A Great Weekend.....

One of the biggest problems with having a car, and living in a city with negligible Public Transport is that one cant drink enough....so this time when i drop off Vijay at the airport....we would bid farewell....with a Hug, and See you Soon rather than the usual "Boss....Detox Next week".

This was a truly Southern American weekend....a fantastic evening with Live Blue Grass Music at the Station Inn in Nashville, a delicious BBQ, Wings and Beers, a Pub crawl in downtown Nashville witnessing some fine displays of country music and above all a "Visit to the Rock n Roll Star's Mansion "Graceland" in Memphis, Tennesse"

The weekend ended with a fantastic movie which made me believe that the Chinese are Gurus at making movies...."The House of Flying Daggers". The cinematography, special effects was breath taking. The movie made me believe that the Chinese Movie Industry is set to give Holly wood a run for its money. Lets not talk about Bollywood for now!

Cheers

Rohit

Graceland Here I Come.....

Am real happy that one of my best friends Vijay is visiting me over the coming weekend. Weekends with Vijay are dominated by one-way discussions on How good George Bush is (Damn Vijay actually campaigned for him in 2000), The fact In The US there is Scope and in India there is Hope, and not to mention excessive drinking. Parting words like Bye Bye, See You Soon etc etc are replaced by "Dude....detox next week". The week with Vijay and Abhi in the Netherlands....is a must tell story to my grand children.

My friends would know of my knowledge of music....absolutely limited.....and am barely an Elvis fan coz i dont know 99% of his songs.....but hey....anyways I am going to Graceland. Why? Just so that i have a story to tell may it be to my grand children or act knowledgeable about Elvis in case my future bosses are Elvis fans and ofcourse to "Hey...you know what I have been there as well".

I am looking forward to the trip to Memphis, home to Graceland this weekend.

Cheers

Sam, Braff, Cold Play, The Infinite Abyss, This is Life & This is It

Just got back home, boiled the potatoes for a dinner of Parathas and Jeera Aloo and before the second screening of The Garden State and a 03:30 live screening of the most awaited clash of the Titans - Agassi Vs Roger Federer i thought lets write in a few words.

The title of the blog in a nutshell sums up Garden State which is the among the 5 best movies i have ever seen "God father Series, Pulp Fiction, Satya and Jerry Mguire". The unerlying similarity being "Sheer Brilliance in Characterisation".

I am convinced that the Infinite Abyss, there is a Sam and i am awaiting her arrival.

Drink Beer (or even better woo Marie Jane), watch Garden Estate and let me know when you find your Sam!

Bhattu i owe you one for reccomending Garden Estate!

Cheers

The Dynamic Trio - Agassi, Steffi and Daren Cahill

I cant but resist writing the 4th one of the evening. Just witnessed a class act, of an individual who is nothing short of God - Andre Agassi. Aged 35, one rarely witnesses this kind of longetitvity in a sporting career. Between Andre and Steffi, are 30 grand slam titles.....

Is Andre set to win his 5th Oz Open title, being an avid fan i would hope so. "Hope" coz hes up against the World No. 1 Federer, which is a match i am awaiting.

Who would have thought that a game in which a world record was set for highest number of aces, 51 against Agassi...Agassi would still come out at the top. I think only I and Abhi did. Pim Pim (haha Swedish Candy) was just over shadowed by the experience, class of the Master him self.

ESPN commentators.....are nothing short of being labelled as Screwed Up who raved all along about how good PIM PIM is and only acknowledged Agassi's mental strength.

Way to go Andre....am looking forward to your 5th Oz Open Title!

Cheers

Globalisation at Its Best

Darn....Blog 3 of the evening but couldnt resist writing this piece!

Just came accross this cool article titled Global Corp 2005, in "The Economist's World in 2005" by none other than Mr. Narayana Murthy - Chief Mentor of Infy and also the man who spearheaded India's Software Services Revolution.

Its probably Globalisation at its best and also Globalisation explained at its best!

The essence of Globalisation is leveraging each nation's competitive advantage to produce goods and services more efficiently. The development of a product or service might typically be split among countries, with experts in America defining customer requirements; The British defining Product attributes; The Australians defining technology architecture; The Indians doing software development; The Germans or Japanese doing the manufacturing and The Taiwanese doing the packaging. This new business model will distribute high-quality jobs around the world and deepen International collaboration.

WOW! These damn Americans are showing a College Footbal game rather than Andre's Oz Open game!

Meg where are you?

I remember i used to be a big Meg Ryan fan....her eyes....oh god....just drove me crazy....and as Tom Hanks says in "You've Got Mail"....the way her hairs falls accross her forehead, makes her look even more beautiful. Yes, while in Beatrice i saw the movie and once again fell in love with Meg Ryan...Anyone knows of her where abouts?

Shit...a virus called Blogging is infecting me....i cant believe i am actually doing this...but hey dont have much to do. Kill time awaiting my star Andre Agassi's game. Remember the days when i would watch his games and try emulate his strokes, style, even wear a white Bandana "with a black swoosh on it" during my practise sessions.

Anyways....today is Agassi's day! And his wife....Steffi....the best woman tennis player ever! though she looks more Dutch than German. Shes hot as well!

Dont let me down Andre!

Tandoor - The Indian Clay Oven

Yes, my two day trip to our Lawn Mover factory in Beatrice, Nebraska had come to an end. I had finished my visit report "felt like an AI director" haha and sent it out to the concerened. If Springfield is small, then Beatrice is real small. Nothing but one strip of land and abviosuly a limited choice of things to do. Our factory makes a real cool Mover....called BAM "The Big Arse Mover" hahaha. I dont know what its really called but everyone calls it a BAM.....and laughs. Saying BAM is the only way the factory employees can bring a smile to a visitors face.

Staying at a Holiday Inn Express meant no access to a restraunt / even room service. HI Expresses dont have these facilities. So i decided why not find an Indian Restraunt in Lincoln, The capital city of Nebraska. Yaaaaayyyy.....I found three and decided on Tandoor - The Indian Clay Oven. Driving 50 miles to eat....seemed like crazy idea....but i said hey the least i could do is treat my self for having spent two days in Beatrice.

I must say Tandoor served me the best Indian meal i have ever had outside of India in the last two and half years. It doesnt beat "Marhaba" - An Indian restraunt in Jeddah Saudi Arabia which was my haunt when 12 years old. In nothing short of an hour i gobbled up a Platter of Chicekn Tikkas, Lentil Soup, Garlic Naan and Maa Ki Daal. The decor and the food just left me speechless. Was a great expereince.

Who would have thought i would eat the best Indian Food outside of India in Lincoln Nebraska! I cant forget Pongal though at Lexington Avenue "Best South Indian Food outside of India"....though i will never forget that if paid 20 bucks for a Dosa and Uttapam! Darn!!!

The evening ended with watching the Indian Sensation Sania Mirza.....and long chat over Skype with Aslum...and ofcourse with the usual conversations with Abhi....

Inspite of the best Indian Food, i would dedicate the Evening to Sania. Thumbs Up to her. Shes fantastic....just needs to improve the depth of her shots, and ofcourse the serve. After a 10 minute first set, Sania gave Serena a run for her money in the second set. Almost broke Serenas serves twice.

Come Sania.....Dikhado!

Visiting Yet another Village.....

If i was to meet the CEO of Electrolux.....the first question i would ask is.....How do you even manage to find places like Springfield, Tennesse to set up a factory in and second question would be How do you motivate your employees to work in a place like Springfield?

I will some day write in detail what Springfield is....In a nutshell i could call it a village the economy of which is run by Electrolux. Sam Walton had been obseving the growth of Electrolux, and forecasted the transition of the village into a town....and yey....he set up a store where people could buy groceries. WALMART....came and the rest followed. I believe two years ago there were just a few restraunts, a Walgreens....and then the rest just followed the vision of Sam Walton. On a side note.....i am starting to agree with my dad....that Sam Walton, and the Internet truly changed the "Way of Life" in the last two decades. I am sure this is not how he would put....but me being the lesser of an intellectual....with a limiting vocabulary, and sence of sentence construction. This is the best i could get.

Damn i am becoming a random striker....

So yes going back to villages and Electrolux.....last week i visited a village in transition....called Anderson in South Carolina where Electrolux has its refrigeration factory. I must say this place is a lot bigger than Springfield actually.

So where am i going next.....BEATRICE, Nebraska. I am eager to see what this place is like. Seems to be yet another Springfield, Anderson kinds. But lets see. We make Lawn Movers there. I am going to try and understand their Supply Chain and some other buzz words like Supply Chain.

Thats it from me....Gotta Get Back....a great book by Salman Rushdie. Midnights's Childern!

Monhe?

The ignorant ones or the ones who havent been to Dockes, Lisboa must have wondered what the #$&* is "Monhe". Having had a quite a significant Portuguese influence in the last two years of life ranging from Port Wine to fraking out on Pasties to believing that Cabu De Roca being the most beautiful sight i witnessed apart from Aishwarya Rai in Time Square ofcourse.

Anyways....i am getting carried away....Monhes are a leading race of budding entrepreneurs of Indian Origin who are set out to conquer the "Bloemen" industry of Portugal....They are one of the most persistent, enterprising lot of individuals who i came accross in Lisbon....at Dockes.

So now in a Nutshell....Monhe's are:
- Brownies (Indians)....those who know some history would know how they got to Lisbon.
- Budding Entrepreneurs
- Persistent Individuals
- Ones who hang out in the vicinity of cool clubs in Lisbon
- Got Damn It, they sell flowers (roses)

Though i am beginning to seriously doubt if these people are of Indian Origin, but I will take my Portuguese friends at face value.

Goncalo, Pita, PO check the damn spellings in this blog and mail me the corrections....mind you of only the Portuguese words. You guys should be proud that the first blog is dedicated to you guys and ofcourse to all the Monhe's in this world.