Travelogue: Mumbai

So, this was supposed to be my first ever official trip. And I was the chosen one along with my colleague Saurabh Diwan who was sent to attend Microsoft Techmela from HCL Comnet. Right from my day one at HCL, I have been the face of technical community at HCL. So rightfully, I was commissioned to attend this great congregation of tech gurus and tech displays.

So I reached there one day before. HCL has booked a hotel for me in Santa Cruz which was very close to the airport. However the conference venue was Hotel Renaissance in Powai.

Day One, Yours truly managed to wake up on time and reach the venue. It was a picturesque hotel with a backdrop of Powai Lake. I, being shutter friendly and having recently bought my digicam, clicked a lot. The first day started with a Keynote, followed by technology specific tracks. I won't get into those details as they may bore you to Shut Down.

Time to head home and wander in the lively city of Mumbai. This was the first time I was in Mumbai so I haven't seen much of it. Tripat and Nidhi Jalan arranged to meet me at Bandra. After losing my way twice I managed to reach there. Also went to Bandra beach. And then a trip to roadside flee market, some nice spicy chaats and time to hit the hay.

Day Two: I was delivered to the venue on time by the auto. Able to finish the day being still alive with sore thumbs and fingers while playing Forza on kiosk Xbox.

After the day was over, the real challenge was to get to some tourist like place and see something. Saurabh came to rescue and suggested about Juhu Chaupati. Hired an auto and reached there just in time that it started raining heavily. Eight O' Clock in the evening, drizzling sky and a perfect ambiance for a nice walk at the beach.

Day Three: Time to bunk the second half of the sessions. ;) Rush to Church Gate, also invite some childhood buddies and walk down Nariman Point. What a perfect setting. Then go to Gateway of India, take some photos of Hotel Taj and have a walk at Colaba flee market. Another enjoyable day


Day Four and luckily a Sunday: reached Santa Cruz station, made way to Andheri. and finally to a multiplex to watch Jhoom Barabar Jhoom! yups, such a tragic end to such a beautiful story. The story of guy who went to Mumbai first time and enjoyed first three days and ended the journey by watching such a pathetic movie!!!

Hey, as Shahrukh Khan says in Om Shanti Om - "Picture Abhi Baaki Hai Mere Dost" . So that was not the ending. Had lunch at a food court. And then, time to meet Suhas at Joggers Park. I confess, I haven't seen the movie so I wasn't expecting much. But then, it started raining and our plans to have a jog at the park were short lived. However, we had a nice tea at Irani Restaurant near Mehboob Studio. Also did some impulse shopping at Fascination (The place to buy cheap smuggled stuff. Rating: 4/5.. I got compliments from everyone in the office)

Evening time and time to get back to Delhi. A one hour date with Tripat at Balaji Cafe at the airport. and I bid adieu to Mumbai.

Reservation, Caste System, Mob Mentality

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200706011501.htm

Times of India Editorial (Requires Indiatimes ID)

Gujjars have OBC. They want ST. Meenas are ST. They feel it will affect them negatively if Gujjars are also given ST. The state government made some high promises during election and not able to live up to them now. I don't understand the logic behind this whole reservation system. And let me be very clear, I am anti-reservation and feel that there should be meritocracy and no one should be preferred because he/she is from a specified caste but equally powerful as non-specified caste.

All modes transports to Jaipur are blocked. There were incidents of violence in Faridabad, Noida, Gurgaon. Even Delhi-Dehradun highway was blocked. Shoot at Sight ordered in Bharatpur and Dausa.

I don't where it is heading, and I think Vasundhara Raje is as clueless as I am.

May God bless all with enlightenment

Image copyright: Times of India/R K Lakshman

Help!! I am tagged

Shekhar , the citizen of joy, tagged me in his recent post, which was quite surprising. I have never been tagged before and this tag certainly got me thinking.

Read Shekhar's post for Step 1. I am starting with Step 2. And I am warning you, there will not be any step 3.

8 Random facts about me.

1. I was born on April 01, which means I share my birthday with Abraham Maslow
   
2. I was only 13 years old when I completed my secondary education
3. I got introduce to computers and technology during my XI th standard. It has become an integral part of my life after that.
4. I was aqua phobic until I jumped and rafted by the river Ganges
5. My dream job would be a test driver for F1. Kimi Raikkonen is my favorite driver.
   
6. My favorite computer game, you guessed it right, is Need for Speed. I also love to play other racing games like Midtown Madness, F1 2002 etc.
   
7. Kal Ho Naaa Ho is my favourite bollywood masala movie. Back To The Future trilogy is my favorite Hollywood trilogy.
   
8. I have a huge list of crushes ~blushing!

And.. I am breaking the law by not tagging anyone!

May 2007 : The busiest month for my blog

This month saw most activity on my blog. I have posted 13 new items till date and added visitors from all over the world, including Down Under.

I hope to keep up the enthusiasm and energy level.

The Google Story

I just finished reading this book. It provides good insight into how this phenomenon started, what was going in the background, how it made money and how it successfully handled an IPO on the wall street. It also describes some of the key philosophies at Google i.e. Don't be Evil.

It has a thriller like speed and a novel like detail.
All in all, a good read if you are smitten by the Google bug.

Kimi disappoints again

In the last weekend Monaco GP, Kimi screwed up his qualifying and started the race from P16...
8th row in a narrow street circuit in Monaco makes sure that it will not help much in your driver championship. After retiring in previous race at Spain, it was another disaster waiting to happen.

Due to one pit stop strategy, he was able to finish 8th and get one point. However the point difference has increased to fifteen, which is not a very comfortable position if you want to fight for driver championship.

And, Mclaren is showing salutable reliability and awesome speed. Lewis Hamilton has shown best rookie performance till date by finishing all five races on podium. One thing for sure, Ferrari is going to have tough time fighting it over with Mclaren. Kimi should ready himself for getting some firing from Jean Todt.

And, Mclaren has acknowledged that it asked both the drivers to contain themselves during final round of the race when they were in a comfortable lead and Hamilton was giving a good competition to team mate Alonso. There are some charges of Team orders. But in my opinion, these charges doesn't stand any ground, as team didn't order any specific driver to slow down or allowed a pass. It is just that it asked the drivers to be bit more cautious keeping in mind the nature of Monaco circuit which is prone to accidents.


Lets hope Canada brings better result for Kimi and Ferrari both. Amen

Bloglink: Wanderlust Gaurav Sharma

It is a bird? No... It is a plane? No... .It is Superman? No... It is Gaurav Sharma..

He is new to blogger, just started blogging... he thinks it is a fad and it looks cool,/geek/ nerdy to have a blog of yourself...he even believes it can get you laid...
Just do some ego massage for him by visiting:

http://wanderlust-gaurav.blogspot.com/

Enjoi.. if you can.

The week went by

The week, which is going on, is getting quite hectic for me.... So much to do, so less time.
Anyways, i sneaked some time from my schedule and I thought I should write something.

First, First Major phase of my System Centre Lifecyle Project is over now. We move to the Second Major Phase which is doubly complex and we are not very sure whether we will be able to deliver or not.

Second, I was preparing for my Windows Vista webinar. This is my first one, so I don't want to screw it up.

Not much to write about on the personal side..

And I am eagerly awaiting Monaco GP. I hope Kimi Raikkonen wins this time.

Main aur Mere One liners

• I don't want to be Kumar Gaurav, the one hit wonder
• Courtesies should be reciprocated
• Khaali Haath Ja rahe hain hum, Khaali Haath Aayenge
  
• There is an information overload, you need to filter
  
• To be a project manager, you need technical knowledge.. You need so that you can ask the right questions.
  

Note: these are thought on the spot and delivered to audience which was not very susceptible to these kind of remarks. However, I don't regret what I said.

Books I am reading

In the past few months I read

• Paulo Coelho - Eleven Minutes
• John Grisham - The Client
• Gregory David Roberts - Shantaram
• Thomas L. Friedman - The World is Flat

I am currently reading The Google Story by David A. Vise.
The next book on my shelf is The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen.

P.S. I don't think of myself competent enough to write book reviews :)