Europe – the funny, good, bad and indifferent parts..

I had never actually been to Europe before, but for short while waiting for transfer flights. This trip for a week was the first time I have set foot (in real) on Europe. It is a very different place from Asia and America. Europe is all about culture. In every city, every village- you will find some sort of history associated with it.

I felt German people to be very friendly, though they seldom understand English (at least the older people don’t). I realized that I did not carry the address of the hotel I was to stay when I landed in Munich. A rather helpful German lady guided me through the metro station and helped me buy a ticket. It was funny when she asked me if I was a Russian J. I would make a rather short and dark Russian for sure :P

The other thing I was a little surprised about was- the almost laid back attitude people carried with them.. the gentleman who arranged the customer meetings in Spain said that he envied the French who work 40hrs a week, while he worked for 52Hrs.. (now I would like to be in his place!).

Bah.. its so costly to travel and stay! Its almost twice what you would spend in US. Be it for the hotels (a 4 star hotel costing anything over 100euros to 150 euros) to taxi fares and food prices which almost makes Indian prices look like a 90% discount sale..

But, the one thing which surely impressed me was the vast number of museums and monuments spread across everywhere. It might seem a little strange- but people actually go to the museums pretty often- if you ask someone what he would prefer- going to the nearest art museum or the movie theater, the museum would be a hands down winner!

In the US its not a strange thing to be a Indian (except may be in places like Texas because you see.. in California every third person you meet is a Chinese or Indian), but here.. everywhere you go there is white skin all around. People are a little indifferent when they see you.. hey who is that desi roaming around! I couldn’t help but give a smile when I came across a fellow desi in Spain… he returned my smile offcourse (I have never tried smiling at a desi in US, lest he takes offense)!

All in all Europe is a great place.. and I fell in love with the place. I am sure I could do good business with the Europeans..!

PS- Why am I not differentiating between different countries?... Hmm, good question- to come to think of it, though people speak different languages, they all seemed same to me. May be I need to visit again to differentiate..

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Obama: Afterall its a chair!

Life's battles are always not won by the faster or the stronger man... sooner or later the man who wins - is the man who thinks he can.

Someone said that the greatest gift of man is 'HOPE'. Hope is what drives the average Indian watch bollywood movies... its what will power Slumdog Millionaire to win the Oscar (I am sure it will win, though I hated the movie... just for teh simple fact that we have much better movies which have better story to tell than this... take Aamir for example)..

Its what will give hope to you and me.. that one day we may have the world at our feet.

1988: Obama in his hometown in Africa..


After 20 years: Obama's present chair...

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi..

Indian movies run on star power. This is no exception. SRK power guides the movie right from word GO to ENOUGH!

Watchable for all the fans of SRK (me included), but bearable for others. Not worth spending 180 bucks in PVR/Inox. Better spend that watching Gajini.

Songs are a drab. Both Haule Haule and Dance Pe Chance were so badly picturized that I had a hard time believing human were involved in their choreography.

Cannot summarize better than this-
"Destiny plays a cruel joke on an extremely enthusiastic young girl Taani (Anushka) as she loses her fiancé and his family in a road accident on the eve of her marriage. Her father, a retired professor, on his death bed requests her to marry his old favorite student, Surinder Shahani (SRK). Taani obeys his last wish and thus begins the start of this extraordinary love story between an otherwise ordinary jodi".

Mix this with dance, music, hip hop gyrations and 'love wins over lust' idea.. and you have a Bollywood hit in the making.

Shah Rukh Khan (as has become his vogue) is simply superb throughout the movie; first as the shy Suri and then the flamboyant, full of energy, Raj. Anushka does well through the film and hard to believe its her first film. She will be more than just another pretty face in Bollywood in time to come.

All in all a movie showing reportaire of SRK skills from the Chopra stable. Most memorable line in the film- 'KUCH RISHTE HUM KHUD CHUNTE HAIN KUCHH RABJI HAMARE LIYE CHUNTE HAIN'

So.. lemme sign off with Phir milenge.. chalte chalte...!

Ciao till next time...Harsha

The unchanged india..

Had been to Chennai for a day for my wife's US visa interview. Traveling by train offers an excellent opportunity to see the people around.. refreshing. Airports are always mundane and drab in that regard.

Train journey always bring a fairy tale touch to the trip. When I was a kid, I vividly remember the trip to Delhi. It was a grand 3 day trip in train, I had religiously noted down the station names in the trip. I still have it in the old diaries I have kept. The total number had come upto 52 or so..

People rushing around.. old men trying to hide their brow lines when searching for trains, kids moving around excited, parents trying to seem calm as they vent their ire, porters trying to shepard past the crowds.. the beautiful old train stations (and their ugly more modern extensions), the loud announcement, the ever increasing sea of people, the buzz around as a train approaches. Actually..... nothing seems to have changed in the past decade ... may be nothing has changed since we got independence...

May be this is the unchanged India which people talk about..

Ciao till next time...Harsha

The mirror image...

Got married recently. Life just changed recently. The biggest change has been in thinking. I would call it the multiplier effect (in simple terms 2 is better than 1 as long as they add up in one direction). I used to think for myself, make decisions and live them for myself. Not an inch given to someone nor taken.

Its interesting to see in a mirror. The image is always exactly the same as yourself. Not an inch different- same expressions, same notions, same appearance as yourself. I have come to realize that marriage is the same too.

Its like a mirror- WYSWYG: What You See is What You Get. Get on the colgate smile :-) You see I want a smiling MEEEeee....

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Job - No Job: The mon(k)ey dilemma

Appraisals are round the corner.. the general feeling of anticipation runs high... first appraisal in this company- a wait of 2 years (since I was not eligible for the first year as I joined late for the cycle).

Suddenly there is news of Lehmann, Merril Lynch, AIG... people getting fired. Companies which stood ground for centuries going down the bankruptcy route..

People joining these companies with lots of aspirations getting pink slips without even knowing what 'work' means..

These are turbulent times- probably first time in my life I am thinking- where is the money? Suddenly the words from this film 'Lord of war' is ringing in my ears: 'We all live for mortgage'. Loans, borrowed money.. liabilities: house loan, education loan, expenditures, house advance, marriage expenses, etc etc.

'The juice must be worth the squeeze'. Probably the first time in life, significance of these words ring aloud. Am I getting enough out of something... in all seriousness 'am I even'? Its the best feeling to be satisfied. Contented. Its important to learn. Its important to earn. Its nice to have a balance.

May be someday I should do something on my own, be the master of my own fate. Eat my own fruits. Live my own life.

May be this.. may be that.. may be may be.. But, not yet. When time comes, when the field is set, I will know.

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Fairy Tale

Sometimes fairy tales come true.
Sometimes you get incredibly lucky
Sometimes time seems too fast and you wish there was a pause button
I am just passing through this fairy tale phase.. Oh God, please press pause!

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Thoughts.. After thoughts

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Boxing the golden goose :-)

Three Indian Boxers - Akhil, Jitender and Vijender have surprisingly reached the quarter finals in Olympics.

MAY THE COLLECTIVE FRUSTRATION OF ONE BILLION PEOPLE FALL AS PUNCHES ON THEIR OPPONENTS........... AMEN [:-)]

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Gold hunt: Mission accomplished.

No piece of gold was awaited so eagerly by so many people in the history of mankind. I wanted to update my blog on a lot of different things, but somehow the news of a Olympic gold is simply unbelievable. Hence I am not waiting any longer.....

The statement 'beyond wildest expectation' is truly applicable to this. But looking back.... a faint ray of hope always existed... one of the nicer things to happen to India is the way we have been concentrating on the non-favorite events (events where US, Russia and China are not very very focussed): Games like shooting, Archery, Wresting, Boxing, etc..

People have been consistently winning medals in world championships, Commonwealth and Asian Games- consistency always bears fruits. Sooner or later. A silver in last games was always a pre cursor to greater things to come..

India is on the path which China followed.... it was only in late 80's that China started winning medals consistently. The focus again was on non note worthy events... probably we will get there too.

Whatever happens, we will always remember Bhindra.... the first piece of gold won by an individual in a 1 billion plus populace.

Ciao till next time...Harsha