HongOver

"The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway."

By and large, travelling abroad for the first time is an exhilarating experience. More so if you’re going to a country more developed than yours.  Everything around you seems so fascinating.  It is said that the World is a BOOK, and those who do not travel read only a page. I read my first page last week in Hong Kong. And what a page it was.
When you travel to a foreign land you realize how wrong everyone is. It is strange to note the ease with which we presume things about them and they typecast us. Anyway, you should never try to feel at home abroad anyway, so I guess a little misunderstanding is ok.
Here is a great travel tip “When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money.  Then take half the clothes and twice the money”. We spent more than we planned on shopping and pleasure (I won’t itemize pleasure) simply because it is so easy to lose control and soak as much as possible like a sponge.
With the obvious reference to cleanliness, civic sense, infrastructure and standard of living, there is something so different in Hong Kong that you will feel it every second. Let’s call it “the pulse”. The pulse is breezy in the morning and shimmering at night. It is glittering and glamorous in luxurious malls and serene and refreshing at the beaches. It will make such a mark on you that you may forget the place but never “the pulse”.

One striking difference that you identify 4 times a day is the Food. Non vegetarian is a way of life and even the Mc Donalds in Hong Kong serve Veg burger with fish oil. So pragmatically, there is hardly anything to eat there for hardcore veggies. But for those who like sea food, they can have a sea full of it.
For a moment you may love the food but the language (Cantonese) will make your life difficult for sure. Though they claim to understand English, they don’t. Even if you have to call up the room service and ask for fresh towel, it will take few minutes of explanation starting from bathroom to beaches to swimming pool and what not.
It does cost money, which may be a deterrent to travel, but remember that going through the pages of the BOOK is so valuable that the money excuse just doesn’t cut it. There is a famous Chinese proverb that says “you learn more by travelling a mile than by reading a mile of paper.” So that's where I leave you..suggesting that your honeymoon destination better be Singapore than Shimla. 
But at the end of the day, no one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. See you on the next page. Till then "Bo Zone" .

Genie in a Bottle

Wine is sunlight, held together by water.  

                                                                             -Galileo

People often change and forget to tell each other. Here’s my attempt not to do so. I officially like loud parties now. I would no longer avoid a disco filled with smoke and great music. Moreover, if I look at it, the things which I used to dislike few years ago are the things I can’t live without now.

Take smokers for instance, used to hate ‘em but now most of my best friends are one. I used to hate drinking but now I am pretty much an occasional drinker and I like it. Talking about drinking, last night I went to a party and gulped more than I should have. Next morning I got to hear interesting (read naughty) stories of what I did after all that alcohol went inside. 

It’s fascinating to see what comes outside after a little wine gets inside. Obviously the hangover is the worst part but someone rightly said that “I pity those who do not drink, as when they wake up in the morning that is the best they are going to feel all day.” But drinking should not only be to drown your sorrows in to it because sorrows know how to swim. But it can be a good way to lose control once in a while. Enjoy the moment. The question is: are you allowed to have fun at the expense of others feeling uncomfortable around you. Probably not. But everybody should believe in something and I believe I'll have another drink.  
                                                                                                                               

Home alone

"Solitude never hurt anyone. Emily Dickinson lived alone, and she wrote some of the most beautiful poetry the world has ever known... then went crazy as a loon."

                                                                                                               -Lisa Simpson,The Simpsons

Yesterday when I returned home after yet another day at work, I stumbled upon something which made me feel like butterflies in my stomach. It may be nothing but seemed like something very important to me at that time. I promised to myself that I will take some time off and think about it. So here’s the thing. For most of the days in last few years, I always come back to an empty house and I hate it every time. I am living much on my own for the last 7 years or so, studying and working. Inevitably it involves sharing the room with roommates (sometime friends, sometime strangers) with which I am totally comfortable. But it’s the empty room I can’t stand.

According to philosopher Paul Tillich “Language... has created the word ‘Loneliness’ to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word ‘solitude’ to express the glory of being alone.” Quite right as it sounds, there are two faces of the coin. One side says that we’re born alone, we live alone and we die alone. And that through our temporary love and friendship, we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. The other side says that only when a man is alone can he really discover himself, like writing a book. Totally cut off from the rest of the world, submerged in your own thoughts. While both the sides seem equally convincing, which one should I choose as a respite?

Let’s see who I owe my solitude to. Actually, who can anybody owe it to but other people? I owe my loneliness to other people. Or was I building walls when I had to build bridges? How will I know? We all live in a strenuous environment that pulls us apart and we need to learn how to pull ourselves together. Isn’t solitude a solution for this? Are all of us lonely?

Voltaire once said the happiest of all lives is a busy solitude. That means making the most of your loneliness. That means next time you are alone, try to introspect rather than whining that you are bored.

Introspect? Why? Why to have a burning fireside, when no one ever comes to sit by it. I think I will leave the questions unanswered.

"Little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth. For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."  -Francis Bacon

A Day Well Spent

Most of the regular days in our lives pass without any mentionable events, without any lasting memory. Last Sunday was nothing like that. Six of us planned for a day out at Water Kingdom, Mumbai and fortunately it coincided with Water Kingdom’s 12th anniversary. We ended up in a 6ft wave pool enjoying a typical Bollywood live concert boogieing to Sherlyn Chopra’s ‘Thumkas’. Damn! She is pretty.

I spent my Saturday in the office staring the screen so I had this herculean urge to have a bang on Sunday at least. The same wine was brewing in my roommates’ mind so when I went back to my place I found they are already discussing options right from a sports bar to malls and parks. It’s very close to impossible to reach to a consensus especially if you are in the mid of a discussion with 5 other IIIM-ites. I provided them with the Monkey's Justice for two cats. Few of them liked water and few of them liked adventurous rides. I liked both of them and my Libra’s consensus building traits did the rest. At the end, when we decided to go to WaterKingdom & Esselworld early Sunday morning, everyone thought they had the final word. Little did they know :)

We backpacked and left for Borivali Local station from where we planned to take a ferry. Last night when we made the itinerary to the water park, it seemed easy, but plans are only good till they degenerate into hard work. The blistering and humid heat of Mumbai’s afternoon and more than expected crowd in locals on Sunday made us realize that it’s not going to be an all-comfy ride.

We took a break at Dadar and had our breakfast at Jumbo King wadapav. It’s a branded attempt to sell affordable wadapav and other refreshments, much like Mc Donalds just more desi and cheap. Food was amazing at those prices. Even if it’s not sumptuous, you will still feel content that you saved some bucks on Mumbai’s streets. No less of an accomplishment I tell you!

The ride in the local continued till Borivali where we boarded down and took an auto to the ferry spot. The ferry ride was literally a whiff of fresh air (not for all us, few sophisticated gentlemen were chocking on fishy smell of the water). After a fifteen minute ride, we reached the other shore and the Waterkingdom’s entrance. They again make you sit on a funny train-looking vehicles to take you to the ticket counter (kids love it). We pretended to be serious as if the 6 B-school students meant business in the waterpark( why is it so difficult for guys to kid around other guys, when they do it frequently around women).

We reached the main counter and for a moment it seemed like the whole world was in queue to get tickets. Children were so happy, they couldn’t stop giggling. Wives were glancing on bikini clad hotties thinking how on earth will they ever fir in that, but the worst nightmare came true for the husbands who were plunked in the hardly moving queue to get tickets. A wait of another half an hour got us the tickets. There were lots of offers and customer rewarding passports available but as an MBA you are less likely to fall in to those sales promo traps.

We decided to hit the Esselworld first as there were even more queues to get rented swimwear and lockers inside the waterpark ( God! Q itne queues). Since it was our first time to Esselworld, we took a map and tried to zero in on the most death defying and precarious rides. One of the IIM-ites quickly came to a conclusion that around 70% of rides are totally for kids and out of the 30% remaining only 60 % are worth trying since we needed to go to the waterpark as well. Others gave him an appreciative look, I gave a scowl. They settled for a quick lunch. I was hungry for rides but anything else. I went ahead and had a blast in one of the swings named ‘Enterprise’. Why on earth would you name a swing like that, did they know MBAs are coming? It was great though, packed in steel bars the swings makes 360 degrees vertical revolutions.

We went on to try the car crasher bumpy ride. Another ride which was highly popular in 90’s movies but hardly gets camera space these days. The guys were trying to hit each other while girls were trying to just maneuver. It was impossible for some good looking ones. (Thanks to us)

Life is a rollercoaster ride is what they say; well they have never been to a rollercoaster I think. It gets the shit out of you (sometimes literally when people vomit). But it’s exciting as nothing else can be. The full swirl and straight dip gets the adrenaline pumping. When you get down from it, your body still twitches as if you are still up there.

After a few more rides, we all were exhausted and our risk taking hormones took a dip. The rush of blood to a detour to the brain and half of us got headaches. The ‘Burf Gola’ came to the rescue. It is the best (and also a cheap) way to chill inside the theme park. We decided to go to Waterkingdom now as our sweated spirit was calling out for cool water and splashes.

Through the rainbow ride gate we entered the Water Kingdom. The crowd was less compared to the morning. But thank God, the ‘crowd’ was still there to see. We came across famous MTV Roadies host Ranvijay who was going to host the show featuring the sizzling Sherlyn Chopra and others. We skipped the start of the show and went to the rides. As MBAs we knew the star attraction will only feature in the end (I figured this out, so it was my time to garner appreciative looks).

Rides like ‘Black Demon’ and ‘Amazonia’ will certainly take your breath away. In Black demon, you fall inside a pitch dark pipe with no clue of where you are and what’s the next twist is going to be. You come to your senses only at the end. At the end we headed towards the wave pool above which the concert was going on. Artificial waves are like Man’s gift to mankind. Even more if Sherlyn Chopra’s hips are making similar waves upstage. We were right on time for the main event as we lie down in the pool to enjoy ‘Bidi and kajrare’ songs with instant dancers all around. With our gaze fixed on Sherlyn like a laser guided missile, we all were unanimous on the fact that this was the best we had in the whole day(See! you bring a hottie to the table and no more discussions. I love both of them). Ranvijay also took her quasi-interview on stage where he asked some usual stuff and we were delighted to hear some lusty answers by Sherlyn(Sorry God! But cheap is what we really are).

After the day is over, its commotion again just like in the morning to take shower, get to the lockers and change to dry clothes. We took the train-vehicle and came back to the ferry point. The ride back home with a stop at Mc Donalds made this day truly remarkable and worth cherishing.

The Million Dollar Question

Where am I? Who am I?
How did I come to be here?
What is this thing called the world?
How did I come into the world?
Why was I not consulted?
And If I am compelled to take part in it,
Where is the director?
I want to see him.
                                                  -Soren Kierkegaard

Sitting in the class, listening to the lecturers has very few merits but listening to the insightful questions that come up now and then. I have to give the credit to those who can do it, those who can ask the right question.

I, for myself, don’t have this amazing quality of asking remarkable questions (like most of us). You can always tell whether someone is clever by their answers but to know about wisdom, you will have to go by their questions. Normally, it’s not the answer that amuses me but the question. I don’t care how it’s answered, but the right question asked in the right way often points to its own answer and untangles a labyrinth of thoughts inside you that won’t ask for answers immediately.

At the same time, every question does not deserve an answer. You must have faced several interviews. The questions I fall silent upon every time are “why should we take you” or “where do you see yourself five years from now”. I mean what on earth should one answer apart from bragging oneself in front of the interviewer. But then, that’s the catch there.
Coming back to Questions, I recently encountered the most touted question ever: “I like someone who doesn't know I like her. How can I tell her?" I don’t know what made him think I would be eligible to answer that but then as I said the question is more important than the answer. I asked him to tell her the same thing, ask her the same question. Ask her how she would like to be told you love her. I still have to know whether that helped (Since he was bewildered and gutless at the same time, I doubt he ever asked).

So that’s where I leave things. It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. Before doing anything, if you are sure why you are doing it and what is going to motivate you, the job is half done. Keep asking questions, that the only thing that will keep you from complacency.

Matter of life and death

Someday I'll be a weather-beaten skull resting on a grass pillow,
Serenaded by a stray bird or two.
Kings and commoners end up the same,
No more enduring than last night's dream.

I am pretty sure death is not something you think about everyday(even butterflies don't', but that's different)Neither I want you to, but it surely deserves to be peeped in once  in a while. Its can very simply be put in the words of Leonardo da Vinci “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well used brings happy death”. Now whether it is “happy” or not depends on lot of things. But if you look it from a different angle, everyone is immortal in his reference as he  may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is in fact dead.

Anyway, there is so much suffering (read dying) around that does it really matter which one of them is death?  If you really look inside people, they don’t fear death but the fear of its strike. The moment is what they try to defy, everything after that is incognito.

There is certainly a life after death (No! I am not talking about mummies). Albert Einstein professed that our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation.  For they are us, our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life.  There are three facets to this whole phenomenon. The first is obviously the historic one where Egyptians believed that people live a second life after death and they mummified bodies and kept belongings the deceased might need later. The second one is religious where people believe in the concept of “Moksha” and the theory of heaven and hell which we undergo depending on our “Karma” while we were alive. The third and the most practical facet is..well lets put it this way, do you think Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln  or for that matter Einstein really dead? No they are not, they will live till eternity because of the unparalleled impact they have on us.

So you see, death may be the greatest of all human blessings because it’s the only way to live forever. You can be, after death, what you can never be when you are alive. In the cycle of pouring life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled, lays the salient truth that we control what will happen after we die and instead of fearing the same we can build the path after the dead-end.

I knew a man who once said, "Death smiles at us all; all a man can do is smile back."  -From the movie Gladiator

Bottom Of Pyramid

In economics, the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the three billion people who live on less than $2.50 per day. But there also lies an interesting version of BOP in management hierarchy of the institutes/organizations out there striving to make a mark. By management, I mean people who are responsible for decision making and corporate governance.

Management in all business and human organization activity is simply the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives. The definition makes it look like a cakewalk but it’s easier said than done. Of all the animals, men are the most unmanageable; nevertheless, the BOP phenomenon I wish to explain here is the outcome of faulty and myopic decision of back seat drivers upon those in front.

According to famous advertising executive late David Ogilvy, “In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.” That means to be able to monetize your innovative ideas, you need a manager. Also for the seamless, frictionless and progressive functioning of the organizational machinery, Management is a must. But Management must manage and not create layers of isolation. Peter Drucker, famous American Educator said that “Management by objective works - if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don't.”

That’s the bone of contention I am talking about. The loss of foresight, lack of clear objective and the fear of unknown. Together, they create a sense of complacency in the top management and when the time to act comes, the most you can expect is a restructuring, new process methodologies and heightened but short-lived motivation. The problem, however, still continues to grow as the root was not acknowledged but only the stems were pruned. The top management will hope for the best with their new projections but at the grass root level, what happens to those who have to physically act? Alas! Nobody cares!

Time for one more quote by Warren Buffett : “When a management team with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.” The failure should not be confused with destiny. Poor management is the only evil. That management is best which manages least, and in the end, when everyone is ready for it, that management is best which manages not at all.