Thoughts from Oxford: Being Special vs Being Valuable

Thomas Lawrence asked the class: “Do you think everyone is special?”

Almost all of us put up our hands and said yes. Then he made a simple but powerful statement: “Although everyone may be special, not everyone is valuable”.

In the past few weeks since my arrival in this city, I have established that there are several truly special people at Oxford. Let me share an incidence of meeting one such person.

One evening, the MBA class gathered for wine at the Oxford Museum of Natural History, where I struck up a conversation with Joel and Caryn Davies. Joel was telling me that he planned to try his hand at rowing. Caryn also said she intended to row, not just for her college, but also for the University team. Since rowing is big at Oxford, making it to the University team is extremely competitive. So I stopped and said to Caryn, “Rowing for the University can be extremely competitive I hear. Have you rowed before, and do you have any experience in competitive rowing?” That’s when she said that she has been part of the US Olympic rowing team for the last three times, at London, Bejing and Athens! My jaw dropped. I was bursting with questions:  what was it like to be at the Olympics? How does it feel to represent the country? Did you win? And why in this world would you need an MBA?

Unfortunately I was unable to pick up my dropped-jaw and ask her these questions at the time, but I hope to do so in the course of the year. I at least found an answer to one of the questions through her Wikipedia page: yes she won – a gold at London and Beijing, and a silver at Athens. Caryn to me is a special person. And although my other classmates may not be Olympians, I have realized if you listen, each of them are special through their stories and life experiences.

But do I only want such special people and special experiences? Thomas’ theory in class is helping me differentiate between being special and being valuable. To make the most of this year, I will also need to engage with people and events that are not just special, but extremely valuable to my personal and professional life.

How do I find out what is valuable to me? If I had Aladdin’s magic lamp, I would ask the genie to create for me a list of all the valuable people and events that I could ever experience. But when I think again, perhaps it’s better that this genie doesn’t exist, as the experience of engaging and deciding whether things are special or valuable or both, is the true joy of this one year at Oxford.

Interesting events are happening all the time, such as: a talk by Eric Schmidt from Google, an event by the Smith school on GDP & Businesses, Harry Potter enthusiasts playing Quidditch (yes, this is an actual sport at Oxford), or the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Gillani speaking about leadership in his country.

While juggling between readings for Strategy class, OBN meetings and late-night BOP parties, I continue to look for events/people that are special and valuable. So that when people ask me about my experience at SBS, I will be able to use the same phrase I have heard from several alumni: “It was the best year of my life!”

(This was an article I wrote for the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. Link to the Blog)

The World of M-Pesa.

As I walked into the Nairobi airport, the sign board read: Welcome to the land of M-Pesa. I had only hear about mobile money, but never experienced it.

Mobile money was pioneered by Vodafone in partnership with Safaricom (local tel company), and their product is now called M-Pesa. I needed to learn about mobile money, as my company worked closely with M-Pesa.

Simply put, mobile money allows your phone to act like your debit card. You can carry money on the phone and send or receive any amounts.

I went to get my local sim and M-pesa account. At the Safaricom store, the lady before me came to top up her m-pesa account. I was shocked when she said: for 50,000shillings! (~35,000Rs.)

Process of getting a sim and m-pesa is very simple: 100shillings and your original passport. No document to sign, no photo, no nothing. In less than 5 minutes i had my sim and m-pesa working. I then asked a lot of dumb questions to the assistant, but finally walked away amazed at the idea of m-pesa.

Now if I get off a taxi, I could ask him for his mobile number and transfer the amount to his m-pesa. I could shop, and pay from my mobile. Almost every food join in town accepts m-pesa. Basically, I could get my way around most parts of kenya with an m-pesa a/c and no cash in my pocket. This is not only a safer option, but also eliminates the hassel of wondering how much to withdraw and carry each time. Here area few mind bogling numbers: there are 17 millions active users of m-pesa in kenya, which is more than a third of their total population. 1/3th of kenya's GDP is transacted on m-pesa!

And the story does not end. In conversation with my colleague Lesley-Ann, who worked at m-pesa before, I asked her: how did someone think of this idea of mobile money? Must have been a complex program to integrate mobile tech with the banking system? Growing adoption and running operations must be a nightmare at m-pesa?

Thats when Lislean casually said, "oh you should ask Nick about how he came up with this idea, he is here next month. Pauline can tell you about operations, as she was head of operations who rolled out m-pesa. And I wrote the program codes at m-pesa." The entire founding team at m-pesa are now my colleagues at M-Kopa Solar.

I have the privilege of working with a management team that does not have a loose dream of changing the world, but a team who have done it once and believe they can do it all over again!

As I continue to remain amazed at mobile money, I paid my taxi guy on m-pesa and got off at a local bar. Had a wonderful evening with colleagues, drinking the local beer and dancing to african music. Unlike bangalore, people start to come in to the bars at 12 and go home at 6am! Excepting the crime scare that people infuse, Nairobi is a city I am starting to like. With 9 more weeks to go, I am looking forward to my time, Nairobi!

Snap, and its all over.

Snap, and its all over.
That one moment can happen now, maybe later or maybe let u live a long life.
While on one side there are so many plans, dreams, wish lists, goods
and bads that kept up busy and caught up, on the other side it all
seems pointless, as a snap can put an end to everything.
While my friend gautam managed to survive, his friend abhimanue passed
away in the car accident today. I don't know abhimanue myself, but
what about his plans, his loved ones, his bank balance, his career?
Snap, and its all over.

Night with the Stars

The last time I felt similar going to sleep was the night I was lying at beach in Dhanushkodi (tip of rameshwaram).
Today is the other day where I am in the middle of nowhere, at a school called Pathshala, situated away from chengelpet.
Dry toilets (do look this up in case you have not heard of it!), solar cooker, a micro wind turbine spinning in force, and solar outdoor lights to keep us company.
Darkness seems so dark, as there is no other light till eyes can see. The only bright object is the solar outdoor lights.
Agreeing to make the most, sam and I have chosen to give up the comfort of the room.
The cool winds blowing into my right ear. Listen a bit more carefully, and u can hear the gentle whistling of the wind, running through the shrubs under the granite slab (my cot for the night)
Sleeping under the open sky and gazing at the starts is beautiful and peaceful. A site that is available to all, only if you look.
I will miss this openness while I am at another lodge tomo night!

Missed madurai, stop

Sitting at a very small village shop quite in the middle of no where.
Was on a bus to madurai from coimbatore, but was asleep when the madurai bus stop came at 4am.

Woke up and asked where we were, realised we were 40min away from madurai.
Bus driver stopped at the next stop, asked me to walk to the otherside and take a bus back. Scared me, looked around before I got off, as it was 4.45am and the village was asleep, excepting for the dogs and a few goons I thought. Saw a police station at the stop, with the courage and excitement of a possible adventure, I got off.

Have been sitting on this random stone waiting for a bus, which I am told will come at 6am.

Its nice to see the village unfolding, people waking up to their morning chores. Shops getting ready, people cleaning the front yard, birds getting louder, auto drivers coming out of their house, and of course- the big blast radios starting to come on..

Was a slight bit of fear when I took the leap of faith to hop off the bus. But its just one of the many stories that add up to the colourful travel times.


In a hope that 6am comes soon so that I head to the unkept lodge and catch a wink of sleep, I remain.


Nikhil @ 5.15am

Bang: The Crash.

Bang!!!

That was the sound i was supposed to hear, waking up at 5am in the APSRTC volvo bus. Instead, woke up wondering why people were screaming and how come I was getting wet in the rain.

It was a minute after I opened my eyes that I realised:

• Our bus met with a nasty accident
• A dead body lying at one arm distance away from my seat
• My leg was stuck, and hurting!
• There were only 3 people there to help in the bus, the remaining travelers disappeared

Soon I made sense out of the situation and understood that the Volvo had crashed into a stationary truck from behind. The truck came right into the front-left of the bus and was parked touching the feet of the front row passengers. With this impact, the front seats broke and got pushed behind, crushing my right leg. Consequently the four of us from the front two rows were stranded in the bus, screaming for help.

The 3 people in the bus were willing to help, but were actually helpless. They didnt know how to get us out, as breaking the metal seats were almost impossible. The next 45 to 50 minutes I spent in the bus felt like a few hours.

As fimly as this may sound, I was yelling for help. All those who stood around us said that they wanted to help, but could not think of anything to do. Thats when I realised that I had to do more than just yell! I started asking them to take effective action, like try to break the seat, bring a leaver and try up-rooting the seat, unscrew the seat with a spanner, or anything that is more productive than just standing and watching us probably lose our leg.

After an agonizing 50 minutes, I finally got my leg out. My right leg was numb and I was unable to step on it. Got into a stretcher and went straight into the ambulance.

We reached------ oh wait--- before this, I got a photo in the ambulance with my t-shirt red with blood. The guys around me though my injury in my head had made me mad, but I know this was a rare moment and worth capturing. :)

We reached the government hospital, where they took me straight into the room where a man, who looked like the attender, asked where it was hurting. Thats when I showed him my head and he said that there was a glass piece in it. I stayed calm, and asked him to remove it as carefully as possible. Now that the glass was out, he said he needed to stitch it. So in the next few minutes, I had three stitches on my head.

Leg was bleeding profusely, had to tie quite a few bandages to help clot the blood.

As more injured passengers were coming in, I moved outside the room into the corridor, finding myself some place to seat.

We had a helpful guy around, who arranged for a vehicle to take us to Bangalore. This was a 3 hour drive, that took over 4 hours in the morning Bangalore traffic. I had informed my cousins, who were all ready waiting outside Yashoda hospital. Soon as I got off, I was taken straight to the casualty, where I was told that another few stitches were required on my leg. So just before I got the stitches on the leg, I had another round of brief photographs! :)

So spent most of a day at the hospital and then went back to my cousins place, where I was for a week, before I moved back to Hyderabad.

I was in hyd for about 6 weeks, just resting.

Sometimes its funny, just when you think that you have got a hold of things, it all just turns around and surprises you.

A lot of things happen for the first time. My first major accident, first time I was admitted in a hospital, first time I used a wheel chair/crutch and many more. I do realise that none of the above incidents are achievements, but what the heck, they still are my first time.

Glad I am alive, and its time to party hard and live it up! :)

Here is the link to the snaps:

http://picasaweb.google.com/hereiamnikhil/BangTheCrash?authkey=Gv1sRgCMHG1uLT66nkYQ&feat=email#

Leaving Fujairah

I can still remember the excitement in my stomach, wearing my white and blue stripe shirt, while I was walking into Microsol, Fujairah, on my first day of work. This excitement continued for many months.

Sometime in Mid 2009 I started to wonder if this was the right job for me. I let the thought pass by, believing it was just a passing though.

Early 2010 and I again began to wonder whether Fujairah was where I wanted to be.

Finally in April I decided that I had enough learning from this place and it was time to move out. A simple and sensible conversation with my boss converted this thought into an action.

It was first week of May and I had officially resigned. It was time I figured out what excited me.

How much ever I chose to complain about Fujairah, I know that a good part of me today belongs to that place. Before I realized, it was time to bid good bye to Fujairah and the people who are a part of 2 memorable years.
This was the note I sent out to my colleagues at office:

Dear Colleagues,

It seems like just the other day that I walked into my first job at Microsol, fascinated by everything I saw.

Since that day and today, a good part of me has changed. From learning the very basics of how to use box files to being involved in some critical functions for the company, I have enjoyed performing each of these tasks.

Although I was young (well, i still am), many of you have helped me gain knowledge in areas that didnt directly help my work, but has helped me gain a holistic picture of a company. Each of the conversations I have had, in the toilets, in my room, during lunch, are a part of my learning. Well I can write a long chapter on the late coming incidents and the following negotiations with Suresh/Shibu, but I will leave that out of this email, as all was done in healthy spirit

There have been times that I have posed arguments that could have been incorrect and uncomfortable. Also there are times I have not delivered things as promised, my apologies for the same and I hope not to be remembered for those incidents.

Along with many other first times, this is the first time I have resigned from a company.

31st May has officially been my last working day at Microsol. I shall be around for the next few days, coordinating my transition.

I plan to move back to india by end of first week June.

From now on I will be reachable on: nikhil.nair10@gmail.com

Best wishes to all. Hope all your dreams comes true.

Always,Nikhil

Leaving Fujairah did bring a tear in my eye.

Working for Microsol at Fujairah was the best decision I had taken. Similarly, I am confident that quitting Microsol at this time will be remembered as an equally good decision.

Now once again I have the excitement in my belly, as I pack my bags to begin the next innings.

Meeting Mr. Marwan

Last Sunday (well sunday is the beginning of the week for most of us here), a person called me saying he was looking for some solar panels.

After he told me the name of his company, I asked what his company was doing. As soon as he said that they were into real estate, I didnt take them very seriously. Have handled several enquiries where people call and ask all sorts of funny questions, this was surely one among them.

The man on the phone then went on to say that his boss wanted to visit us on thursday. He also asked me to send him an official letter, confirming the visit. He explained to me that his boss should be well taken care of, etc. I told him not to worry and said that we handle several EU customer visits.

Thursday it was and as scheduled, Mr. Marwan walked into our office with his 3 young children, said he was on holiday in Fujairah. He was in the traditional Arab clothing, which was another sign that this entire deal would not be very serious. There have been several meetings where I have Arab men listening to me talk on solar, as though I was a master on the subject. It was only their lack of knowledge that made me look good.

Must admit that i was not very well prepared, as the projector and the presentation was 10min from ready. I asked for a few minutes of the guest. After fidgeting with the wires and computer, i was finally ready.

The presentation begin telling Mr. Marwan about the company, our strengths, solar industry and more. It was only me that was doing the talking, he was patiently listening and acknowledged what I was saying with a nod here and there.

Then I asked my colleague Khalid to take him around for a plant tour, thinking some arabic talk might help. Khalid, as his usual style, explain in so much details, where i had to intrupt and ask Mr. Marwan if it was too technical for him.

Mid way Khalid came and we had a conversation like this:

Khalid: Dude, who is this guy- he knows so much. He is screwing me with his questions.

Me: Common Khalid, I am sure u being an engineer in the line will know more than him

Khalid: Ok let me manage, but he does know a lot!

The plant tour was done with, and I assisted Mr. Marwan into the conference room. There i started to talk on production, marketing strategies, pricing, etc. Thats when he intrupted and started to pick holes in my points. Some of his questions, I replied to, but the rest, he really knew what he was talking.

Then is when Mr. Marwan took off. In the best 20 min he touched upon the following topics:

1. How Production companies must optimise costs by managing over-heads

2. How you over come entry barriers in a country (from sales point of view)

3. How being competitive on price is the key in the long run

4. The potential of the Solar market in Middle east and the UAE's solar plans

While all of this was happening, Khalid and myself stunned, wondering what just hit our confidence. The examples he quoted displayed his depth in knowledge, and I must say i was awe struck.

After 20 min, i paused and asked, "Sir, what does your company do".

He replied, "Have you heard of the Ghurair Gruop in Dubai?"

I replied, " Yes ofcourse".

Here i must pause and tell you about the Ghurair group/family is. They are one of the most richest and influential families in Dubai and UAE. They are probably like the Birlas and Tatas in India, have been in business for almost 100 years. They are into Real Estate (very huge), Food products, aluminum extrusions, and many many more industries.

The owner of the group Mr. Ghurair is the 77th richest man in the world, net worth $2.4Billion (Forbes rating- 2006). A bit more on the Ghurair is available on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Ghurair_Group

Continuing:

He replied, "Have you heard of the Ghurair Gruop in Dubai?"

I replied, " Yes ofcourse".

Mr. Marwan: " Well my name if Marwan Al Ghuraih, and i am the chairman of the group".

Lightning had hit! I didnt know what to say for 2 seconds.

However i acted calm, and quickly asked about his interest in Solar.

Then he went on to explain that he has been trading in solar products for over a decade now. He was curious about a UAE solar manufacturer and hence wanted to visit us. He was open to investment opportunities, thats when i said that we have also been looking at financing for some time now.

He asked me to send him the investment proposal, so that he can forward it to his bank in Bahrain, called VC Bank (yes they own the bank). Their family also has a stake in the Mashreq Bank. He said he would be happy to pass on our proposal to his investment people in the banks.

Here we concluded the session. While talking out, I thanked him and told him that i was inspired by what he has to share. Apologized for the shaky start, but again said that it was an honour meeting him. He has a very pleasant smile and said that he would send me an email, since he didnt have his card. I waved bye, while he drove away in his white Merc.

While I was walking back to my seat, I was so happy meeting a man like this. So wealthy, knowledgeable, yet to simple with no sense of arrogance. I read for the next 2 hours all about the Ghurair family, and smiled to myself! I had no hopes that Mr. Marwan would send me an email that evening, simply because he does not need to.

7.3pm, inbox has an email from Mr. Marwan, thanking me for the visit and how we can move forward.

Life can be very exciting, at the most unexpected moments!

An Expensive Experience, Athens – Feb 2009

Had to take a Dubai-Doha and Doha Athens flight. At the Doha airport they stopped me and said that I could not proceed to Athens as I didn’t have a valid Visa. I showed them my Schengen Visa page, and they inturn shows me a stamp that said- Entry only through Germany. (this happened since I had applied through the Germany consulate, not telling them that I was visiting Athens). So now I had to either go back to Dubai and reschedule my trip, or just head back home and believe that this trip was not meant for me. The expensive option was to fly to Germany and take a flight to Athens, as this was permitted on my Visa.

When I called my boss to explain this confusion, and the fact that any move of mine would mean money for the company, he asked me to relax and take the decision that I thought was right. I did a fair amount of home work and decided to fly to Frankfurt. Managed to reach Frankfurt Airport, with absolutely no cash in hand, no money in my Debit/ATM and only a credit card that could save me! (had no cash in hand because I spent the entire thing in buying my $700 ticket from Doha to Frankfurt.) Oh by the way, in Doha I had about 2 hours before my flight. In spite of all this Vias confusion, I called up my friend Mithila and managed to get a visa for a day and met her. Went to her place where she cooked me some food. Man.. all the while I was really amazed at my luck, and could not believe the fact that I was going for a 5 day trip to Europe with absolutely no backup plan on my finances. Anyway I was enjoying the pressure and stress the situation was creating- felt like an adventure already!

Got to Frankfurt and bought a ticket to Athens. Finally reached Athens at about 3 o clock at night. Got to my hotel and just crashed. Before I realized I had to wake up and run for my meeting.

Fortunately the meeting went off well and didn’t have too many hitches in my presentation. Then walked around the stalls at the exhibition and generally gossiped with people about the market and blah blah balh. Repeated the stall visiting activity the next day as well. Finished the exhibition at 4 in the evening to check out the Acropolis. It was a beautiful place, great climate, and a very European touch to all the towns around. I had decided that I had to come back the next day and spend a good half day walking around this beautiful place.

At night I chose to walk down the busy streets of Syndigma Square. There was a place with a lot of youngsters, eating joints, hotels, pubs, etc.. There I met an Italian, who walked up to me for some clarifications in directions. He was an overfriendly guy who had invited me to visit him in Torino, Italy, and this warm invitation came up in just 5 minutes from the first word he uttered. This was surely suspicious and I had a good feeling that he was a con man. However I decided that I should not act like a stuck up fellow who thought he knew the world. I should give things chance, which would allow me to explore and learn. The Italian then said that he knew of a place where they server good alcohol and played great Spanish music. I am aware of the golden rules a tourist must follow- Do not trust people! Yes I did not trust him, but was very interested in discovering what could be him plan. I quickly evaluated in my head-

1.  Will I be killed in this adventure? No.
   
2. Will he beat me out of shape? Unlikely.
   
3. Will they mug me? Probably
   
4. Is this going to be a memorable experience?! 100% YES!
   

That’s when I decided that I should go along with Fredo, my Italian buddy, and have a drink.

After walking through some shady lanes, where I could see the answer to the second point above turning to ‘Probably’, we reached ‘Newyork Bar’! This was small place with just 2 tables and 2 ladies who server the drinks.

I chose to have the traditional Greek drink- Ouzo. This is a drink with 46% alcohol, and has a touch of sweet to it. It’s a drink that most non-drinkers will also enjoy, I guess. While I was speaking to my friend Fredo, the ladies came and sat beside us. I was very conscious and uncomfortable. I was praying to god that these 2 ladies will sit beside me, with their hand tied to themselves, and the only communication we would have would be a few words in English. Fortunately they did only that. The lady that was sitting with my friend(Fredo) asked him if he could buy her a drink, and he agreed. She bought a glass for herself and sat down. Immediate the dumb looking female sitting beside me also asked me if she could get a drink for herself, and I agreed. We all said ‘Whooappa’(cheers) and started to drink. Honestly, I was very uncomfortable all the time, first- because there was a girl sitting right beside me, and second- this place didn’t seem to have any visitors! So both ladies finished their drinks, and the dumb one turned to me and asked if she could fetch another drink for herself. I straight told them that I have no money and was on very tight budgets. As soon as I completed explaining what a tight budget meant, the lady got up from the seat and got me the bill. They produced to individual bills, one for Fredo and one for me.

My eyes popped out looking at my bill!!! Euro 170 for just 2 drinks! (that’s about Rs. 11,000!) I started to laugh after looking at the bill. A laugh that confirmed that I was screwed and that this adventure was a costly affair after all! I then looked at the bill and told those ladies that I could simply not afford this. In the mean time a hefty looking man came into the bar, who seemed to be one of the guys working at the bar. He also came up to me and showed me the menu card and explained why the bill was so high. Apparently the stupid female drank a Champaign at my cost. So my Ouzo costed Euro 10/- and her Champaign costed a bloody 160Euro!!

I chose to contest and told those people that I just could not pay this amount. After a few rounds of negotiations, we agreed that I pay Euro 100, and my dear buddy Fredo would pay the difference of Euro 70! This was now confirmed that he was a rip-off-artist. Why on earth would be want to pay for my drink?!

Finally I got up and thanked the ladies for the royal rip-off! They said that I should remember this as a souvenir from Athens! I was smiling all the while feeling like a complete jack ass, but later realized that this smile was because of the glass of concentrated Ouzo over an empty stomach!

Thanked Fredo for the memorable time I had and assured him that I will remember him for a long time now! He again told me to visit him place in Toroni, of course without giving me any contact details.(not like I wanted it anyway!). I then walked into Mc.Donals and bought the cheapest burger they had on menu. My initial plan was to have some traditional Greek food, which was now out of questions.

Next day I walked around the famous Acropolis. Saw a lot of the Greek structures around the place and also walked into a few towns. Was enjoying my time walking around, at my own pace, with memories of the previous night and several other thoughts. The chill in the air, slight drizzle, partially cloudy sky and everything around made me feel good. This was an experience I knew, and I was living it.

Soon I walked towards the Ancient Olympic stadium. This is the stadium where the first modern Olympics was held, in 1896. Just for some trivia, Olympics was an event started by the Greeks in early 500BC. The modern version of this was first held in Athens in 1896, commonly referred to as Modern Olympics. In the recent past Greece was suffering with economic problems and lack of infrastructure. It was the Athens Olympics in 2004 that picked up the spirits of the Greeks! 

Anyway coming back to my visit to the modern Olympic stadium, guess who I bumped into?! My friend Fredo. He was walking with a tourist map in his hand and seems like a genuine tourist today. I didn’t know if I should ignore him or greet him. Another thing that was running on my mind was- Why was Fredo here? Was he finding another dumb tourist like me to con? Or did he follow me and think that I was stupid enough to fall for him again?!

Finally I greeted him and he looked pleased at meeting me. He started off on his friendly tone and he sounded like we were friends since a long time. In conversation I told him that last night was a big blow for me. That’s when he has something very interesting to say. He told me that after dropping me off last night, he went back to Newyork bar and had a few more drinks with his lady. He walked out of the bar once he finished and left his hotel name and room number behind.. The lady visited him later that night.. and the rest…. As they say.. is Censored.!!

My curiosity forced me to ask a few more questions. He also told me that he didn’t have to pay an additional penny to the lady for the time she spent with him. That’s when enlightenment struck! I realized that the cost of Euro 170, was not just for the drink, but for the merry time that came along with it. Therefore I  was a stupid customer who had paid for a full service, but availed only the drink in this colourful package. Hehehe.. This was a great learning I thought. Now I know what it means when a girl asks you to if you can buy her a drink- the higher the bill, the wilder you can dream!! Haha. 

Thinking about all of this, I could not stop smiling to myself. I felt like a wise man now. This was an expensive learning of course, something that a movie or friend could have taught me. However this expensive learning had given me an experience that’s making me want to write this note to you all.

The same evening(my last night in Athens), I walked around a busy street with pubs and bars. This time again a person came up to me and asked whether I was from Bangladesh or India. As soon as I said India, he said a few words like Delhi, Mumbai, Tajmahal and thought we were making conversation. This person said that he owned a pub 2 streets away and that I should join him for a drink. I stopped and asked myself whether I was ready to go down this lane all over again? This was questioning my pride and wisdom I just thought I discovered. That’s when I said that I should go and see what more can happen to me.

He also had a smooth pitch and told me general things that you would not mind nodding for. We walked into a side lane that was dimly lit. I was just praying that he does not take me back to NewYory Bar. 
We walked across the street and entered a small door, which opened into a bar that had 3 tables, one formally dressed manager, one bar tender and 3 women. This place looked better as I saw another group of people who looked like customers. We both sat down on a table and a lady came to sit beside me. Again I started to feel a bit conscious and uncomfortable, but this time I kept telling myself that I know the game. As soon as they asked me if I wanted to have a drink, I said that I was full and was done with drinking for the day. The girl looked disappointed and said that maybe I should buy her a drink and chat for a while. That’s when I had a smirk on my face and looked straight at her and said this- 
“Ma’am, I really cannot afford to buy anyone a drink for a long time now. I just got ripped off last night while I tried buying a lady a drink at Newyorks Bar.  Right now I don’t have money for anything of this sort.” She told me that her bar was very fair and would charge only according to the menu card. I explained to her and said a polite thank you before I got up and walked out. As soon as I stepped out of the door my chest felt inflated. I felt like a wise man who knew how to handle this type of situations. I smiled to myself again, this time not in amusement alone, but with a sense of achievement! J

After these happy moments, I went back home and just put things together for my flight that was next day evening. Didn’t plan any adventure for the last day. I felt like I had saw and learned enough at Athens. Just relaxed and got the flight back to Doha and then Dubai. Surprisingly no confusion on my way back!! 

This ended another memorable trip of mine.

Random

Wonder what made me write this. I just know that this was exactly how I was feeling the other night.

Thoughts

Somethings feeling incomplete, some want is not fulfilled,
But what is my want? I stand unaware.
Something telling me that this is not what I is meant for me. There is
something better that can be mine. What can it be? I stand unaware.
What is stopping me from expanding, expressing and wanting to pursue
my rebellious opinion that I have so much faith in?
why can I hear myself screaming in the head, telling myself that I
have to do more. What more do I want to do? I stand unaware.

Nikhil, wake up and find your calling. It is somewhere around, I can
smell it, but not able to find it.

Jordan- Jan 2009

It is not always the photographs, some places will just remain memorable.

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Jorden temperature:

Minimum 0 degrees

Maximum 14 degrees.

 
This is when I knew that I was in for a cold trip. Neither had mittens nor a long coat to keep me warm. Fortunately I had my grand fathers sweater made of kashmiri wool, which was my only hope of remaining warm.

 
We reached at about 11am in the morning and went straight to the clients office. Those people hailed Suri uncle for his knowledge over the subject. We then finished with all our discussion and headed to the hotel by 4 in the afternoon. Suri uncle (my boss who was traveling with me) and I were invited for a lovely Arabic cum Lebanese dinner by the client. We got back by 10.30 and crashed immediately, as we had an early morning.

 
Day 2 started at 5.30am. We left the hotel at 6 and were driving to one of the seven wonders of the world- The Petra. It is renowned for its rock-cut architecture. Petra is also one of the new wonders of the world. All that you see around is rocks. Surely my sense of archeology is pathetic, but speaking purely from the aesthetic point of view, all of these rocky structures didn't seem to appeal to me. 
This place is only about 150km from Gaza. The guide was telling me that they could occasionally hear bombings. I thought that this was the closest that I could get to the Gaza Israel conflict.  

After dropping suri uncle to the airport(since he was leaving that evening and I had decided to stay another day to see Jordan), I went to see a Roman structure, which was at downtown Amman(capital of Jordan). Very typical of the structures that you would expect to see in Rome, or the structures that they show in movies based in Rome.

Finally I got back to my hotel at about 3.30 in the afternoon. I noticed unusual commotion around the hotel that I was staying. The office staff was out on the road and everyone was looking towards one direction, where I could see a lot of tough policemen. Soon found out that the Israeli consulate was a few blocks away. About 5,000 people had assembled there to shows their protest against the bombing in Gaza. I managed to zoom and get a few pictures of the cops standing at a distance. This was simply because I wanted to build a story of my entire trip, with every picture having a small story to tell.

I went back inside and was watching TV in the lobby as all the action that was happening near our hotel was being covered live. Suddenly a gentleman who was standing outside called me outside as I could get a closer snap of the cops. As soon as I walked out, we saw the cops coming closer towards us. They were chasing all the people who had come to protest. Not understanding sensitivity of this issue, I pulled out my camera and got a great snap of the cops beating up a guy. In a matter of 2 seconds, one cop pointed out to me and then 4 of them came charging towards me with their baseball like sticks held high. This is when I stopped breathing and realized that I had done something that I should not have. I was then held by my collar and pinned against the wall. I just started to say-'I am a tourist. Sorry.' I continued to be held tight while they pulled me towards a gang of cops who looked huge and uninviting. At this point, instead of my mind going black, it started to run in all directions. I started to wonder what if I am beaten out of shape? Will the person who invited me to Jordan be able to rescue me? Or will suri uncle have to come back and rescue me? But who would even inform them? Why were they not allowing the hotel managed to talk to them in Arabic and tell them that I am a tourist?

I was just hoping that I would not be physically assaulted and taken into custody. After a few unfriendly moments, we both realized that we were not making any communication, as they were trying to threaten or question me in Arabic and I replied in a language that they understood nothing of. They took my camera and started to open it up. I was hoping that he would not rip my camera apart by crushing it under his feel, like Sunny Corleonie did to the photographer in The Godfather. Considering his size and build, it would take him just one stamp to finish my camera. Fortunately I pull my passport out and conveyed my message to an extent. Mean while a lady, who seemed like one of those protestors, ran out from her car and came to talk to these cops. She held my hand and communicated with the men, which I guess was a plea to let me go. They opened my cam and pulled out my 2GB SanDisk memory card and broke it. He looked straight into my eyes and bit it once again to ensure that it was completely broken. This is when that lady and a few other men came and took me away. I walked back towards the hotel and got a lot of sympathy from the people there, and specially the person who had called me out to click a picture.

We then came inside the hotel and everyone there was telling me about what and why this was happening. I was also informed that a short while back, a reporter and camera man from Al Jazeera news channel was thrashed and taken into custody for trying to capture this event on camera. That's when I evaluated my loss and thanked god that I had lost only a small memory card, that was of an irrelevant company and of an irrelevant GB.

 
I came up to my room and started to wonder what had really happened. Soon I heard the siren of the police van. I quickly switched off all the lights in my room off and looked carefully out of the window. A huge jeep with a lot of commandos, men who were stronger and better equipped, were driving around the place looking for protestors. People ran into buildings, hid behind cars, and looked for all ways of escaping. The unfortunate ones who were caught by the cops were thrashed out of shape. Just one blow with those baseball size bats, anyone would promise never to get involved in any event of this sort. After some peace in the street, this whole event reoccurred. This time the cops fired tear bombs and were larger number. I had managed to see the entire show as my balcony looked onto the street where all of this was happening.

After all of this tamasha, I rested for a while in the room and waiting for Mohamed to pick me up, as we were going to check out a bar in Jordan. I wanted to see some belly dancers in action, as I was told that Jordan had some of the best belly dancers. However this didn't happen and I had quite a disappointing evenings.

 
Next day morning the client and I drove to the famous Dead Sea. It is 420 metres below sea level, and its shore is the lowest point on the surface of the Earth on dry land.

The water in this ocean is very salty, around 10 times saltier than most common oceans. The mud bath in this sea is what tourist from all over the world come to experience. The mud here is full of minerals and is supposed to be one of the best ways to cure the skin disease Psoriasis.

The point in the sea that I had visited was around 1 Km wide, with the other side of the sea belonging to Israel. So around 500mts was in Jordan and the other half of the dead sea was Israel. This time, from the car I managed to get a picture of Israel without getting into any trouble!!   

After this he dropped me off to the airport. I left Jordan with a lot of memories, which for a change, will not be found in any picture or video!

With this I also completed my first overseas travel for the company. Hope these good times keep rolling!!

-Nikhil

College Village Trip

'Compassion' is the word that means a 'deep awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with the wish to relieve it'. And this is the word that precisely describes the Centre for Social Action (CSA) at Christ College. What started as a small movement by the students for the up-liftment of the children has now become a program for the under-privileged. With the objective of social welfare, this organisation is driven by humanity and empathy and is the only Non Government Organisation that functions within the college campus. All this was just pure hearsay until 22^nd June 2005

Christ college had decided to take the students of the BBM first year for a village exposure trip. This was a compulsory trip organised by the CSA. Surprisingly we were not to contribute to this trip financially. The main objective was to expose the students to the hard .

Our destination was around 35km from college, a place called 'Kanchanpalliya'. We left college at 3 O clock by bus and we were accompanied by our class coordinator and two members of the CSA . The bus was a 41 seater and we were around 65. We reached Kanchanpalliya by 1630 hours. After we placed our bags in the dormitory we split into two groups and went to different villages.

The village I visited was called 'Doddipallayam'. We traveled by some thing like a smaller version of a truck. On reaching there we were welcome by the sight of a number of children. We were taken to the village mainly to interact with the localities and get to know their way of living. Most of the people came out of their houses and were more than willing to interact with us. As a large proportion of us could not understand Kannada , the few us who knew the language had to double up as translators for the others.

Talking to the first few villagers we met i learned that the people living there didn't have to see the worst life had to offer, quite unlike the kind of life we expected to see. The villager we spoke to used to work as a farmer growing paddy. He had a pakka house for himself and could afford the basic necessities of life. He had three kids, two girls and one boy. It was only the girls who used to go to school as the boy was physically in-capable. The boy was suffering from Polio. Doctors had almost given up hope and said that it would be best to leave things to time. All the houses there had continuous supply of electricity and most of them had televisions(most of which are colour TV's). And they didn't face much of irrigation problem too. One of the main problems were selling the paddy. I was told that now a days paddy consumption was reducing in cities and hence the farmers had a tough job finding a market. So some of them reared cattle like goats, buffaloes etc.

Asking about the political leaders they said that they didn't have much to choose. A couple of villages put together had a chairman and the villagers would vote in favor of the party instructed by their chairman.

Most of the youngsters were educated till 10^th class. And surprisingly the girls were also educated. Another problem that i understood was when i came across two ladies who were divorced, and both their husbands were alcoholics. It seemed like alcohol consumption was popular among the people there.

Once we finished speaking to the elder members of the village we spent time with the children. We took all the children to an open ground and played 'Ring around the roses' where most of them learned the song by the 4^th or 5^th round. It was an experience to watch those children play in that joyous mood. We then called each child to come and introduce himself/herself and recite a poem or sing a song. Many of them came and recited poems that they were taught in school but my personal favourite was the girl who came and sang the National Anthem. We then spoke to them for a while and continued playing what the liked the most, 'Ring around the roses'. At around 7-30 pm we had a program in-store for the villagers. We first started it with a dance by some of our class mates. By then some people came out of their houses and were curious to know what we students were up to. The dance was followed by a street play which brought out some of the common problems that prevailed in the villages and showed them how education would help eliminate those problems. There was then a song sung by us to end the show.

Once the program was over we all got into the truck and departed to our base camp. There we had tasty dinner waiting for us(the food was very tasty as we were all very hungry). Once we finished our dinner we had a bonfire lit and had a gala time around it. At 12 mid-night we ended our aantakshari and were sent to our rooms. Not many people could manage to sleep, though i did sleep for an hour.

The next day we had to finish out breakfast by 8-30 and were to visit the sewing firm set up and presently run by Christ College. We got to interact with the ladies working there and got to know more about their lifestyle and about their job satisfaction. All the ladies sounded happy with their job and their salary. Before joining as a regular employs they had to undergo six months of training. There were around 20 ladies who worked with a salary of Rs.1,000 or more. The administration would be soon handed over to the ladies, which is right now managed by Christ college.

Once we finished speaking to the working ladies we got an opportunity to speak to the parents of some of the school going children. I was pleased to hear the parents talk about the importance of schooling in a child's life. Most parents had sent their children to school by choice and not by chance. They spoke to us about small issues like the transport cost being too high to commute to school and that there was no place for the children to go after school till the working parents came home. We finished speaking to the parents by 1 'O' clock.

All of us were allowed to rest till the lunch was served, and that was at 2 pm. Then we had to board the bus only at 3-30, so we sat around singing songs waiting for the bus driver. We all got into the bus at 3-30 and left Kanchanpalliya. The bus drove straight to Christ college and we reached by 5-30. Some of us sat around talking about the trip and all the fun we had while the rest left for home.

This was a truly memorable trip as it was a learning cum fun experience for many of us. To maintaining unity among all of us who come from different parts of the country was a learning experience altogether. I appreciate the efforts taken by Christ college for taking the initiative of taking us for his camp and i am sure that this trip would have been an eye opener for many to realise how lucky we are. The class coordinator also had a major part to play when we talk about the success of the trip, who encouraged us at every right step we took.

-August 2005

How the death of a homosexual cockroach in your bathroom can affect the economy of the country?

The News bulletin screamed, "Homosexual cockroach assassinated". These headlines led to a mass protest for justice by the members of 'Homosexual Association for Cockroaches' (HAC). The reports said that the homosexual cockroach was assassinated by another living being as differences arouse on grounds of sexual orientation. All the cockroaches were on an indefinite nation wide strike to seek justice for the president of the HAC, who was brutally assassinated in a bathroom. This nation wide protest has adversely affected the Fast Moving Consumer Good (FMCG) Industry, as the percentage of goods that are damaged by the cockroaches (both at homes and supermarkets/storage homes) which is roughly 11% has dropped to 0% considering all cockroaches are on a strike. The drop in the number of goods destroyed has reduced the demand for the goods and hence if this strike persists, the FMCG companies will have to rethink their marketing strategies.

Ironically the Homosexual cockroach that was assassinated, according to the post-mortem reports, had also proved HIV positive. The doctors also came up with the conclusion that every homosexual cockroach could now cause AIDS to the human community. This shocking news had sent a wave of tremor and panic among the humans. And this panic had a massive impact on the volatile stock market of the country. People suddenly started to disinvest in company shares and pooled all their investment into the medical health insurance schemes. This crash of the stock exchange by 700 points in one week was an historic record in the Indian stock market and this news made the headline of every newspaper in the country. As the news of the stock exchange crash spread, more people pulled out of share market. This continuous chain reaction had led to the collapse of the stock exchange in no time and had wrecked the countries economy.

The FMCG industry has a large part to play in the success of an economy as it supports many other industries like human resource managements, procurement consultants, television advertising, print media and had contributed a healthy 48% to the advertising sector(in year 2004). Hence the decline of the FMCG industry would certainly mean a major setback to the countries economy.

Similarly the stock exchange of the country, in most cases, speaks for the countries economic progress in terms of capital invested , foreign funds and the progress of the companies present in that very country. A crash in the share market would make foreign and domestic investors skeptical about their profits.

Cockroach is always that part of the house or bathroom that is most trivial. This incident goes to show that people have to be more vigilant, open-minded and reasonable while looking into petty matters of life. After all, who would have thought that some thing as small as a cockroach would take away the jobs of a million people.