this month's experience - Oct 2008

Well i would say, one of the most adventurous month this had been. It was supposed to start with the good promotion mails but which got delayed. I was in Bhopal (yeah this was 3rd visit in this year ;) ), for last week for Ramzan and then definitely celebrate Eid. I dunno in how many blogs I have written why I love to be in Bhopal for Ramzan - well definitely its different. So here I was in Bhopal celebrating Eid, met old friends (yes school time acquaintance). Again this trip was refreshing as was away from studies, which unfortunately I had not planned. I had thought of studying and coming up to speed which definitely did not happen.

Just the night before I had to leave, I had severe pain in abdomen, which docs took care by giving me pain killers. As I was feeling well in morning, I started for my journey back to Chennai. I would rate this as one of the worst decisions of my life time - I don't think I had taken such bad decision not even while investing in share market :). Though till afternoon things were fine, the pain started to re-occur towards evening and by night I was not able to sleep in train (though the intensity of pain was still lesser than previous night's). Was just praying that I reach Chennai soon and go to hospital. Alhumdulilllah reached Chennai and then went home still having that pain. By God's grace Sabahat had reached a day back and so went to 'Lifeline Hospital' - whose image I am going to rip apart below.

We went directly to hospital with me still having pain. Initially doctor checked me out and observed it might be appendicitis pain and recommended me to immediately undergo 'UltraSound' before they do the "surgery" to remove the appendix. In Ultrasound, the doctors observed it was not appendicitis, but I had dilation in the proximal ureter (which in layman terms means I had swelling in the ureter near kidney). They were not able to identify any issues (which they said should happen due to stones). Till now I was OPD and then I decided to get admitted. They finally gave me pain killer to ease the pain and then put me on IV and antibiotics (I think just like that). Then in the meantime they decided to take CT scan (I think because now I was on insurance), which they reasoned to see if they can identify the stones as the reason behind dilation. Ahha I forgot to mention that till now I am patient of 'Dr J. S. Rajkumar' or Dr. JSR who is supposed to be one of the best Gastroentologist - Surgery here. Ok so I go for the scan, they inject 'tracer' in my blood so that in CT scan they can identify things in right kidney properly. Now, how bad the luck can be, in the CT scan the 'tracer' got into the left kidney and nothing went into right. Also later doc came back and told me (and also explained more to Sabahat) that why another CT scan is required. They had taken 10mm sections in the first one and still they were not able to identify the issue. So they wanted to take another CT scan with 3mm and 5mm sections - well later I used to call this procedure 'live testing and calibration of machines'. So has another scan which also did not give out any concrete results.

Now I had been referred to urologist - Dr. Pari. In all this Dr JSR once visited me and also explained me things would be fine and how if "surgery" is required it would be small one - which I never trusted. Mostly they were trying to look for any small stone so that they can have reasons of performing surgery or surgery like thing :). So I am still on IV and antibiotics, pain has not re-occurred with doctors trying to find what can be the reason and what treatment to follow. I dunno whether so much was required, but when I got admitted they brought one big bag with all this, which I first mistook is for other too :).

So finally Dr. Pari comes and tell me that it might have been because of kidney stone which has now got dislodged from body. I can get discharged as soon as insurance things are sorted out. And finally I was out of hospital Friday evening, but unluckily started having little pain. Since I was already discharged and had medicines, I was like lets go to house then stay in hospital which I had started to dislike. I forgot to mention when I went to pay for my bills the hospital has sent estimation for Rs 41,500 to insurance company while they approved Rs 15,000 - making me wonder whether that's the reason why for any treatment option they were looking for "surgery" as solution.

I was again supposed to meet Dr. Pari after three days which was Monday. As I went to hospital (even after fixing prior appointment), he made me wait almost for 1.5 hours as he was still not in (there were other who were waiting since 9:00 AM ie well over 3 hrs) - how unprofessional of a doctor. As I told him, that for last three days, the pain occurs sometime and then goes, he started explaining another of the possibilities - that the problem might be PUJ obstruction, which is pelvic-ureter junction obstruction. He explained that this is since childbirth and problem starts occurring between 20-30 age group (again fitting my age). The cure for this is definitely "surgery" - I should have punched him then and there itself for repeating that word again. To confirm whether it is due to PUJ obs., he recommended me to undergo one more test (yeah go and get one more machine calibrated). This test was Nuclear medicine test - where they would inject me with radioactive material (to make me next spiderman?) and would study my kidney function under camera (like I am some reference material or what???). This observation from him, his inconclusiveness in identifying problem and his lack of confidence and flowchart type approach in trying to identify my problem led me to decide of not seeking his advice at all.

I came out, decided to get my reports checked through some other doctor and get their advice (I would not have to undergo any other test - I had all test reports with me - Ultrasound, CT scan, Chest X-ray, Blood test, urine test...). I stopped taking the medicine too, just to see if problem re-occurs or not. Alhumdulillah I did not had any problems after that day, the pain has also not re-occurred.

Everyone has told me that hospital - Lifeline, reputation is not that good. They have cases of mis-diagnosis and other issues.

So the month started beautifully with some pain in between and now towards the end of the month have got the promotion letter. Yes finally am a Project Manager, officially. Though I would say I always knew I will get it this time, the market conditions have been bad, there are very less number of promotions which have gone through this time. Still there are reasons to smile :)

Chalo I think now I should get back to study or else the future will not be that good as it is now.

Why Robert Reich Is Right About Corporate Social Responsibility

I was going through Infosys blogs where I stumbled upon this article by Mark Kramer on why Reich is Wrong on CSR.

I admire Mark Kramer because of the work he has been doing along with Micheal Porter, but on CSR I have kind of mixed view of both Kramer and Reich.

Corporates are operated for profit. In my opinion, CSR is being used as another "marketing campaign " by the organizations rather then it being a conscious effort to bring in some real change.

For e.g. Philip Morris as part of CSR, will ever stop making cigarettes? Will Dow Chemicals and other chemical industry stop producing dangerous chemicals so as to save the environment? Will the manufacturers of SUV's stop producing it right away, so that there is complete stop of those fuel guzzling monsters?

Answer is no, a big NO. We as humans, will never do anything which affects the 'profits' for which the organizations have been created or in fact which in any way affects to our comfort.

Right now what is happening is we continue to contribute in the destruction of earth and on the other hand we try to reverse "some %" of that destruction. Is that right? That is what corporates have to ask themselves and if they really want to change the way Earth is getting destroyed, do something which really helps by changing themselves so that max of the damage is not caused.

This is true in IT companies too here in India. Every company is talking about CSR and some are taking it seriously, but for me that looks more to be "good boy" campaign so that they can "differentiate" themselves in this competitive world. Just last week I was reading an article in Times of India - Chennai edition, where they mentioned how IT companies are resisting the idea of having common buses for employees instead of each company having individually hundreds of buses. The reason why they are resisting is that they fear "their employees" being poached.

So here we see, on one hand we are talking about CSR, but on the other hand if we perceive any 'threat' we turn our face away, looking at the other side.

We have to remember, we don't have much time. This Earth which have survived for millions of years, might not be in position to support future generations if we continue with our destruction like this. Some scientists say we have only a decade left before we see irreversible changes happening. Other argue that these calculations are wrong, well what if these first set of scientists are right? Will these second set if scientists guarantee that they will bring earth to its previous state?

It's high time that we start looking at CSR seriously, not with any profit angle but with ways of saving the earth even if it means forgoing profits.

what a quarter...

Today the first quarter for PGSEM got over, with test innings of end terms getting over after two gruesome - 4 hours and a 2 hour test. How I fared, well would say this quarter was an eye opener. Have a long list of not to-do or I would say definitely to-do items from next quarter onwards, which is by the way starting next to next week.

Subjects which were in this semester were interesting, Strategic Management taught how to evaluate and start thinking about strategies. Micro Economics tried to give good idea on how we should think in real life with respect to economic perspective and Financial accounting - how to decipher Balance Sheet, P&L and Cash Flow statements. Subjects were good, but I could not do complete justice by reading all the material which was given. But this is not going to happen going forward, otherwise will miss on lots of things.

So its time to have one last good night sleep and then start looking at the second quarter subjects :).

Let down by our own people...

Whenever I think of Bhopal one thing which still pains me is the justice denied to us. And mostly it's not the Americans who are to be blamed, but our own people - our very own Indian people - Indian Govt., CBI and the 'great' Indian Justice system, which till now have not been able to extardicate Anderson or should I say, have not shown the will to get and prosecute him.

Till now, the very own government did nothing to move the poisonous material lying there in the factory which has now seeped into the ground water causing dangerous diseases like cancer. To add salt to the injury, our 'un-educated' 'illiterate' ministers point that the materials are not poisonous and have not caused any issues. Let's do one thing - why not make these ministers drink that water and let them use the water for sometime, so that we are convinced whatever they are saying is correct. But those unworthy people will not take risk with there lives.



Our great medical system, which still works on copying the drugs, or the best scientists which we produce, could not decipher the code of Methyl iso-Cyanide and come up with anti-dote for those. Why should we, even after 25 years from tragedy, wait for Union Carbide which is now taken over by Dow Chemicals to give the documents related to ill effects of the gas. Can't we ourselves try to solve the mystery.

And finally, even CSR, which everyone is talking about will not make Dow Chemicals, share the secret of MIC gas, even if it means further generations of people could probably be saved.

I will never forget the horrors of Bhopal neither should the world.

Note: I have intentionally not put one photo, of a young child being buried which is heart rendering.

Asaduddin Owaisi's speech text

This deal is not between religions and communities. It is between two countries of India and United States. Why are you dragging Muslims into this? I would like to counter the canard that is being spread that the Muslims of this country are against the nuclear deal. I just want to ask why don’t the rulers of UP and West Bengal CMs single out and tell whether the Dalits or the Hindus of their state support the deal or not.

I am supporting the government because I do not want at any cost the leader of Opposition LK Advani as the Prime Minister.

I am very well aware of the Left’s hatred against the minorities. While there are about 28 percent Muslims in the West Bengal, why is it that their representation is merely 2 per cent? This is not the way to claim supporting the minorities. If you want to support the BJP, then go ahead. But I am very clear, if Advani becomes the Prime Minister who will suffer? I will suffer a loss. I have already suffered the loss of the Babri masjid.

I am a Muslim and I am an Indian and I see no distinction between the two.

Here are the excerpts from Omar Abdullah's speech which he made in Parliament on 22 July, 2008.

SHRI OMAR ABDULLAH (SRINAGAR): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I think that it is a matter of great misfortune for Parties like mine. … (Interruptions) I do not know whether the Rs. 1 crore that was shown here is genuine or not. But I think that it is extremely unfortunate that if nothing else, this Rs. 1 crore is seeking to buy the silence of Parties like mine who are not being given an opportunity to speak in a correct manner in this House. … (Interruptions)

I have been a Member of this House for 10 years, and I have never disturbed this House in these 10 years. I have sat with them and I have sat on this side, and I have never disrupted a speaker and yet here they do not have the courtesy to listen to what I have to say. … (Interruptions)

I am a Muslim, and I am an Indian. I see no distinction between the two. … (Interruptions) I see no reason why I, as a Muslim, have to fear a deal between India and the United States of America (USA). … (Interruptions) This is a deal between two countries. It is a deal between, we hope, two countries that in the future will be two equals. … (Interruptions)

Sir, the enemies of Indian Muslims are not the Americans, and the enemies of the Indian Muslims are not ‘deals’ like this. The enemies of Indian Muslims are the same enemies that all the poor people of India face, namely, poverty and hunger, unemployment, lack of development and the absence of a voice. It is that we are against, namely, the effort being made to crush our voice. … (Interruptions)

I am not a Member of the UPA, and I do not aspire the Membership of the UPA. But I am extremely unhappy with the way in which my friends in the Left have taken on this self-imposed position of being the certifiers of who is secular and who is not. … (Interruptions)

Until a few years ago, I was a part of the NDA and I was a Minister with them. The same Left people considered me as a political untouchable, and they considered me an outcaste because I was a part of the NDA. Today, the same Left people are telling me that all secular Parties must unite with the BJP to bring down this Government. … (Interruptions)

I made a mistake of standing with them once. I did not resign on the question of Gujarat when my conscience told me to do so, and my conscience has still not forgiven me. I need not make the same mistake again. … (Interruptions)

आप लोग अमरनाथ की बात करते हो, आपने अमरनाथ का आरोप लगाया,…(व्यवधान) आप एक जगह दिखाइए, जहां पर किसी कश्मीरी ने यात्रा के खिलाफ बात की हो, जहां किसी कश्मीरी ने कहा हो कि हमें यात्री नहीं चाहिए, जहां यात्रियों के ऊपर हमला हुआ हो।…(व्यवधान) हमारी जमीन का मुद्दा था, हम अपनी जमीन के लिए लड़े और मरते दम तक अपनी जमीन के लिए लड़ेंगे, लेकिन हम आपकी तरह फिरकापरस्त नहीं हैं।…(व्यवधान) हम आपकी तरह कम्युनल नहीं हैं। हम मस्ज़िद नहीं गिराते और मंदिर भी नहीं गिराते। …(व्यवधान) वहां एक सौ साल से ज्यादा अमरनाथ की यात्रा चलती आ रही है और जब तक कश्मीर में मुसलमान हैं, श्रीनगर और अमरनाथ में आपकी यात्रा चलती रहेगी। …(व्यवधान)

अध्यक्ष महोदय, मैं यह बात दावे के साथ कहना चाहता हूं कि इन लोगों की तरह मेरी सियासत बदलती नहीं है, आज इस तरफ और कल उस तरफ। …(व्यवधान) हमने सेक्यूलर फोर्सेस के साथ हाथ मिलाया है और मिलाते रहेंगे। The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (J&KNC) will vote to support the Motion moved by the Prime Minister. Thank you.

Why MBA? Why PGSEM from IIMB...

When I told everyone that I am joining PGSEM, the first question people had is what is it? Next came what I plan to do after doing it? Some suggestions came in with respect to the course and what other have felt about it. When I announced, I am shifting to Chennai to pursue the course, came another one - why Chennai?

Well to be truthful, I was not thinking of doing MBA until sometime around Jan. Reasons were varied, I loved (and still love and enjoy) doing technical work and was expert in most of the work I do. But then there was something missing, which I had started realising. As I was moving up the ladder, the challenges which were coming up were getting reduced and I was not getting that much kick from my work. So I started thinking of venturing out into some new areas and looked for more options. Initially I zeroed on some certificate courses from IIMC etc which are conducted by Hughes and they were available in Mangalore also. The reason why I completely dropped them from my mind was that I realised those courses offered little value and there were no chances of class participation and creating some network.

My idea of doing MBA was doing it part time only. Full time was no-no :), so that's why was not thinking of full time PGP (through CAT) at all. I stumbled upon PGSEM through some of the websites and worked on getting more knowledge on the course.

Well the course is 2.5 years (min), part time, executive, general management course conducted by IIMB in Bangalore and Chennai. In Chennai it happens over distributed mode i.e. the class happeneing in Bangalore is transmitted over to Chennai classroom and vice-versa (since last two weeks profs had been in Chennai).

This course is one of the most misunderstood while being not as famous as its full time counterpart (i.e PGP). I will just explain all the facts in post below and all these are my thoughts. In my opinion, in everyone's mind the perception of an MBA graduate is a person who is working in an Investment Bank (IB's) and draws the highest salary. Well that is true in some of the cases, where the IB's take in people from IIM's with grand salaries. This may not be true for all the MBA's from IIM's. There are varied reasons, people are exceptionals or they may have prior experience because of which they are taken. Well but that is true for only x% of total grads (am not debating on what that x is). But this has set the perception in minds of everyone about what an MBA from IIM does.

My reason for chosing and deciding on PGSEM from IIMB were very clear. It is one of the best MBA school, PGSEM is a part time course thereby allowing me to continue the job and I did not want to shift into an IB (if that was my aim, full time MBA would have been better option). With these clear aim in mind I decided to go forward.

Entrance I say is tough. Admission is through CAT / GMAT or PGSEM exam (happens in March). I gave the PGSEM test which is very similar to CAT, but as usual IIM threw in a surprise for us. There was an extra essay test givem on a case. Well I would say, this move was definately in my favour. Then we had two rounds of interview - Alumni and Faculty after which only seats were offered. Don't unestimate the competition for the course, for a total of 150 seats for the course, 4-6 people were interviewed for a seat and so you can see there were lots of rejections too.

There has been some concers on the placements not available after the course, but dude, you are pursuing the course since you are already in job. Now if you want to utilize the course and get into some other area, then you should be proving that in your company and move, I don't think everything should come one a plate :). I am very clear on how I will proceed further, which area I will move into is still being thought off in my mind.

From these 4 weeks of going weekly for the course, one thing is very clear to me. It going to be tough. Daily working till evening and then leaving early from home for classes (as they happen in MCity which is outside Chennai city) and contiuing over Saturday also. It leaves just one day which I was mostly spending on sleeping, but after yesterday's test I will be studying properly on Sunday's as well as other day's of the week :). One more thing, nowdays the wishing on Saturday evening, which is when classes ends it like 'Have a nice day', no reference of weekend by anyone. In the past there has been some drop-outs from the course, people who might find it difficult to manage the time between work, studies and personal life.

So people who have come out of this course are more hardened than probably the full time (we have to earn the same credits as the full time people to get the degree) but in no way we should be comparing the courses as all are distinctively different.

Useful information about the program:

IIMB PGSEM site

Yahoo group for PGSEM

PGSEM - Students Network

Wiki

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B) - Post-Graduate Diploma in Software Enterprise Management (PGSEM) - Orientation Class for 2008 batch

Now since I have decided to pursue the PGSEM program from IIM-B, it was very likely that I would definitely attend the Orientation class which has been organised for 2008 batch by IIM-B and PGSEM seniors. Orientation classes were to start from 30th May - 1st June (with 30th May being optional day) and these classes were overlapping the annual industry-academia event named LCube.

It was a great opportunity to meet, interact and know almost all the class mates, seniors and professors. I would say finally this aim was achieved but by the end of program there were some more realizations which have crept in the mind.

It was a residential program so the arrangements for acco had been made by IIM-B in the hostels. Well to tell about IIM-B campus as such (where I had been twice earlier - for alumni and faculty interview for PGSEM), just as u move off Bannerghatta Road and get into the campus the world completely changes (no I am not talking in spiritual terms). On the other side of campus i.e. on Bannerghatta Road, there still will be thousands of vehicles trying to capture and win every inch of road space which they can, dust all over the place and vehicle exhausts (pollutants) which you will be breathing (off course with some amount of oxygen for you to survive). But inside the campus it is serene and quiet environment. When first time I had visited I was trying to figure out whether there are any buildings or not as the entire campus is covered in green. I had liked the architecture, no high rise buildings in the campus, the building design in such a way that it merges well with the environment and trees and creepers inside the buildings (walkways etc).

This visit was going to be completely different from my previous visits. This time I was walking-in as a student of one of the most prestigious institutions in India - The IIM-B. It was a very proud moment for me and my father who definitely would have been watching me from heavens, something much more bigger than the one which I experienced more than 5 years back when I walked in Infosys Mysore campus as an employee.

So I was in 'the' campus and went straight to the hostel so that I can be ready for the session which was going to start at 8:30 AM. Well this time I had not trusted the train in bringing me on time and really the Mangalore - Bangalore buses are running on-time.

After moving in to the hostel room (not mentioning checking in as it was hostel and not hotel room), I started to decipher hostel life (I had never stayed in hostel either in school or in college). It was good. In the meantime had met some of my classmates too.

Day 1 - 31 May, 2008

After getting ready, moved towards breakfast area with my new found friends. After having light breakfast we had the welcome ceremony followed by the team building workshop. Since I have very recently attended the team building workshop I was enthu about this one too as it would be more of games and less of theory. I was conducted by Rahul Kapoor, who was very energetic guy. It was a good team building and ice breaking session where I got introduced to more of my batchmates (I would have loved to remember each of you guys name, but unfortunately that's going to take little more time). There were quite few good learning at the end which definitely are going to help in life.

Post-lunch it was time to go over do's and dont's, which is very important for everyone who is part of any institution. Till this time it was all well and then Prof. Shankar Venkatagiri, Chairperson - PGSEM, painted what initially looked like a terrifying picture of life (with work, life and PGSEM all together)which later I equated to a challenging life which I will be facing each day in life going forward. I think I should have been mentally ready for this earlier, after all it's IIM-B (I think name itself rings the bell) from which I am doing my post-graduation. I am really grateful (and I think all my other batchmates will be too), to Prof. Shankar for taking the eye-opener session. This was followed by couple of more sessions by professors on the subject (and mind you they are really among the best in the world). After this there was corporate quiz organised as part of LCube. Mostly realised that it would take some more effort from my side for studying all the subjects.

It was evening and when things looked like to settle (hopes of a great evening and sound sleep in night) we were given with the first assignment. It was a case study which was supposed to be mailed before 6:30 AM next morning. On the first day itself we were accustomed to the life of being in an IIM and it was great but little busy :). After dinner worked on the case study (and skipped the IPL semi-finals) and finished it before dosing off to sleep. Next day sessions were to start at 8:00 AM sharp (profs and seniors had already reiterated 'n' number of times how much punctuality is required from our side).

Day 2- 1 June, 2008

Woke up at 6:00 AM to be on safer side and got ready. After the breakfast when we reached auditorium we were in for a surprise quiz. It was on Quanta, score which I got made me realise how much I have lost touch with core subjects. Well during this quiz, it was really showed what punctuality means. The gates of the room were closed (as has been mentioned that some professors do this in class). Quiz was followed by case analysis which we had got last night. One of the groups were made to present there analysis on which we had discussion. Prof YLR Moorthy was great in the analysis and other points which he brought forward. Following the analysis was session on presentation skills by Rakesh Godhwani who is ex-PGSEMite. Only difference from other sessions which I have attended was that he has shown movie clips in this one to bring forth some of the points. After these sessions it was time to go through the core subjects, how and what to study in those subjects and question & answer by seniors who have scored 4 in those subjects. GPA calculation I am still not clear on, but as time passes I know I will get accustomed to it.

These induction sessions were followed by last event of LCube, keynote address by Mr. Som Mittal (President, Nasscom) and panel discussion on "DNA for the next generation of IT Leaders". In his address, Som presented lots of number and facts about where industry is and what the projections are. After his address it was time for panel discussion with good number of senior people (Mr. Som Mittal, Mr. Subash Menon [CEO, Subex Ltd], Mr. Sudip Banerjee [President - ES, Wipro], Mr. Vijay Anand [President - Server Tech, Oracle India], Mr. Jairaman [SAP] and Uma Balkrishnan [CEO, Axcend Automation and ex-PGSEMite ) . What lacked in them was real zeal what you see in panel discussions on TV channels. Probably it was late Sunday evening which might justify that, but in the end there were couple of good points to be taken from it. Mostly in the room it was our batch people only, not many from senior batches which was surprising to me.

Finally it was end of two days, with a nice dinner, which at least gave me a glimpse of what is in store for next 2.5 years. Life is going to be hectic including weekdays as the entire thing will surely test my limits everyday. That will be real fun :)

One blog which I am still writing is on my decision to join the course and "my" reasons.

Some more blogs on Orientation from Karthik and Pravin.

Sweet Home Bhopal

So I have to go home. Marriage of another family member and that's good enough reason for making the trip. Well to be truthful there were other reason also. I was in Waitlist for IIMB (Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore) PGSEM program (well some blogs on this subject will be published) and if that gets cleared then it will be little difficult to make trips to Bhopal as often as I would like to make.

So with this I booked the tickets and got both side as Waitlist tickets (yeah the waitlist was 'the' keyword attached to me at this moment). Even though by the day I was supposed to travel, the waitlist did not get cleared, I thought of trying my luck little realising that it was summer vacations which was going to end and I was in long distance train. So I boarded the train with TTE mentioning that there are no empty seats. But what to do, habit of 'never give up' does not die easily. I waited patiently for TTE to check all 3AC tickets and then he gave me a berth. I was lucky as a group was travelling and there were few less people there. So had a good journey, slept for most of the travel duration.

After reaching Bhopal there was not much time to do other activities. But it was too hot (looks like old habit of being able to cope up with that heat is becoming lesser), and still I would be going out :). Some things never die. Yeah drank lots of shikanji and panna to beat the heat (man by staying in south I miss so many things). Bhopal as usual was as beautiful as it always had been. Walking past the bylanes or driving down the Lake View drive would always bring the long cherished dream of coming back to Bhopal but alas still there is no IT industry in Indore (I would not like IT industry to come in Bhopal and disbalance the social fabric which is there. After seeing what has happened to cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and others, I would prefer to work in Indore and stay in Bhopal).

I have always noticed something when I am in Bhopal. Whatever number of leaves I take my vacation ends up very quickly. Same was happening now and I was feeling bad. But just before my vacation could end, I got the good (dunno what to say) news that my IIMB waitlist is cleared and they have offered me a seat (but in Chennai as there were no seats in Bangalore). I discussed the situation at home and as usual got full support there. So I had to come back, start the proceedings for my transfer to Chennai and think about what's in store for me now.

While coming back I tried my luck again but this time it was not that good. The train (2AC and 3AC) were overbooked with lots of waitlist people travelling. For the night I could not find an empty seat (unlucky me), but then the 3AC attendant offered me his seat (yeah the hard one which is near the gate), offcourse for a price :). Atleast got something for that night. Later in day got another berth and slept for sometime. Finally reached back Mangalore with a heavy heart and sad feeling on missing 'the' Bhopal. But the dream still is there. One day (this will be mostly after 2.5 years as I have to complete my MBA now), I will definately work and settle from Bhopal.

Back to Munnar, Kerala - 02/01/2008

So here I am back again with my travel tales. When I was a kid, serial used to come 'Arabian Nights' where every week a new travel tale used to be shown. After travelling so much and writing about these trips same feeling is sinking in.

The trip plan started as there were couple of holidays coming in. But this final date choice was made because of the fact that Neil was travelling onsite (which he has not done now). So we wanted it to be sort of final trip before group looses one more person. Whenever we want to go somewhere, the biggest problem is not logistics (we have become great planners now) but about the place where to go. So this trip was not different. We started looking for international vacation this time (thinking big P:) ) and the first though was Malaysia, for which we did some initial ground work then backed off. After this we thought of executing Pondicherry plan but it was also killed. After this we spend few evenings and few days checking out for Shimla (yeah something in north this time). Had almost finalised on this but per person expenditure was going over budget and also it required taking some leaves (for people like me some leaves is a very big thing). Before finally deciding on Munnar, we thought once of Goa which we dropped as it is very regular destination for us. So finally we had a place to go - Munnar. Biggest of the things is decided. Rest of the things would not take so long. So we quickly booked tickets for people who were coming and also to put pressure on others who were still trying to decide whether to join the party or not. Finally it was group of eight (8) which was going to enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyy - me (otherwise this blog would not have been there), Vaibhav, Neil, Sadashiv (isse Shetty keh ke pukaarte hain), Vinay, Avin, Divya and Swetha (nopes not the Shetty from Ooty trip, woh to onsite main hai ab. This one is different Swetha).

This trip was different from my last trip to Munnar is couple of ways. Firstly it was planned one (last time everything was runtime) and secondly because it was planned we had booked rooms in the resort :) [yeah me and Neil called up almost every resort in Munnar. That was fun too, sitting at desk from 6:30 to 9:00 in evening trying to find acco in 'decent' resort]. Also this time we were going to Alleppey, which I had not gone last time. Vaibhav got the contact and booked the houseboat.

So finally the D-day arrived. We almost reached station on time to catch the train. Avin too made somehow (we that day only realised he will be coming from the Infosys SEZ office). We were travelling to Cochin from where we would then travel to Munnar by road. From evening (when we had boarded the train) till around midnight no one slept, because no one was in mood to sleep and we were just chatting. But later, TT told us to be quiet (because other passengers were sleeping) and we dispersed and went to our seats (which were scattered in the bogey as we had booked tickets only few days back). Me, Neil and Vaibhav sat and chatted for more time in hushed voices. By the time we were sleepy train was approaching Cochin.

Luckily the driver was there and our journey started. Well before it really started we all had tea, 3:00 AM in the morning, nothing different for me as here at home we have tea at 1 or 2 :P. So now the journey to Munnar which would take around 3 hrs had started. It was all hilly terrain, so even though we were sleeping no one slept properly. Travelling early morning has its own advantage. Sunrise which you often don't see normally can be enjoyed. So from somewhere in between Cochin and Munnar, from a Sunrise point we saw the beautiful valleys getting lighted by first rays of sun.

We had our breakfast in Munnar town. There was a good restaurent (have forgotten the name) and had nice tea. Afterall if you can't get great tea in Munnar, where else would you get then. In sometime we reached our resort. Well let me take some lines to explain our resort, because this is going to be one place where we spent lots of time and enjoyed the most (other being the houseboat which was next plan). So this resort is Ayur County's resort and was on hilltop. One thing to note was that this resort was at higher altitude than Mahindra's resort which we could see (as it was on opposite hill). So we had this resort on the hill and the rooms which we got were overlooking the valley. It was great sight, only valleys and forests in front of us and no human construction. There were two rooms and a big hall, quite spacious for us.

So here we were and the day has also started. We quickly had our breakfast and then some of us took rest, me being one of them. My vacation has finally started. So first day we went as usual to the tea gardens, Mattupetty Dam, Echo point and a tea museum. Our driver was also a talkative and interesting fellow. First time I came to know how Munnar got its name from him, Munnar means three rivers and since the city is on confluence of three rivers it got its name. There were few changes from what I had seen last time. Some places near the lake now had barbed wires, not allowing us to enjoy the beauty of the lake. Apart from this Munnar was still at its best. So much is there in Munnar to enjoy that just a couple of hours or days are not sufficient. In evening, we stopped at sunset point which was on way to our resort. But damn, final part of sunset happenened behind the clouds :), but still it was good to see lights shutting out in the valleys.

So after the hectic day, we went back to our resort. They had arranged for bon-fire, where we just spent some time. Finally came back in our room and gapshap went on for long long time, not sure exactly what time we slept.

Next day, we woke up aaraam se and after getting ready checked out of the resort. Destination was Alleppey where we would be spending the night, but that we were supposed to board only by late evening. So we stopped in between at places, quite a few good places. Finally we were in Alleppey and we directly went to the beach. It was a nice beach and was full of kite flyers. After spending time there, we went to the backwaters where our 3 bedroom houseboat was awaiting out arrival.

Houseboat was too good. How much rest I took, was sleeping most of the time :). After boarding, they took us somewhat in water and then anchored. Night they are not supposed to travel because fishing nets are dropped all over the place. Along with us there were three people, who were supposed to take care - navigate the boat, cook and take care. Was kind of royal treatment only, that was the reason I too was lazy :). After dinner again gapshap started, our coordinates not known. After a while, it started drizzling. One of the best incident was Vinay asking Vaibs "Can you open this bottle" when Vaibs was not in his senses at all, looks like Vinay too was not far behind. I dunno when I went to sleep, can't remember the exact time. When I woke up in morning, it was amazing. It was raining. Also you could see houseboats returning, all around you were houseboats only. So we sat there, enjoyed the rains and tea came :) Then anchor was taken off and boat started, also the breakfast was ready. What a life, want anything more!!! Eat, relax and sleep - this is what I did there. With mobile switched off (mostly because network was not that good), no tension of office work too. It was soooooo relaxing, eat, sleep, wake up and then eat and then dose off :). Went off till evening, when this amazing journey ended. This was a proper holiday :), nothing to worry and just chill. Evening houseboat dropped us back and since our train was later in night, we went directly to beach. Spent last moments of Alleppey watching sun set in Arabian Sea. Later we boarded our train from Alleppey station which is walking distance from beach, without any bag it is walking distance. But for Vaibhav, Divya, Swetha it was not walking distance with 8 people luggage.

Finally as with every trip, it was over. One of the most relaxing trips have come to an end.