Beaches, Birthday Bumps, Bangkok and more...

Hmm… Here’s a Birthday Blog on my 26^th Birthday. Thank you everyone for all those Wonderful and Warm Wishes - be it via e-Mails, e-greetings, Orkut scraps, birthday bumps, a 'very special' call and the wonderful Chocolate Cake. I will cherish each and every moment forever. For they made me feel at home even while being so far from home in this smoggy city…

Thanks once Again for making my day so special!

Our i2 team has been working pretty much into late nights ever since we started on this project. Weekends were usually spent catching up on some much needed sleep and that effectively left us with little time to explore Bangkok. This last fortnight however was a bit different! Our team got some respite, thanks to a couple of interesting events that came out way. First was the sports day, shortly followed by a visit to the beautiful beach city of Pattaya.

The sports day was real fun; a bit tiring at times, with more than a dozen events lined up back-to-back.

There was a prize for the winning team from amongst the five teams and our Green Team was eventually declared the overall winner at the end of the day.

The weekend that followed was the 2-Day visit to Pattaya… The leader of the pack of 8 was ChiChi aka Sameeeeeer Saxennnna with his inexhaustible bundle of practical jokes and knack of perfect humor (extra e’s & n's in his name for the Thai Version.). He led throughout with his enthusiasm and along chugged Lahuti, Ankit, Tiwariji, Mohan, me, Ghosh Babu, Atul and Vahini… Once there, we were joined by Koon Sayan and Koon Charoen. We all made for a real fun team. :)

The tourist city of Pattaya is well-planned and has a very hospitable and welcoming ambience.

Day one was the visit to an isolated beach island called Koh Larn Island near Pattaya. The beach there was breathtakingly beautiful… absolutely clear skies, white sand and blue-green waters, kind of... straight out of some Oil on Canvas Painting.

After hours of splashing around, beach volleyball and some unintended sun tanning, it was time to head to the Hotel Resort.

Day 2 began with a leisurely morning spent at the beautifully maintained Nong Nooch Gardens. They have a wonderful Orchid Garden and even created a replica of the Stonehenge.

Post a sumptuous lunch at Alibaba Restaurant, we found ourselves on the famous Pattaya Beach complete with its European tourists, banana boats, para sailing and much more...

I must admit that the Banana Boat ride was the most exciting of them all though! It needed a lot of co-ordination. We fell into the water not once, not twice, but thrice and I still get an adrenalin rush when I see these wonderful snaps clicked by Vikas...

Pic 1. Before the first fall...

Pic 2. Down with the Banana Boat...

Pic 3. Out of the water after some tense moments...

Then it was Sunset Time and we lazed around a bit, our bones aching courtesy to the three falls.

The trip would have been incomplete without a walk on the famous walking street with its infamous bars and pubs. So we went ahead and did just that. Walk :)

Pattaya was fun and helped us unwind and begin anew on the project. Look forward to having some more good time here in the 'Land of Smiles'. Catchya then!

Bangalore Bytes - II

My Thai Airways plane glides effortlessly through this nascent pre-sunrise Bangkok sky on its way to Suvarnabhumi Airport. From my window seat, the entire city horizon looks like the city has been chiseled and mapped to scale with absolute perfection. It is dotted with dozens of Parallel expressways twinkling with their still brightly lit street lights, each trying to proclaim its dominance over the other. One can see numerous zigzag flyovers that will try their best to confuse every new tourist out of his wits throughout the day to come. Way above the Bangkok horizon and smog, right beside my plane I can see a very pretty ‘good morning’ cloud with its own golden lining that it seems to borrow from the emerging sun. And finally I have ‘Morning Celebration’ by Karunesh playing in the backdrop to make it a picture perfect setting for diving into flash-back…

Bangalore brought along with it many new people - most of them fellow i2ers. In my last blog I wrote about some people who made my transition to Bangalore smooth. They were people I knew... folks from school, college, B-School. But there are many more whom I met for the first time. - most of them from SPJIMR, Bombay.

Like ‘Punch Liner -Amit Vijay’ alias AV who has this uncanny ability of coming up with the most unthinkable and utterly hilarious punch lines in the most unexpected circumstances. Then there is ‘The Monk without a Ferrari – Anand’ who keeps planning about how to get rich enough to buy his first Ferrari ASAP. Both AV and Monk have one thing in common - a fantastic sense of humor. Then comes ‘The Motorola Man – Ashwin’ alias Crao who brandishes his latest Motorola and if you happen to say ‘Motorola isn’t good’ and/or ‘Nokia is the best’, be sure you are dead the next moment :). ‘Happy Man - Avinash’ is someone who never stops being happy and smiles all the way.

Then there are my own folks from B-School, my classmates Ajay, Shilpa, Prit Raj and Nitin. Prit Raj’s bachelor’s party was our first late night outing in Bangalore and it remains one of the best times I have had in the Garden city - thanks to the non-stop jokes cracked by AV, Nitin and others, we almost died in a riot of laughter that night! Truly awesome fun!

The sudden clutter of the cockpit radio jolts me out of my flash-back. “Cabin Crew – Prepare to land” crackles the pilot’s voice over the in-flight announcement system and within the next few moments the plane made a perfect landing at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The journey has been very comfortable so far and I hope it stays so for the entire duration of my first assignment with the Tatas in Thailand. Will keep you folks posted… Ciao then!

Bangalore Bytes

Hey folks! I'm back. After a real long time, scores of procrastinating sessions (mine) and complaining emails (by friends), I realized it was time I finally punched some thoughts onto my keyboard.

A lot has transpired ever since my last blog post... I have reached an important milestone in my career with the completion of my MBA at SPJ, Singapore. The last days of the program were all about mixed feelings. The 'not-so-good-feeling' about the program coming to an end was kind of neutralized by my parents’ week-long visit to Singapore and the wonderful time I had with them. And then we had some wonderful company in the form of Delnaz’s family.

My time in Singapore can be termed as one of the most memorable days of my life. However, following my career objectives had (earlier) ensured that I would be heading back to India post my MBA; for India is where the action really is.

Before I got from B-School back into the rat-race, I got a much needed opportunity to spend some days at home to unwind, relax and get in touch with myself. My stay in Mumbai was dotted with chance encounters and meets with some good old friends. These included 'Amjed Bhai' who kept running away from all Questions related to Shaadi.com, 'Mr. All Smiles' Rajesh who never missed an opportunity to pull everyone else's leg at Prashant's wedding in Thane, 'Chocolate Girl' Prachee who just kept that chocolate smile on, no matter how many bags (mine) she had to carry :) and the 'Maratha Prince' Rahul who still is in a dilemma about whether to get married first or go for that elusive MBA first. Net Net...Had a great time and by the time it was over, I was left wishing I could spend some more time with my family...

Next, I found myself headed for Bangalore to join i2, where I am based at present. A beautiful but sleepy garden city, Bangalore is still grappling to come to terms with the fact that it is now a major power center for India - thanks to IT. I am fortunate to have the company of other friends from B-School and beyond. 'The Almighty Lord' Easwar who can express even the smallest and simplest joys of life through the odes on his blog, 'Biscuit Queen' Delnaz who kept praying that Brittania doesn't post her to Mizoram, Shillong or some other remote Indian land to sell Biscuits, 'Juni Maitrin' (marathi) Shweta whom I got to meet after a really long-long time (21 years to be precise) and refresh some long forgotten memories. Thanks to them my transition to this garden City was really smooth.

That's all for now... There is a whole new bunch of interesting people I have come across in Bangalore. But more about them in my next post. Watch out!

The Nizam's Heritage Block.... The latest Buzz at S P Jain, Singapore!

I had promised to come back with more pics of the latest buzz at S P J - The newly restored Heritage Building... and here I keep my promise as always! :-)

I was always intrigued by the name "Hyderabad Road' ever since the day I landed here.
Yes, that's the name of the road on which the S P Jain, campus is located in Singapore.
Last month the new Leadership and Executive Education centre was inaugurated at the hands of the Education Minister of Singapore, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Read more about the inauguration here.

On a quiet rainy evening after the inauguration, last week I sneaked into the new block and got trigger happy with my camera. :-D Here they are!!

Me at the entrance of the New Leadership centre...


The Leadership Centre was earlier a Royal Vacation Mansion of the Nizam of Hyderabad... That's why "Hyderabad Road". :-)

And now... let my pictures do the talking!

One of those cosy corners...


A close up of one of those frames is shown below... Take a quick glance... What do you see? a Horse jumping over an obstacle? Bingo! There you go... Wrong! Observe carefully now! Its actually a Camel!! and not a horse. :-)


An ornate but pricey glass chandelier...


A close up of a portrait of the Nizam...


The entire leadership block at S P Jain, Singapore is full of more such antique pieces... When I was done clicking my pics, I decided to take a look at the Garden, which is now being restored to its original royal beauty by the S P Jain administration.

And that's Vineet at the Amphitheatre Outside...

Finally, take a look at the open garden on the other side of the Heritage Building... which is a part of the campus too.

Singapore from the 72nd Floor of the 'Swiss Stanford' - EQUINOX

We reached the place early so we don't miss the beautiful sunset. However, the smog ensured that the sun disappeared behind it prematurely... thus ruining our chances... Yet we made the most out of it! :-)

Perched on the top of the Swiss Stanford, the Equinox is an elegant palce and a recent hit with Top Class Singaporeans.


I was lucky enough to find a cushy and comortable place near a glass pane and that kept me trigger happy with my camera :-D Was fun watch those cars go about the sqares with crazy madness while here we were on the top of the world... doing... JUST NOTHING! Felt like God. :-)


Singapore... minutes after sunset.

Singapore through the wine glass...

Amazing View of the Singapore river along with the city horizons.


The view of the CBD (Central Business District) includes Corp HQ's of Finanial & Telecom Companies like HSBC, Maybank, OCBC Bank, DBS and SingTel etc.

The Majestic Chinese Gardens

All set to exploit a rare free day... College Entrance as seen from the Library Reading Room which by the way is a designated Heritage Building... (more about it later)


The Breath-taking beauty at the entrance of the Chinese Gardens...


The Japanese Pagoda...

Spiral stairs Inside the Japanese Pagoda... (reminded me of the Boot House in Mumbai)


The breath-taking scene from the top of the Japanese Pagoda...


In the Bonsai Gardens... (The small tree in the green vase to my left was more than 80 yrs old and had miniature fruits on it. Amazing! Isn't it??)


The trail winding its way to the smaller twin pagodas...



And that's Bala at his best... :-D

Visit to Singapore National Museum

The Grand Old Museum Building...


Interiors of the Museum Entrance Dome...


A Typical Singaporean Family Tree in snaps...


Trace your roots at the Ancestral Family Tree Exhibition in the visitors' lounge...


On the way back... VIVO City Mall - the latest attractions among Mall-crazy Singaporeans.

European 3PL Summit and Outsourcing Logistics event

Recently came across this website about Europe's biggest Industry Conference held in Brussels, Belgium. Quite informative, specially if you are some one interested in the Supply Chain & Logistics Field. You will especially find it useful to understand who are the leaders in the SCM Space (Ya! Capgemini - my previous employer and i2 my next assignment share spare under the same roof here :-).

The website also lists info about latest in the Transportation and Logistics space.

Interested already?

Check it out, now!

Night Safari

Ambience at the entrance...

A specially made collage of the Night Safari Trip...


With friends at the Night Safari... (Looks more like a Benetton Advt. ! Doesn't it??) :-D

Another collage with folks in the Tram Ride...