The meeting of the seas

DSC07065, originally uploaded by Pranay Rao.

Anubhav being stuck in Mumbai, thanks to no flights wanted me to show him Mumbai. Madh island/Marve, a quiter and more private beach was my first choice. However giving him directions to there would have been really difficult.

So alternately, I showed him Juhu beach. The last time I was at Juhu was final year engg, when we used to frequent this paratha place - Balaji on the beach. For just 60 bucks, the guy would give us unlimited parathas, sabjis, an ice cream and a chotta Thums up. Considering our appetites, it's a wonder how he made any money.

This time though we had a Pav Bhaji and some Chaat. We so wanted to eat something more but faced a minor obstacle - money. 2 IIM grad ITC managers had a sum total of 100 Rs. in cash between us :).

Juhu beach in many ways is the best snapshot of Mumbai, one can provide. There's these millions of people on the beach. Each having his own bit of fun in his own way. There are small outlets serving everything from Chaat, Pav Bhaji to ice creams and Paan which are just a stone's throw from hotels like the Marriot.

Anubhav mentioned something which seemed quite pertinent. In Mumbai, the sea is the only direction where you would see no human beings.

- Pranay

The fortnight that was

My last week began in Mumbai, where I had some work in my ad agency which exposed me to how tough travelling in Mumbai could be. I was stuck for hours in traffic, which basically meant reaching home at a time too late to even interact with my parents or meet my nephew.

I finally headed out to Kolkata on the mid morning flight thanks to lack of flights. It was also the day my uncle (my mother's brother) expired. Holiday period meant that we barely got two tickets for my Sis, Mom and nephew to head out to Trivandrum. I then reached office to work on a pile of work which extended to night when my boss told me that I had to head out to Bangalore the next morning.

I'm really not the world's best traveller and I reached Bangalore on a hopping flight which had me reach in time for a meeting which kept me late. Bangalore has loads of friends so I met Pari and Chintu. Pari is incidentally getting married today. Something Chintu and I had planned to attend but could not thanks to our work schedules. It's times like this which make me really guilty.

Anyway I went back to my hotel early and tried to catch up on sleep. Reached Kol again and worked late into the night when I was told that I had to be in Hyderabad the next morning.
Hyderabad, the land of the Nizams was the location for an activity with Trisha, the south Indian superstar.

In my simple mind, courtesy all the Hindi movies I've watched, a superstar was one who throws a lot of tantrums, makes you wait for ages and in general would be a little dificult to handle. So I was pleasantly shocked to meet this very down to earth, super punctual lady who was most easy to work with.

I've heard about the crazy fans down south and got a chance to see it first hand. All the security we provided, seemed too less when faced with the quantum of die-hard fans. Lesser mortals would've been hassled but Trisha most gracefully handled all of this (guess she has loads of practice). It was with a very tired body and a happy mind that I hit my bed at the Kakatiya. Tired was an understatement. I delayed my flight to the night which meant I was accomodation less from afternoon for a night flight.

It was my driver's suggestion which had me at the Salar Jung museum, which I must say is a must visit place. Ok, the organisation is more topical than chronological which is what would appeal to me. But then there are some interesting sights like the two faced sculpture and this clock which is the most popular tourist attraction.

The one artefact which captured my imagination though was the veiled Rebecca. A sculpture by the Italian artist Benzoni depicts the biblical character Rebecca drawing a veil across her face. What meets your eye is a sculpture with a cloth veil on the entire body or so I thought. Closer observation shows you why this is one of the most beautiful sculptures ever made. The veil as the rest of the sculpture is made of stone. Each fold of the veil, each ripple of fabric is created out of marble and it immitates cloth. No picture can actually do justice to the beauty of the sculpture.

I then headed to the Charminar, which was close by. The Charminar is quite beautiful and a sight to behold. Climbing up and down these spiral stair cases I had a peek at life in old Hyderabad which seems a lot like Old Delhi, chaotic yet beautiful. Then I bought a Pearl set for mom and headed to the airport with 2 hours more to kill.

Hyderabad airport would be classified a tourist destination itself. It is the ideal place to kill time. But I really was not interested in walking any more. My KF flight had me watching the same movie 'Race' for the third day in a row. KF really could do better for frequent fliers. Their in - flight seems to have lost the edge.

Anyway a week in office ended with a friday meeting in Mumbai which had me home for the weekend. A Saturday night party would've been a topping on a hectic week when my body just gave way. Feeling distinctly sick, I decided to stay home and spent some quality time with dad watching Big Boss. Yes my parents watch it. Mom and sis are in Kerala with my nephew, so dad and I had a dinner of Smoking Joe's finest. The opportunity to intrude into the lives of the rich, famous and jobless was not appreciated but enjoyed none the less. Do these guys even know they are on national TV?

I woke up this morning. Posted what I had wanted to be a poem like no other and which ended up being another almost there piece of work. Now I am busy watching reruns of Seinfeld and generally recuperating. Monday will bring another morning flight, another day of work which will lead to a holiday tuesday. One I intend to spend asleep on a bed and not in a flight seat or a car seat.

Life's hectic, yet fun and I'm savouring each moment.

- Pranay

The day I set out to compose a rhyme

I thought it was time,

To compose a little rhyme.

Maybe a rhyme full of love. Maybe a rhyme full of hate.

Maybe a rhyme that would make me famous, one that would alter my fate.

A rhyme more rich than all of the world's folklore.

A rhyme which would rival a Tarentino in poetic gore.

So I sat down with single minded determination,

To weave a rhyme that would trigger fascination.

I plugged in my laptop because sheer genius must not be limited by battery.

The poem was to appeal to all; it was to be an ode, not just some form of cheap flattery.

And I began in earnest, with the only subject which came to my head.

Love it had to be, because that's what earns poets their butter and bread.

Love, beautiful , uncomplicated like that which a mother feels for her child.

Or love that makes strong men feel weak and makes nice girls go wild.

Love it could be for music, it could be love for food or wine.

It had to be a love I could describe, a love that could be mine.

It was then that I paused, for poetry requires that moment of inspiration.

The moment that would define the ultimate fate of my creation.

The pause was pregnant with uncertainties untold.

I observed as I felt in my mind the poem unfold.

My subject couldn’t be clearer, the lines stood out in bold.

A rhyme of such beauty, from this world I could not withhold.

My fingers reached the keyboard, but falter they did each time.

For what the heart wanted to say, the mind could not set to a rhyme.

The abilities of a poet, amateur as me could not define.

That which is so pure, so beautiful, so divine.

A poem I could write; a rhyme I could compose.

About the mighty sun or the beautiful rose.

But the very words rebel as I try to describe love in a rhyme.

They mock me and smile, telling me that it isn't yet time.

They tell me that wait and you shall see the day,

When even we shall respond to you; like to a potter, his clay.

And the time will come when your words will take flight like a dove.

And describe to the world, the beauty of love.

For now I rest, the promise of tomorrow easing the disappointment of now.

Fondly I shall remember for years to come, the day that I set out to write a poem on love.

- Pranay

There's no place like Mumbai

Kol Life is good fun thanks to our little office group of friends. In fact I've got so used to a Kolkata life of minimum transit and general laid back life that I've forgotten how much fun Mumbai is. For starters I headed out to Gallops, a restaurant inside the Mahalaxmi race course ground where I hogged on good Conti food. Saturday morning had me getting a lot of my banking work done and then heading out to the local shopping mall.

In Kol, the best of the malls has one store probably dedicated to a few gaming consoles whereas one of the smaller malls in Borivali had almost every 3rd shop selling PSPs, PS2, PS3s and the like. My engineering days had us saving money and purchasing amazing hardware to make our PCs into gaming machines. In addition to the standard hardware I even had a joystick for flight games. Today in Kol, I have just a gamepad for my laptop and even that is not of any use since my office IT policy doesnt allow me to install anything. Seriously considering taking back my thinkpad with me to Kol. But even that's past it's prime. Too be fair to Kol, Borivali is the hub of diamond traders and the like and hence the slightly extravagant life style. But even a more middle class Dadar seems far more modern when compared to the best of Kol.

Anyway went to Chroma to help buy a laptop for my sis where I met an engineering coll friend Vinod Nambiar aka Dada, who was buying, guess what, an adapter for his PSP 2004. I immediately had a download on the features and even got a demo from him and tell you what I am hooked. we then met Kau and had dinner at Pizza Hut.

I've more or less decided to buy the PSP 3000 which will launch soon. Asked my classmates in the US to find out prices. The only hindrance is that Indian UMDs don't play on the US PSP. Rassmi, who's goin to move to the US post marriage suggests a system where she can courier the US UMDs to me which will be quite cost effective. Sounds quite interesting. Have to work on modalities. I suggested that she could just gift it to me. She didnt sound entirely convinced :).

Meanwhile another technological marvel, the social networking site facebook suddenly stimulated my digital life. I (being my usual methodical self :)) usually fill up all the details about my life on all the sites. Being at home with a fast data card and super fast broadband I was generally enjoying making changes, feeding Che (my pet on Pokey who loads only in Mumbai), when suddenly I had these comments on my profile. Apparently by not listing my relationship status on facebook I had trigerred some automatic post on my profile which said'Pranay Rao is no longer listed as Single'. what it didn't say that the status was blank :). Friends as usual had a field time pulling my leg. Also realized how powerful digital networking was. At one point I was denying (albeit with a heavy heart) any change in my relationship status to one office friend on facebook chat, another mba friend on google talk and the third engg friend on phone :). In Kol my Tata Indicom data card crawls to log me into a gtalk. Here it flies through.

Of course Kol has its own advantages in terms of travel - 5 mins flat to office. A very economical lifestyle and access to the very best of discs, restaurants n all . Kozhikode was fun, HP/Jammu was breath takingly beautiful and Kolkata is interesting. 

In Mumbai, I relax in my sofa while writing my blog on this super fast net while watching a movie on Tata sky with sound being broadcast through a home theatre when a reminder pops up for maa's serial. I can pick up the phone and have everything from DVDs, food and wine to ice cream delivered home. All these are features which has seamlessly became part of our life here. None of them would'v been seen as luxuries to me earlier. But today after spending my life in different parts of the country has suddenly made me realize the value of my life here. Life in Mumbai is an integration of technology and convenience to help savour every moment of your life. Maybe they have become necessities thanks to the huge transit times which means every minute at home is priceless. But whatever the reason, this combination of a fast convenient life and Maa's good cooking just reinforces the fact that there is no place like Mumbai, my home.

Luv,

P.R.

The money challenge

My belief in the stock market fuelled by my limited knowledge of finance and by market performances is that the stock market is a gamble and that there is no logic in selection of stocks. You could randomly select 10 scrips and do as good or as bad as any expert.

So to test this theory I have created an id on moneycontrol where I would randomly choose 10 scrips and invest 100000 in the most random manner possible which would be tested against a well chosen ideal portfolio of an expert.

My expert in this case is Neeta Saraogi, a classmate from IIMK and quite the fin expert. More importantly she is a long term investor which means the theory can be tested both over the short term and the long term. Neeta will put up her carefully selected and I will put up my randomly selected portfolio up on 19th October which gives her a combination of time for selection and birthday luck :). 

The final outcome would be visible 3 years hence on 19th October 2011 when the market realization of our portfolios will decide whether logic works or just dumb luck. However we will provide monthly updates on both our blogs.

The time chosen for this activity is perfect because a little expertise is what matters in such a market. simply because anybody can choose a winner in a booming market. we both have freedom to change our portfolios. Neeta will use logic, I will eliminate bad performers and replace them with randomly chosen alternatives.

Fresh funds cannot be infused into our portfolios throughout this period and our portfolios though dummy portfolios on moneycontrol will not increase beyond our 100000 +/- gains/losses.

The exercise is meant to be an academic evaluation of all that we know about the stock market and may be restricted by the sheer no. of participants - 2 but I bet it will be a whole lot of fun.

Luv,

P.R.

The Great Indian flying joint Gujju family

It was a bright sunny (discounting one burst of heavy rain) day. Jignes, Sailes, Rames along with their better (and seemingly stronger) halves and their kids decided to travel from Kolkata to Kochi. And being the well to do types decided to travel Jet airways.

Unfortunately on this given day some bright lady at the check in counter inadvertently decided to spread them out over a few rows one of them being the emergency exit. By a strange coincidence, it was this same day that a hard working gentleman who had worked 2 weeks continuously decided to take an emergency exit window seat on the Kol - Mumbai flight. He considered himself to be the types who wanted to see the cloudy sky and all. His name was Pranay Harish Rao, a humble Asst. Brand manager.

Anyway Jignes et all landed up in the same flight with Pranay and sat just next to him. What ensued was most interesting. First Rames, Jignes's younger brother decided that his slender frame required more space than Pranay's much healthier one. Pranay, generally the peace loving types (unless he's playing football) gave him the entire armrest which encouraged Rames to push into Pranay's ribs. Upon receiving this jab, Pranay looked at Rames and telepathically communicated the consequences of trying to push into his body which had Rames politely conceding space.

Suddenly Sailes realizing the lack of an in flight entertainment system decided to wear his new Bose headphones which were connected to his brick sized Nokia Nsomething. Unfortunately due to some failure in the system (the exact reason still unknown) the music blared loudly from his phone speakers. This was when the airhostesses ran to him and convinced him that his device, flight mode or not should be switched off. This was also the first instance when Pranay having been woken up from his sleep rather rudely considered reducing their further flight expenses by the price of one ticket.

Then Sailes having failed in his first attempt at general entertainment decided to get his young nephew into action. If it were not enough that his nephew was generally a little loud, Sailes and Rames decided to add their own voices to what was the Kathiawari version of Metallica. It was at this moment that Pranay having been tutored by the nice airhostess lady on how to open the emergency exit window considered opening the exit and feeding Kailes and Rames to the engines. Fortunately the kid scared by the strange sounds ran back to his parents.

Pranay had just heaved a sigh of relief when the kid's mother decided that since the air hostesses had cleared the snacks (pronounced snakes), they should have some gupshup in the middle of the plane. Since this was the only opportunity the poor people had had in all their years together to open their hearts out to each other, their loud conversation and slightly louder laughter was absolutely necessary. Pranay by then was wide awake. Sleep was a small sacrifice when compared to hearing about little Bhaves and his trials at potty training.

Unfortunately Bhaves had not practiced enough of what he had just learnt and his poor mother had to take him and get him cleaned. Pranay felt a great sense of pity for the lady who would have to soon clean potty especially since she was dressed in her Sunday best probably a designer copy of one of the female protagonists in her favourite Saans Bahu serial.

The lack of entertainment had lulled Pranay into a false sense of security and a sleep with dreams of this most wonderful woman when thud! and he was woken up by this strange piece of turbulence. Thud! it happened again. strangely the turbulence had missed both his neighbours. Thud!. It was then that Pranay realized that Akhiles, probably a not so distant cousin of Bhavis suddenly realized that he had contributed almost nothing to the events till then. So he most delightfully decided to kick the seat right in front of him to give Pranay that extra bit of entertainment.

Pranay decided to try and reason with the little angel and looked back only to look into the eyes of his mother. Wildlife enthusiasts simply over react when they speak about the fierce maternal instincts of elephants, etc. The look in Akhiles's mother's eyes would make mothers of any other species of animal seem like wimps. She had had to pay an extravagantly high amount of money for a kid who could hardly fill out half his seat. If he wanted to kick the seat in front of him to keep himself happy, he bloody well could.

Thus, seeing his courage ebb to a dangerously low level, Pranay decided to sleep in between his neighbours conversations across rows and the periodical and methodical assault on his back.

Suddenly the plane on it's descent to Mumbai entered one rough air pocket which ensured that the plane shook like a phone on vibrator. Sailes, Jignes and family were shaken. Pranay experienced flyer that he was nonchalantly stretched his arms and took off his blankets while the plane shook till there was a moment when only white clouds could be seen outside the window and the plane seemed to be immobile. Loads of thoughts ran through Pranay's mind, not least of all undiluted pleasure and absolute bliss. He saw Jignes n family turning as white as the cloud outside while he leafed through the newspaper.

The plane landed lightly and Pranay smiled. He had taken on the great Indian flying joint Gujju family and (courtesy an act of god) had emerged victorious. Nothing else in life could ever faze him when Thud! Akhiles realized that his legs were idle too long. Pranay, jumped out of his seat and ran out with his strolley and his packet of sweets. He had learnt his lesson.

Never mess with the Joint family.

Luv,

P.R.

Good Morning Kolkata

P260908_08.05, originally uploaded by Pranay Rao.

Woke up in the morning around 0630 and then cycled around 3.5 kilometres to the eastern railway ground. Today being Id there was this flood of devotees dressed smartly in their best whites going for their prayers. Wanted to click them but considering the security around, desisted.

Then played some good football, which was most fun and then headed back home before heading out to office. Yes, worked on Gandhi Jayanti. Frankly I've never understood the funda of a holiday on Gandhi Jayanti. Always appreciated it, but never understood it.

Well this Gandhi Jayanti just had India and US finally signing the nuclear deal, which would ensure cheaper (but not cleaner) electricity. Countries like Bahrain are spending huge amounts of money on cleaner technology and thats the way to go. Nuclear energy should serve just as a stop gap arrangement.

Anyway my morning trips are giving me a lot of semi dark pictures. Some of which are coming out decent. The picture in this post is of the Princep Ghat.

Life sometimes seems like riding a geared bike. sometimes it seems like I'm pedaling hard and furiously and I'm in 2nd gear and sometimes the pace is just fine at 3rd gear while sometimes I can hardly keep up at the 4th gear. BTW I have a 6 gear cycle :) and it's good fun to speed past other cyclists with just a twist of a gear.

Life is as good as you want it to be.

Luv,

P.R.