Chrys From Greece

Yo again from Parakila, where a peaceful village/family summer keeps unfolding!

Before I publish the much-awaited evaluation of my 17-month Indian experience, I owe myself and you the posts about the second backpacking trip I did just before leaving the incredible subcontinent for good. After the first one (23-day long, March, Mumbai , golden triangle and north-west India), I headed in May to Orissa, Varanasi, Nepal and West Bengal! So here comes part 1 of this truly life-changing trip!

It all started even before the first backpacking trip was over… I promised myself, that given a chance I wanna tour the ancient temples of Konark and Bhubaneshwar, to suck the eerie atmosphere of the ghats of Varanasi, to bunjee-jump in Kathmandu, hike up Darjeeling before savouring its world-renowned tea and taste the insurmountably challenging feel of Kolkata!And the chance indeed came soon up, largely thanks to the global financial slowdown

The beginning of an amazing trip! For those few who can't read the text above me, it says "Hyderabad"! and no, I didn't get there with one of these white Ambassadors behind me

May 16, Saturday… 9.40am on Hyderabad train station; full of smiles, anticipation and also Imodium pills, soap strips, paper rolls and my Bible; the Lonely Planet! The train from Hyderabad to Bhubaneshwar was quite close to what we mean by saying “hell”. Extremely hot and humid, on a very short berth (even for me;)… no window, only crowds around me and children crying for food…beggars, mosquitos, flies, hijras(kinda transexuals), chai-wallas, ice-cream wallas, all one! …23hours (instead of 21, only 2 extra, this is little in India). For those of you who know indian trains and its sleeper class, my berth was the next-to-aisle upper. For those of you who don’t, this is the worst you can get. But I was so happy that my assignment in my company was almost over totally successfully and my trip was just starting! With a good book and a few phonecalls time almost flew! Meditation tricks definitely helped me again condition my mind!

May 17 in Bhubaneshwar

As soon as I stepped off, I found some awesome home made “chole masala a potato samosa” outside the station and headed to Lingaraj mandir, one of India’s most ancient surviving temples. Then I headed to Puri for the Jagannath temple and finally…

May 18, Konark for the incredible Sun Temple, a truly global heritage site!

Before Kali's sensuous sikhara in Bhubaneshwar. I couldn't help blushing!

Narrating the numerous incidents, goofups, “coincidences”, scams, bargaining, opportunities, pranks and triumphs would require a book. A big one (1000+ pages). So I’ll just pick one. The most teaching story is possibly what occurred to me in Bhubaneshwar railway station on my way to Puri.

It was a hot and humid, typical Orissan noon. At the jam packed station, I trudged my luggage through the crowds lingering on the filthy floor. I bought one more water bottle (4-5 litres a day). I then found only a “general class” ticket:(…Uh oh…for those of you who don’t know, this means the train coaches where everyone can step in without reservation or bed or even seat. That means a huge metal tin full of hundreds of sweating, groaning people. Also the easiest coach for beggars, pickpockets, hijras and so forth. For once, after 16 months in India, I decided to live this too, besides Puri is just two hours away (two hours trip in India is very short)

Swimming through the crowds I made it on time to the right platform. The train was just arriving… It was so full that you could see hands and legs popping out of the barred little windows. The square-meter toilet had at least 6 passengers in it. I was left numb, speechless. The moment I start trying to figure out which coach might have a free hole for me to fit in, I realize my hand is empty…”oops, my bag is missing! The one with all my clothes! Sh*t, where the &%#* is it?!” A rush of blood hit my head, my hands started sweating more and my heartbeat accelerated. Looking around, no blue bag at all… assuming it was a dexterous pickpocket…holy sh*t! Thankfully I had my valuables still on me… I couldn’t leave town like that, I had to find it or the rest of my trip would be without clothes! and buying new ones was not an option, too big a defeat too bear, I’d go back to Hyderabad! Be there or be square!

I wandered around the station furiously cursing all the indian gods I could remember. I was mainly angry at myself for my lack of focus and concentration, exactly what I was supposed to improve in India. Damn it! I reached the main platform, nothing like my bag around. I ask people, those who get my point show me the police station. I invade it in fumes and find a middle-aged mustached plumpy officer, enjoying his cigarette and reassuring a young mother that her crying cute little boy was fine. I try to calm down and explain what happened. I was still mumbling. My sweat was dropping off my chin.I listen outside the train to Puri pumping out steam and whistling in sign of departure. It was gone…now I could focus on finding the f&^#%ng bag. I start over narrating the story while the officer looks at me condescendingly. I just noticed that I interrupted the young mother but it was late, I kept going. The officer didn’t move a toe off his seat. He must had heard dozens of stories like that. When I finished with a helpless begging question, he just shrugged me off  saying something in Oriya! I came out exhaling desperately…

And then it flashed on my mind! The place where I bought the water bottle! I might have left it back there! I ran! And YES! It was indeed there, untouched, in the middle of the aisle as I left it! I took the bottle, felt happy that my hand is full and left without the bag! Smart Chrys! Ooooohhh, I changed 5 more face colours and kept thanking my fortune! “Ok, now I have to look for a bus” and started asking agents and (the few) good-looking people. They all pointed helpfully at the right direction and said it’s around 2 kms far. At 2pm, with that mood and 46C, that would be tough. This is exactly when I heard an announcement on the station speakers ” ????? ????? ????? Puri ????? ????? platform No5 ?????! Wow, this might be another train to Puri! I ran to the platform and heavenly god, yes, it was, it really was! And empty, everyone tried to get the previous one, 20 minutes (or centuries?) ago! So there you have me, right there, hugging my beloved luggage in my train, cosily sliding to beautiful beach of Puri”! I couldn’t believe my luck…

I don’t know about you guys, but the lesson I got was (apart from keep your damn mind focused) that everything happens for a reason! There IS a bloody plan! We have to trust that even if we miss an opportunity, another is there, just around the corner! We have to be ready for it, damn it!

It has been 16 intensive days with quite many personal triumphs and defeats. Days of pure living life in the fast lane! Days that require from you to take continuously tough and important decisions about your safety, finances, learning (or not), inner peace and whom to trust (or not)! And this is why I’m proud of how I handled the arising challenges and how much I grew during them!

Yes, I’m back in Parakila! Almost 2 weeks now in my peaceful hideaway on island Lesbos (eastern Greece) after a time that looked like ages!

Parakila village - mountain, sea and kabos (kinda valley)!

I don’t remember myself  ever having missed my people and my village so much! From a time perspective it’s been 363 days, the longest ever! Just before crossing the annual landmark!The thinking control tricks I learnt in India obviously helped me endure without nostalgia seizures but now that I’m here all the pushed back feelings just came up! The eye-laser doc had said that I might not have tears after the operation and gave me those drops to apply… The reunion moment proved the drops useless from now on… It was actually wet…quite rainy I’d say!

I have treated myself savouring mom’s home made food from dad’s bahce, spending time with my sister and cousin, swimming in the beach where I grew up, catching up with good old friends and playing lots of basketball! These give me the peace I needed to calm down from relentless traveling, evaluate my Indian experience and make an action plan on the goals I laid down in north India and Nepal. Many of you ask me about those professional plans (thanks for your interest!) and I’ve been sharing some in messages. You’ll see more in the next weeks!

Welcome to my village!

What is for sure is that the culture here has changed quite much and I go again through reintegration shocks!  People look quite aggressive at times, girls look so pretty (and hot!), the language has interesting additions and the mood/acceptance towards the national financial/political situation is dramatically changed!

I also miss India and my best friends there… I’ve shifted circle of friends again but this is the first time that this happens to such a large extent… School of Leadership, interns, Masab Tank, AIESECers, you know who you are because you probably read this post and I you receive my best!

In the next days, I’ll be posting some of the major takeaways from India, I consider it a critical and needed step to consolidate the vast new learning and use it for something meaningful in the future! Namaste!

The family got at last together, yahoo! Reunion June '09

Hi again after a long time! Many things have happened in the meantime and I’ve been quite busy sorting them out. Besides, Facebook has become for me too a kinda substitute to the regular updates with pics. But it still cannot completely overtake the magic of blogging, the tags, the drafts, the feeds, the feeling of ”This is my space”! Besides not everybody is in FB!

So there I am, breaking my silence to share how amazing the last 5 days have been! I´m completing the first third of my trip in North East India and Nepal tonight and so far I stopped at Bhubaneshwar, Puri, Konark and Varanasi. The shocks, the new things, the goofups, the victories, the get-to-knows are simply sooooo many that you can´t help learning sooooo much! This might be my last trip in India before I fly back to Greece on June 8, yiihaaaa! I uploaded a sneak peak in FB, feel free to roam and send me your comments and questions as always.

Tonight I start a long journey to Pokhara (Nepal) and those of you who know me understand how I feel when I´m about to enter a new country-culture… excited….very excited!

The General Elections are currently taking place in India.And when I say currently, I don’t mean at the moment. As all processes in this land, it takes a little bit more that anywhere else in the world.

In a country of 1.1bn people where there are over a dozen official languages and large swaths of the rural areas have very low literacy rates, it’s incredible that elections manage to take place at all.

You could somehow compare India to Europe. Imagine if all the countries of Europe, with their different customs, culture and language, were asked to vote in a general election to nominate a single party to represent them all. It probably couldn’t be done. But if you can imagine that, then you can imagine the kind of difficulties the political parties face here.

The general elections nominate 543 Members of Parliment, of which a party needs a 66% majority to form a government. The newly formed Government then elects a President (the current President is Pratibha Patil) and the President then appoints a Prime Minister (the current Prime Minister is Manmohan Singh) nominated by the party in power.

The role of the Indian President is a bit like the Queen in the UK (or the President of Democracy in Greece). The role is largely ceremonial. The president is the head of the armed forces. The president can dissolve the parliament and call a new general election, they also sign any new bill that the parliament want to pass and have little choice to refuse it.

The role of the Prime Minister is just like in Greece. They are responsible for the day to day running of the country, in charge of policy, schmoozing with the world leaders and so forth.

Just like in the United States, there are two main national parties called Congress and BJP. The Congress is more sectarian, and the BJP is more about Hindu nationalism. The current party in power is the Congress party, and has been in power for the majority of the time since independence in 1947.

This is how you “know” that someone has voted. Unless they have used that “antodote”, erased the ink and revoted!

In the build up to elections, there is a large amount of political maneuvering amongst the national and regional parties. The national parties come to power based on their alliances with the smaller, regional parties as there is no way they can achieve a 66% majority by themselves.

Take for example the neighbouring state Tamil Nadu just below Andhra Pradesh. There are two main parties, the DMK and AIADMK. Both the Congress and BJP parties are courting them to try and get an ally in the Tamil Nadu state. In return for this, the national parties promise a certain number of parliamentary seats or ministries to the local parties. The political wrangling comes when two different state parties demand a the same ministry .

As in many other states in India, in Tamil Nadu, it’s very much a case of celebrity politics. When the famous actors and actresses reach an age where their looks fade, dancing ability wanes or singing falters, the natural progression is to turn to politics and to bring your large army of fans with you. The leader of the DMK is a very renown scriptwriter and the leader of the AIADMK is an aging 60’s icon actress.

Unlike in England where there are ‘just’ 27 million votes to count and polling lasts for just one day, the elections in India last for 29 days between 16th April and 13th may, with the results not announced until the 16th May.

There are many reasons for this, such as the size of the country, size of population, inaccessibility of rural areas (ie. no proper roads), providing security for voting, and the shear length of time it takes to count the votes.

Now you know what I meant “currently” in the beginning:)

This is an adaptation of Peter Claridge’s post on April the 2nd. Thank you Peter!

Tributes are flowing in for the way that the Indian government organised Tech Mahindra’s $565m rescue of Satyam, the country’s fourth largest software company. The rescue came this week, just four months after Satyam crashed with the exposure of India’s biggest ever corporate scam - perpetrated by the Hyderabad-based Raju family that founded, and nearly ruined, the business.

Friends in Britain have said to me that they doubt whether some western governments would be so adept at staging such a quick and efficient rescue. “We believe in capitalism – we’d have let it crash”, said a London-based journalist. That is partly true, though the British and US governments are both showing themselves willing to pump money into banks to maintain financial stability, and into auto companies to save jobs.

But what the Indian government has pumped in is far more effective than money, and the result shows how well the country can manage crises when top people do not allow themselves to be diverted by bureaucracy or vested interests.

It began with a decision by Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, that Satyam was too important to India to be allowed to fail, and that its rescue should not be delayed by official inquiries into India’s biggest corporate fraud. That was followed by the recruitment of a new board of directors with real clout – including Deepak Parekh, India’s most dependable top banker, Tarun Das, who presides over the Confederation of Indian Industry, and Kiran Karnik, former head of the software trade body NASSCOM.

The Company Law Board then approved significant waivers that enabled the new directors to auction Satyam without having to file restated accounts (they are still not available because of the Rajus’ fraud), without holding what would have been a highly disruptive general shareholders’ meeting - and with the introduction of a vetting procedure that rated bidders on their track records.

This vetting procedure was objected to by B.K.Modi, the publicity conscious head of his family’s telecom-based Spice group, who lost interest in bidding for Satyam after the Company Law Board unsurprisingly rejected his appeal.

That left three viable bidders who were willing to risk Satyam’s unclear finances and possible law suits – Larsen & Toubro, one of India’s top engineering groups, and W.L.Ross, a New York private equity investor, as well as Tech Mahindra, which is part of the Mumbai-based Mahindra & Mahindra autos-to-infrastructure group and includes BT of the UK as a 31per cent shareholder.

So is the Satyam rescue an example of what could be done again in India and elsewhere, or was it a one-off?

It looks like a one-off because Satyam became a very special case.

All the activity, from Manmohan Singh’s intervention downwards, was triggered by fear of the damage that its collapse could have done to the software and outsourcing technology industry, which has played a crucial role in building international recognition of India’s economic success over the past decade or so.

It was seen as a potential disaster to allow one of the biggest companies in this sector, with top international customers such as GE, Cisco, Nestlé, and Telstra, to fail because of the sort of endemic corporate corruption for which India’s older industries are famous. That is why the prime minister and others moved so fast and firmly – though of course the potential loss of 45,000-50,000 jobs was also important, especially with a general election approaching.

But it need not be a one-off. It might not often be possible to tap top people like Parekh and Das, but Satyam’s example does surely show the benefit of trying to re-launch (not just save) businesses that are full of talent but have been brought down by bad management.

The secret is to change the top management. That has been done by bringing in Tech Mahindra as both a new owner and manager (it’s also been done by US president Barack Obama with GM).

Anand Mahindra, who runs his family group, has taken what a competitor described to me as “a punt”. Satyam’s broad-based international software skills will sit well alongside Tech Mahindra’s telecom software expertise, and Mahindra reckons it has the top management need to produce a successful merger.

The big question now is whether the investigating authorities will pursue the fraud with the same energy that has been used to save the company – or will the Rajus’ political and bureaucratic friends help to slow down the case, fudge evidence, and whittle away the charges?

If this happens, India’s international reputation should surely suffer more than if Satyam had never been saved.

By John Elliott, the FT’s first South Asia Correspondent (1983-88)

Published: April 22 2009 07:31 | Last updated: April 22 2009 07:31

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2a1fb916-2f05-11de-814a-00144feabdc0.html

The world lately appears to have come in a turmoil of “meltdown”, “crisis”, “recession” and what is worse in issues of “corporate governance”, “business ethics”, “integrity”…  and where do people turn to in these occasions? To the basics!

From people? To their support system

From finance perspective? Saving every single cent

From beliefs? Back to their core values!

So , what are the core values that I have seen in the many successful people that I have worked with over the years? Here are four

They are honest.
The successful people I have worked with are certainly not blatantly dishonest. Neither are they corner-cutters or “little-white-lie-tellers.” In fact, I have found that the truly successful are entirely honest. They have no problems with the truth. They stand on it and declare it.

Being on honest person takes being at ease with and confident of yourself. It requires a trust that no matter what the truth may bring, things will turn out for the best. When you are confident of yourself and know that the best will turn out, you have no problem telling the truth at all times.

This brings you to a place where people know the real you. It allows them to follow you with assurance. It strengthens relationships, upon which your success rests. It allows you to look yourself in the mirror and see the same person in the mirror that is standing on the floor before it. This builds on itself and enables you to be even more confident and move even more quickly toward your successful future.

Make a commitment to being honest and you make a commitment to your own success.

They are givers, not takers.
The successful people I have worked with have achieved extraordinarily. This includes great families, world records, spiritual abundance, and material wealth. But they didn’t set out to go and get it at all costs. Instead, they set their minds and wills upon serving others the best they could. They realized one of the most universal principles in the world: you reap what you sow. They know that when the give to others, others give back. The reverse is true as well. When you take from others, they try to keep what you are trying to take.

Make a commitment to being a giver and not a taker, and you are making a commitment to your own success.

They are bust-their-tails, hard workers.
Very few people become successful without hard work. Granted, in our “play the lotto” culture, we desire success without work, but history shows that the people who achieve the most success have as a core value the desire to work hard.

One point: They don’t just work hard in order to get the return, though they do indeed do that. They also work hard because they believe in hard work as an ethic and value. They know and appreciate that hard work produces character in them, excellence in their product, and satisfaction for those who benefit from their work. So they operate out of the value of hard work.

Make a commitment to hard work and you make a commitment to your own success.

They do what is right.
Successful people are people with a core, people with a rod of strength and integrity that runs right through them. It causes them to see that this world of ours needs people who will do what is right, play by the rules, fight for what is true and still take time to care for the little guy and the underdog. Yes, good guys do finish first after all. And when, on those few occasions they don’t, they decide that they would still do it the same way all over again. Why? Because it is the right thing to do. Believe it or not, even with all of the scandalous behavior that we read about in the newspapers every day, good people are still the backbone of society. They are what make it work and make it benefit everyone.

Make a commitment to doing what is right, and you make a commitment to your own success.

Sure there are lots of values that we should strive to hold on to, but start with these four and you will be well on your way to achieving the kind of life that you desire!

When I came to India in the first quarter of 2008, the economy was still pretty much in full swing as I set about building my team of superstars. As I interviewed candidate after candidate a few things started to irk me, such as their belief that by changing jobs it could net them a 100% to 300% pay rise.

There seemed to be a belief that pay was related to experience, not expertise. When an SEO analyst said they had 3 years of experience, it usually meant that they had been pressing CTRL-C CTRL-V for 3 years and never took it upon themselves to learn anything new. Yet because they had been copying and pasting for 3 years, they felt that they deserved 3 times the pay of a fresher.

Err, no, it doesn’t work like that.

Another peeve that I had was when I went through a resume and found a person had as many as 6 jobs in 4 years (!) and when pressed on this it was for ‘career growth’. It’s fairly normal to read a resume where a person has lasted 12 months or less in each company before moving on.

Here’s a top tip for y’all: An employer wants to see commitment from the candidate. Changing companies every 6 months sets off nuclear alarm bells that says this person isn’t worth an interview, by the time you’ve offered them a job, they’ve already applied to the next one.

My understanding of career growth is that you progress in seniority if you change jobs. Apparently not in India. When asked why they wanted to change jobs, invariably it was for ‘career growth’, when told that they would have the same designation as they’ve got now, this would rarely be a problem - so where’s the career growth?

The HR guys tell me that I got off lightly with candidates. Such was the need for programmers during the boom times, the candidates would play companies against each other and say “well company X is offering me 4 lakhs (400,000 Rupees!), how much can you offer me?” And an offer is made and they go to the next company and say “company X is offering 4 lakhs, company Y is offering 6 lakhs, how much do you want to pay me?” And so we had the situation where candidates were putting themselves up for auction.

Fortunately **** refused to partake in this, if any candidate tried to auction themselves, our (err, that is, ****) interest was immediately suspended.

So, what is the situation now?

It really brought it home to me how rough it is out there the other day when I was interviewing two candidates from the same company.

They had both come in looking for a job. The company they were working for had not paid any salaries for the last two months - yet the employees still went to work on the hope that they could get paid.

When it came to asking about expected salaries, we have turned a corner, there were no requests for 1.5x - 2x their current earnings, they reply came back meekly… “whatever the company wants”. Unfortunately the candidates, despite having four years “experience” didn’t have any more expertise than I would expect from a fresher who’s been at the company for 6 months.

Another top tip: Employers are looking for expertise and passion, not just experience! I read a great article today where a gaming company hired a real estate agent to help develop their new game because he was a passionate gamer and ‘modded’ dozens of games out of personal interest. Give me passion over experience anyday!

So, back on topic how hard is the global economy hitting India?

Well, of course it’s having an effect. The smaller IT companies are folding left right and center, the larger multi-national IT companies are shedding staff - up to 10% of the workforce in some cases, freezing their fresher intake programes and in some cases imposing compulsory salary reductions as they look to adapt and survive.

One of my friends owns a consumer computer chain store throughout Chennai and he says it’s the toughest he’s seen it as the geeky IT crowd who make up the bulk of his clientele dries up.

Still, India has a very strong domestic economy - 1.1bn people still need to be fed, move from A-B, get clothed, socialize, have spectacularly over the top weddings, be entertained and live.

So while the West is mired in recession, shrinking economies and the looming face of deflation looking more and more likely, India’s annual growth forecast has been cut from 8% to a ‘paltry’ 5%. The West has sneezed, India has the sniffles, but it hasn’t caught the cold - yet…

From a friend who lives in Chennai and has an outstanding blog. I’ve adapted it little to my standards:) Thanks Peter Claridge!

We lately face a situation like that

It’s not as bloody as it looks like though. Someone can derive immense business lessons by studying this exciting but also tricky field.

Three major components seem to emerge

1. Internal relatedness represented by the cultural and organizational fit.

2. Initial conditioning variables such as external relatedness and other irreversible realities like acquisition experience, size and mode of takeover.

3. Integration process variables like level and speed of integration, acculturation and autonomy removal.

A good place to start with, including comprehensive maps and guidelines is this cool website

Happy Merging!

Last weekend was a long one in India. Friday was declared a national holiday (Good Friday for Catholics). A holiday that hadn’t been celebrated the previous year. I couldn’t see a clearer wink to one more adventurous excursion! Where? It was an obvious answer, considering my latest communication with Dine (the cool intern from Philippines) and Shruti (the cheerful Indian with big experience and love for Greece). The destination was Pune with a 12-hour train ride!

I got the chance to meet a very well-bonded group of interns who hosted me for the weekend. They live in the Sikh neighborhood of Pune called Cycle Society and include people from Finland, New Zealand, Germany, Nigeria and Taiwan! The flat is a monument of interns’ life with flags, mementos, maps, sweet farewell letters and of course beer bottles! In the picture above we are with Dine, Chai-yu and Louise for breakfast at the German Bakery, a place where you can find “continental” breakfast at reasonable prices! Full of foreigners, usually in maroon robes (from Osho’s ashram) and reinforcing the idea that Germany is all about baking:) Naaaa!

On Saturday we visited with Louise(from New Zealand) the green Mahabaleshwar, a peaceful hillstation on the Western Ghats, a paradise for berries lovers! The holiday-loving people escape from the heat of the Deccan plain and Mumbai to enjoy breath-taking views and heaps/shakes/crushes/jams of strawberries, blueberries,blackberries, raspberries and lots of other -berries!

Louise had such interesting stories to share and was a sheer pleasure to travel with! Here we are on Arthur’s seat, some british officer’s labeled viewpoint from the Raj era

It had been less than a month since the last time I had gone up a hillstation (Dharamsala) but I still had missed the scenic beauty and  the fresh air!

A highlight was our stop at Old Mahabaleshwar’s temple called Panchganga, where 5 great indian rivers are supposed to start collecting their huge-quantit life-sourcing water volume, including Ganges! People come here to store from this holy water for hours of need.

Shruti is an extraordinary case. Check this out: She was an intern in Greece, at my LC (OPA), spent an incredible time there and learn lots of nasty and useful greek words. She came back and found me through Facebook looking for an opportunity to meet. And here it came! I was stunned by her extrovert nostalgic love for my country, thousands of miles away! She knew all about gyros, malakas, teleios and many more:)!

The Shaniwar Wada, is Pune’s trademark. Though it was burnt completely almost 200 years ago, it’s still worth a visit for its proud splendour and beautiful gardens. But definitely not for the way this is all presented… In its front stands an imposing statue of riding Shivaji, the city’s heroic founder, whose tales still feed the contemprary kids’ imagination!

Last but not the least, I visited the famous ashram and learnt a lot about Osho’s teachings. His lifestory including the setup of an Ashram in Oregon and the subsequent ousting is fascinating! The premium to stay in for a day is quite high and includes an entrance on-the-spot HIV test! Around the green Koregaon Park, you see the ashram’s inhabitants in maroon robes, always strictly silent! The night though they put on the white one and then dancing and screaming can be quite noisy…

This is definitely a place I’d like to visit again!

Blessed is (s)he who has friends wishing her/him! From afar! In different languages!

This has been the highlight of a truly special day, a day to cherish for a long time! I have been blown away by friends’ honouring gestures and messages! Short and long, musical and with a card, distant and face-to-face!

The planning for the party started 4-5 nights ago on the Masab Tank terrace. Realising it’s just before a long weekend, when most of us are traveling, we decided with my new cool flatmates to have it on Wednesday the 8th, so that we light up the fireworks on midnight!

The night couldn’t be that good without a refreshing fruit punch! Fruit pieces, juice and of course plenty of ice every now and then. Drops of wotka where around only for the “tough dudes”, you know… Anyone from AIESEC Limburg reading this post? I felt so good wearing your t-shirt guys after these nice years:)

The celebrations started on the date transition, little before midnight with a quite diverse group of nearly 25-30 friends from nearly 10-12 countries on the exquisitely cool terrace of Masab Tank.

The long-established and higly-revered habit of face-cake-rubbing. Sangeeta couldn’t miss the chance of being the first to mess me up:) By the way, the new eyes are doing great! I enjoy views that I couldn’t the last 14 years! I’m quite careful with my drops and not letting in any dust, intense sunlight or …cake!

Next morning it was the School of Leadership folks at work who made it even more memorable! Here I am with my colleagues (from right to left) Sai, Kamesh, Nishi, Bhaskar, Kavitha K7 and Sanjay! We stand in Nile, one of the School of Leadership training rooms, right after an amazing Team meeting where I was part of a skit enacting Rahul Gandhi! Yup, that’s why the kurta:)

And now, morning of the 10th, I’m off to Pune! Dine has done a greagt job preparing me and I can’t wait riding that train again (Hussain Sagar Express)
to end up in Mahabaleshwar and Osho’s ashram!