I am back

After a brief hiatus, I am back. hee hee.... As usual, I have the same reason as anybody... Was Quite busy with other things.

ooh what a hectic period it has been. Trips to Malaysia, Indonesia and India marked this period. The trip to India was a very enjoyable one. Went to Chennai and Bangalore. I was lucky to have met the NBS professors and NBS fellows in India during this period as they had come on a BSM to Bangalore. It was a good networking session (thanks to Dada) with the NBS fellows. Prof Das and Sethi accompanied them. AK and Arjun were there with us from the passed outs. Had the good fortune of meeting AK Jr. He would be officially known as Pranava soon.

Recently I subscribed to Neo Sports channel in Singapore. 30++ for the Sports Channel. I get to see some good Indian Ads. The recent one which I caught my attention was COBRA. So Smooth anything can get in.

Convocation pics

http://picasaweb.google.com/kavidhya/ConvocationNTU?authkey=cvVVY6eOKO0

Have a look !

NTUaah - MBAaah

It was June 2005 and in their quest to higher salaries, better career, career shift, wider networks (not the broadband), folks from 16 nations joined hands at the Nanyang Business School for an MBA. They represented diversity in true sense. Ranging from the tall Tau to the Small one, they came from different backgrounds. We had Hoteliers, Engineers, Farmists, Back Officers, Journalists and of course Consultants & Entrepreneurs. These were honoured people who were certified in Disco, at their chivalrous best. Staying at the Graduate Hall, Partying at the lounge Friday nights, Teaching Yoga especially to the videsi folks, Sleeping in Morning classes, Yahoo Skype chats, Diwali party, Networking all had been one hell of an experience. These were exponents because of whom a new style of dance evolved. I could go on and on. Feeling a lil emotional though:P.

Come July 22nd, Aruneganesh and da gang will be knighted.. Hee hee. Yes It is convocation time and officially all of us will be awarded MBA. Dont know how much of a big reunion this event will be. I know folks are occupied with work, but I sincerely pray things turn out better for them and they make their trip.

Btw, It seems that the school is gonna miss one of the stalwart Profs of our time. Check the school time table for T1 and make your conclusion. Wouldn't you be bothered ?

Folks, Please watch this movie Talladega Nights. Though it is a Will Ferrell movie, it is Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat fame) who rocks. He comes across Jean Gerrard, a French Formula Un Driver who takes on Will. His English accent is just too good. I fell off laughing after hearing this guy's English in the movie.

I am yet to watch Sivaji- The Boss. Shame Shame Puppy Shame....

Ocean's Thirteen

Atlast, we thought of having a quite weekend in Singapore after our Malaysian experience. But it so happened that we ended up landing at Ocean's Thirteen. I was excited at the prospect of watching my favorite actor Al Pacino. But the movie portrayed him a rich hotelier who could not sense what is happening around him and his hotel. The movie as usual was full of Style, Cheeky Oneliners. The thrill/suspense was a lil slow for me though. But a good time pass though.

Now we are back in the land of Sivaji. Got my cousin's marriage this Monday and I landed up in Chennai yesterday night. The whole city is chanting the single name.. Sivaji. Getting different opinions about the movie from various fronts. My cousin has got tickets for us today. But the responsibilities of a married man is preventing him:(. Let us see how it turns out !

Experience of a life time

How can I describe my recent trip to Malaysia ? Words fail me. It was the experience of a life time in many sense. Let me take you through my journey day by day. It is one long post though. Get ready for it.

Day 1: Worked from home in the morning and started off to Kuantan in the afternoon. Landed in KN around 6.45. Had our dinner at Megha Curry House and checked in at Hyatt. My wife fell in love with Kuantan the minute she landed there.

Day 2: A day at office with a full day meeting. It was full of fun and action. In the evening Lawrence, our saviour in Malaysia took care of us.

Day 3:One more day at the office with Lawrence and me going around for a short tour to the nearby industrial area Gebeng. I was surprised to see the major MNCs setting up their plant in that area. BASF, BP were some of the biggies who had their plants in that area in Kuantan. Evening we had a tour of Kuantan when we visited the Ganpathy temple there.

Day 4: The real action starts now. The work at Kuantan was done and we started off for our trip to Langkawi. We came to KL and from there we got an Air Asia flight from the LCCT Terminal to Langkawi. Shuttle buses are available from the KL airport to reach the LCCT. The ride takes around 15-20 min. Beware of the customer service officers inside the KLIA who will recommend you to take the taxis. Dont take those unless you have less than 45 min to catch your flight from the LCCT. You can definitely save yourself the taxi fare as the bus costs just 1.5 RM per person. We ended up boarding the AK1307 to Langkawi. Man! I was impressed with what I saw. The Air Asia flights are so clean. The airline follows free seating and it is just left to the passengers to choose their seats. Food and drinks are sold at a nominal rate inside the aircraft. We ended up consuming the Veg noodles pack. I will definitely give Air Asia a thumbs-up for the service they offer at economical prices. They are true to their motto "Now Everyone can fly".

When we were getting ready for landing, I could see the islands of Langkawi from the air. It was a beautiful sight. I was impressed by the small & beautiful airport. Taxis are regulated with standard rates for any destination within the island. If you have your driving license you can rent a car or bike for your stay in the island. We took a taxi and landed in our Tanjung Sanctuary resort. Though the resort was not new, it had a different feel. Ours was a separate cottage/room facing the sea. It was well maintained and it had its own private beach. We arranged for the island hopping tour the next day with the Hotel authorities.

Later that day, we ventured out for the cable car in Langkawi. We had to wait 45 minutes to get into the car and it was really hot that day. We were cursing our luck but later realised the cable car ride was worth the wait. We went as far as 850 m above the sea level. The highlight of this ride was the curved suspension bridge connecting two mountains (this was the same bridge where the climax of Don-II was shot). This bridge was a sheer testimony for engineering brilliance. Words fail me to describe the feeling I felt. The view from that bridge .. oh my god...NBS folks, we should have gone together to this place. Alas we missed this. But never mind, there is always a next opportunity.

After this ride, we went to Pantai Cenang for some Indian food. On completion of the early dinner we went around the beach. There were a group of tourists from the middle east trying out parasailing. I then realised that this was the moment I had been longing for. I just could not stop myself and went ahead in paying 80RM for that 3 minutes of excitement. Wow.......wow... I just cant believe myself doing this. The feeling was undescribable. You just need to experience it yourself. The takeoff was quite smooth and the minutes I was on the sky were some of the finest. The landing was quite shabby though as I landed in the sea :P. But it did not matter.

Day 5: The next day we went for the island Hopping tour. The weather was really bad in the morning with heavy showers. The boat ride was really rough till we got to the first island (Dayang). The weather was great. We ended up scanning that island and I even tried swimming in the Lake. We hopped two more islands and came back. In the afternoon we went for the Underwater world. The surprise package was the Penguins. Not that great if you had seen the same in Singapore. In the evening, we roamed the private beach of the hotel. Enjoyed every moment of it.

Day 6: We realised that we had missed Eagle feeding, Snorkling and loads of activities when we had to leave. But we did not have time and left with a heavy heart. We left Langkawi and landed in KL around 2.30 PM.

How was it so far ? Bored.. Let us see some real action....

When we showed our passport to get our boarding passes at the SQ counter, I did not realise what was there in the offing for us. My wife's Multiple entry visa was valid till 1 June 2007. But she first entered Singapore with this visa on the 13th of May. When she entered SG, her passport got a stamp, that from the date of entry i.e. 13th May she can enter and remain in Singapore for the next 30 days. I assumed (yes I did make Ass of myself) that this is enough for her to return to Singapore as we were catching our flight on the 3rd of June. The SQ officer said that my assumption was incorrect and promptly rejected issuing the boarding pass for her. I was furious at him as I thought he was trying to bully us. But I did not have a chance as it was a Sunday and the Singapore High Commission was closed in KL. So with the help of our saviour friend Lawrence, I booked a Hotel in KL for our stay. It was Hotel Vistana in Titivangsa. Quite a nice hotel. Since it was the peak season, the rates were around 230RM. On Sunday evening it was flooding in KL literally. It was raining like hell and in spite of that, we went around in the LRT and had sumptuous Indian dinner at Masjid Jamek.

Day 7: Monday was the make or break day. We went to the High Commission and the officer ruled out all our claims. We just had to take a new Visa. We needed photographs, photocopies of important documents. To our surprise, there were some Desi folks, who operated a Photocopying shop in a car and they even had a makeshift studio to take Polaroid photos too. Thank God ! We finally applied for my wife's Visa. There was a confusion in this too. (My wife's DP (Dependent Pass) was approved. It was mentioned in the In Principle Approval letter that a single entry visa has been endorsed for her in that document itself. The Officer at the High Commission said that document will serve the purpose of the Visa iff it was submitted in Original at the Immigration Checkpoint, whereas I had only the scanned copy of the same. The Singaporean consultant with whom I liaise with said it does not matter and the scanned copy itself served the purpose of the Visa. It made sense to me to believe the officer in the High Commission than the consultant in Singapore and I went ahead applying for her Visa).

We went to the Batu Caves in the evening, where we prayed at the temple of Lord Subramanya. The caves were a treat to watch. Anybody planning a visit to KL, I would say this is a must visit. It was heartening to see people from all religions making a visit to this cave temple. The caves are a beauty. The formation and their shape were just unbelievable. I was blessed that I visited this place.

Day 7: We went around 10 AM in the morning to the embassy and to our relief, the Visa was ready. We grabbed it with both hands and started off for our journey to Singapore back. When we landed in Singapore (we had a hassle at the hands of SQ folks once again in the airport), it was such a big relief!

What a week it had been ! I had gone through all the emotions in this one week. But I was really happy at myself and my wife with the way we handled all these issues. We never lost our cool. We were disturbed, we very sad. But we never let stress take over. That was my dear friend, helped us to think clearly, identify the main issue, analyse various alternatives and finally choosing the best one ! (hee hee I am an MBA:P).

Great Singaporean Sale

It is the singaporean sale time and being a newly married man, it was an ideal option for me to take my wife around Singapore. I had coupons of Takashimaya but it was the Robinson sale that won me over. They have good T shirts especially Hush Puppies, BHPC etc going on sale. I bought 3 for myself. Orchard road is fully crowded these days because of the sale. Plan your visit accordingly.

Also, there is an Aquatic exhibition going around in Singapore Suntec City. We visited the same with Alex joining us. It was quite a surprise for me as I did not expect such a show. If you are into aquariums and fishes, this is a must visit exhibition.

Next week I have a business trip to Malaysia. I am planning to visit Langkawi. Since it is the Vesak day weekend, getting tickets and hotels had been a real challenge. But eveything worked out finally on these front. Will write about the trip in detail after I return from the same.

Change of Status

Officially on the 6th of May, the Brahmacharya life of Aruneganesh ended and the Grihasta life started. The marriage ceremony was a three day affair amidst lot of poojas and homams. After the marriage we went on a pilgrimage trip to our native place and worshipped our deities. As usual it was hot and sultry with temperatures soaring over 40 Degrees. But it was great fun visiting these places with family. With sweet memories, we landed in Singapore on the 13th of May. Thanks to the good souls who have wished and prayed for us.

Reached ..atlast

Ah...Finally landed in Chennai during the wee hours on saturday morning. The flight did take off at 1.00 AM and landed safely in Chennai. Some price you had to pay if you look for a cheaper option..huh... Shopping in full spree has started. Spencers is amazing with so many shops. No wonder it is fully crowded. The Reception suit is still pending. Hoping to complete it by today.

Killing time

What will you call a guy who waits in the airport for 5.5 hours for his delayed flight ,who gets to know that there will be a further delay of 1.5 hours, who tries to post something in his blog and ends up deleting it ? You guessed it right .. Arune. But I am amazed at myself as I had been keeping myself cool for this entire period.

It has been a little stressful day at the office with issues cropping up at the last moment. While coming to the airport, I end up paying extra 5 bucks for my taxi as my call was considered advanced booking by the taxi company. When I checked in my luggage, I got to know that the flight is delayed by 4 hours. Not even a single apology. Way to go Air India.

After killing 3 hours roaming inside the airport and watching pretty faces, I get to know the flight is delayed further. As of now, I have been told that the flight is expected to start at 00.30 hrs on 28th Apr. Phew....Mani has been so courteous and has been inviting me continuously for dinner today. He is damn sure that I wont be leaving before tomorrow evening. As of now, I have decided to carry on killing my time inside the airport.

I hope my next post will be sometime soon from India.

Lara the legend !

The end came atlast. The king could just make 18 runs before he was run out ! But it was a fitting farewell for the maestro. What a match it had been. Poms chasing 300 and winning it in the last over.

Like his batting, his career has been quite exaggerated. But he was the number one entertainer of the last two decades. Read what Rahul Bhattacharya says about the king in this article.
http://content-eap.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/story/291744.html

Truly a legend !

Back to some good old cricket !

With India out of this world cup, cricket has become wonderfully enjoyable. What a relief ! Be it Mali's 4 wicket burst in 4 balls, Bangladesh's win against SA, Bopara's futile yet fighting half century the current world cup has seen some wonderful performances. I am sure we will see some more of these in the coming matches.

Almost everyone has been complaining about the ticket prices and near zero attendance for some of the matches. Too bad, the locals have been denied to be part of such a great spectacle. Caribbean crowds and Lankan crowds have a lot of thing in common. They enjoy the game in full josh and have never heard them misbehaving during defeats. Not like the True Desi fans :P.

The Indian Cricket Tamasha has seen some actions from the board. What the heck has happened to the so called senior players ? Why was the world's greatest batsman washing dirty linen in public ? Add to this, the hype created by our own media. Wonderful. It is a perfect setting for disaster. The board has issued show cause notices to Sachin and Yuvraj for their reports to media. Hats off to the board for treating everyone equally! Board has come out with lots of action points. I welcome those. Planning is always easier the part. The real test comes during execution and maintaining the standards. I sincerely pray we don't mess up this time with the new plans.

Sachin, show us that you can bat. Then do whatever nonsense you want to do. Look at Sanath/ Murali/Mcgrath or for that matter Paul Nixon. One should see their energy levels and spirit on the field. Too bad that none of our so called senior players have not showed the energy. I wont blame Greg for whatever he has done. These guys should earn their places and not because of their past performances. Greg wanted to bring that in place, which invariably affected these guys' comfort zones and he had to bear the brunt. Guys, Take a break or Grow up!

Shifting houses

I have recently shifted to a new apartment in Khatib itself. It is a good apartment with a large living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, toilet & bathroom. The only pain point is the distance from the MRT. But will get used to it. Got my Cable connection and Internet connection all done. Waiting for a telephone connection to be installed. Singapore stands apart in providing these services. Was heartening to see things get done pretty much on time.

MBA Orready maah

Yah Lah. Aruneganesh became an MBA. The results came out this Monday when I was in Chennai. Papu paas ho gaya. I expected better grades this trimester, but I was disappointed. But what the heck, I am happy that I am done with it.

I attended Mani's marriage last week. It was a good get together with some of the NBS stalwarts attending the same. Mr and Mrs DV, Mr and Mrs AK, Moy Zaa, CK and yours truly were there from NBS. Mann dropped out at the last moment. But the real disappointment was Dada not attending the marriage. Man(i) proposes, Dada disposes. Thanks to Moy Zaa, here are some good pictures of our trip. He exacted revenge this time by taking my pictures in some fundoo angles.

http://picasaweb.google.com/tanmoy/ManiSEngagement

http://picasaweb.google.com/tanmoy/ManiSWedding

http://picasaweb.google.com/tanmoy/NeeraDosaFestival

When I was in Chennai, I went for the movie "The pursuit of happyness". It was a touching story of an African American who leaves the medical device salesman job for an internship in a brokerage firm. Will Smith is just too good. He and his son have done a commendable job. Storyline is very simple. Man works hard, achieves success. But the performances were noteworthy. You will come out with tears at the end. Give it a shot. It is worth it !

David 2 Goliath 0

I was one of the crazy folks who had subscribed to the cricket channel at a monthly fee of 25 dollars. Now with the WC getting charged at 100SGD, I decided enough is enough. With all the matches happening in the Carribean, where the time difference is about 12 hours, it is probably the best decision that I have taken. The WC has started and the so called minnows have risen up to the occasion. The Goliaths of the world India and Pakistan have taken their worst defeats of the WC against Bangladesh and Ireland respectively. Holding has been made to eat his own words by the Sub continent giants.

I did not see the match, but the mode of dismissals seem to be all too familiar.Barring Dada (though his innings was slow) and Yuvi, no one played a decent knock. Same could be said of Pak also. Will these two teams qualify for the second round ? India's chances are fair but Pak's chances are very slim. For Pak to qualify, Windies should lose to Zimbabwe & Ireland, and Pak should Zimbabwe convincingly. If that happens, Pak has a remote chance of entering the next round alongwith Ireland. Very unlikely though. For India, they shoul beat Bermuda and SriLanka. Both of these seem himalayan task now. Can this team pull this ?

Thanks to Pavendran, I got to see 11 commercials which have some real good music. Enjoy.
http://www.eachnotesecure.com/11-commercials-featuring-great-music/

Cricket Quiz - II

Continuing the quiz series on cricket, let us have the second round. If possible, avoid Cricinfo and google. Give it a try. All the best. This week it is India at the worldcup.

a. Who has the best bowling performance by an Indian bowler ? (Pretty easy one).
b. Including 2007, which Indian player has played the maximum number of worldcups ?
c. Who was the man of the match in the England Vs India match during the 1987 semifinals ?
d. Who made his debut in the 1987 WC for India and remained consistent through out in the series ?
e. Kapil was tried as an opener in some WC matches. When ?
f. The 1987 worldcup had an Indian company as the major sponsor. Name the company.
g. Who scored the maximum runs for India in the 1983 WC finals ?
h. Venkatesh Prasad, the MOM in the game against Pak in 1999 WC took how many wickets giving how many runs ?
i. When Kapil made 175* against Zim in the 1983 WC, what was India's score when he entered the ground to bat ?
j. India Vs Srilanka in the 1996 WC at Calcutta, who was the man of the match ?

A Wicket Goes Down

Congratulations to the "fastest" dude in our batch for getting married. AK has attended the reception and has provided us the updates. Badhaai Ho sir.

On Friday, we had the party at Harry's @ Esplanade arranged by the NBS office to celebrate NBS' entry into top 100 in the FT rankings. Met up with my profs, seniors and my own batchmates. Atlast some decent veggie food at an NBS party with samosas, potato chips etc. Nice place to hang around. I remember coming to this place during the induction. It was the same Harrys where we went after our out door activities ended. Missing those good old days with friends.

Coming to CNY holidays, I tried my luck to get some tickets to Bangkok, but in vain. Too late to enquire. Baptiste staying in Bangkok, I thought staying should not be an issue at all. But all these airlines are running packed. Tried my luck in some of the cruises. (thoda zyaada ho gaya na..) There is one cruise to nowhere which is like 640 SGD for the first person, 640 for the second person and 320 for the third person. Add to it the taxes. Gave it up instantaneously. Finally what is left...........Good old Malaysia. I am planning for a trip to Malacca. Enquiring couple of friends if they can join me. Mani might not join as his Dad is around during this time. Seems like a small nice place, this Malacca. Has got rich history and decent beaches around. Should not be a bad choice for a weekend.

Last week watched my favourite director's movie, GURU. Technically it was a well made movie. Nice locales, Good songs, Wonderful camera. Some amount of work has been done to recreate the past decades. Kudos to all who have worked. But did I feel the impact after the movie ended ? Nope ! Well, that is the truth. They have worked really hard for the movie but the punch was not there at the end. To me, it looked like collection of scenes from the life of Guru. Mostly in bits and pieces. The climax did not impact me at all. The pace was also quite slow.
But the movie is doing well, I heard. The next movie in line is Eklavya. Big B was gifted a Rolls Royce for his performance. Phew... Should be some performance. Let us wait and watch.

Cricket Quiz - I

Now that Cricket fever is catching up with the Worldcup round the corner, I was thinking of coming out with a Quiz. I will try to post a series of questions related to cricket and post the answers in the next post. Avoid Google/Cricinfo if possible. Enjoy lah...

This week is on worldcups.

1. Against whom did India register its first win in the world cup ?
2. What is the best performance by a bowler in the world cup ?
3. Who was the Indian captain at the first world cup ?
4. India Vs Pakistan matches have always been onesided in the worldcups. Who were awarded the man of the match awards in these matches (1992/1996/1999/2003 )?
5. Name the man of match award winners starting from 1975 till 2003 world cup finals.
6. What is the dubious record that Gavaskar has at the world cups ?
7. India & Australia had two closest matches at the 87 and 92 worldcups. What was the margin of victory?
8. It was the rain rule in 1992, in 1996 it was Lara, in 1999 they ran themselves out and in 2003 the spoilsports were was once again rain & Duckworth-Lewis method. Whom and what are we talking about ?
9. How many world cup matches ended in a tie ?
10. Who were the victims of the Chetan Sharma when he took the Hat trick in the 1987 world cup?

Happy Quizzing.... Will come out with some more in the comings posts.... Au Revoir !

RIP

Masala Novels author Sidney Sheldon passed away recently. Truly a masala novel writer in all sense. It is little difficult to believe that he was the same guy who came up with "I dream of Jeannie".

Some of my favs are Sands of Time, Doomsday Conspiracy and If Tomorrow comes.

Most of his novels portray the stronger side of women. Women get cheated; they struggle hard and rise to the top; exact revenge. Memories of midnight, Other side of midnight, Rage of Angels etc etc.

He himself has said that most of his novels resemble the way a movie screen play is written and the reason being that he started writing screenplays from the age of 17.

Mani and I were discussing about him in the morning. He surely is a publisher's delight as his novels have grossed millions. Everyone starts reading novels with Sheldon and adds that as a hobby in their resume. But very rarely people move beyond him. I and Mani belong to that genre :P

May his soul rest in peace.

Hurray ! It is done

After a brief hiatus, I am back. This is not because that I have been getting countless emails and calls to start writing again. Neither was I too occupied at work nor my comp broke down. It is the same old reason, Laziness. Hmm..Posting something in your blog can happen only when something interesting happens in your life or something that you want to share/post across. Apni life mein tho.... Cheer up..Cheer up..

Well, My Indian trip is getting postponed for the second time. I thought of going during the New year holidays, then the CNY holidays. But now it seems CNY will be missed. I am now thinking of planning my trip sometime in March.

Recently sent money through Western Union money transfer. Quite efficient and safe. I ended up submitting the money in SGD to one of the agents here. Within 15 minutes, my Dad could take this amount from any agent in India. He prompty received the same from Head Post Office Pondicherry. The commission was 20 bucks though. ICICI Money2 India is free of charge. Should try this out soon.

Yes Coming to the title of this Post, Officially I am done. My MBA course requirement of 16 courses + 2 extra courses are complete. I sent out the pending report for Mgmt Consulting yesterday night. Wow... What a relief. I had to do night out for this report exactly on the 30th to be ontime for the 31st deadline. Now no more of those for MBA sake. So Aruneganesh has provisionally finished his MBA. The grades should come in the month of March. Hope to get an A+ in atleast one of my subjects. This is something that has not happened to me in my MBA curriculum so far. Have got lots of As and A-s, but not a single A+. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I thank all the souls who have been with me all through this and helped me out to finish this. Thanks to my family, my friends, my Profs and also to Google. If not for Google, most of our reports would not have happened. Most of my batchies are gone back. It is just Ani, Mani and the two Aruns here at SG. Missing all the Grad Hall days and Friday night gatherings.

Chalo then folks... Till next time.. Cya..