Egyptian Trip (part 2)

I dont want to bore any one with history lessons which I got on my travels to Egypt, and thus if you want to see all the pictures you can see them here .

What was something unique was interacting with Kiwis, South Africans and Aussies.
Apart from their accent, (Aye, mayte, and the brash arrogance of the aussies) even the South Africans and Kiwis did have some distinct characteristics.
During the campfire a Kiwi guy did the Haka (the Maori tribal dance) and every one sang their most popular campfire songs. I tried my best with the Indian song (Darling Open the door ... why are you angry so??) which is a popular number at any boy scouts camp, but hten finally I plugged my Ipod and played the evergreat Mehbooba oh Mehbooba from Sholay and suddenly all the people started swaying their bellys just like an Egyptian Belly dancer would.

And talking about this, throughout my stay in Egypt, the locals thought I was one of them (brown skin and knowing a couple of Arab words helped), but as soon as I said I was from India (or Hindoostan as some of them still call it) every one would simply shout out Amitabh Bachchan since hindi movies are extremely popular there. This was a proud moment for me, since I saw that Egypt was a country with slightly higher per capita income than India, but all their income was simply from tourism, toll on the Suez Canal, and electricity exports from the Aswan dam to Sudan and Somalia.
They didnt have any industries, and no cars of their own. The roads of Cairo were all crowded with the air smelling of Unleaded petrol. Thus India even though equally poor had made many advances, not the least in the entertainment industry.
The tour guide himself said that his favourite movie was Amar Akbar Anthony.

Another thing that I observed was that the Egyptians didnt have a concept of Vegetarianism. I went in to a Kebab house and all i asked was a Nan sandwich without kebabs, (as i have done before in Europe, doner kebab with no kebabs). Here the guy tried convincing me that the meat wasn't bad, offered me chicken, mutton, tender lambs meat but I relented. When he realised I was from India he said the meat was all Halaal (though i am not a muslim) and also said that they didnt serve any beef. after convincing them that I was perfectly fine with their establishment and didnt think that it was dirty but i was a person who was averse to eating meat.
After the whole comical episode got over, they didnt know how much to charge me for the salad and nan sandwich. All this is when those guys dont know English and I dont know Arabic. Some knowledge of Hindi and Urdu helps since many words are similar, but I am sure a lot was lost in translation.

And for people having raised this issue about racism, (especially after the Shilpa Shetty in Big Brother controversy) I did feel a bit isolated at times, but I am sure that was more due to coming from a different cultural background rather than discrimination. (dont we indians segregate according to our languages)

Another good thing i observed was their desire to travel and care free nature.
Though these are descendants of sailors, travellers and adventure seekers (the white residents of SA, Australia and NZ) and with social security and even blue collar jobs paying well, you could be a carpentar and take vacations all over the world. There was a Kiwi woman, who was a police officer in Aukland and was earlier an English teacher in Tokyo. She had currently taken a year off and was travelling all over the world. (you dont see that too often amongst Indians)

Well in india due to lack of social security and people sticking close to their roots, there isnt so much desire to travel or explore the world. But also the same thing makes people work harder and be more ambitious.
Dont know, I hope i get to travel and experience different cultures, and hopefully pick up the best from them.

Egypt On the Go (Part 1)

Finally, all my dear esteemed readers (yes both of you)
Time has come to write about the greatest vacation i have had (since something called pgp2 in IIM Ahmedabad)
Thankfully i was sincerely working in my job since 2nd May 2006, without ever taking a single day off (not to hunt for flats, not for falling sick, not to show my girlfriend(s) around the city of London, diligently working hard (or hardly working as some of you skeptics might say). Thankfully the Compliance division did not like me not taking any holidays in the calendar year, and forced me to take some days off.
At the same time I had already booked my trip to India (home) sometime in January (not knowing or ever bothering about leave entitlement, being the diligent chap that I am)
Thus grudgingly my manager sanctioned another holiday in December 06.
Now left with a sanctioned leave, but no where to go (being stuck with my 2 flat mates who are slightly less boring than me on weekends wasn't bad enough for all 3 of us) finally after talking about all the vacation options with my peers Piotr suggested Egypt, and Amir gave me contact of a really great travel agent, and I could book my trip to Egypt.
Wary as I was about conducted tours, I booked myself on the King Rameses Tour with On the Go tours , but as opposed to other people scaring me that the conducted tours are fool of Oldies this was full of young people, with most of the people being from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and one each from Brazil, France and obviously India (yours truly) and a couple of English people were there as well.
As you can figure it out from the web link, the trip was surely a great deal and well we sure had a whale of a time.
The tour covered most of the touristy places in Egypt,
The City of Cairo, The Great Pyramids of Giza, The Aswan Dam, the Temple of Abu Simbel (which I surely think should be in the 7 wonders of the World, though i guess it is the 22nd Wonder), Temples of Luxor, Kanark, EdFu and Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.
Also a 2 day 2 might trip on the Nile on Board the Feluccas (Single Sail Boat) without any toilets or spare rooms. It was 2 days of relaxation, drinking beer (the Great Egyptian Beers, Stella, and Sakkarra) and playing cards ( I learnt the great Aussie card game, called Arsehole)
This was followed by the second leg of the journey to Dahab which is a beach resort near the Israel, Jordan and the Saudi borders.
Its a quite place, with great Coral Reefs, Red Sea (which is quite astonishingly blue) nice sandy private beaches, and lots of Sunshine, with the back drop of the mountains (Mt Sinai)
I also climbed up Mt Sinai, which was the place where Moses gave his 10 commandments after spending 40 days and 40 nights hiding up there with his followers.
I have said enough, and now since each picture is worth a 1000 words (and Ancient and a very popular saying) here are the snaps

The Great Pyramid of Chiops

As you can see, this is the 2nd of the great pyramids of Giza. These pyramids were tombs and built in a manner thus they could last for thousands of years (since the Ancient Egyptians believed that the soul would re-enter the body in the after life)
Thus the pyramidical shape, which not only gives stability, and the weight would fall on the sides and be equally distributed rather than the central foundation (where the tomb of the Pharoah was placed) Also being pyramidical not conical let the air pass through around it without creating wakes, being on top of a hill and in the desert allowed it to be not affected by ground water and rain. Thus these mighty Structures still stand on defying time.
There is an Egyptian (Arabic) saying

Every man fears time, but time fears the Pyramids

The Sphinx

This is a statue of the Pharoah with a lions body. We can see that the face has been defaced, and that has apparently been done by the invaders army's (such as the Turkish Ottomans, the Greeks, the Romans, Napolean Bonaparte) or the religious converters who defaced these monuments and asked that if there is GOd then he would protect himsself (and succeeded in converting the Ancient Egyptians to Islam and Christianity) (Not because of Obelix climbing up the nose as shown in Asterix Comics by Goscinny and Uderzo) Nevertheless this statue is massive, and is along with the great pyramids one of the 7 Wonders of the World

sunset At Sakkara

The On the Go Group

The Great Temple of Abu Simbel (of King Rameses II)

This Temple of Abu Simbel was built by King Rameses II (arguably the most powerful Pharoah of Egypt in the Ancient times)

This was carved out of a hill, and if you notice the door in the center, has been so carved that on every 21st of February (his coronation date) and 21st of October (his birthdate) the sun's rays go right inside the 60m passage and shine on the face of the statue of King Rameses himself.

Though since then after the Aswan dam is built and Lake Nasser would have flooded the temple, the whole hill has been moved behind, and thus now the Suns rays shine on 22nd of Febraury and 22nd of October (shifted by a day)

That kind of knowledge, and architecture in those days is quite remarkable. Considering this is 3300 years old

The Blue Nile (the real one, not the Strip Club in Colaba you pervs), Life line of Egypt as seen from the High Dam in Aswan

The River Nile is the life line of the country of Egypt.

Egypt has a population of 77 million, which only inhabits 4% of the land mass of the country, and that is along the banks of this river, the rest of it is Desert.

A little more on the trip (the fun parts, the people on the tour, the egyptian people and the country and a little more history lessons in subsequent posts)

hallo from egypt

Aloha to all my readers (yes both of of you)

I am in Luxor in Egypt and have so far been to the Pyramids of Cairo, Aswan Dam, Lake Nasser, Temple of Abu Simbel and the Temples of Edfu and Kom Ambo.

Have been to Belly Dancing shows and smoked the hooka (water pipe or sheesha as they call it here)

Travelled on the Nile in a Felucca (sail boat) with no electricity, water or toilets for 2 days and 2 nights.

Still am hale and hearty and one whole week more to go.

detailed posts when i am back in london.

Till then see you all.

Egypt Ahoy

Hi to all my readers (Yes both of you)

I am sorry i havent been blogging since sometime, its due to my longer work hours and laziness (not to be confused with laziness at work)

But i might not have access to internet as well some time in the future, since i would be travelling to Egypt, (yes the land of the pyramids and the pharoahs) and would hopefully have lots to blog about, and obviously many pictures.

So do wait in anticipation (yes both of my readers, though i know one of you i imaginery)

Till then bbye

Newtons Laws of Losing Weight

Yeah ... its time for me to (mis) quote the most abused laws again

(1) Any person who remains at rest in a desk job, shall remain at rest unless acted upon an external irrestible force.

e.g. The trousers getting too tight, OR lack of attention from the opposite sex

(2) The accelaration to get things going is directly proportional to the force applied, i.e. either by your over bulging tummy (or jelly belly) on your pants OR the number of attractive species of the opposite sex around you

(3) This is the toughest one, To each and every action you do to lose weight, there is an unequal (usually far greater) and opposite reaction.

As in hunger pangs and binge drinking/eating

Yes as you can figure out from the above posts, I am facing the battle of the bulge, and in my case (unfortunately) the force applied is the one of my trousers.

Women have continued to keep ignoring me, which they have kept doing irrespective of my weight or waist (ive been the fattest and thinnest guys in my class, though in different years)

And to lay to rest these weighty issues i started playing squash with a colleague of mine.

Mind you, i suck big time at raquet sports (just as badly as in track and field events, and other sports) but still i thought, i have never played squash before so why not try it out, apparently it burns more calories per hour than other sports (definitely more than carrom or poker which were the games i was playing earlier)

So i started playing in the squash courts which are in a building hosting the back office in a somewhat shady area of london.

Now was when i realised the Newtons third law of losing weight.

This game involves runnign and hitting a really soft ball against a wall and this kind of involves physical effort which my body hasnt been used to. Thus start all the pains and aches, and then i am so goddamn tired in the night (after work then play) and i end up drinking a couple of beers after the game, neutralising any positive benefit the game had to my physique (or the lack of it)

More over, being beaten hollow does a lot of good for your self esteem as well, though for a person like me being beaten at sport hardly matters, infact its good i remember when i won, like

i last beat my close friend abhishek burman for a table tennis match on 2nd april 1997. Well dont count it as a mean achievement, since in 1998 january he ended up as Mumbai junior college tournament semifinalist.

Its a totally different thing that he had his left hand in plaster cast then, and a much inferior (practically dead) racquet.

Anyways the problem with squash (compared to tennis table tennis and badminton, i.e. other racquet sports at which i suck, i.e. ORSAWIS) is that the ball is extremely soft and thus doesnt bounce a lot. Thus the coefficient of restitution is much less than 1. (e<<1)>

In addition, with the side and the back walls which can be hit upon, the whole problem becomes 3 dimensional compared to tennis or badminton or table tennis (ORSAWIS) . As any one who has solved a system of equations will tell you a 3 dimensional problem brings in much more complexity than just one additional equation compared to a 2 dimensional problem

The third problem is, in ORSAWIS the opponent is on the other side of the net, hence you can see where the opponent is going, here he may be on your side, ahead of you (where you cant see his face or where his eyes are pointing) or he might be behind you (where you cant see your opponent at all) and this makes the whole system further more complicated.

The decisions systems in ORSAWIS is if he runs to left hit the ball to his right (i.e. our left)

Now it took me some time to realise, here my left is same as his left (and it doesnt even change if the opponent is left handed) , and if i cant see where my opponent is running towards, how do i hit the ball away from him???

And just like any physics problem (or like chemical engineering differential equations, which by the way was my undergraduate major) there are serious boundary conditions. Not only the ball bounces back off the side walls, unlike ORSAWIS where you can run out of the court (or away from the table) here this boundary conditions cannot be messed with. Real life is not like road runner or tom and jerry cartoons that you can run through walls.

Unfortunately i learnt it the hard way (ouch!!!)

Since all my attention was only on the ball (like Arjun of Mahabharata focussed on the eye of the bird) I didnt notice the wall obstructing my running and follow through after the shot, and bumping into a wall isnt really pleasant.

Well now as i nurse my aches and pains after playing squash and have digested my beers (and burped as well) I am sitting down and refiguring it out how to beat the hell out of my opponent.

I have already written down the system of equations, adjusting for the coefficient of restitution of the ball, (Hence angle of incidence is not equal to angle of reflection) the boundary conditions in the three dimensional space, with rigid boundary conditions. Also I have put in a probabilistic term to account for me not being able to see my opponent at all times.

I guess by now you might have realised why do i suck at sports and am good in physics.

Anyways all i am hoping for is to lose with a little more respect, actually score a point every now and then. And also lose some weight in the whole process.

And as for the opposite reactions, I plan to soothe my pain by drinking whisky on the rocks instead of beer to keep the weight in check.

Come on all my readers (yes including the non-existant ones) wish me luck against the battle of the bulge.

I hope now i can atleast lose with some respect

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Yeah i did see this movie, the most talked about and on of the highest grossers amongst hollywood movies.

Admitted this movie is a bit gross, and offensive to most people (in particular Jews, Women, Kazakhstanis, blacks, prostitutes, ...)

It is about the travails of a Kazakhstani TV presenter (Sacha Baron Cohen, yes he himself is a Jew) who travels to America with his producer Azamat to make a documentary on the ways of American Life.

The movie has crossed realms of humour, and this form of aggressive humour is meant to shock the daylights out of you, and sometimes actually it is a parody on the ignorant americans.

when ever he pretends to speak in Kazakh he actually speaks Hebrew, and some times in Polish.

The cyrillic alphabet is nothing but garbage, doesnt make sense.

While portraying a country in bad light he mocks the way america views rest of the world.

On his journey he makes fun of feminists, blacks, homosexuals, prostitutes, politicians, texas during a rodeo, baywatch blonde bombshell Pamela Anderson, AMerican SUVs, college fraternity brothers.

Agreed the humour is a bit too aggressive, there are scenes which might shock people, but he surely has set the cash registers ringing at the box office.

First there was enough hype created and then with such shocking movie, some people are going and watchign it again.

Like it or hate it, everyone is talking about it and thus the controversy is making more money for him. A Jewsih colleague said, all his jokes on Jews are alright since he is a Jew himself.

Anyways i would suggest you go watch the film yourself, unless you are those sensitive people, and dont you go watch the movie with a Kazakh Jewish woman. Especially if she is a feminist (or a prostitute or both)

Free Riders featured in a magazine

It is extremely heartening to say that Free Riders the IIMA motorcycling community has been featured in Bike India, a magazine for motorbike enthusiasts.

All kudos to hitanshu gandhi for getting the article published, and trying to post the scanned pdf file here. (soon might post a pic or bmp version)

This also reminds me of the first big biking trip, from ahmedabad to gir somnath and back. This was 1030 km in 53 hours, and while returning back to ahmedabad, i had the great feeling of achievement.

To say freeriders is just a club is an understatement. For me it was one way changing my own perception abotu myself, breaking all the mental ceilings i had about my own capabilities.
Again i never imagined there would be more people who might be interested in the same, but now the club has simply grown bigger and bigger.

It also removed the idea that IIMA was only for academics, and there was no other avenue for entertainment.

Enough of my own rambling, this is definitely a proud moment, to get soem sort of recognition, for an initiative that was taken by 2 guys who were bored of the routine.

Hope that this passion for motorcycling remains alive even 5 years down the line, and i will have felt the sense of being a part of a movement that signified change.

Right now gone is my fill shut it forget it bike (hero honda splendor) and now i am on my bicycle, but the spirit of free riding still remains within me.

Champions Trophy

Right now in India is the 10 nation cricket tournament Champions Trophy going on.
when this had first started (in 1998) i was thinking why do you need a mini world cup, when anyways you have the big trophy ot play for?
Lot of the previous editions were forgetable events, and even this one seemed to be a bore.
Round one had weak teams like zimbabwe and bangladesh and strong ones like Sri Lanka and West indies.
The series is being played in India, with very high ticket prices, in front of empty stadiums, and not being telecast on the major sports channel (in india) as well

But this one sure has had its fair share of drama.
Before the series due to ball tampering allegations and for walking out of a match the Pakistan Captain Inzamam is banned for this tournament. Then there is a big issue about the stand in captain Younis Khan resigning, just to be reinstated a day later.
If this much controversy wasnt enough, to of pakistans leading bowlers fail a drug test.
And inspite of these setbacks they one their first match???

West Indies pulled of a win against Australia with jerome Taylor grabbing a hatrick.
Pak beat SriLanka
and New Zealand beat South Africa
3 upsets in 4 matches already

This whole tournament is getting interesting, and also the matches are on pitches which are assisting bowlers, so they are not slam bang kind of affairs where some team bats and makes huge totals and bowlers mid match start thinking of changing career to do something else.

Anyways this seems to be a cracker of an event (I am saying this right before diwali, the indian festival of fire crackers)

Hope all of you follow and enjoy this event as much as i do.
And hope we see some good quality sport.
AND THANK GOD FOR CRICINFO

We didnt start the fire ...

It was Paldy cooking, when his eggs were burning ...

yeah yesterday being a lazy sunday morning, at around 11 AM I was shaving in my bathroom and about to shower, when suddenly there was the loud ringing of the fire alarm, and i thought better run into the shower, atleast the water might keep me safe.

Just about then my flat mate Paldy knocks loudly on the door saying that there is an emergency, and then i go to the kitchen full of smoke, and the frying pan was set on fire (haha gives a new twist to the whole from frying pan to the fire phrase)

We opened all the windows in the living room and shut the doors leading to the other rooms and the passage and simply let the oil in the frying pan burn off.

Just about as I thought the situation was under control, there was a loud thumping noise at the door, and luckily for us Paldy ran quickly and opened the door, else the firemen there would have broken the door (and left us with the bill of getting it repaired ... and surely the landlord would have been furious)

The firemen were surprised and joked about the little kitchen fire, the whole scene was funny, a burning fire pan (which by then had extinguished), me roaming around the house with only a towel wrapped around my waist, and the kitchen and living room filled with smoke.

Thankfully it was just a minor mishap, but its good to know the fire alarm works, and also the firebrigade reaches on time, so all that high rent, and even higher council taxes we pay are atleast put to some good use.

Now you can imagine all this commotion, loud fire alaram, firemen in the house, and nippo (the third flat mate) was still sleeping, and ironically his bedroom is the one which shares a wall with the kitchen.

And alls well that ends well and after this we had our fair share of jokes,

Like Paldy is now known as Pyromaniac Paldy

and we all know what his secret flame was,

And the best is we already had a house warming party (quite literally)

THE ONLY REGRET I HAVE IS

I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN A PICTURE OF THE WHOLE THING

IT IS REALL HILARIOUS IN HINDSIGHT

though at that point of time i was thinking otherwise.

Living on a Shoestring

Today i saw my shoelace was frittered and nearly about to break, so i sneaked out from office to go buy a pair of shoelace, and the damn thing cost me 2.49 Pound Sterling.

I was shocked, its like Rs 220 or so in India. Gosh, this is sure one thing which you cant call cheap.

It gives the phrase "Living on a Shoe String" or "Shoe String Budget" a totally new meaning.

Who knows the British if they use this phrase they might mean Middle class rather than extremely scarce resourses.

I sure am not gonna use this phrase really soon again.

Infact with the kind of prices here in London, sometimes I do feel I am living on a shoestring.

Passing Milestones

Yeah, today i turn 25, and man it feels old.

As a kid i used to think at 15 you are the man, who knows the world etc, and then its 18, (thats when you can drive) 21 thats when you can legally drink (yeah i said legally) and 25 .. well thats when motor insurance is cheaper in Western world.

Life is like a journey on the highway, and this is just a passing milestone. My journey was unknown, and i made pitstops along the way, school, college, work, business school, ....
and now work again, in a different country, different continent altogether.

Where am i going i dont know, but in this journey the destination doesnt matter (well the ultimate destination is death, and if you are too religious, then for an atheist like me its surely hell after death) but enjoying the journey is whats important.

I have made my fair shares of errors (wrong exits on the highway) and paid for that, I have taken loads of short cuts and gotten benefits for that, This is like my odometer telling me, you have travelled for 25 years, how much more to go (who knows?)

Well my last one year was fantastic, i celebrated my birthday in finland in a youth hostel and then went on a cruise from near helsinki back to Germany, nothing fancy today i guess, work beckons, and its just another regular day.

(mis)Quoting Robert Frost

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep(do i?), And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

yeah in this case my miles are the work hours i put in today, before hitting some of the pubs.

:)

more of Gandhigiri (why he didnt win the Nobel Prize)

Its a shame that the man who was the first to preach non violence, and civil disobediance, who over threw the regime of the mighty (though after the world wars it was weakened considerably) British Empire, by simply by civil disobediance, such a person who actually practised turning the other cheek was never given the Nobel Peace Prize.

Anyways right from the website of the Nobel Committee, is an article which talks about the same (nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/articles/gandhi/index.html)

Anyways while I am talking about this Gandhi giri, its quie ironical i am working in the very same land which he sought independance from, though for an American bank (well isnt America like the British Empire at the turn of the previous century?)

But well I am here from my own free will, (or is it social and peer pressure???)

Well it would be nicer if one could remember the great man apart from his birthday and after some bollywood flick professes his preachings with a twinge of spice added

The Construction worker

this is a pic taken in the Metropolitan museum of art.
A Wonderful mural, and guess i identify with it a little more because of my dad's back ground in the construction industry. (making construction elevators he makes a life wee bit easier for the construction workers)
Dammit he should use this as a logo on his visiting cards, but then i guess it would be a problem of copyright laws :(

Of Gandhigiri and other ramblings

yeah I am posting this its already 2nd october in India, where Indians (well most of the 1+ billion people) would be celebrating Gandhi jayanti, on the birthday of Mohandas "Mahatma" (The great soul) Gandhi.

He was the man who was mainly responsible for gaining Democracy for india form the british empire, and shall always be known for Satyagraha (non violent protest) and civil disobedience.

Well as always, rarely do people remember dead great persons apart from anniversaries and obviously not many care about the principles he preached.

so on this theme there was a movie 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' Starring Sanjay Dutt.

Well though the movie was a wonderful entertainer (I saw it in New York, first day first show) it does well to rehash the great mans learnings, i do feel the indian Media has gone a little over board with the concept of gandhigiri.

The politicians, underworld nexus has taken the country far from the idealistic place he might have wanted the country to be.

The movie is strictly an entertainer but nothing much else. I doubt it shall make an iota of change in any persons life.

This movie might seriously have the Mahatma turning in his grave (Though being a Hindu his body was cremated and not buried, thus he doesnt have a grave, but thats metaphorically speaking)

Well about me being born a day after Gandhi, and being from same part of Gujarat (Saurashtra) my parents did want me to be a similar noble as well as a great person unfortunately i did disappoint them :)

Far from being non violent i regularly got into fights, and though got beaten up more often than not, but none of those great qualities did ever filter down to me.

Guess it also has to do with genes and upbringing [:p]

Dixteeno meet up in NY

We had a training program in New York, and there it was nice to meet all the new associates across the world, but was nicer to meet up with fellow friends after 4 months who were recruited by the same firm (now i dont want to name my firm and get into trouble, like that English Secretary in the French Audit firm)

But yeah, this lead to meeting my great friend BaLLLma again, and this is a picture from the roof top party which we had in one of the treny places in New York,
This was the dixteeno reunion, with Me BaLLLma (Narahari is what his parents named him,) and Nippo (Manish) drinking Long island Ice Tea in Manhattan (not too far away from Long Island :P ) Well atleast during the parties we dressed up like those "Wall Street Types" though I guess it is going to be sometime till i get comfy wearing a suit every day (thankfully at work it is business casuals, suit and a tie would make things a little tough and make me wake up those few minutes early as well)
Another is a picture of the sunset, taken across river hudson. Well not a great pic, but was clicked from my phone, by a semi-drunk me.

Picture my Desk

yeah this is what it looks like,

this is the picture i took by my camera phone (Sony Ericsson K750i) in my very first week, now each of these 3 screens would have multiple windows open, and on bloomberg there would be streaming of news through out from my launch pad.

Also you might notice there is very little clutter (as per my standards ... Mom Dad I know you are smirking as you read this ... especially dad) now that i have moved quite a few seats there are books, pieces of paper ... well yeah there is a lot more clutter now.

but for those who might not have seen a trading floor, might not realise the important of multiple screens (come on you might think why does one need so many) but seriously since i am a structurer i have 3 screens, exotics traders all have at least 4 and flow traders have 6 screens in front of them. And among these you have small windows open evey where.

And for those who have been in dealing room/trading floor might just say ... ahh another newbies desk.
Damn he does no work ... yet why is it a blank screen on bloomberg?
(yep this was in the past)

Tale of Two Cities (Nay, 3 Cities)

yeah reached london last week, after 5 weeks in New York, and damn the stark difference absolutely hit me on my face.

first was the issue of finding food at 11 PM in the night, and damn London especially in the sort of commercial area where i live absolutely sucks.

But the pavements of london are not stained with the marks of Dog Piss.
Like in Mumbai there are notices of please dont spit on the walls, (the crazy betel pan chewing habit which is not only disgusting, but leaves its art work on all walls and lamposts in the city) In new York there are similar notices about PLEASE RESTRAIN YOUR DOGS

More over, the New York subways are ugly, though air conditioned, but the stations look like the set of a climax of hindi movie, where the villain has tied the heros mother and girl friend,
just before the final fight sequence.

More over back to seeing shorter buildings, cars being driven on the left of the road (contrary to americans who believe they always have to be "right")

Here i am back to following sports which i do understand, (well baseball and american football i didnt find particularly interesting and back to cricket and soccer. )

As regards with the people on the streets, though both London and NY are both extreemely diverse, in NY people all become homogenous New Yorkers and in london (due to its proximity to europe) people retain their identities, and speak more often in their mother tongue, and are recognised as polish, or french or german or indian for that matter.
There is also some form of Xeno phobia in London through out. (Same in the US as well)
now that bulgaria and romania are joining the EU, its been a lot about migrant workers coming and stealing their jobs.

Here i too am a migrant worker, and i do feel, well in the 17th and 18th century when these guys went and exploited the others, who was stopping them? when they had factories post industrial revolution which kept people poor in the third world countries.
US does take it to other extremes, by having quotas for h1B visas. Who is the champion of fair trade?
Why now it isnt survival of the fittest?
same thing is when Shiv sena and the marathis cry that all jobs are taken by the UP Bihar people, and nothing remains for ethnic population of bombay.
This is the part which is common every where.
people who are born in a location, feel its their privilege to be there, and other guys coming in and lowering the wages is incorrect.
(though i still believe and say i am not a low wage option :P, but a person chosen on merit, and deserve to be in the position, irrespective of my nationality)

yeah this form of xenophobia is atleast portrayed in the Newspapers in all three cities.

Give and take, the human nature is the same across continents.

Arent we all the same animal?

Last blog from NY

Good bye New York,

I am writing this from the lounge at the JFK Airport in NY, 2 hours before my flight,
next post shall be from home in London, (yeah now i have started calling London as home) The month spent here was a wonderful time, though cant wait to get back to work (ooops i might soon regret that with the long work hours that might be put in) .
Hopefully there shall be a few more blogs about the good times i had in NY.


Till then bbye NY

Stand up comedy

Well i always wanted to go to a stand up comedy show in NY, and when no one else was willing to come i thought lemme go for it alone.

I thought being not in a group would help no one would pick on me, and it would be good fun.
And even if some one picked on me come on it cant harm one much, especially not some one like me who has been through some of it (Come on, being fat, with spectacles, clumsy, bad in sport, good at math, kids could be rude in primary school to such guys and add to that a funny surname, which even indians cant pronounce correctly) And i am not adding anything about college or business school nick names. But as usual, boy was i mistaken.

the standup comedians sure know one thing, you neednt be funny, but sex and obscenity sells. Add to that political incorrectness, stereotypes, rude jokes and there you have the audience guffawing. So being the lone indian in the audience (lone brown guy) I was too conspicuous, so i had a bunch of computer programmer geek jokes, homosexual jokes, homophobic jokes (come on those comics were not even consistent), shopkeeper jokes, man finally when he asked me what work did i do (ahhh i have been at the wrong end of that one so many times) I had the wide smile on my face and said, "I price interest rate derivatives"
Damn that was the moment, i got that point, ... he was clueless, finally i added at an investment bank, and he mumbled something about indians being good at math.

Well all said and done, it sure was fun, the comics were hilarious and surely were fair to all,
Jews, Nazis, Blacks, Rednecks, Cops, Druggies, Drunks and chinese, not to mention indian computer programmers, ... all were made fun off. All for all they had quite a few comics, from a half arab to a african american female.

and thanks to the 18 year old californian dude who came ot the show with his parents and grandparents, man had it not been for him (and my moment when i told him about my job) I might have been weeping and calling back my mom.

But sure this was the first time, I actually scored a point when i described what work i was doing. Damn it felt good.

American TV

Dammit, I dont have a TV at home in London, and i am sure i am happy, else my spare time would have been spent watching the idiot box, like i do here in NY.

Though all the American sitcoms are great (particularly Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and FRIENDS) , some other channels are absolutely pathetic.

Take for example MTV, which is nothing more than a reality TV show, hardly ever they show any music.

Some of the programs i saw were:

Sweet Sixteen here you have children turning 16 celebrating their birthday bashes, with their parents spending around 500,000 USD on the party.

DAMN, that is shocking, but what is worse the way the children behave (dammit calling these teenagers children makes me kinda feel real old)

some of the comments

"... the theme of the party is YOUNG and HOT coz i'm YOUNG and HOT" says a boy, who frankly weighing close to 300 pounds (140kg) and resembles a lazy sloth.

With them having invites for friends and saying those not invited are not "cool enough" and their temper tantrums are worth watching.

Each kid thinks they are the best, most handsome/beautiful or sexy and desirable whilst they are not. (Only when your parents are stashed with cash do you become so sexy, else you are nothing but a plain jane)

Next

this program is a speed dating kind of an event, pretty dumb, but mindless entertainment none the less, especially when someone gets rejected and they scream out NEXT

Parental COntrol

this is when parents dont approve of their kids current boyfriend/girlfriend and thus they set them up with 2 dates whilst the current boyfriend/girlfriend sits with the parent and watches the dates on television (live as its being taped by MTV)

This can be hilarious when the parents and the person whom they dont like sit next to each other and the situation does get nasty.

All in all, MTV is aimed at lots of teenagers, and this simply reflects the way of life here. With people having dreams and aspirations for a Mercedes or BMWs as 16th birthday presents, other jealous kids gawking, some gate crashing, and the teens self importance all coming from not what htey have done, are capable of but simply the stash in heir parents wallet.

Guess finding these programs weird has a lot to do with my conservative middle class brahminical upbringing in suburban mumbai.

But well this television is for the masses, and we get what we ask for, so its a reflection on the society, and shows how shallow, materialistic and empty the society has become.

And If you were thinking how come i am so preachy but find time to watch this crap you figured how come i am watching this, then you realised, how empty my life has become, with no cricket on television (I cant figure out much in Baseball or American Football) and idiot box is called so for a very specific reason, making bigger idiots out of existing idiots.