Dream, you should. I know I don't, but guess will do, sometime.
If you have an hour to spare, click below - exciting stuff. Inspirational. Ecstatic.
Showing posts with label Experience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Experience. Show all posts
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Water Water everywhere..
Astalavista Baby!
Thus came the field trips, in thy countryside.
The day comes with a trip - had to visit the largest agro-industry in B'desh, because they were interested in making use of our services (true it is, that our line of business has lots of takers, and I have hardly met anyone who hasn't been interested in the kind of work I do!) - t'was a 200 mile journey, and I enjoyed every bit of it (including the time I dozed off for).
I have never really been a morning person (wow, that's news!) - but still, I am bang on time when it comes to urgency. Early morn it was when we had to start (yes, 0700 hrs is too early for me), and first one hour was slept off - in this time, we only managed to come outside Dhaka, so nothing was really lost (I have already traveled the city a lot in last few days, and hence can recognize places/roads). Once we were in the outskirts, scenes of the havoc created by floods started showing (it was shocking for me, but for those who stay here (e.g., our driver, our client), it was business-as-usual [wow, additionality factor {only those who work in the field that I do, will understand this, so don't break your head thinking about this 'additionality'}]).
Anyways, I saw hundreds of brick kilns submerged! Could only see their chimneys above the water - its difficult for me to digest that people plan their business around floods, and are OK if their bread & butter goes down in floods, albeit only for a few months.
We go forward, and cometh another exciting thing - crossing an over-flooded river by a ferry. This has been the most adventurous thing of my trip so far (all right, I won't compare my flight with this one - both are different genre). These huge ferries take as many as 20 trucks across the river - very streamlined process, and very interesting. It reminds me of the ferry ride Tommy Lee & Ashley Judd take in the movie "Double Jeopardy" (yes, I liked the movie, and what was nice to see was how Judd escapes from there).
Our ferry ride took about an hour to cross the river (it was long).
And here's what happened - while we were crossing the river, we saw a boat (with fisherman in it) going down in the midst of the river - obviously, the attention of all (300+) people on-board shifted to the scene - though I had no part to play in this whole exercise of saving them, I felt very content after this journey. (Pic of the saved boat/fisherman below [notice where everyone is focused]).
Well, the day was eventful enough, and we reached the destination in another few hours. Totally exhausted at the end of it though. Understandable.
Thus came the field trips, in thy countryside.
The day comes with a trip - had to visit the largest agro-industry in B'desh, because they were interested in making use of our services (true it is, that our line of business has lots of takers, and I have hardly met anyone who hasn't been interested in the kind of work I do!) - t'was a 200 mile journey, and I enjoyed every bit of it (including the time I dozed off for).
I have never really been a morning person (wow, that's news!) - but still, I am bang on time when it comes to urgency. Early morn it was when we had to start (yes, 0700 hrs is too early for me), and first one hour was slept off - in this time, we only managed to come outside Dhaka, so nothing was really lost (I have already traveled the city a lot in last few days, and hence can recognize places/roads). Once we were in the outskirts, scenes of the havoc created by floods started showing (it was shocking for me, but for those who stay here (e.g., our driver, our client), it was business-as-usual [wow, additionality factor {only those who work in the field that I do, will understand this, so don't break your head thinking about this 'additionality'}]).
Anyways, I saw hundreds of brick kilns submerged! Could only see their chimneys above the water - its difficult for me to digest that people plan their business around floods, and are OK if their bread & butter goes down in floods, albeit only for a few months.
We go forward, and cometh another exciting thing - crossing an over-flooded river by a ferry. This has been the most adventurous thing of my trip so far (all right, I won't compare my flight with this one - both are different genre). These huge ferries take as many as 20 trucks across the river - very streamlined process, and very interesting. It reminds me of the ferry ride Tommy Lee & Ashley Judd take in the movie "Double Jeopardy" (yes, I liked the movie, and what was nice to see was how Judd escapes from there).
Our ferry ride took about an hour to cross the river (it was long).
And here's what happened - while we were crossing the river, we saw a boat (with fisherman in it) going down in the midst of the river - obviously, the attention of all (300+) people on-board shifted to the scene - though I had no part to play in this whole exercise of saving them, I felt very content after this journey. (Pic of the saved boat/fisherman below [notice where everyone is focused]).
Well, the day was eventful enough, and we reached the destination in another few hours. Totally exhausted at the end of it though. Understandable.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Easy way to lose $$$
Day 2:
Day starts fine with the breakfast in the hotel. First meeting of the day is with the one of the ministries of this place, and it came as no surprise that there are no regulations at all! Over and above that, WE are asked to prepare a draft policy (taking some cues from Indian policies), that we want to be implemented in Bangladesh - "what an idea sirji".
Next meeting is with a honcho - the person who supplies people (as labour) to Japan & Mid-East - awesome and flourishing business he has - apparently he also wants to jump the bandwagon and invest in renewable space.
Then we meet those who manage Grameen Shakti, the NGO arm of Nobel Laureate Muhamad Yunus' Grameen Bank - there, we get the flavor of where actually all the funds coming in Bangladesh are going.
Its all about PR, at the end of the day, is what I have realized.
Talking about the city, its amazing to note that this place runs on gas - not on gasoline. Bangladesh is almost self-sufficient in its fuel requirements! More than 90% of the vehicles here are Toyotas (with a majority of them reconditioned and shipped from Japan).
Points to note: never ask for veg food; never ask for liquor; always wear a neck-tie if you want to impress the one in front of you; never leave your bag in your cab [if you leave it, don't leave any cash in it; stupid me - I did, and lost $$$ :( ]
Poor me.
Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel
Day starts fine with the breakfast in the hotel. First meeting of the day is with the one of the ministries of this place, and it came as no surprise that there are no regulations at all! Over and above that, WE are asked to prepare a draft policy (taking some cues from Indian policies), that we want to be implemented in Bangladesh - "what an idea sirji".
Next meeting is with a honcho - the person who supplies people (as labour) to Japan & Mid-East - awesome and flourishing business he has - apparently he also wants to jump the bandwagon and invest in renewable space.
Then we meet those who manage Grameen Shakti, the NGO arm of Nobel Laureate Muhamad Yunus' Grameen Bank - there, we get the flavor of where actually all the funds coming in Bangladesh are going.
Its all about PR, at the end of the day, is what I have realized.
Talking about the city, its amazing to note that this place runs on gas - not on gasoline. Bangladesh is almost self-sufficient in its fuel requirements! More than 90% of the vehicles here are Toyotas (with a majority of them reconditioned and shipped from Japan).
Points to note: never ask for veg food; never ask for liquor; always wear a neck-tie if you want to impress the one in front of you; never leave your bag in your cab [if you leave it, don't leave any cash in it; stupid me - I did, and lost $$$ :( ]
Poor me.
Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Bangla Diaries
As a matter of fact, yes, I am. I am here. Not Kolkata - its Bangadesh.
When the opportunity to visit B'desh was building up a few months ago (mind you, for purely business purposes), I thought the country wouldn't be very different from India - anyhow, the country was an offshoot of India, and shouldn't be very different. Though many advised me not to visit this place for numerous reasons (many reasons being social, many developmental, many others, only a few reasonable) - I chose my work to take priority, and went ahead planning for the visit.
So, the plan finalized; Visa received; hence cometh the date to travel.
We get to know that Friday and Saturday are the weekends in B'desh, so we had to be in the country before Sunday morning, so that we may start our meetings Sunday first thing (like Monday first thing in India). Hence we had to take a Biman Bangladesh (BB) flight (this is the official airline of B'desh). My travel agent double checked with me before finalizing the ticket, suggesting that I should travel a day later, so that I can take a Jet Airways flight, which would reach B'desh Sunday mid-day. In order to save that half day, I overruled and asked him to get the tickets.
So here we were, at Delhi IGI Airport, at 12 noon on Saturday (flight scheduled to take off at 1500 hrs, to reach Dhaka at 1730 hrs). Reached airport, and we don't see at BB counter - on inquiring, we are told that the flight is delayed by a whopping 5 hours. Striving to catch hold of any BB official, we waited for an hour, and then lost hope - went back home, to again come back at 1700 hrs. So, we come back at 1700 hrs, and see a mob standing near BB counter - there are two helpless ladies standing at the counter, trying to help people get their boarding passes. I was amazed to notice that after Raipur airport in India, this was the second place where manual entry was done (imagine, no computers at the counter of BB, to check records!).
So back to the boarding pass queue - a flight of a capacity of 200, and out of them 100+ were Surds! I thought it wasn't to Dhaka, but to Ludhiana. Anyways, 2 hours hence, we get our passes, and we are off to the lounge, and subsequently for the aircraft.
In the aircraft at 2030 hrs, and surprizzze - no air-hostesses! No stewards as well. Wait 30 mins, and we see two stewards coming in,asking everyone to keep quiet. Another amazing thing - person sitting next to me - takes his shoes off - brings out his radio - and we all a part of the melodious thumping Punjabi songs courtesy Jaggy-D and Mika! True, Music has no boundaries!
So the stewards trying to tell everyone to fasten their seat belts, but alas - they don't speak in Punjabi, which most of the junta in the plane understand - so the steward goes out of the place, and calls security to help people with tying their seat belts! Amazing.
Cometh 2200 hrs, and the pilot come in - we fly, at last! (Should I expect any soft drinks to start with, or a 3 course meal? A wine bottle please? Joking?)
The course of the journey refreshed my memories that date back ten years - to the days when Blue line and Red line buses used to ply in Delhi. If I were to say that those buses were better than this journey, THAT would be an understatement as well!
Another key observation - everyone has his own bottle of Scotch handy - flight takes off and the glasses come out. People start drinking as well as hiding. I have never tried to hide as much while cheating/copying in my college exams, as these guys were trying to, from each other. Wonder if people thought drinks will be taken away from them, if caught??
And food in flight - well, don't even talk about it - I couldn't even have half a bite. Thankfully, I had a sandwich at the airport, that kept me alive.
Finally, we land at the airport (how many airports have I seen like this - ufff!), and head for immigration - 0200 hrs, day 2. Another 90 minutes at the immigration/luggage collection, and we are off to our hotel (thankfully the airport pickup by the hotel was patient enough to wait for us all the while).
And at the hotel, when at the reception we told that we came in BB, they were awe-struck! I am not surprised why!
So a journey that started 1200 hrs day 1 from Delhi, ended at 0200 hrs day 2 - time taken from Delhi to NY non-stop 14 hours. Time we took - 14 hours. Cool, not very far. Just yet!
PS: I am here for a few days - so more action awaited!
When the opportunity to visit B'desh was building up a few months ago (mind you, for purely business purposes), I thought the country wouldn't be very different from India - anyhow, the country was an offshoot of India, and shouldn't be very different. Though many advised me not to visit this place for numerous reasons (many reasons being social, many developmental, many others, only a few reasonable) - I chose my work to take priority, and went ahead planning for the visit.
So, the plan finalized; Visa received; hence cometh the date to travel.
We get to know that Friday and Saturday are the weekends in B'desh, so we had to be in the country before Sunday morning, so that we may start our meetings Sunday first thing (like Monday first thing in India). Hence we had to take a Biman Bangladesh (BB) flight (this is the official airline of B'desh). My travel agent double checked with me before finalizing the ticket, suggesting that I should travel a day later, so that I can take a Jet Airways flight, which would reach B'desh Sunday mid-day. In order to save that half day, I overruled and asked him to get the tickets.
So here we were, at Delhi IGI Airport, at 12 noon on Saturday (flight scheduled to take off at 1500 hrs, to reach Dhaka at 1730 hrs). Reached airport, and we don't see at BB counter - on inquiring, we are told that the flight is delayed by a whopping 5 hours. Striving to catch hold of any BB official, we waited for an hour, and then lost hope - went back home, to again come back at 1700 hrs. So, we come back at 1700 hrs, and see a mob standing near BB counter - there are two helpless ladies standing at the counter, trying to help people get their boarding passes. I was amazed to notice that after Raipur airport in India, this was the second place where manual entry was done (imagine, no computers at the counter of BB, to check records!).
So back to the boarding pass queue - a flight of a capacity of 200, and out of them 100+ were Surds! I thought it wasn't to Dhaka, but to Ludhiana. Anyways, 2 hours hence, we get our passes, and we are off to the lounge, and subsequently for the aircraft.
In the aircraft at 2030 hrs, and surprizzze - no air-hostesses! No stewards as well. Wait 30 mins, and we see two stewards coming in,asking everyone to keep quiet. Another amazing thing - person sitting next to me - takes his shoes off - brings out his radio - and we all a part of the melodious thumping Punjabi songs courtesy Jaggy-D and Mika! True, Music has no boundaries!
So the stewards trying to tell everyone to fasten their seat belts, but alas - they don't speak in Punjabi, which most of the junta in the plane understand - so the steward goes out of the place, and calls security to help people with tying their seat belts! Amazing.
Cometh 2200 hrs, and the pilot come in - we fly, at last! (Should I expect any soft drinks to start with, or a 3 course meal? A wine bottle please? Joking?)
The course of the journey refreshed my memories that date back ten years - to the days when Blue line and Red line buses used to ply in Delhi. If I were to say that those buses were better than this journey, THAT would be an understatement as well!
Another key observation - everyone has his own bottle of Scotch handy - flight takes off and the glasses come out. People start drinking as well as hiding. I have never tried to hide as much while cheating/copying in my college exams, as these guys were trying to, from each other. Wonder if people thought drinks will be taken away from them, if caught??
And food in flight - well, don't even talk about it - I couldn't even have half a bite. Thankfully, I had a sandwich at the airport, that kept me alive.
Finally, we land at the airport (how many airports have I seen like this - ufff!), and head for immigration - 0200 hrs, day 2. Another 90 minutes at the immigration/luggage collection, and we are off to our hotel (thankfully the airport pickup by the hotel was patient enough to wait for us all the while).
And at the hotel, when at the reception we told that we came in BB, they were awe-struck! I am not surprised why!
So a journey that started 1200 hrs day 1 from Delhi, ended at 0200 hrs day 2 - time taken from Delhi to NY non-stop 14 hours. Time we took - 14 hours. Cool, not very far. Just yet!
PS: I am here for a few days - so more action awaited!
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
The books I would write...
The books I would write would be of travels in foreign lands, of lessons learned, of beauty seen, or awareness heightened. The books I would write would tell of adventures of the body and spirit, of the mind and heart, adventures of a fully lived life. These books would tell of my own journeys across native soils, the people, the culture, the diversity and challenges of life. Filled with my own moments of pain and fear, these books would tell the stories of overcoming danger and adversity, rising above the terrors and facing the world head-on with courage and grace. The books I would write would tell these stories through honesty and hope, imparting wisdom and bravery to those reading the raw words of my own experiences.
These books I would write in the hopes of making a difference in the world. By using my own life, the only experiences I can truly, wholly know, and molding these experiences into words, more than words, emotions and awareness and realizations that could touch the deeply scarred souls of this world. I would write these books because I want to live this life, because I want to have these experiences and to know that I am capable of surmounting the strongest fears and deepest pains. I would write these books because if I could live this life, then somehow I believe the answers would find me. And in turn, these answers, this wisdom and knowledge, could be passed on to others.
Or maybe the books I would write would be a collection of my actual experiences, moving memoirs of the life I have actually lived. Maybe I would write a book detailing the internal turmoil of a ten-year-old guy with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Maybe I would describe the constant fears, the disturbing beliefs that every detail of life must be lived out in a certain way in order to avoid catastrophic repercussions. Maybe I would write of the endless hours spent arranging and rearranging books, or the feeling that no matter how much I ran, I would never be tired. Maybe I would write of being the preadolescent guy who ate his lunch by holding only the plastic wrapping, and the confusion he felt. Maybe I would write this story.
Or maybe I would write a book about an adolescent guy sitting outside his hostel, contemplating the meaning of life. Trying to understand why people try to force themselves, or not. I would write of a morning when the walk to school became a cross country, an attempt to flee from self. Maybe I would write of drugs and sex and every avenue of self-destruction and the reasons why these paths were not taken. Maybe I would write this story.
Maybe I would write these books because these are the stories I know. Because these are the stories I’ve lived. Because these are the stories that may actually make a difference to someone, somewhere, in the midst of tormenting fears or the confusion of a lost identity. Maybe I would write these books in the hopes that lost souls would know they are not alone, that their path is one that has been traveled by many, that their story is not so different from mine.
So maybe, just maybe, I would write books of my life, both real and imagined. Books that tell my story, and the story of so many others. Books that remind us all that life’s journey need not be walked alone, that the burdens will not always weigh upon us too heavily, and that beauty can be found even in the midst of darkness.
These books I would write in the hopes of making a difference in the world. By using my own life, the only experiences I can truly, wholly know, and molding these experiences into words, more than words, emotions and awareness and realizations that could touch the deeply scarred souls of this world. I would write these books because I want to live this life, because I want to have these experiences and to know that I am capable of surmounting the strongest fears and deepest pains. I would write these books because if I could live this life, then somehow I believe the answers would find me. And in turn, these answers, this wisdom and knowledge, could be passed on to others.
Or maybe the books I would write would be a collection of my actual experiences, moving memoirs of the life I have actually lived. Maybe I would write a book detailing the internal turmoil of a ten-year-old guy with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Maybe I would describe the constant fears, the disturbing beliefs that every detail of life must be lived out in a certain way in order to avoid catastrophic repercussions. Maybe I would write of the endless hours spent arranging and rearranging books, or the feeling that no matter how much I ran, I would never be tired. Maybe I would write of being the preadolescent guy who ate his lunch by holding only the plastic wrapping, and the confusion he felt. Maybe I would write this story.
Or maybe I would write a book about an adolescent guy sitting outside his hostel, contemplating the meaning of life. Trying to understand why people try to force themselves, or not. I would write of a morning when the walk to school became a cross country, an attempt to flee from self. Maybe I would write of drugs and sex and every avenue of self-destruction and the reasons why these paths were not taken. Maybe I would write this story.
Maybe I would write these books because these are the stories I know. Because these are the stories I’ve lived. Because these are the stories that may actually make a difference to someone, somewhere, in the midst of tormenting fears or the confusion of a lost identity. Maybe I would write these books in the hopes that lost souls would know they are not alone, that their path is one that has been traveled by many, that their story is not so different from mine.
So maybe, just maybe, I would write books of my life, both real and imagined. Books that tell my story, and the story of so many others. Books that remind us all that life’s journey need not be walked alone, that the burdens will not always weigh upon us too heavily, and that beauty can be found even in the midst of darkness.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
