Another year passes...

I have not been regular at the site. I would not attribute it to the lack of time, but to a definite lack of enthusiasm. Married life has been good and Pavithra has found a job quite close to home. Whether it means, she can spend more time at office or more time at home needs to be seen:-)Work has again "plateaud" and will need some fresh initiatives for sustenance!
Rajan has come and my folks are expected later this week. So x'mas and new year will be with them. This year's cricket season hasn't picked up. There are matches coming up but the team has not got on to the ground for sometime now.
We have registered for the Mumbai Marathon "Dream Run" and that should be something to look forward to.

Long Time...

It has been a long time since I blogged. May be the interest waned down after the first few months of active blogging. Having said that, the last few months have been exciting.

I am getting married on the 22nd of August at Bangalore. I consider myself extremely lucky to have got Pavithra. I believe marriage is an important aspect of your life and the run up to it is a journey in itself.

Professionally I have climbed a level higher and I presume the pharmaceutical sector still provides a lot of challenges to me. Godrej Colony , Vikhroli is my new abode and is a very pleasant place to stay at. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an affordable place at a very serene place. Infact it is a luxury in Mumbai, if you are not one of those elitists who could afford a place at Marine Drive or Worli Sea Face!

Today another edition of the Olympic Games opens. The biggest sporting exragavanza in the world is worth the wait. And as always I long for the day when an Indian comes back with a gold!

Sachin aaila re...

The match at the Wankhade on the 20th was worth remembering. That Zandu showed us every nook and corner of the ground in their score of 340 odd in 45 overs is another matter. We closed the game at 240 in 45 overs. A tough task but not an impossible one. We gave away too many runs in the first session, through bad fielding. Opening the innings I hit a 32 before getting run out. Chandan, the centurion of the league games proved his immense talent through another well crafted 71. My word of appreciation for the Lupinytts who spent the day with us at the Wankhade.

Just a day before, I compered the annual day function of Lupin. It was a good learning experience. There were words of appreciation for whatever little I did on that day. A nice feeling.

Wankhade

Will it be or will it not be? We have qualified for the finals of the E Merck Cup and the final is slated to be held on 20th March. The finals is not as much of an attraction as much as the venue in itself . There is a very high probability of it being played in the hallowed turf of Wankhade. To smell the grass of one of the most revered test venues in the country will be an honour. One last time and I can once again think of hanging up my boots:-)

Rajan has got interview calls from IIM K & L.It is definitely a positive sign considering his prolonged efforts.Just today I learnt that a person I knew at DRL is no more. He must have been in his late 30s.Life is just a reveller in many ways...And man continues to plan things out...

Anand's 10 std exams are on...10th was considered to be the first of the most important exams in one's life.Academically ofcourse:-) Btw one of the things I learnt recently was that generation has a 23 year life span. Until I come across another verified number, this will be my take too!

The UEFA return leg is this week. Should be interesting.

Back in India

The last two countries I covered during the African trip were Tanzania and South Africa.I was unlucky to miss out on seeing Mount Kilimanjaro on the way to Dares, since there were far too many clouds. Dares is a decent place and seems to have many casinos.Or was it the only place I went! These places are ideal opportunities to meet up with expats from different countries.Btw many of these people are under the impression that in India, from the time one is born each one knows who they are going to marry. In other words the families set it up when one is young! I found it hilarious...

Johannesburg is supposed to be the most dangerous city in the world. Two things were very noticeable, the absence of public transport and presence of very few people walking on the streets. In any case, Joburg is a dangerous city and I would advise anyone travelling not to take too many liberties. Port Elizabeth is a coastal town in the south of the country. It is pretty small and more friendlier when compared to Joburg.That was the same day SA had lost to Nepal in a under 19 cricket match at the WC. I took the opportunity to pull the leg of some fellow travellers who were the coaches of a school team travelling with me!Hansie is still revered...something which touched me as well!

On Friday, I went to the Sun city and the Pilanesburg reserve. The same place where Ash or Sush were crowned something. I dont know which one!Anyways it was a good experince.A learning on the day was the concept of still water and sparkling water when you refer to mineral water.My tour party was truly global with people from the US, Latin and far east.

Tomorrow is Pfizer up against us...Another big day...

Its Adis...

12th Feb was an interesting day. I started off from Kampala in the morning and came into Nairobi for lunch and some business.By evening I was off to Addis for dinner. Later I realised the significance of the day in having covered three different countries on the same day.

Adis is the best I have seen so far. There is a lot of Middle east and Biblical influence.The country is rich in heritage, though I havent had the opportunity to do any sight seeing. The city is comparatively safe and one could walk around even at 10 pm in most parts of the city. Ethiopia is supposed to have amongst the most beautiful women in this part of the world. And sure it is...On Friday night I went to an ethnic Ethiopian restaurant, a little bit away from the city. It was the most amazing dinner I have had in months. The traditional dance and music coupled with beautiful people around, made it a nice occasion. On the food side, they served me with something very similar to the Indian Dosa.

Yesterday Tunisia beat Morocco 2-1 in the African nations cup. The absence of any sub-saharan country in the finals made the event a little less emotional for the people here.I am off to Dar-es and South Africa next week...Hope to have another interesting week ahead.

From Nairobi

I am lucky that I got into the Kenyan Airways flight from Mumbai on 8th early morning...I would have to say Air India should be a favourite airline when compared to the KQ! And when I arrived at Nairobi, I got to hear that my luggage is still stuck up at Mumbai...Well it didnt really put me down since I had expected the worst! I finally got my baggage on Monday morning.The KQ staff at Nairobi have certainly good customer relationship sense. I have been told not to venture into the streets here after 7 pm...You are supposedly either mugged or shot dead if you dont part with your money...Not a bad deal considering stake - YOUR LIFE...Well in the night yesterday, I was wondering what to do at my hotel when I hit off at a Mallu Engineer...And it goes without saying what two Mallus do when they meet:-) (Yeah I think I am beginning to feel more like a Tam as days go by!)

telecommunication...

Its the end of another week...Have not been keeping well but I think I should be alright in a day or two. I have overcome the guilt of losing my mobile over the last weekend. I own a nokia 6610 now:-)

Meanwhile in the last 10-12 days I have been amused by a few phone calls that I have got from my friends. Reni from the US, Vinay from the SCG on the eve of the India - Aus match and just yesterday Randeep from Stuttgart! More amusing since they were surprises...Imagine Vinay calling me up in the morning to let me know that he was at the SCG...so that I could watch him on TV! And Randeep called me as a reaction to a mail I had written on the NOBLES! In any case it is always nice to get a call from your friends in these days of "emails".

Tomorrow is another big match day...We are playing Wockhardt.

Various...

Last weekend was at Hyderabad. As the city, where I started my corporate life, it is special. Naina & the Chandy family seem to be doing great. The very best to them. I went to two restaurants which could mean the same if one were to look up the Thesaurus - Utsav and Mela. The former, courtesy my former DRL mates and the latter courtesy the CET group. It was good to see Rajmohan and his wife too. I think Manoj would have liked my coming to Hyd, since he got an opportunity to see a little bit more of the city:-)

There were two hoardings which caught my eye. The first one was a seductive Katrina Kaif hoarding with the punch line, "Dare to be alive". As if KK herself was not disturbing!The second hoarding was of a mineral water promotion with the punch line "DRINK and DRIVE". Although there were a few more sentences, it was not visible! I feel that there needs to be a certain amount of discipline for hoardings too. Though I do accept that a majority of the people would not have looked at these hoardings if not for the shock value, it is certainly a disturbing trend. However I give a lot of credit to the creative guys for such creations!

Ajay Kuduva seems to be still around. He scored a 34 in the Deodhar trophy yesterday. Though not in touch with him, it will be nice to bump into him sometime. The tri-series in Australia is shaping up pretty well.

The Republic day is around the corner...

A Big Victory

In the first game of the E-Merck cup we romped home to an easy victory over the hosts. In fact the batsmen literally batted them out of the game. Chasing 305 in 45 overs, E-Merck collapsed to 206 all out. Yours truly scored a patient 34 in around 27 overs, opening the batting. One can imagine the fireworks on display at the other end, with me having a test match kind of day in there. I think there were some close calls on the lbw front, which I need to work on if I need to survive the 20s and 30s the next time around. The target will be of course a 60 plus!

In an interview sometime back Justin Langer had this to say on what he thinks about Steve Waugh's leadership..."I would run into a wall, if he were to command me so" So much was the respect that Steve commanded within his team and country. In a sense my generation literally grew up with him. Not many know the fact that he was one of the pioneers of the "slow ball" which he used to great effect in the Reliance World Cup of 1987.Fortunately for me, I got a chance to see him live at the MCG last year when he was batting for NSW against Victoria. Memories of a life time...

I met up with Ashwein from IIFT on Friday at the Irish Cafe.

Meanwhile Sankar Raman, my engineering mate stayed for a day at our home.With Nitin Jain putting in an appearance some days back, it has been some good CET bonding in the first month of 2004.

India Shining...is the latest phrase to catch on, in most of the articles found these days...Btw this ad is made by Grey. And a Loyolite happens to be the creative director there, Prathap Sudan of the 1977 batch.

New Year's Eve

I finally managed to spend my new year's eve out of home. A significant feature considering my track record in the previous years. Myself and Anish hit off on a pub at around 7.30 pm. The basic assumption was that it will be next to impossible to gain a place on such an occasion as it nears 12 and also the necessity of the fairer sex to act as a passport for entry. (my apologies to the women folk for any feeling of hurt whatsover)We felt very good to see that we were the first people in. The pride of having planned out things well was evident. At 10, it was still us with a few others. Both our assumptions were turning out to be false. The idea of disappointment may have had more to do with the second assumption turning false and this leading to the fact that the crowd would be less interesting than usual:-)

Anyway by around 10.30 we were out of Eighties and into Club 9 which was where we saw the year pass into 2004.

Another learning a few days back was that it is essential to get an yellow fever certificate to apply for an African Visa. And one of the two places, the vaccination is done is at Seaman's medical organisation at Ballard Estate. The fee is Rs 150. The surroundings are nowhere near to being called a clinic, but I suppose that is the way the programs of the WHO are run! So dont take much notice, since this is the way , millions of people have got it done and you are no exception. The reward is that of getting a certificate duly stamped and signed...You are ready for getting the visa!

I think I will devote my next blog to Steve da who retired today.