going to do any accounting after this program.. but almost everyone succumbed to the pressure. we met all the pre-requisites and huffed-puffed our way to pre-class.

who is this? this frail-sweet-looking-child-like person, was he the one sending out all those instructions? can't be! and then he started teaching. i am getting poetic now, but this is how it is. he teaches you as if you were the naivest student, and having the unfailing dedication of learing accounting principles. and should you feel sleepy in class, he sprinkles you with his simple humour. my memory of his classes are an image of a bright classroom, with the sun shining in through the window against a cool blue sky and autumn leaves whistling in the distance. his words like the cool wind, and the writing on the black-board like the most soothing piece of art. now you see, how crazy it gets?

he is probably the most quoted person on our facebook profiles. i will take the liberty of posting a few here:
"This is my home telephone number. Please avoid calling me in the middle of the night, but if you do call me in a panic situation, I will be nice." (this is not sarcastic. he is the only professor so far to have given us a contact number.)
"Bonds are like marriages. You get what you get." (Bonds here mean debt instruments issued by governments with fixed terms for returns)
"I have hired them because they are professional killers. they will break your neck. they have done that before." (poor invigilators in our mid-term exams, they didnt know this was coming!)
"You can use anything you want to mark your answers. Pen, pencil, crayons." (I told you we were like children for him)
"Tangible assets, if they fall on you, you will die" (I will never ever forget types of assets, you can wake me up in the middle of the night and ask me)
"What do you need to solve this problem? Apart from an accountant i.e.?" (simple, isnt it!)
"Dont get discouraged, it is not the end of the world even if you have secured the lowest grade in mid-term. My consideration and respect for you is even higher than before the exam." (aah wish this was a movie and i could weep with happiness in the dark ambience!)

and the most famous one, the one that made me fall in love with him. but before the quote, let me give you some background. as per the course methodology, we are supposed to read the concept on our own, solve the exercise and then in class the next day, he explains the whole thing to us. some students complained that with all the other workload, this was taking a lot of time. This feedback reached him through our class administrator, and in response he wrote us two mails on friday night, as late as midnight.. He addressed us as "beloved class" (sigh of happiness!!) and went on to reaffirm us to believe in the system and that it would all be fine. He gave us short-cuts to reduce the time taken, and signed-off saying:

"I feel your pain"

I can't say any more. May God bless.

Supervivientes!

thats the word for "Survivors:" in spanish..

I survived the mid-terms even with a couple of blows. I can say this today, for it took me time and emergency control measures. It came as a shock to me, I had tried so hard and gotten so far, in the end it didnt even matter.. not really, I was mistaken for it does matter. so what if your accuracy level is low, so what if your grade puts you way below your expectations; in the end what matters is what you retain in your head. the energy, in terms of time, effort and sincerity, nothing goes waste. even the law of thermodynamics proves that.

you take the support of experiences to pull you out of the rut. and what better experience than that of Nando Parrado. We had Nando speak to us live in our school on the day of the last mid-term, of how way back in the 1970's he and a bunch of rugby teammates survived a place crash, lost his mother and sister, lived on the andes n the most dire circumstances of lack of food, water, warm clothes, survived an avalanche, and then walked 140 kms of the Andes to reach civilization and be rescued. lessons learnt from him, no one can beat luck. why did he have to sit in the seat beyond which the plane broke into two during the crash , why did the remaining part of the plane have a soft landing, why did the avalanche bury them just well enough to insulate them from a terible blizzard, why oh why.. the list is endless. next lesson, life goes on and in the process eveyone learns to survive. the survivors of the plane crash learnt to live in the Andes in practically inhabitable circumstances for 2.5 months, in the peak of winter. while at the same time, their families mourned them, missed them and learnt to live without them. there is nothing in this world that you can't do, nothing that can defeat you but yourself. in Nando's words, it was an interesting and humbling expereince.

ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no river wide enough..

then we went to costa brava to revitalize ourselves from the rust of the academia.. and wat better way than to drive, cook, drink, ramble, sing and dance! complete in an antique wooden mediterranean architecture setting, the picture of grandma's fireplace, woods straight out of robert frost's poems, plantations of apples, olives, grapes, and the snow capped pyrenees winking at you from the horizon.. and even then if you felt rusty, you figured out ways to pull yourself upto speed. drink lots of water, listen to music, dance your heart out, cook, read, eat and talk to people. take advice, feel bad and introspect. step by step the rosy tint reappears on your glasses. it has on mine.

i have miles to go before i sleep, and have promises to keep, but I have realised i will survive and as i go along the road, I will find the key.

finding fault within yourself

prelude: my blogposts are getting more serious and at the same time the frequency is reducing. it is only because, i assure you with all sincerity, my thinking speed has reduced and time has expanded!!!

it was a weird coincidence. on two consecutive days in two different courses, the professor reiterated the importance of being able to find your own fault in any altercation. one spoke in leadership terms, about the range of an individual's tendency to decline or accept a proposition. the other explained it in terms of probability, how intuitive deciphering can lead to ignoring one's own involvement and judging only the other person. i dont believe in coincidences, i believe they happen with a purpose, and in order to give you the next clue for this universal treasure hunt of life, when the force finds you stuck at another crossroad. so, on a personal note this could not be more meaningful.

i was at crossroads and needed a clue to pull myself out. this clue helped me come out of deep guilt pangs. not only i realised what i was doing, but also as soon as i realised it, i had the solution in front of me. as if an x-ray report flashed in front of me and then a doctor's prescription in some bad handwriting. wait, it gets even better. if the guilt was tough enough, the confession was tougher. and the toughest was the wait for retribution. i cannot harp enough about the tight timelines we live in today, each one of us, that make life complicated enough without factoring the softer personal issues. but i have come out wiser from facing and dealing with this situation. it is fairly early in this new life that I am embarking upon, and the sooner the lesson learnt, the better it is. not only did i get the timely hint to deal with this, i also had the patience to wait for the reaction, and the sense to understand the gift i have and how i am the one who has to nurture it. forever.

i have been talking and thinking and talking over this for the past few days. with the accounting and leadership stuff going on in my lower brain. i dont know if all of this is a big justification, and maybe more than necessary. but i told you that my thinking has got slower and time has expanded, so this is all straight from the heart.

if you have understood not a single word of the above, well maybe you were not supposed to. take the clue ;) and if you have, then well, I am glad.

Coming a full circle

everything comes back a full circle. be it in life or in a relationship or in accounting. the key thing to note here is balance. in a fair test of flipping a coin, both sides have to have equal probability of occurance. if the balance of fairness is missing, the results dont even out. and same goes for life, relationships and accounting. if you can't balance out the opposite aspects of it, you can't experience the full impact.

so lets go from the more specific to the more ubiquitous. accounting first. the rule says debit comes in and credit goes out. the same transaction has to have two sides to it, and only then can you balance the balance sheet. sounds funny, but i guess they named the sheet that way just to doubly emphasize on what needs to be done. in relationships the key is to balance the male and female energies. both individuals have complicated percentages of both of these energies and exhibit them differently. the man needs space, the woman needs independence. it is the same need of freedom but in different situations and in different ways. the man needs a centrifugal force to stabilize him, the woman needs support to help her face the world. this can be extrapolated to trust, affection, companionship and more. and the rule to balance a relationship is communication, which includes both to convey and to grasp. not just to tell and to listen. and with time, as relationships mature, the individuals mirror each other in an increasingly synchronized way.

and same goes for life too. from personal experience, i remember the interview at IIMC and how i was unable to convince them why i needed an MBA to run an NGO. My conscience struggled with that, it never left me at peace. And then began the shifting assignments, the incessant search for my passion, the continued turbulence. when i got to IESE, the first of my struggles was laid to rest. that of pursuing an MBA, without shying away from that complicated streak of engaging in social development. the albatross of rejecting a final call finally came off my neck. and then i dived deeper into the bigger struggle of finding my passion. consulting was it, i thought before i got here. i like talking and thats what consultants do. then the banking tour and the london experience happened, and i thought banking it is, i love numbers!! and then i signed up for the responsible club and in a moment the familiar struggle of past 5 years flashed before my eyes. but the contraints were not very far away. i have an elephant of a loan, i want to get married and settle down soon. how soon, i dont know. but with that, i was back at where i had started, completing a full circle.

there are manipulations, that drive you away from the balancing out the circle. sometimes you wander away from the center and though it does delay the process, it cannot interrupt it. you eventually learn how to balance the balance sheet, to find where the missing entry went. in a relationship, you learn to be in the other person's shoes and to be empathetic to his point of view. and in life, you learn to remember where the origin is, where you have come from, coz in the end that is where you will go. this is the philosophy of life that is reflected in all religions. you just need to acknowledge and experience it.

Diwali and evolution

change is the only constant and yet somethings never change.

lets start from the beginning. i did not realise it was diwali till about two days before the d-day. we had this event being planned, different from what i had ever done on diwali and i was honestly not excited about it at all, even thinking that the tickets were beyond my budget. but on the d-day it was fun. 8 of us got together and set-up a 2 min dance sequence. it felt nice to move to bollywood music after so long. and to go back to traditional indian finery. the event was a much bigger success than what any of us had anticipated. not only did the dinner-drinks-dance night get sold out, (this after increasing the capacity to 100 seats from 80, we still had a huge waiting list that we had to refuse but also the star performers - the spanish girls dancing to bollywood, had the whole crowd amazed by their expressions and attitude that could come only if you breathed bollywood like any other indian. within a matter of a couple of songs they had everyone dancing literally to "their fingertips" as they would say in chaste hindi. tracks like babuji jara dheere chalo, desi girl, twist, and even a bharatnatyam number made my diwali eve a never before expereince. on the whole by the speed at which the videos got uploaded on youtube, i reckon this was one off the best diwali celebrations i have had.

talking about the youtube link which i have pasted here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x1su7lCFgk, i now go to the evolution bit of this story. There was a time back in school when i would dance taking care my parents didnt take objection to my extra curricular participation. this time they took objection to the way we choreographed the dance. back in school days, pictures would take ages to develop and be shared, and now i have my parents instantly connected to my life 10000 miles away, and that too at the click of the button. and now comes the cream of it all. they put me on skype during the laxmi pujan, and i attended the aarti, the prasad, even the firework sounds. now thats what i mean by evolution. (of course i didnt get to eat the prasad, mom very conveniently had it on my behalf).

later back here on that night i attended a frnds party, and thus had the reason to do the diwali milan in new clothes. i did miss the fireworks, i.e. until today.

technically i can still say its diwali, and here is how i got my share of fireworks. this is from less than an hour ago. i get back from school at dinner time, and think i will bake some quick readymade pizza. so i put it in the microwave, put the timer to 10 mins and go to my room to change and settle down. and then i get this familiar smell, feels like i am out on the diwali lit street and there is smoke around me. i walk into the kitchen which is smoky by now, pull out my pizza which is burnt to the core by now and turn the house into one that could well be having a havan. yeah so it was a diwali and navmi havan combined into one for me.

some things never change. i will never stop forgetting. i had a similar smoky incident within the first month of shifting to pune three years ago. and diwali will never stop being the symbol of festivities, sweets and celebration for me, even if through skype. amen.

London Dreams

this MBA experience is proving to be a lot more than i ever expected. and it was during my three-day trip to London that some more facets became apparent.

to quote the cliched advice, you need to experience it to know the difference. the life is different, and much more international. the London of my perception before this visit was much like my perception of this mba. hectic, competitive, cold and professional, and intimidating. but once i allowed myself to sink into the experience, many more aspects surfaced. first of all the sheer size of exposure. in mba you are exposed to a class of 225 students and their potential networks and the seniors and the professors. then the vast expanse of knowledge, and experiences. every class, every case, i go through a oh-is-that-how-it-is feeling. the rapidly evaporating yet seemingly long hours and the potential of work one starts squeezing into a single day, realising how much more one can really do. further, the alternatives for passing your time- facebooking, La Ramblas, the avenues for partying, salsa and beaches.

in london whatever i saw was enormous for my standards. two banking districts and their immense scale of operations; a 7-floor modern art gallery; the scale of city chugging along on the tube and buses, not like mumbai where your status is determined by the number of cars you own; the biggest grocery store i ever saw, the biggest designer brands on a crowded crazy street. n like you have subjects in MBA endless to explore and discuss, there are cuisines in London. i almost felt i was back in koregaon park trying out the different restaurants - italian, indian, moroccon, and not to forget my favourite apple tart dessert.

the lesson learnt is learn to adapt and to balance. the lack of sleep hours, the necessity of working on your cases as well as your CV, studies versus networking at the BOW, resting versus cooking, its all about balance. and just the same way, adapt and balance in london. gell into the crowd and yet maintain your own identity, clothes, food, culture, and finally balance your work against your personal life. to be honest i was never besotted with London, until now. london dreams are calling and it is this mba that will decide whether i fulfill them or not.

you are the choices you make

it stood out, this line, when i read harry potter and then again in shantaram. and thats what our professor said to us on the first day, you have made a choice to come here, to face challenges and to be ambitious. and i thought back on the choices i have made, some tough ones and some tougher ones.

now that i am here, there is an option at every step. there are the immediate choices, should i get out of my bed now or sleep longer? this usually results in the alarm clock snoozing for quite a while, till i realise i am running late for class. should i got to the party or to the street festivals? the key here is the importance you associate to your company. i could go to a party and stand in a corner, similing at the occasional person who looks my way and unsuccesfully trying to make small talk with the unlucky one who chose to talk to me. i sound harsh, but i can get really boring and sad in a party, particularly if i cant dance. and dance in barcelona usually means either salsa or the disco moves on english music. so its quite a task (to put mildly) for my kathak spins or even for my bollywood arm waving. then of course the whole appearance comes into play. i mean if have my flats, no make-up, no figure-show screaming out my boring quotient, how can i possibly match the moves of the high-heeled long legged beauties? naah i am better off imagining it. now come on, its not so bad, i just carried away trying to make the decsiption engaging. should i eat salad or boiled vegetable? the good part is i am never confused with too many options and also that its healthy. so its either of these two, or either of these two and dessert. in the latter case the either of these two doesnt matter. i am definitely not going to stay the way i am, and will soon need new clothes! md, watch out!!

then there are the long term choices. am i a cheerful yellow or a patient green? can i tone up my intuition and my energy to balance the shades of my personality? do i want to wait for those who dont wait for me or do i persist on my lonely bit and fight a losing battle? what is the choice of my career? banking or consulting? media or steel? am i here to mint money or to have a balanced life? is my passion in statistics or in analysis? n i havent made any choices yet. it is now important to choose my passion, because thats what matters finally. in the end, whether you did your cases everyday, or you partied, or you got the best job, what will matter is how happy you are.

now that look back at where i have come from, this mba has turned to be a good choice. the stress on values, and the nature of mba itself revolving around common sense and simplicty, is a sweet reward for all the waiting and all the questions i faced. there is a long way ahead, and many more choices to make, and life will teach me as i move on. as it is rightly said, "good judgement comes from experience. experience comes from bad judgement." amen to some experience and fond memories.

Getting back to school

and i am thoroughly loving it!! we had our first day of a week long orientation today, and we had a short simple introduction to the institute where we were explained how we were the best batch in the history of IESE, the basic principals of IESE's MBA and an interesting lecture about the problem of management, not to forget the simple example of the man on the mountain.

this experience is such a wonderful mix of professionalism and moral ethics, simplicity and yet suave-ness, i cannot express fully how happy i am feeling for being where i am. it completely appeals to my virgo instincts and puts me at ease. to begin with, IESE is affiliated with Opus dei, and the fundamental principle followed is being connected to God without renoucing wordly activities and responsibilities. this is close to the hindu philosophy, and it appeals to me instantaneously. we even had a mass at the nearby church today, with filled me with so much peace, and i realised how each religion in the end is just the way to a life of peace and harmony.

coming to the man on the mountain, this was a simple problem as to if at 8 in the mornin, a man went up a hill and the next day he started his trip downhill, would there be a unique time and place common between his trip to the top and to the base? a simple answer yes or a no. i instinctively thought yes, but couldnt say why. and then iain, a classmate explained brilliantly using a clear graphical solution. however, the professor was explaining us about how difficult it is to get a consensus, and how management is simply about finding solutions in such cases and others as well. the simplicity of this all amazed me, for a second time in the day.

and then we met our teams, our to be friends for the next year. a good mix of spanish, lebonese, israeli, arabic, indian, canadian, italian and american and that too from varied backgrounds, i am all excited how this interaction will turn out to be. the program and associated activities are going to unravel over the rest of this week, and am so excited! will keep you guys posted..

out of sight is out of mind

this concept is quite multi pronged as i have realised over the past few weeks. now that i have moved out of home, away from my friends, i have moved to the edges of their concsious memory too. just as they have to mine. although i probably miss them more than they collectively miss me, and though i may like to deny this, it is true that this realisation has set in with a trace of regret and sadness too. further, while my life has changed and there is something new happening here all the time, this is not the case with people back home. so the "whats up" may mean a lot to me, but it is not true vice versa, at least not anymore. there is so much to tell, so much to tell, so much to tell, that time, curiosity and patience all fall short. thankfully, this blog helps me unwind, even though it still keeps me out of sight.

on the other hand, i am also experiencing the insight-inmind concept, which is an obvious corollary to the above. it maybe a badly constructed name, but it is the crux of what we are all here to do at IESE. network, and thus secure a career. the more you are visible, the more you are connected, the better it is for you, the better you are using you time at this b-school. and thats why we see all the socialising, even to the point of being polite just for the sake of it, and in one's mind, hating it all for the sheer formality that it is. i even reached a bottom pit of frustration just a few days back. reminded me of all those dusty cobwebbed swear words. the why-am-i-here, what-am-i-doing syndrome hit me. yes, even before the orientation started. and ironically, it was a day and night full of networking events that brought me back to the routine world, away from the depressing reality check. i wouldnt deny that networking at this stage and in this form, is temporary and extremely formal, but i wouldnt deny that these activities can also be fun.

so while i am here, and having paid good money for this, i would rather enjoy every flavour of this madness, and make it worth the increased distance and decreased connection with the people i have known all my life until now, and getting to know people i may become friends with for all my life ahead. so here is the gurumantra:

i guess sometimes its good to understand and accept life as it is, rather than fight it for a result that you can neither visualise nor understand.

all this investment of time, money, emotions ---

and one of the first outcomes is i have learnt how to cook. and no its, not just the usual omlette, or eggroll type of dishes. its getting serious now. i have realised how much i get involved in it, the planning, the details, the time taken and the outcome which i hog up in hardly a few minutes. so its like i enjoy cooking as a hobby not as a habit.

so after the initial days of lethargy which led to breakfast of cereals and meals of pasta or omlette, i made a trip to the Indian grocery store. and freaked out at how these simple-readily-available stuff in india could become so sought-after here. so i came back loaded and feeling very resourceful. the courage and enthusiasm led to more experiments. mushroom gave way to soya, and omlette to vegetable curry. namkeens which follwed next and lasted a week, were the first indicators of my crossing the first level in cooking. (and yeah they also gave me a neat little poco burn on my wrist). then came the rotis. (mind you it was some british atta with the disclaimer "May have nuts" and which looked like it was just maida with a LOT of roughage mixed in it). and i didnt have the chimta. so used my hand instead. guess the past observation of how MD's mom made rotis without using chimta helped me. and then came the grandest of all experiements. paneer!! yes, home made paneer, strained and frozen into a brick shape, and waiting to constitute a grand dinner. (updates to follow after this experiement is over)

but i miss md here. of all things this is what i cant share over the net. pictures are way too minimalistic. particularly when the experiments go on everyday, whereas we talk once in a while. oh yeah. that reminds me of another first. the first fight. i almost demonstrated my anger to my unsuspecting class fellows here, who think i am the calmest person around. so it was the next generation fight, over BB, and ended with a short, simple, honest conversation. ah, the magic of voice, and the soothing effect that it can bring. just that its doesnt have that soothing an effect on the mobile bills. but guess thats the trade-off there. all this investment of time, money and emotions is also teaching us to communicate better, optimally and over other media than the mobile. hail change!!

next i guess would be the changes spanish will bring in my life. i already had a first-grocery-shopping in spanish, and thanks to my fundu teacher Bertha, i think i have inspiration to unleash my wild-wierd side. yeah baby, bring it on!!

Of people and faces

The key to international experience is the people one meets. One week into school, and we are only learning Spanish for now, but I have already interacted with people from all over the world. Also outside of school I think it's quite interesting, the way i get approached by people and the kind of interactions i have with them.

The Spanish, of course are the ever charming and helpful people. They greet by kissing you on the cheeks, dress very well and are generally very jovial. The percentage of physically fit people is amazingly high. (It surprises me cause i am used to the paunches of India!) Barcelona it is probably because of all the walking, and Madrid the other Spanish city I have seen, there are joggers jogging at all times of the day be it 10 in the morning or 3 in the afternoon. Of course their food needs a special mention, most of which i can barely eat, but what i do eat is just too good. And not to forget the eve teasing, or the friendly culture as they would like to term it. "here's my phone number, give me a call sometime; this is my email id, lets keep in touch over chat; my work timings are till 12, lets meet up at the beach over the weekend." You won't believe the excuses i have started making. "I dont have a mobile" (and it is sticking out of my pocket), i dont have a personal email id, we share one id in a group of 5-6 people (believe me i got away with this excuse).

Then there are the Indians and the Pakistanis. Its amazing how much affection there is between these people, when you meet them in other coutries. Right from voluntary discounts on printouts, grocery and icecream, to offering illegal part-time job in a so-called modelling agency. They have the knack of telling the country from your face and they start talking to you in hindi directly. I have to admit it sounds soothing to the ears and even the tips of finding grocery stores that i got from one of them really helped me.

Then my first day in school was quite interesting, thanks to a Chinese Phd student at IESE. She said i reminded her of her first day in school and so she took me around both the campuses, a proper guided tour, where to take prints, where to take coffee, the classrooms, the library, the terrace etc. And that brings me to my class, with Norwegians, British, Taiwanese, Japaneses, Koreans, Germans, Americans and many more. I have met about 10 % of my class, and we have started hanging out too, the most memorble of it all was the beach cricket with some indians, a british and an american. Yes, there's lots more to go and time for it all too. Gtg now, will keep you guys posted.

from egg roll to pizza

Homesickness has its phases to it. you start with missing people, things, routine and when you get used to everything else, you realise that homesickness that you were experiencing was actually centered around homefood-sickness. and that one is the most difficult to get used to.

so then you start figuring out solutions. i did the same. firstly i was inert. coz i thought cooking everyday??? i couldn't possibly do that! i had plum cake for my meals and washed it down with orange juice. then i added cornflakes and eggs to my list of ingredients. you know, food that is ready to eat in no time at all. i mean back home i hated standing in front of the stove waiting for the potatoes to soften for example. then i realised i was eating less just to avoid the cooking exercise. and finally the discount store helped. i found cheap stuff, stocked my kitchen with ata and imported masala (from my mother) and then i felt more at ease.

then i realised i can cook if i have all the vegetable and masalas neatly laid out in front of me. like in cookery shows. pehle dheemee aanch pe tel garam karen aur usme zeere ka tadka de. phir usme ek cup kata pyaz, adha chammach dhaniya powder blah blah and blah. and on the other hand i like to cook as a hobby to try out new recipes, chocolate cakes, flury's brownies, you know something thats exciting and has an element of surprise to it, of success to it. when the flavour wafting through the room apparates you back into your home, at your dining table where maa ke haath ka khana awaits you. hmmm yummy.. but thats far away. so back to my experiment.

then the inertia gave way to curiosity. what do i do with my mushrooms? i thought i had to boil them before using, so they sat in my fridge for a week before i realised i could use them without boiling. (after i realised they were not like potatoes. n btw thanks to sam, i now know how to boil potatoes the neat way. peel them, put them in a bowl and microwave them for 6 minutes. or was it 7 minutes. erm. will check that.)

and the kitchen became a more likeable place for me. after all it was fully equipped now to sustain my experiments. so then they began. cheese mushroom omlette with toast. brought Pune's German Bakery right into my kitchen. then the ata experiment, which was actually maida, but served the purpose. sam made mushroom and potato curry. my firang roommates liked it, so i would safely say it was a success. and today it was the egg roll. no the pizzas hasnt graced my kitchen yet. its just that egg roll didnt turn out quite right and looked like pizza. time for picsssssss. but technically retarted that i am, i havent yet figured out how to transfer files from BB to laptop. sorry guys, next time.

and guys, there has to be a way for me to know that you are reading this space. i mean i write so much, and you guys not even a line? come on. aapko aaj ke ye recipe kaisi lagi, ye batane ke liye hume likhe is pate par, ya actually neeche wale box mein. dhanyavad.

Opening my eyes wide

i.e. with my sunglasses on. back home i would perpetually squint my eyes in the sun and here i am wearing sunglasses. not that one doesnt get sunglasses in india, the difference is that i never felt like owning a pair in india. so now it would be apt to say, "videsh ne meri aankhen khol di hain."

And its true in many ways. i have been meeting all sorts of people. for last three nights straight i have had class get togethers, getting home at 3,4,5 respectively. and what do i do? take a glass in hand and repeat this set of questions every now and then. "hi, nice to meet you. i am so and so from so and so, and you? oh so when did you arrive? so where are you staying? and what's your BB pin?" and next time we meet, we say, "oh you look familiar, have we met before?" and the introduction continues. then there are pakistanis who will give you free printouts, or will offer to get indian masalas shipped on demand, or want you to work with them illegally, something that sets off the siren in my head. eeeon eeeeeon eeeeeeeon. or locals who give you their number and want to meet you. people of every shape, size, colour and intention.

thats the people side of the city, but in general i like this place. i made some observations which hit straight in the heart and make me comfortable instantly. like people breaking traffic signals. or catcalls and whistles when you are walking on the street. or kids quarrelling and their moms disciplining them. or the popularity of flat chappals and clothbags. or indian women in salwar kameez, exchanging feedback about tailors. or watching kaminey at friends' place. or the festive feel of MG road on La Rambla. or the sound of tadka in the kitchen and the flavour of frying masala. or the afternoon siestas. or the habit of never keeping appointments. feels like home.

and then there are the differences. its stays sunny for 14 hours. the streets are not crowded, they are in fact empty since its vacation time here. the bathrooms are so differently made that they cant be used to wash your clothes. at all. the public transport is just so convenient, user friendly, cheap and safe. the city is all yours to explore and all you need to be equipped with is maps. yes plural because there's one for the multiple metro routes, one for train routes and one more that does not miss a single nook and cranny. business here starts early around 8, then people take lunch and siesta from 2 to 4, and then work stops after 6, 7 or 8 depending on the timings from office to office. and then ofcourse there are the beaches, the wining and dining and expensive merchandize.

in all as i experience more firsts, i feel this place has various indian elements, the nighbourhoods of south bombay, the crowd of pune's koregaon park, the omnipresent sindhi community, and yet with all its unique differences. it makes you fall in love with it. its beautiful. its alive.

Forgive me Lord for I have sinned

it all started with need and then became greed. the day was fated to be my most expensive day in barca so far.

but before that, my last post bombed. n that's where i start counting my sins. i thought i was going to be this thriller-writer, creator-of-suspense blah-blah. big s***. i am not. so in repentance here's a song, for MD whom it hit the hardest:

o mere sona re sona re sona re...(next two line not applicable)... hua kusur khafa mat hona re...

khabar jaari hai. i really wanted bathroom slippers. Couldnt keep using my Osho chappals for that, they are way too smart. so yesterday i walked into a discount shoe store. 6 euros a pair. thats sin #2. then i bought a pair. sin #3. fluroscent green with white flowers on it! but thats forgivable since they were for 3 euros a pair!!

and from then on it was a roll. sin # 4,5,6.. i soon lost count. Blackberry! yeah yeah now i am a part of the 24x7-online social jerks. oh but haven't i been that already for the past few days anyway. so i had to have some chocolate to gulp down all that guilt. i remember dad, my Chief Education Sponsor, saying, "its all right, you can buy it". saving grace that i rented it.

next i played with the idea of skimpy clothes, but in the end resisted them. settled for 5 pairs of socks instead. phew! but, i couldnt resist a levis skirt and that too at 42 euros after a 50% discount. if i were to take the "which Sarabhai character are you" on Facebook, i am sure i would be the sale-crazy Monisha!! even though this skirt comes after the BB on the costliest items list, guilt-wise its my biggest sin so far.

but the lord forgave me and directed me to a satsang in the evening. yes a satsang in barca! it was being held at this sindhi family's place who had shared my lost baggage woes and i just thought i should visit them to say thanks for the other day. i got some prasad too and ta-da all my sins got washed off. some penance. and now its gets even better.

all this was happening a day before my birthday. so my BB is dad's gift and the skirt is MD's. that lays to rest all the last bit of the guilt. the birthday started with a bang too. we had this all barcelona MBA alumni party and thats where i started my birthday. to save money we had a pre-party to prepare for the club. you know what i mean. but i behaved like a good girl. met more of my new classmates and on the whole it was good. the birthday continues today. so lets see whats in store for me. will keep you guys posted!

Spanish Guys

yeah, yeah pull those eyebrows down now. its just the first one.

i follow a no-names policy, so there goes his name out of the window. he is a physicist. yeah brainy nerd i know. studied in spain, did further research in france, speaks many languages including spanish, english, french and more. and prefers indians over french. I even had a varanasi connection with him. and of course he is one of the cute curly-haired spanish guys who are soo friendly.

ok, snap out of your imagination guys. what were you thinking huh??? let me take you back to the story from the beginning.

so i reach the airport after a walk-metro-renfe journey for 2 hours and go to the information desk. so this guy there escorts me to the lost and found section. before that some more background. i dont speak spanish and people there hardly speak english. this guy speaks both fluently and its his job to help passengers. and thats what he did. helped me. so after the lost and found section, which wasnt where i was supposed to go, we went to multiple desks in the airport, explaining the situation to each one of them and getting the next clue. it was like a treasure hunt. in fact a treasure hunt and my baggage hunt dont seem so different in hindsight.

so back to the spanish guy. during this search and translate operation i got to know about his background, education, work in france (and hence the hatred) and holiday in india (and hence the fondness). after 5 years of research he gave it up and went to india for a 4 month holiday to clear his mind.

so i hope all the sentences have fallen into the right places now. and just to tweak it further, i am joining him for an authentic paella meal sometime real soon. (i would say soon by martian time standards). keep exercising those grey cells!!

i guess the first times are always special and stay engraved in your memory. or maybe in a blogpost like this. in my case its both, because my first trip was so eventful, it lead to many firsts.

first transit: first i thought it was i who couldnt stop crying. then i realised it was the rain gods. or both actually. mumbai hadn't seen rain for almost 15 days, and that morning at 4.30 am after i walked into the Airbus A330 and we prepared to take off, it poured cats and dogs. i wonder if someone else too was crying silently.. i remember i slept for a bit, and then looking at my watch at 10 am, i wondered, "the plane was supposed to land at 9.15. where are we going?" and then it hit me- timezones!! after that i lost track of time. and just kept pushing back time. it felt good to live the same hour again and again, felt like a magic trick. the good part it is didnt give me any jet lag. i got down at istanbul and roamed around the duty free shops for a good two hours. the first hour with my bags on me, i think i should put that as a first here too, that of weightlifting. the next flight was pretty uneventful. until i landed i.e.

first baggage lost: yes it did. and both my bags. it took me 2 hours to register the complaint and at this point of time i am still waiting for one of my bags. good thing, i have clothes to wear now, bad thing, my documents are stuck. i know, i am a fool to put my documents in my check-in bags, but guess it was fated. i had shuffled my documents right at the airport because my handbag was overweight. oh yes and i had paid an excess fare of 7k at mumbai already. so my baggage proved to be a real weight for me.

first take at wild-life: first class get-together. now that dinners done where are going? ok to a bar. but when are we going to enter it? its been 2 hours. what! we are done already without even entering? and now we are going to a club? but its 3 in the morning and i am thirsty and sleepy!! Gawd. I ended up walking back home with my roomy, about 3.5 kms, at 3 in the morning, map in hand, trying to read the road signs, and in the middle of the finale of the Gracia fest. Crazy night, but it was the right introduction to Barcelona.

first trip in a spanish grocery store: Fed up of being holed up at home waiting for my bags and at the encouragement of my roomies taking guard, i ventured to the grocery store across the street from my house. I was like a prisoner coming out of a dark cell after ages, and of course i am exaggerating!! In the excitement i forgot my dictionary. The trip was a success as per my roomy, looking at all the stuff i was carrying when i got back, although there was one failure, in finding cheese. and all it took was about an hour and about 17 euros. now i had food and water!

first sigh of relief: My roomy called to tell me on the fixed line on saturday evening that the delivery guys had called her and would be home by 8 pm. by spanish time standards it was to be 9 pm, but now i had my stuff and i could set it up in my room!! yeah i stopped feeling like a celebrity living out of suitcases.

first chat with parents: it was long and detailed. from the rates of vegetables, to the common recipes, to explaining what emoticons meant, it was a welcome change. a wave of comfort washed over me. i was back in touch. i hate not being able to talk, so much so that all i do is chat all day, just to feel connected with people. my homesick-proneness amazes me. my defence for me - sometimes its ok to accept one's human tendencies.

first almost trip to tomatina: Yeah it was going to be holi in spain, from the suffocation of a mahalaxmi evening local and to the herbal cleansing of acidic tomatoes. but the bags came in the way. yes yet again. insurance guys, this is for you, and you better pay me back for this emotional distress and inconvenience that you have caused.

first pasta experiment: so my grocery trip didnt seem so much of a success when it translated into potential investment of hardwork and time in the kitchen. (yeah thanks to financial accounting, i am talking jargon already!) with the readymade pasta consumed, it was time for guniea pigs. only this time i was the pig as much as the cook. so this is what i conjured up - heat oil, cook some maggi masala, pour a spoonful of water, and pour some preboiled pasta. simmer till water dries off and ta-da.. i must tell you, self-cooked food is the tastiest in the world!! amen. and i haven't had a stomach ache yet.

and then there are the smaller firsts: oh a skateboard!; wow a bathtub- umm how do i stop the water !?!, a microwave- can i boil milk in this?, a fully automatic wasing machine- until now washing clothes was my secret to fitness; there's no tap in the toilet!; yippee!!! i can chat all day!!!; is that a bmw bike??!, n a volkswagon taxi ?!!??; i- dont-need-a-blackberry-no-i-dont-do-i-really?; is this boiled thing main-course, but didnt i just finish its raw version for salad?; umm, am i right to think i am lost, cause this street should be turning right, not left..!; omg! all bikinis???!! and where's the top gone?!#$%?!; lets see if i can earn some money out of my inconvenience, insurance ahoy!!; and more to follow later..

and finally, what does a lazy girl do? chat and blog. so signing off from my first blog and going back to some chat sessions. until next time, chao!