Julley from Leh

We embarked on a short trip – and as always it was an “almost” last minute planning. Last minute planning has its own toll in terms of cost but one gets to save quite a bit in terms of energy, time and anxiety of making things happen as per the plan. With my elder one waiting for her board results and my official customer events shifting dates – it was the only way to steal a quick holiday. I was to be in Delhi for an official trip on May 5^th and got my family join me there to proceed for the magnificent Leh – Ladakh holiday. This was the Day 0.

Day 1: We boarded a morning flight to Leh. Delhi Leh flight tickets are not exactly affordable. They did cost a bomb. We did manage to get 2 window seats in anticipation to catch the aerial glimpse of the huge Himalayas. Both the kids occupied the window seats and it was worth the view. On landing in Leh – we steered clear of the usual tourist place touts to find out the official way of getting a cab. We were assigned a modest 7 seater cab to take us to the hotel. 2 minutes into the ride – we were busy chatting with the cabbie – his name as we understood from his accent was Deewa. A 25 year old man who almost won my trust immediately. We learnt 2 Ladakhi words from him – Julley (meaning Namaste or more like the Hawaiian Aloha) and Khamzang ina (meaning how are you?). He too seemed to enjoy our company and was more than enthusiastic. He offered his cab services for the rest of our Leh trip and elaborately explained the cab system of Leh. He also advised us to stay indoors for the first day and get acclimatized to the altitude (3500m above sea level). Most of the travel content on the net had given us the same advice as well. After about 20 minutes we reached our guest house. It was not a huge hotel kind of infrastructure. It was a modest 9-10 rooms kind of home stay. It was right below the Leh Palace and the windows opened to Himalayas and the Shanthi Stupa. The land lady (could never grasp her name) was another kind and soft person, she showed us our rooms.

Sonu – my elder one and I were the rebel types. We are used to Ooty (2250m) so Leh did not actually pose that much of altitude challenge. We decided to leave the other 2 girls behind and stepped out to explore some local food in the local market. Walking to the market was a stroll in the park (it was downhill) but climbing back to the guest house was herculean. The last lap was only baby steps moving just few inches in every step to the amusement of local passersby. Rest of the afternoon was spend admiring the window view of snowcapped mountains. By the evening – we were ready for another outing and this time all four of us dared to step out with a intention of walking those 2 kms up-to Shanthi Stupa. We unfortunately lost our way and flagged a cab to take us to the Shanthi Stupa.

The cabbie did tell us the route we were going was very a tedious one with 300 tough steps to climb. He instead took us in a circuitous but motor-able road to the top. Shanthi stupa offers a beautiful view of the Leh town and surrounding areas. The Buddha statue in the Stupa makes up for all effort to reach there. We shot several pictures and tried to mediate in the temple nearby before our driver came searching for us to tell us that we are the only ones left and have to leave before it becomes very dark.

Back to the guest house – we discovered the fact that Leh is not connected by road to Srinagar or Manali for 6-7 months in a year and during those periods there are no vegetables or meat to eat. It is only Rice/ Chapati with dal. Period. Ordering for food became very easy with these limited choices. It was always 2 Rotis, 2 Bowls of Rice and 2 Bowls of Dal. Shobana was wise enough to carry some dry fruits and apples – which served as our snacks and time pass munching stuff. The temperature dropped to 0 and was expected to drop further to -2 deg C past mid night. We all crawled into out quilts and dozed off.

Day 2: Deewa was to pick us up at 9am. We were all set and left for what is called as local sightseeing. We drove for about 30 kms to reach the Sangam of two rivers Indus and Zanskar. It was a beautiful view from top of the mountain. It more looked like a painting done by some high schoolers. It was too good to be true. There was a greenish blue Indus river and the muddy looking Zanskar meeting at Sangam.

The Zanskar looked more ferocious and managed to color the river after the Sangam with its color. River rafting is an option that is available to Sangam, We choose the lamest of the three options. There was no getting wet in this option and it was ideal for family like ours. Given a chance – Sonu and I would have opted for something that is far more thrilling and adventurous. Janu's age was limitation for her to do something more wetty. The rafting experience was fantastic and it was fabulous to be in water and surrounded by snow mountains.

After the rafting, we began our return journey to Leh with key stops in between. One was the famous Gurudwara Pathar Sahib and other was the Indian Army’s Hall of fame. Good thing about the Gurudwara visit was - being a Sunday and there was huge presence of military personnel and lip smacking langar. We had read about the tea and boondi but a delicious meal was more than what we had thought of. I probably ate thrice my normal quota of food and as mark of gratitude – I decided to volunteer at the Gurudwara. All the girls too joined me and we were busy dry wiping the washed utensils. With Himalyan mountains for view, pleasant Punjabi religious songs to hear, cool breeze to feel, fresh air to breathe – it was 100% bliss.

Post the sewa and good food, we shamelessly did the tea and boondi as well. With no space left in the belly it was sheer will power that came to our rescue. The drive to “Hall of fame” was not a long one. The hall is more like a museum with some pictures and defense equipment seized from enemy during the various wars India has fought. Kargil is the only one that was in my living memory. Children did show some interest in this place and thus this activity lasted much longer than I thought it would. Coming out of this hall – there was some military grade fun staff for children – things like rope climbing and sliding etc. Kids enjoyed this. On our way back to Guest house – we asked Deewa to take us to some local joint which served butter tea and Momos. We did have some fresh butter tea but momos was still few weeks away as Leh was still awaiting its vegetable trucks from Srinagar.

Day 3: We were all set for our Nubra valley – Pangong trip. We had planned to leave by 6am. It is easy to resolve such timing when going to bed but executing that resolve at 5am at -1deg C is a bit challenging. We left at 7am. We were carrying a handy oxygen cylinder – that would be useful in emergencies. I was convinced this will never to be used but Deewa insisted. Immediately after leaving Leh – one could notice the climb, there were hair pin bends and gradual continuous climb. The already chill weather was gradually becoming even more chiller. A few kilometers later – we were super excited to see snow at arm’s length. Occasionally the vehicle will drive on ice and Deewa told us that he has chains ready and if it gets worse – he will chain the tyres to prevent skidding. After an hour or so – we reached Khardung la pass. The yellow board there announced this place to be 18380 ft (5602m above sea level). This is the highest I have ever been. The board also announces that this is the highest motorable road in the world. Wikipeida however disputes this and place the height at 5359m.

Even this would mean – this is the highest we have ever been on land. From Bangalore (950m) to Ooty (2250m) to Amarnath (3888m) to Khardung la(5359m) – made a nice comparison and memory jog. We met an army man there who picked the few Kannada and Tamil words I had uttered – to let us know that he is from Kolar and on duty there. He was very happy and  excited to meet someone from Bangalore and was equally excited to speak to us in Kannada. He told us that the temp was -15deg C. It began to snow and Deewa kept warning us that we might fall sick if we keep goofing around anymore. We took his fatherly advice seriously and huddled back into the car.

The descending road between Khardung la to Nubra valley was non-existent in many stretches. There are snow stretches – there are riverlets to be crossed. Mud roads. Guess roads. The cabbies follow each other and I guess the first one must be doing a ‘eenie meenie miney moe’. We were told that post August when most of the snow melts aways – there are several bikers who dare to ride up till this point. Must be out-of-the-world experience. Some of my Facebook friends have done that. The entire 6 hour journey is surrounded by mountains and a visual treat to nature lovers. The snow mountains sometimes resemble chocolate cake with vanllia ice cream on top and sometimes looks like a big tub of Vanilla ice cream with choco chips on it. Nature at its best. No wonder Himalaya are so intriguing.

We reached Nubra Valley almost at noon. Deewa drove us to the huge Buddha statue, we then choose to go to Diskit Gompa (Buddhist monastery). The explorer in us took us to the temple which was right at the top. It was not as easy as it appeared. Exhausted in the temple – one of the Lamas offered us some hot tea. It was a welcome drink and excuse to take some rest and relax. Sipping tea we enjoyed the view from the top.  

Nubra valley has nothing great to offer. It was the almost 6 hours Journey that was more memorable. We then drove to the sand dunes. To our utter dis-belief we were standing on sand dunes in a huge valley surrounded by snow mountains, this experience was mixed with excitement and curiosity. The kids wanted to ride the double humped camels. We too joined them and enjoyed the ride on these harmless beautiful creatures. School taught us camel’s body is designed to withstand the high temperatures and so these cute furry creatures left us dazzled.

We took a on the fly decision to stay in a tent (camp) rather than a concrete hotel. Deewa swung into action, made some phone calls and took us to one of his friends place. Thanks to Deewa we got a huge discount and free food. 

The camp owner and Deewa belong to the same village and this camp was in a remote end of Nubra valley and keen to have guests. The camp turned out to be a good decision, we did meet a big group of Mumbai tourists. We enjoyed the bon-fire with them, couple of drinks, good food, some family games (anthakshri and dumb charades). We also exchanged notes on our itineraries which helped them optimize their plan. Thanks to Deewa.

Day 4: it was another early day. Plan was to leave at 6am but we left at 7 and started our long journey to Pangong lake. We later learnt that there are 3 routes to do Nubra to Pangong and Deewa had driven us thro one of the least used roads. The road was most parts empty. It was terrifying at times to imagine we getting stranded and there is absolutely no help around. Non- BSNL phones do not work outside Leh. Stranded in middle of nowhere or Leaving family in the car to go searching for help was not the best thoughts to have. I decided not to waste time on such thoughts and instead live the moment and enjoy the drive. We had a river flowing in the opposite direction to us. This was the only company we had for several hours. At places there was absolutely no road, what could be easily passed off as a river bed or moon terrain was our road. It was very exciting when the car had to cross tiny riverlets – with maybe 6-8 inches of water flowing. After this few hours of total isolation we reached an army camp kind of place. At-least now we had fellow human beings to  feel safe. After a 6 hour drive – we reached Pangong by mid-day.

Pangong lake is much more beautiful than what we had seen the pictures and movies. The changing colors of the lake – the 50 shades of blue – as I like to call it – was simply magnificent. 

The lake is surrounded by snowcapped mountains, the weather is cool, almost pin drop silence but for some crazy tourists howling. We could not take our eyes of the lake. It is so beautiful that you can just sit there and keep admiring the beauty.

 Capitalizing on the ‘3 idoits’ movie – there is yellow scooter and the owner claims it is the same one used by Kareena (I did not believe him though). It costs 50 Rupees to just sit on it for a photo. There is also a poster alongside the scooter that keeps reminding tourists about the movie. There are Yaks that one can ride on. Kids tired the yaks while Shobana tried the scooter in a la Kareena style (I reminded her that nose will not obstruct but..). we decided to have lunch in one of those hotels facing the lake. Food was awful but the view was awesome and made up for all the not so good expensive food.

After less than 2 hours at the lake – we began another long journey towards Leh. Deewa told us it may take 5-6 hours. Enroute we saw Pashmina goats, Yaks, wild horses. After a couple of hours – the ascend started and with that there was snow all around. We managed to pluck some icicles from the car and kids enjoyed playing it. The ascend culminates in Chang la pass – which is about 5360m above sea level. This place was deserted and Deewa did not choose to utter anything interesting. He seemed to be hurry to reach Leh before it gets dark. We played ball with him and crossed Chang La without any photo or stop. After Chang la the road starts to descend and it is mostly a downhill till Leh. Enroute there were several beautiful scenery, the beauty is far better than what one can imagine for would have seen in post cards or movies. In my view the journey is as beautiful as the end destination was, if not better. Just before we could enter Leh – we spotted the Rancho school – we insisted to drive into the school though it was closed. We parked in the school campus and tried to spot the famous window of ‘3 Idoits’, we could not. We did some photos near the café – now called Rancho café and left for Leh.  We reached our guest house post it was dark and Janu ordered the food (same one) and we all crashed into our quilts.

Day 5: This was not the best moment of the trip. We had bid adieu to Leh. A place which we liked so much and seem to spend a long enjoyable time. Shopping was not completely complete. Does it ever get complete with 3 women around? We missed buying Buddhist prayer flag with “Om mani padme hum”, written on it. Along with Julley and Khamzang ina this is something that all of us learnt there. We also missed buying a Pashmina shawl. Deewa dropped us to the Airport and we were on time for the Delhi flight.

In Delhi, I took the girls to meetup with Sudha – my school class mate, whom I had last met in 1987. It was good thees saal baad reunion. Sudha and her husband were graceful hosts with plenty of food and warmth. Badagas are always known for their warmth towards guests. Sudha also an experienced Isha follower – I am a beginner and learned a few things from her. Sudha lives in Faridabad and the journey to the Airport feels like travelling to Bangalore Airport from home. A longish 40kms+ route. We hit our first big delay in the entire trip when the Del- BLR flight got delayed by over 2 hours. Well past mid –night we reached home and wishing each other Julley – we slipped into our beds.

Marriage by choice

Marriage by choice

 

After 3 recent engagements went bust amidst kinsfolks, all three being called off by the girls – I have begun to ponder if the concept of arranged marriages preceded by an elaborate engagement is endangered. This thought takes me to instant flash back.

 

I can’t but help to remind myself and those around me, about my maternal grandfather. The grand old man went on to live for nearly 90 years and was a gifted man. He had the knack of matching his oratory skills and content based on his audience. I had the good fortune to spend 50 months of my college days with him, he was a fearless man with a sense of achievement. His list of achievements always began with his wedding. He was married to my grandmother at his age of 17, while the granny was 10. Child marriages are taboo today but a norm in early 1900s. It was a classical arranged marriage in which the old man apparently saw his lady love only after a couple of years and that too on their wedding night. No courtship what so ever, but Grand pa loved grand ma till the last day of their lives.

 

Moving a little ahead, I recall hearing from aunts, uncles and my parents about their journey and how it began. It was a perfect 1960’s arranged marriage, parents met first, agree upon the dates and other modalities. The children then began writing to each other, somewhere down the line love blossomed and marriages solemnized. Indian postal system working at its peak. My grandparents never discouraged my parents from writing to each other before wedding; maybe they were happy to allow this. My parents love each other to this day.

 

Cut to my own experience, I refuse to call my wedding an arranged wedding. This is how it unfolded – parents met and could not agree upon several things. However during that meeting I was present and insisted on speaking alone to the girl, hardly any resistance –in the next few minutes - I was talking to my could be wife, I did try to wit her or maybe flirt a little too. I liked her and she liked me, we continued to talk to each other and gradually our parents buried the differences. Engagement was fixed, rings were exchanged and lots of phone calls and letters  later, we got married. This is probably 4 leap years ago.

 

So I would guess you have noticed generational progress that my DNA and hormones have made. It would be safe to say that in the past 15 years or so, the middle class has become more open to love marriages, marriages cutting across states, languages and culture. One would still raise an eyebrow if the religion barrier or the caste barrier is broken but it is no longer unacceptable. Parents are willing to mute themselves if they find their offspring is in pursuit of a mate. Middle class has become more open and that is probably why they are becoming less bothered about their immediate society. They are willing to listen to their girls and also listen to their flip flops. They are open to elaborate engagements and they are also open to allowing their girls to call it off.

 

So is this good or bad? I would argue this is good. Who gains from this and who loses? The people who lose or who will eventually lose are those who are not gifted with courtship skills. Courtship skills are necessarily a function of Looks, skills (read education or other skills) and money. The proportion can vary but all three are mandatory. The best in the market will find their corresponding best and rest will have to settle down for the rest and that too their parents will have to help in courtship, Aka arranged marriages.

 

Let me repeat myself with a different set of words, I strongly believe that in today’s modern world (cutting across urban and rural), it is best left to the boy and girl to find a match for themselves. If this responsibility still lies on the shoulders of the parents then there is a cause of concern. The society is rapidly changing and we better change with it.

One week in Singapore with Family

Dream come true, few days off, no laptop, no mobile phone, no work tension, no investment worries. Time well spend with family in Singapore.

Day 1:

We landed in a rainy Singapore on a Saturday morning, a friendly taxi took to us to our Hotel in Lavender, the staff were very courteous and without much fuss gave us an early check in. We hit the bed almost immediately after stepping into our room, the hotel was quite good and the rooms were nice and clean but a wee bit smaller for a family of four. There was no space for an extra bed but we found ways to manage.

We woke up past noon and the excitement in all of us did not allow us to laze around much, we were quick to hit the road and were on our way to the Singapore flyer in a taxi. The flyer is the largest Ferris wheel in the world – beats the London eye by nearly 100ft. Wow. We boarded the flyer for the slow half an hour- single rotation. My younger one was a tad disappointed that this wheel did not furiously rotate like the one she recently tried in Ooty. The view was awesome and we all did enjoy the first outing of our trip. The girls also tried their hands (actually legs) in the fish SPA, allowing infinite fishes to nimble their dead skins. They all enjoyed it at that moment, not sure of its other benefits.

We walked to the Merlion from here and enjoyed the view and gathering there. After it became dark and our stomachs were crying for food, we decided to visit Clarke Quay for dinner. The place was beautiful but the vegetarian girls could not withstand the smell (read Aroma) of the Chinese food, we quickly retreated to Little India for some Indian food. Wondering why is vegetarianism so very Indianish only. Sigh. Back to the hotel in a MRT.

Day 2:

This was a full day and a Sunday. So after the breakfast at the hotel, we rode a taxi to the Zoo. The zoo did not look very crowded. The zoo has some very interesting and rare animals and one thing I must admit is that this was not a smelly affair unlike most of the other zoos I have visited before. The white tiger pair stands clearly etched in my memory, so is the first ever view of Kangroos. We also made it the animal shows and of course the shows very interesting even though there was some drama build in to create the excitement.

The night safari is simply out of the world experience, just make sure to walk around as much as possible, the tram may not be that exciting. There is Nocturnal animal show as well, which is again not miss-able. We took a bus and MRT combo to get back to Hotel, we walked into a local food court, there was no Veg food but one enterprising shop keeper offered to make veg fried rice, but the girls were in no mood to sit there watching the many kinds of Non veg being cooked and meat hanging around. We rushed to a 7/11 store nearby to pick up some bread and other bakery items for dinner.

Day 3:

The enthusiasm woke us up early and post breakfast we were at the Harbour front getting ready for Sentosa. A little touristy fleecing – we ended  up buying an expensive ticket that had few rides and a guide service in it, we would have settled for a little cheaper ‘all rides inclusive day pass’ instead – if we had known where to buy it. L. Anyways taking things in our stride, we enjoyed what we were entitled to like the ‘Cine Magic – log ride’, butterfly park, maritime museum, the underwater world, the Dolphin show etc., we bought tickets for the other rides that we wanted to do like the 3D game show, 4D show, Merlion visit. Watching the dolphins was dream come true for the girls (esp the oldest one). The cable car visit to the island was breathtaking and we enjoyed our privacy up there.  Riding a MRT back to Little India – Indian dinner. We walked back to our hotel in spite of the girls protesting.

Day 4:

This day was dedicated to the Bird park. We took a MRT to Boon Lay and a bus from there to reach the bird park, I had expected to complete the park by early noon, but the shows and the time spend in the Aviaries ensured that this was a almost full day affair, we finished sooner than our normal times and repeated the same evening ritual of Little India – Indian dinner and Walk back.

Day 5:

By now, one may expect to get tired and take things slowly. Luckily we do not qualify for that. We were more energetic than day 1 and this was another action packed day. We took a MRT to Harbour front and walked up the Broad walk to reach Universal Studios. This was a ‘one ticket all rides’ entrance. We enjoyed all the 19 rides on offer except two - sing along the shrek and rock climbing. I would rate transformers as the best 4D show I have ever seen. It was out of the world, so were the dueling roller coasters. The all dark ‘Return of the Mummy’ ride was scary. My younger one missed a few rides, for she is a little short in her current height for some rides. Elder one was daddy’s girl, boldly enjoyed all the rides.

Day 6 & 7:

I was at office attending meetings and some very exciting trainings. The girls were busy shopping, they went around China town, Orchard road, the mandatory Mustafa and Little India shopping. End of day 7, we returned back to reality, it was the best 7 days of our lives and something that we will not forget soon (till our next holiday).

Jaipur - Agra - Delhi

The chief architect of this trip was Shobana, she had applied for leave when we had planned for an aboard trip but when the phoren thing did not happen, she was in no mood to relent, we had to go somewhere interesting in India for a week. Just 2 days to go, the 2AC tickets were still waitlisted in the ‘Mysore-Jaipur train’ and there is where Tatkal came handy, we managed to get confirmed 3AC tickets to Jaipur in under 2 days notice. Feverish packing including a big bag full of snacks.

The train left on time but thanks to the Telangana issues it got diverted via Goa, Mumbai, Gujarat before reaching Jaipur - a good 14 hours late, that meant a full day of sightseeing lost in the train. Actually no regrets – it was a nice time to unwind in the comfort of the AC train while kids had a roaring time with the newly acquired friends of their age in the train. We reached our Hotel – Choki Dani for the night, we managed to enjoy the very famous village fair at the hotel and some sumptuous Rajasthani food. The fair had all the works thrown in including Camel rides, Elephant rides, manual rides in merry go rounds and giant wheels, there was mehandi, puppet show, kulfi wala, folk dancers etc etc. The Choki Dhani resort is a 5 star resort, though away from the city it is worth it for its rustic setting, it was indeed a very nice place to relax and we spend the first half of the next day till check out.

We reached the Albert hall museum by noon, the museum is housed in a very beautiful building build for the purpose, we choose to get ourselves the audio guide and it was interesting and worth it. History interests me and I indeed found the place very informative. There was a lot of Mughal influence but still the Jaipur Rajputana probably had its own unique identity and pride. There was also some  British influence. For the historical minds, such as mine, I could imagine the royalty, the Rajput pride. Coming from a clan that is the immediate cousin to the Rajput clan, I could feel the connect with City and its culture – both current and historically. We then drove to Hawa Mahal, we entered the pink city and wow the buildings were all in pink – my kids freak out on anything that is pink. Hawa mahal again reminds one of the Rajputana grandeur, it was a palace for the royal women to watch the royal processions and also enjoy watching the common man life- without being spotted by other men. The parda system must have been practiced very rigidly. A very Mughalai thing. The Guide did his best to explain the functionalities of various parts of the palace. From Hawa Mahal, our clever driver wanted to take us around in the city itself but we did insist on going to the far off places such as the Amer Fort and Jaigarh fort. The Jaigarh fort has nothing great but a very huge place and well preserved, we had a look at the great cannon and the museum within the fort. There are some interesting stories about the treasure being hidden in the tanks etc etc.  Some put offs like – they charge Rs.50 for camera – wonder why? Taj Mahal does not charge for camera and has a cheaper entrance fee. Anyway from here we went to Amer fort, this is a very beautiful fort. Here too – you could easily spot striking influence of the Mughals . Our guide seemed to be a Jodha Akbar movie fan, he kept showing us the various places in the fort where the movie was shot, the sword fighting scene, the barath, the kitchen scene, etc etc. Here is where I also dared to put a cobra around my neck….interesting experience, yes – a live cobra. Post the Amer fort, we stopped by at the Jal Mahal Palace, few photographs and we were now heading towards the hotel – Jai Mahal Palace – A Taj property. Wow this was so cool, a 250 years old palace used by the prime minister of the royal family. Surrounded by beautiful gardens, the palace was truly a exhilarating experience. A bit expensive but then the maiden trip to Jaipur can be a good excuse to stay in one of the palaces.

The 5 star experience was awesome, the service, the evening magic shows and dance shows were all  much superior than what we had seen the previous night. The huge spread at the breakfast table and the prompt service was indeed a royal feeling, kids had a roaring time, they enjoyed every bit of all this. There were cookies with their names written on it and the girls were so excited that they refused to eat them. We checked out earlier than the 1200 noon deadline and went about sightseeing and shopping. We visited the City Palace and Jantar Mantar, followed by some very local food at local joint – Dal Bhati at the Santhosh Dabba and then the girls went around blowing some money around in the Bapu Bazzar. From here we straight head to the station to board the Aii Af intercity express to Agra, the A/C Chair car journey was very peaceful.

At Agra – it was the typical tourist center fleecing, taxis demanding exorbitant fares, there was some sort of a cartel, I managed to break the cartel and an Auto fellow was willing to ferry us at nominal rates, the kids wanted to try McD for dinner and we did a drive in to McD in an Auto. I wasn’t expecting to be let in Trident hotel  in an Auto but Agra 5 Stars seem to be an exception, they let the auto in. Funny experiences! The Trident staff were very polite and also gave us the wonderful recommendation of visiting the Taj at dawn. We had earlier planned a late morning outing to Taj.

 

The suggestion was indeed very valuable, at 6 am the Taj is hardly crowed and it is so pleasurable. Agra daytime can be harsh in terms of heat. We did the standard photos and going around the Taj. At around 830 we went back to our hotel via the Railway station after booking our evening train to Delhi. The breakfast was sumptuous at Trident and we realized we were on the European plan (no Break fast) only after the bill arrived. A small oversight but good food, hmmm…..no value of money. We availed a late checkout to enjoy the pool for a while before we could go to the Agra fort. I like this fort and history kind of re-lives here on how an emperor like Shah Jahan who build the magnificent Mausoleum was imprisoned and died while in Fort Prison. Beautiful Fort – wonder how these building have been standing so tall and handsome for some many decades. While at the throne room, enjoyed imagining how the Mughal durbar would have been conducted. Must have been a very elaborate and grand affair. We did not employ a guide here and that gave us ample time to chill around the place. We did some Petha & Souvenirs shopping before reaching the station via the hotel to pick up our luggage. The auto driver by now had turned very greedy and demanded some obscene fare. You can trust me to manage such morons. The train journey to Delhi in A/C chair car – Taj Express was again peaceful.

Delhi station was huge, busy and one could easily get lost of lose something, an auto took us to our hotel. For Delhi – I choose a budget hotel, there were many options and it was pretty easy for me, I had to choose the one that offers the extra bed at free of cost. Hence landed in Karol Bagh. The hotel was neat, clean, many forgeries, a well marketed hotel on the net – I guess, and it was in walk-able distance from Jandhewalan metro station. The service was prompt and very customizable. We got food of our choice – lots of curds and little of everything else.

We decided to use the metro extensively for our local transport, the Rs.100 tourist card was very useful with its unlimited usage for one day. We used the map to plan our day, Sonia very quickly understood the map and became our leader for the rest of the metro trip. We visited the Qutub Minar to begin our day, the kids were very impressed. It is indeed a beauty to watch something that has been standing tall for more than 800 years, that is like even before the British or even before the Mughals. It was built by Qutb-ud-din Aibak who defeated the popular king Privthiraj Chavan – if you recall the story of Samyukta – Swayamwar, Md Ghori, Blinding of king and he killing Ghori  by sound.

We continued our Delhi sight-seeing using metro, we visited the India gate and also shot some photos with the Parliament and Rastrapathi Bhavan in the back ground. After some India gate back drop photos of the kids- we went to Lotus temple, Akarsdham temple before shopping and dinner at Connaught Place (CP). The Second day in Delhi also was very planned, we visited the famous Delhi-6, Chandni Chowk, Red Fort, Jama masjid, Lunch in the Paratha wale gali, some very interesting parathas in the very crowded and densely populated gallis. This place too must have been inhabited for centuries and I was wondering if it would have always been crowed and thickly poplulated like now, maybe in relative terms yes. Some shopping in wholesale markets, some more food – panni puri, jalebis….you see we do not visit Chandni chowk every other day, so we had to do everything possible. We then went to the famous Sarojini Nagar market before heading back to the hotel to pack, check out, reach the station on time. Our tickets were waitlisted  and thanks to Naresh, I managed to book tatkal and cancel those waitlisted ones.

The return journey in the Rajdhani and experience was wonderful, it is a super fast train with very few stops and no hawkers. The whole train is A/C and food is served along with snacks and tea. This could qualify as the best way to go to Delhi for any non –business purposes.

A very refreshing trip and all of us are reinvigorated, so time to get back to work and start to plan the next trip.

Predictably Irrational - DAN ARIELY

The Truth about Relativity

The Economist ad, the visual demo. Most people don't know what they want unless they see it in context Everything is relative, and that's the point. Like an airplane pilot landing in the dark, we want runway lights on either side of us, guiding us to the place where we can touch down our wheels. RELATIVITY IS (RELATIVELY) easy to understand. But there's one aspect of relativity that consistently trips us up. It's this: we not only tend to compare things with one another but also tend to focus on comparing things that are easily comparable—and avoid comparing things that cannot be compared easily.The decoy - like a third house or like taking a friend to meet potential partner.RELATIVITY HELPS US make decisions in life. But it can also make us downright miserable. Why? Because jealousy and envy spring from comparing our lot in life with that of others. One of the Ten Commandments - "Neither shall you desire your neighbor's house nor field, or male or female slave, or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Salary details of CEOs coming in open only increased it manifold, That's a lesson we can all learn: the more we have, the more we want. And the only cure is to break the cycle of relativity.

The Fallacy of Supply and Demand

Why the Price of Pearls—and Everything Else— Is Up in the Air. Imprinting - the first impression about something esp - the price attached to something. We then get anchored to this price. Arbitrary coherence - if the price imprinted is arbitrary then after some time we get anchored to it.Tom had discovered a great law of human action, namely, that in order to make a man covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain."First impressions are important, whether they involve remembering that our first DVD player cost much more than such players cost today (and realizingthat, in comparison, the current prices are a steal) or remembering that gas was once a dollar a gallon, which makes every trip to the gas station a painful experience. Behavior herding. It happens when we assume that something is good (or bad) on the basis of other people's previous behavior, and our own actions follow suit. eg: Rush at MTR or paradise biryani. Self-herding - is when you do something and based on that experience repeat it. Like star bucks coffee.The many choices we make, from the trivial to the profound,in which anchoring plays a role.Become aware of this vulnerability ask yourself it this is worth it?We should also pay particular attention to the first decision we make in what is going to be a long stream of decisions (about clothing, food, etc.). When we face such a decision, it might seem to us that this is just one decision, without large consequences; but in fact the power of the first decision can have such a long-lasting effect that it will percolate into our future decisions for years to come. Given this effect, the first decision is crucial, and we should give it an appropriate amount of attention. [Ajay]:Maybe we should teach our children to be prudent with money. Traditional economics suggest price is dependent on demand supply, arbitrary coherance and other points mentioned above challenge this. Demand - Many a times the customer do not even know what they want and if they do they can be easily manipulated to pay. It seems then that instead of consumers' willingness to pay influencing market prices, it is market prices themselves that influence consumers' willingnessto pay. What this means is that demand is not, in fact, a completely separate force from supply. The price changes would make a huge impact on demand if people remembered the previous prices and noticed the price increases; but I also suspect that without a memory for past prices, these price changes would have a trivial effect, if any, on demand. But over the long run, and once consumers readjusted to the new price and the new anchors - the demand is back to where it was. The demand supply theory the market forces theory may be in-correct. Our choices are often affected by random initial anchors, the choices and trades we make are not necessarily going to be an accurate reflectionof the real pleasure or utility we derive from those products. In other words, in many cases we make decisions in the marketplace that may not reflect how much pleasure we can get from different items. Now, if we can't accurately compute these pleasure values, but frequently follow arbitrary anchors instead,then it is not clear that the opportunity to trade is necessarily going to make us better off.

The Cost of Zero Cost

Why We Often Pay Too Much When We Pay Nothing

We all love to grab FREE things. Zero is not just another price, it turns out. Zero is an emotional hot button—a source of irrational excitement.What is it about zero cost that we find so irresistible? Why does FREE! make us so happy?The critical issue arises when FREE! becomes a struggle between a free item and another item—a struggle in which the presence of FREE! leads us to make a bad decisionI think it's because humans are intrinsically afraid of loss. The real allure of FREE! is tied to this fear. There's no visible possibility of loss when we choose a FREE! item (it's free). But suppose we choose the item that's not free. Uh-oh, now there's a risk of having made a poor decision—the possibility of a loss. And so, given the choice, we go for what is free. "buying something for nothing" is a bit of an oxymoron.WHEN CHOOSING BETWEEN two products, then, we often overreact to the free one. Free Shipping above certain value - we will end up reaching that value.Think how powerful that idea is! Zero is not just another discount. Zero is a different place. The difference between two cents and one centis small. But the difference between one cent and zero is huge!

The Cost of Social Norms

Why We Are Happy to Do Things, but Not When We Are Paid to Do Them

We live simultaneously in two different worlds— one where social norms prevail, and the other where market norms make the rules.When we keep social norms and market norms on their separate paths, life hums along pretty well.Eg: doing social work for free and refusing to do the same if it offers some money (very less compared to our regular income) but the same is ok if offered as gift (Social norm prevail), Mentioning the value of the gift crosses over to market norm. Another eg: Israel day care center story - fine for coming late was introduced and thereafter many parents would be late. MONEY, AS IT turns out, is very often the most expensive way to motivate people. Social norms are not only cheaper, but often more effective as well.

The Influence of Arousal

Why Hot Is Much Hotter Than We Realize
An experiment conducted with male students showed that - when the participants were in a cold, rational, superego-driven state, they respected women; they were not particularly attracted to the odd sexual activities; they always took the moral high ground; and they expected that they would always use a condom. They thought that they understood themselves, their preferences, and what actions they were capable of. But as it turned out, they completely underestimated their reactions. They were simply unable to predict the degree to which passion would change them. These results apply most directly to sexual arousal and its influence on who we are; but we can also assume that other emotional states (anger, hunger, excitement, jealousy, and so on) work in similar ways, making us strangers to ourselves. In the heat of passion, suddenly, with the flip of some interior switch, everything changes. eg: Road rage. In Freudian terms, each of us houses a dark self, an id, a brute that can unpredictably wrest control away from the superego. The most brilliant and rational person, in the heat of passion, seems to be absolutely and completely divorced from the person he thought he was. Safe Sex / Safe Driving / Better life decisions - Avoiding temptation altogether is easier than overcoming it. We need to explore the two sides of ourselves; we need to understand the cold state and the hot state; we need to see how the gap between the hot and cold states benefits our lives, and where it leads us astray. Just being aware that we are prone to making the wrong decisions when gripped by intense emotion may help us, in some way, to apply our knowledge of our "Hyde" selves to our daily activities.

The Problem of Procrastination and Self-Control

Why We Can't Make Ourselves Do What We Want to Do

We promise to save for retirement, but we spend the money on a vacation. We vow to diet, but we surrender to the allure of the dessert cart. We promise to have our cholesterol checked regularly, and then we cancel our appointment.Giving up on our long-term goals for immediate gratification is procrastination. We all do procrastinate, tight restrictions are the best cure for procrastination. The biggest revelation is that by simply precommitting to deadlines - helps in achieve better results. Resisting temptation and instilling self-control are general human goals, and repeatedly failing to achieve them is a source of much of our misery. Because without precommitments, we keep on falling for temptation. Of course, barking orders, while very effective, may not always be feasible or desirable. What's a good compromise? It seems that the best course might be to give people an opportunity to commit up front to their preferred path of action. This approach might not be as effective as the dictatorial treatment, but it can help push us in the right direction (perhaps even more so if we train people to do it, and give them experience in setting their own deadlines). Procrastination in health care can lead to serious problems. Procrastination in vehicle maintenance is avoided by having clear mileage/time based goals for service. Should we not use this method in health care as well?"Simplify! Simplify!" And, indeed, simplification is one mark of real genius.

The High Price of Ownership

Why We Overvalue What We Have

There's an old saying, "One man's ceiling is another man's floor." Well, when you're the owner, you're at the ceiling; and when you're the buyer, you're at the floor.OWNERSHIP PERVADES OUR lives and, in a strange way, shapes many of the things we do. Adam Smith wrote, "Every man [and woman] . . . lives by exchanging, or becomes in some measure a merchant, and the society itself grows to be what is properly a commercial society."Three irrational quirks in our human nature - we fall in love with what we already have (it is natural to get attached to what we have), we focus on what we may lose-rather than what we may gain, we assume other people will see the transaction from the same perspective as we do. Sense of ownership is propotional to the efforts put in to acquire that asset.In Online auctions, a top bidder for some time starts to feel like the owner, from there on he will fight very hard to resist any outbidders. Similar effect is seen in trial offers. Once you use the trial offer - you are likely to get hooked. It is hard to let go that ownership feelings. Same effect is seen on non-tangibles like Ideas. Suddenly, moving backward to our preownership state is a loss, one that we cannot abide.One approach is to try to view all transactions (particularly large ones) as if I were a nonowner, putting some distance between myself and the item of interest.

Keeping Doors Open

Why Options Distract Us from Our Main Objective

Normally, we cannot stand the idea of closing the doors on our alternatives.we work just as feverishly to keep all our options open. How CAN WE unshackle ourselves from this irrational impulse to chase worthless options? We end up buying things that we really do not need but because it is on sale! In a modern democracy, he said, people are beset not by a lack of opportunity, but by a dizzying abundance of it. A couple would typically spend less time with each other if they lived together but if they lived in different cities and met only say during weekends - they would dedicate the weekends to themseleves. It is not advised you live in different cities, just realise this. Running helter-skelter to keep doors from closing is a fool's game. What we need is to consciously start closing some of our doors. Small doors, of course, are rather easy to close.We have an irrational compulsion to keep doors open. It's just the way we're wired. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to close them. Selecting between two options can also be taxing, be wary of indecision. Recall Buridan's donkey - Breaking minor stalemates in life by randomness (flipping a coin).

The Effect of Expectations

Why the Mind Gets What It Expects

Many a times two people have exactly opposite views of the same thing. Like sports fans on a particular point, like politicans, like a fighting couple.If you tell people up front that something might be distasteful, the odds are good that they will end up agreeing with you—not because their experience tells them so but because of their expectations. WHEN WE BELIEVE beforehand that something will be good, therefore, it generally will be good—and when we think it will be bad, it will bad. Which type of input is more important—knowledge before the experience, or an input of information after an experience has taken place? If the input is merely information - then it does not matter - experience followed by information or vice-versa. Coke tastes better because it is coke, Coke is a better brand than it is a better drink than others. EXPECTATIONS ALSO SHAPE stereotypes. A stereotype provides us with spécifie expectations about members of a group, it can also unfavorably influence both our perceptions and our behavior. Even our own behavior can be influenced by our stereotypes, and that activation of stereotypes can depend on our current state of mind and how we view ourselves at the moment. When stripping away our preconceptions and our previous knowledge is not possible, perhaps we can at least acknowledge that we are all biased. If we acknowledge that we are trapped within our perspective, which partially blinds us to the truth, we may be able to accept the idea that conflicts generally require a neutral third party—who has not been tainted with our expectations—to set down the rules and regulations. Of course, accepting the word of a third party is not easy and not always possible; but when it is possible, it can yield substantial benefits. And for that reason alone, we must continue to try.

The Power of Price

Why a 50-Cent Aspirin Can Do What a Penny Aspirin Can't

Procedures done on real patients and Placebo patients (Dummy Procedures) have yielded similar results. Knee operations, Chest operations. TWO mechanisms shape the expectations that make placebos work. One is belief—our confidence or faith in the drug, the procedure, or the caregiver. The second mechanism is conditioning. We tend to assume that high price means higher quality, and our expectations translate into the objective efficacy of the product. Esp with health we do not want to take chances. Price can change the experience. If we see a discounted item, we will instinctively assume that its quality is less than that of a full-price item. What's the remedy? If we stop and rationally consider the product versus the price, will we be able to break free of the unconscious urge to discount quality along with price? Royal touch - touching of kings healed. This was just psychological. In reality, it represents the amazing way our mind controls our body. The more we understand the connection between brain and body, the more things that once seemed clear-cut become ambiguous.

The Context of Our Character,

Part I

Why We Are Dishonest, and What We Can Do about It
Two types of dishonesty - one by thiefs etc and other by honest people cheating on taxes etc When given the opportunity, many honest people will cheat. When we have no chance of getting caught, we still don't become wildly dishonest. "Nature, when she formed man for society, endowed him with an original desire to please, and an original aversion to offend his bretheren. She taught him to feel pleasure in their favourable, and pain in their unfavourable regard" - Adam Smith, Smith added - "The success of most people . . . almost always depends upon the favour and good opinion of their neighbours and equals; and without a tolerably regular conduct these can very seldom be obtained. The good old proverb, therefore, that honesty is always the best policy, holds, in such situations, almost always perfectly true."Individuals are honest only to the extent that suits them (including their desire to please others). Sigmund Freud explained it this way. He said that as we grow up in society, we internalize the social virtues. This internalization leads to the development of the superego. In general, the superego is pleased when we comply with society's ethics, and unhappy when we don't. Honesty can be brought about if people read religous books (bible), Professional oaths (like doctors) but look at lawyers and doctors, they are not very honest. Doctors - unnecessary tests, gifts from medical companies, kickbacks. This decline in professionalism is everywhere in all professions. People cheat when they have a chance to do so, but they don't cheat as much as they could. Moreover, once they begin thinking about honesty—whether byrecalling the Ten Commandments or by signing a simple statement—they stop cheating completely.

The Context of Our Character,

Part II

Why Dealing with Cash Makes Us More Honest

what permits us to cheat when cheating involves nonmonetary objects, and what restrains us when we are dealing with money? How does that irrational impulse work?BECAUSE WE ARE SO adept at rationalizing our petty dishonesty, it's often hard to get a clear picture of how nonmonetary objects influence our cheating. Like stealing a pencil from office but not stealing money from office. Even good people are not immune to being partially blinded by their own minds. This blindness allows them to take actions that bypass their own moral standards on the road to financial rewards. In essence, motivation can play tricks on us whether or not we are good, moral people."It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."Corporate dishonesty - Airmiles, Credit card interests. We can be dishonest without thinking of ourselves as dishonest.

Beer and Free Lunches

What Is Behavioral Economics, and Where Are the Free Lunches?

People ordering for beer or dishes in a restuarnt. The general tendency is choose different from others to prove that each has a mind of his own. In the bargain the one that chooses first is most happy with his beer/food while others are not as much. What this shows is that people are sometimes willing to sacrifice the pleasure they get from a particular consumption experience in order to project a certain image to others. In other cultures—where the need for uniqueness is not considered a positive trait—people who ordered aloud in public would try to portray a sense of belonging to the group and express more conformity in their choices.

Lesson learnt: Never get swayed by others while deciding for yourself. Standard economics assumes we are rational and take logical decisions, even if we did take wrong decision we learn from them and course correct - this is not true. We are all far less rational in our decision making than standard economic theory assumes. Our irrational behaviors are neither random nor senseless—they are systematic and predictable. We all make the same types of mistakes over and over, because of the basic wiring of our brains. It can be rather depressing to realize that we all continually make irrational decisions in our personal, professional, and social lives. ONE OF THE main differences between standard and behavioral economics involves this concept of "free lunches." Standard economics - all human decisions are rational and informed. Behavioral economics - people are susceptible to irrelevant influences from their immediate environment, irrelevant emotions, shortsightedness, and other forms of irrationality. Free lunches are tools, methods, and policies that can help all of us make better decisions and as a consequence achieve what we desire. eg: Saving for retirement, normally people do not do it, we can use free lunches like "save more tomorrow" to improve savings. we are pawns in a game whose forces we largely fail to comprehend. We usually think of ourselves as sitting in the driver's seat, with ultimate control over the decisions we make and the direction our life takes; but, alas, this perception has more to do with our desires— with how we want to view ourselves—than with reality. Each of the chapters in this book describes a force (emotions, relativity, social norms, etc.) that influences our behavior. And while these influences exert a lot of power over our behavior, our natural tendency is to vastly underestimate or completely ignore this power. These influences have an effect on us not because we lack knowledge, lack practice, or are weak-minded. On the contrary, they repeatedly affect experts as well as novices in systematic and predictable ways. The resulting mistakes are simply how we go about our lives, how we "do business." They are a part of us.

Uttara Kannda Dist........

A trip to Karwar (Uttara Kannda district) would not have happened but for Manju – my cousin who is in the Police dept there. He persuaded me to visit the place, my parents visited him recently and their experience too counted.

Karwar and Bangalore are directly connected only by Road, the Rail and Air links are circuitous. We reached karwar in the morning by bus and were picked up from the station and dropped to the Police guest house for freshening up. The Breakfast at home was very simple and delicious. We started the day by visiting the War ship museum, as the place was without electricity on that day, we could not watch the intro video, we still managed to go around the ship and guess what we had an exclusive experience, there were no other tourists. We then went the aquarium, sad place in a dilapidated building. Waste of time. We then went to the science museum, interesting place – esp if you are with school going kids – again we were the only ones in here and had good fun.

Manju joined us at the Science museum and from here we drove up the Sadashivgad – a old fort with loads of history around it. The uphill drive was on kaccha road and the view from there was breathtaking, you could see the Kali River, the Karwar beach, the Devbagh beach, the western ghats. Am sure the Sun set view from here will be superb. We descended back to Karwar for Lunch and enjoyed some very local food. Early evening we went to the Devbagh beach on motor boats crossing underneath the huge bridge – the golden gate of Karwar. :-)

Devbagh is part of the jungle lodge properties, hammocks thrown in every possible tree pairs, some rope walking, mini play garden, the dining gol-ghars, cottages amongst trees and all this just on a private beach. The beach was hardly crowded and the view of the 3 mountains in the sea was awesome, they said you would walk up to the first one during low tides. The first one looked like a tortoise from the beach and was aptly called Kurumgad Island, the next one apparently resembled a sitting elephant and the third one had a light house. The view was out of the world and so was the experience of a clean neat private beach in India. Hawaii would easily qualify for second place without its Corals.

The second day was action packed too – we were lucky to get one of our friends lend his car to us, we drove 12 kms into Goa to top up the tank and visited the southernmost beach of Goa. This beach is not motor able, we had to trek for a quarter km before we hit the waters. This beach was a bit rough and had some rocks sitting pretty on the shore. We did get venture out to knee deep levels and it was good fun. We had a nice view of the Kurumgad Island from northern side from here. We spend more time on the beach than we had planned and returned back to Karnataka, to continue our journey into the western Ghats. Our next stop was Dandeli – a Bamboo town 120 kms away on the ghats. The road trip was to cut through dense forests and there were quite a few waterfalls on the way, frequently we would also get the view of the plains below and every time we drove up, the view got more scenic. We also saw the Kadra dam from a distance before halting at Ulavi temple. We missed the free lunch by ten minutes and ended up eating a lots of biscuits with some chai from the tea stall nearby. The place had many pilgrims from surrounding areas and it was nice to see some civilization after a 3 hour drive - a very lonely drive thru the jungles. We could not spot many animals spare some peacocks.

After the temple we headed straight to Supa dam, where our night stay was arranged by the top cop cousin. The IB was on top of hill and made for a nice view and cool weather – almost like Ooty. Roshini, Sridevi and Uncle were with us since morning and am sure were not bored yet with us. We kept them good company with some old Hindi songs.

Day three was another interesting day. We drove thro the forest again in the eastern direction to reach Sykes Point. The highest point in the district and a very beautiful hydro electricity project without disturbing nature. This was high light of the trip, a very beautiful place, we could see the River Kali flowing curvaceous between the mountains below us. A very beautiful sight – the Kodak moment of the trip. The beauty about this is that it is completely natural, there is no commercialization around this place, the nearest place for a cup of tea is 6 kms away. Tucked far from the hustle and bustle, this must be heaven on earth. I sure felt might lucky to be here.

Half hearted departure from Sykes point, we moved towards Yellapur town. Lunch in the small town and we resumed our journey to Magod falls. This is another wonderful place, with a beautiful view of the double water fall in which the second fall makes a inverted Y, another awesome place the UK dist. We were running short of time and wanted to reach Uncahlli falls which was almost 80kms from Magod falls. The roads were good, less traffic and with the need it gave an opportunity for Michael Schumacher to take over the wheel. I drove like a man possessed and did the first 40kms in under 40 minutes. We reached Sirsi and when enquired for directions the locals told us that it might not be a wise thing to try Unchalli as the roads were not great and there was small trek to reach the view point. It was almost 6pm and getting darker. We then decided to reserve Unchalli for our next trip and decided to venture into Sirsi town, We did visit the Maarikamba Temple in the heart of the town before retiring to our hotel.

Our hosts had a great time today with my one-liners and well timed jokes, we kept them entertained and learned a great deal about each other. Am sure Uncle will not easily forget the “Sirsi getting dark soon complaint joke” or the baby cheta tea shop humor and many more such instances.

Our bus from Karwar was instructed to pick us from Sirsi, which it did and we did reach back to earth (read Bangalore) from paradise. UK dist is indeed very beautiful and we did not even explore 10% of it. There are loads left – the Gokarn beach, Unchalli falls, Jog falls, the resorts for water sports. We will get back soon. Really soon. Stay Tuned.

Vaastu - what is and not

It is so difficult to believe that Vaastu can impact lives of people. Is over-relying on Vaastu stupid and blind?

It is possible that this ancient knowledge is a good guideline on how dwelling places and other structures need to be build. Vaastu cannot have an impact on luck or lives. It has been extended into the minds of millions like many other superstitions have been. I do not want to equate Vasstu to superstition, it has definitely some meaning and relevance even today but I beg to differ on the luck part of it.

An vaastu knowledgeable person helped his son in law find a "Vaastu Perfect" home with male progeny. It was believed that the son in law will father a male heir in that house, after few years the son-in-law produced a female offspring. (I am not against the female child - I myself have fathered two very beautiful girls)

Is Vaastu a scam? Is it simple collections of dos and don'ts , which has been extended to luck creation or management by experts to make a living. Very much like the religious leader have done.

Let me know your thoughts.

Interesting......

SUNny days

It was the acquisition of Aventail that I was back in the Job Market – I managed to get 5 different job options each one being functionally unique. Sun was one of top options that gave an opportunity to experiment beyond sales and also the first to materialize. I joined on 14 Aug 2007.

Sudhir – my boss - has more critics than admirers though I felt he was a very nice boss, he made sure that I was comfortable in the new place. He is very mature, a good listener, very patient, genuinely interested in personality development (self and that of team members).

I was hired to manage the relationship with AFL. A partner who’s more than half the business came from Sun. My predecessor was eagerly waiting for me to join, he wanted to handover and move on with his new/other responsibilities. I trained with ‘Channel Enablers’ in Singapore for a channel development program before formally taking over ‘work’ from him in the beginning of the quarter. That quarter happened to be my partner’s best ever and we went on to beat that record twice again back to back. That left AFL with their best year ever. I was beaming with 199% achievement. Bunch of cash in the bank and the reward of lifetime happened – SUNRISE 2008 in Hawaii.

There was a bit of drama for the SUNRISE nomination, some old timers had been very desperate to make it to this event and obviously could not digest the fact that I made it to the event, that too undisputedly and with a helping of randomness (read luck).

The event was a mega event – the biggest I have ever attended. Shobana & I flew to US along with my friend Naresh and his wife. To begin with - Four of us travelled together to Chennai for the Visa, we stayed at Park Sheraton and enjoyed the best of Sun days. We meticulously planned our trip and choose a very intelligent route. Least expensive & covering all the places we wanted to visit.

Some time around Diwali in 08, we flew – Bangalore - Mumbai –New York. In Mumbai, after our dinner at Maratha Sheraton, we reached the airport. Here we spotted few Delta air-hostesses and compared to what we were used to in Jet and KF, these women looked like grannies, we joked that some of them will retire by the time we landed in US and alas it did really happen. We were about an hour away from NYC, when there was an announcement that one of the air-hostess just retired and that was her last official flight. Four of us could not stop laughing and this merriment continued thro’ out our trip though there were different stimuli every time. Hahahahaha.

At NYC- we stayed at Hyma’s cousin’s full furnished un-occupied apartment, we went around NYC - Times square, Empire state building, statue of Liberty and other places. We then flew to Hawaii via Salt Lake City. Hawaii was simply awesome; the Hilton hotel on the pristine beach waters was breathtaking. The arrangements were fabulous. All the SUNRISE winners were given Nokia E71, with local SIMs and that was the primary mode of communication. All program details would be SMSed and help was readily available to reach the respective venues. The trip was one of the best. Thank god and/for randomness that this lifetime trip happened.

Post the event – we flew to LA – my best friend of college days - Rajagopal- was there at the airport to welcome us. He threw his home open to us. His family was in India for vacations and he played the perfect host. Anchored at his place – we did LA tours (Universal studios, Hollywood, shopping). We drove down to Las-Vegas and this drive is something that I will never forget for all the pranks we played on each other and thrill of driving at very high speeds on the US freeways. Rajagopal – is a true gem - years have passed – but we still remember all those one-liners and fooling around with him. Along with all good things – we will also never forget the last minute scar that Rajagopal gave us. He lost his way back to the Airport and we barely managed to reach on time to check-in.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10524&id=1343378892&l=b717266b9d

Back to India – it was life and work as usual sans all the glory. The global recession had caught up with India, there was pressure on business. At around the same time – we all had fallen in love with ‘300’ – some bright spark thought that if we had 300 people we could do 300 million and thus we ended up hiring trespassers. . 300 reminds me of our kick-off in July 08 at ‘Leela Covlam’ in Trivandrum for which I was part of the organizing committee. This is where we heard – My way or the high way – recital, I believed this was a wee bit arrogant.

With business not being all that great, job market almost freezing, the picture was not very rosy. To make it worse the IBM acquisition rumors were doing rounds. Around the same time, the first RIFF (firing) happened which rendered 50 odd people jobless. About a month later the acquisition by Oracle was confirmed. Amidst of all this – a re-org was done, maybe for easy integration. There was a change in the leadership. A lot of man hours were wasted in speculating about acquisition, RIFF, Packages, Jobs, Re-org, etc etc.

Buta –Gorilla was a big bully, typical of what you could find. A miser at core, always compared himself with his peers and ended up being jealous. I very boldly handled every attempt of his to bully me, be it to learn technology or holding my claims & payments or going on leave. He finally gave up; he was actually a very timid fellow but would try aggressive posturing to hide that weakness. There were many people helping me on the sly to overcome this fellow like the talented jolly Marwari.

The CIC (Change In Control) was announced in Jan’ 10, a good 8 months after the acquisition thanks to delays in EU approval. Post CIC - LEC (Legal Entity Combination) began in major markets. During this period we had a couple of RIFFs and a major exodus. I was lucky to be aligned with the A&C team of Oracle and I formally started as the KPD (Key Partner Director) in June 10.

I was asked to report to a person whom I did not regard as very senior or mature enough. He had experience handling rookies and the hapless fellow could not adopt. I put him in his place and the key people acknowledged their oversight. I ignored him for the rest of my stint with Oracle. Work wise I settled in very quickly making my mark with the partners and internally. I managed TechM and MSat, both of these partners were on credit hold and one of my significant achievements at Oracle, was to get them out of the hold. I interacted with the top management with ease and helped interlocking. Business was beginning to trickle in and the pipeline was building rather impressively when I decided to call it quits.

AFL the partner that I managed was over-dependent on Sun, as a result the folks there were very malleable. They were our second largest partner and a very simple and straightforward organization compared to our largest partner – Wipro. This made my role somewhat strategic only as the tactical part did not require my expertise or intervention. The many big mouths in Sun and there were plenty of them, would keep bitching about PASO, for this role had all the glamour of a typical sales role sans all the sales pressure. Within PASO – managing AFL was a least pressure role.

Sun in general took pride in calling itself a company of 35000 entrepreneurs loosely connected by email. This was largely true and had earned compliments for being a flexible place which gives you the freedom to think and do things differently, some called this style – Cowboyish – maybe they were right. Oracle on the other extreme is a process driven, rules bound, profit making machine. I had the good fortune to work with both even though the LEC in India had not happened till I quit.

Some of the folks in Sun, were exceptional in caliber, their rich vocabulary, their style, the way they dressed was all very superior. They were definitely a cut above the most, this also probably made most of the folks very snobbish and arrogant. The not so blessed people were also infected by these virtues. Many a la “Maya Sarabhais”(from the famed Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai TV Series)
For a brief period I had two people part of my team for managing the AFL business in west and south. Both of them were very talented and I shared a great rapport with them. Their misfortune was their timing in Sun, they did not last long in their roles. Vineet went on to become a very mature and learned person and I always enjoyed interacting with him.
Working from home was a privilege that I enjoyed whenever possible. I was friendly with the travel desk and boss’s itineraries were always in the know to plan working from home.

Retro look: Small fish in large pond. Easy going 3.5 years. Success is not a function of your talent, it is all about packaging and politics and of course perception management. It would be fun to be a big fish in the large pond.

Amarnath & Srirnagar

Amarnath trip:
July 9th 9.30pm: We boarded the Nagercoil-Mumbai express kickstarting our long journey - heading to Dhound junction near Pune, My cousins and their families joined us in Gulburga next morning. Home made lunch in the train was awesome. At Dhound we changed over to Pune-Jammu express. It was a very crowded train with a lots of army personnel travelling un-reserved in reserved compartments, then there were Pilgrims to Vaishovdevi and Amarnath. It was chaotic, we were a big group and largely remained un-effected. The train journey touched 10 states before reaching Jammu on 12th afternoon- a good 6 hours late.

At Jammu we had our guide pick us up and drive us to Srinagar - a 300km bus journey expected to be done in nearly 10 hours. We reached Patnitop (a beautiful hill station) at dusk. Here is where, we got our first taste of J&K - the cops had cordoned off all non-kashmiris from going further, we had to wait till dawn -my god! We were forced to checkin to a hotel - forfeting our hotel booking at Srinagar (what a waste). Early morning - we started to srinagar, we crossed the 2.5km Jawahar tunnel to enter Kashmir. The view was breathtaking. Kashmir was indeed very beautiful - maybe a 100x Ooty. The scenic valley was green - paddy and other crops being grown, lots of Arabic road signs - it looked very different than what you get to see usually in rest of India.

We reached Srinagar and managed to waste a lot of time :-) in getting our Amarnath yatri passes done. We left for Sonmarg in the evening and unfortunately we were yet again stopped by security and had to spend the night in tents. Food was no problem thanks to the Bandhars(langar), otherwise it was no where close to the basic ammenties we upper middle class are used to. Tents were clean but toilets and bathrooms were medevial or maybe pre-historic! Hahahahaha...

14th early morning - we managed to use the aadi-manav facilities and reached Baltal by 8ish, after elobrate security checks and prepartions to start the trek, we hit the dirt by 9.30am. To begin with 13 of us were to trek and 10 of them were to fly by choppers. Even before we could begin the 13 became 8, when 5 of them decided to ride on horse backs instead of testing their stamina. 8 of us - 5 elders and 3 juniors - my mother being the oldest at 63 and youngest being my daughter at 4 - started the trek.

We hired a pittu (porter) to carry Janu (my younger one). Sonu (my elder one) 9 years old - desired to not only trek but wanted to finish first. Yash - my cousin's son - about 12 years old - wished to trek at 2kmph - what a spirit! Aarti - my first cousin - was very committed and was very well prepared. Suraj - her husband and my cousin - was confident of trekking. My mother being a yoga freak was fit for her age to undertake the mission. Shobana & I were very well prepared for the trek and were eagerly looking forward to it.

The total distance is 14km - of which the first 2km is pretty flat, the climb starts then onwards. The first 7 km of climb was very tough, the gradient was pretty steep with few hair-pin bends here and there, the width of the path is at-times 10 feet and at-times less than 3 feet. One side is the mountain and the other side is a deep gorge, a slip most certainly means death, I did spot a dead horse in the deep gorge and also heard from the CRPF men that the average death rate was 1 person per day. However the chants of "jai Bhole" and "Bum Bum Bhole" kept the spirts up. Horses, palanquin (Palki), trekers were all jostling on the passage. Trekking is the safest land transport in my opinion. We did manage to trek together for a while before we got split into two groups. Our pittu was pretty quick, Sonu wanted to keep pace with him and Shobana & I had to be with her - net result - we were ahead of the rest with the lead widening.

Some where before the half way mark - we saw Suraj Bhaya overtaking us riding a horse, he had given up and switched over. We caught up with him shortly at the half mark resting place. He was resting - or was it the horse that was resting carrying a huge Suraj Bhaya...hahahahah...Here is where Sonu decided to switch as well. We relieved the pittu and the two kids rode on one horse. Suraj bhaya and the kids rode away, while we were still recovering. Shortly after the kids left - it rained, the whole trek hardly had any tree or shade to offer cover for rain, there were few Bhandars and make shift tents thats it.

Shobana paniced and worried about the children. She insisted that I run (imagine on a steep mountain) to catch up the kids to ensure their safety in rain. I obliged (as if I had a choice or wanted not to) and ran as fast as I could but the 10-15 Min gap between us - was too much for me to cover. I ran till a point where the road splits into the Pony trail and Pedestrain trail. I gave up running and just crashed on this junction. Few minutes later - I saw Mummy riding on a horse go past me, I waved at her and handed over the children's rain jackets that I was carrying to her.

Few minutes later at 3.50pm Shobana arrived. We made a quick mental calculation


(or assumption) that if we take the pedestrain route we may be able to reach before the children do. This trail had only trekkers, a pleasant change from the mess uptill now. After about a KM, the strech was very dangerous, we had to trek on slippery rocks holding only a rope for support, hop on pebbles & rocks across water falls without tripping, climb down a few rocks to reach what looked like safe ground. The safe stretch lasted for less than half a KM after which we had to trek on ice, this was night marish. One had to be very careful on Ice as it was slippery and a sideways slip will be a long slide in the wrong direction, this was initally very scarry but we did manage to get over this. Ice trekking is defintely slower and even more slower when you are dead tired. We drew energy from the fact that the cave was intermittently visibile from long distance. We could see our destination and proabably the divine forces helped us for the last leg of the trek.

After treeking for nearly 9 hours we reached Amarnath. We reached the gate at 630pm. The security stopped us for carrying a camera - we had to deposit it in shop nearby who charged Rs.100/- for safe keeping. The temple gate to the ice lingam is a steep climb - thankfully the temple had cememt steps - this is the first time since morning that we saw some cement steps. We were dead tired and these relatively easy steps looked herculean. Finally we reached the top, we conquered the trek, we made it. The feeling was ecstatic! We not only got a good darshan of the ice lingam, we were a party to the evening aarthi, we got the darshan of the white piegeon pair and we got more than enough prasad.

We meet some of our folks and it was a big relief to see them all but this was just half of the group in one tent, the other half had apparently arrived and were in some other tent, the kids were in the other half. With no mobile network, no electricity and no means of searching them in about 400 tents - we had to wait till daybreak to reach out to our kids. A million thanks to Santhosh bhaya for venturing out in pitch darkness to confirm that kids are safe and fast asleep. The tents are all laid out on Ice with thermocol and plastics used to insulate the

chillness, there are mattresses on top of this which are moist to the extend of feeling wet. The night was bitterly cold - it would have certainly been under -3 or -4 deg c. We could hardly sleep thro the night.

Aarti Bhabi and her son Yash were the other successful pair to trek, they did take the Pony trail - in retrospect - maybe it was a tad less adventurous but much safer.

Some of our folks - 4 heavy weights - made it till the helipad near the cave but could not trek the 6km between the helipad and cave temple. It was indeed unfortunate for them. Being obsese and old - they could neither ride horses nor did the palanquins dared to carry them.

At day break - we rushed to meet our kids - the kids were safe thanks to my mother and Suraj Bhaya. We accompanied the kids for the darshan and returned down for a langar break fast. At 10am we hired three horses to carry us back to Baltal the base camp. The horse ride back was very scarry but uneventful and it took us 4 hours to get back.

From Baltal we did head to Srinagar to stay in house boats for the next two nights. The house boats, the shikaras and the Dal Lake were all very beautiful - truly paradise on earth. We did a shikara ride the next day in forenoon and afternoon we made it to the 5th Century Shankarcharaya temple - and Mughal gardens build by Shah Jehan in 1600's. Kashimir is indeed very beautiful.

July 17th Saturday - after over a week since we had left home - we were finally home bound, we flew back to Bangalore. Namma Bengluru!