Loose Start

Central Park guesthouse, Chennai

Well my second day started with something I had never imagined, my body failed to digest the rich food of Chennai and rejected it in the form of loose motions. I was lucky my first day was at the office but tomorrow will be a challenging one as I am visiting the Central Leather Research Institute. I Spoke to couple of people and will be taking all necessary steps to recover from this mayhap. Apart from this I loving every aspect of Chennai, with the people adjusting their lungis everywhere to running on the longest beach in the world, which some people claim. The sandy beach is 427 meters wide and is 12 km long and covers most of the shoreline of Chennai. Today morning was beautiful at the beach, with people brisk walking, practising yoga, boxing and cycling.

The people here are very friendly but due to my language barrier I am not able to make the most out of them. I am living in a guest house right opposite the M. A. Chidambaraml cricket stadium, home of the Madras cricket council. Due to its presence this area mainly consists of large number of guest houses and shops seeling cricket goods. I spend my rest of the evening at the beach appreciating the nature

If you are reading this, I am really interested in getting your feedback regarding my blog, my writing style, grammar, anything you would like to say. This will keep me writing and also bring to my knowledge any areas I can improve on. Another thing, I have found a new option in word 2007 where you can directly update your blog from word itself.

Cheers

We will miss you Michael

Indra Ghandhi Domestic Airport, Delhi

On the Sad morning of June 25, 2009 Michael Jackson was discovered collapsed at his rental home in Los Angeles. 911 emergency services responded promptly at 12:21 pm Pacific time arriving at 12:30 pm to find Michael unconscious and not breathing. He was rushed to the UCLA Medical Centre and after a brief slip into a coma Michael was pronounced dead at 2:26pm; the cause reported as cardiac arrest. THE Los Angeles Police Department has opened an investigation and an autopsy is scheduled for Friday, June 26, 2009. There was nothing suspicious found about the autopsy, but the investigation is still on.

Michael lived a very colourful life and during a short 50 years he made an indelible mark on the planet Earth. Whether or not you are a fan there is nobody who can deny his impact and the memory of him which will persist in all of us indefinitely. Spread the word of Michael Jackson's legacy and make sure everyone will always remember.

I am posting this blog from Indra Ghandi Domestic Airport and to be very honest, the Delhi government has done a great job to renovate the domestic terminal. It took me just 5 minutes to check in and the facilities here are outstanding.
I finally made my learning driving licence of India and after a month will get it permanent. Money really talks in India, you have to pass a theory exam to obtain your learner license and by giving Rs 1500/- you could scribble anything in the exam and come away with a learner licence. Although I initially choose to pay that sum after appearing in the exam I refused to pay the broker.

I attended my Uncle’s daughter birthday party yesterday at the Pacific Asia restaurant in Delhi with over 8 families invited. It has been a long time since I have been part of such a family gathering. It was great to see everyone talking, laughing and the kids having a separate table for themselves to all the naughty business. I loved the whole evening and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Delhi is still burning and the conditioned has been worsened with delay in monsoon and shortage of electricity in the capital. South India has already welcomed the rain this week and this will ease things for me.

Football Madness

UN guest house, Delhi

Football is a game which I enjoy both playing and watching. I do not particularly support any International team or club and India being 147th in FIFA international ranking, their matches are not shown in ISH.

After spending 4 years in United Arab Emirates and my parents currently living in Dubai, I secretly support Manchester City, just for the sole reason that the club is owned by a Sheikh of Abu Dhabi. The Sheikh arrival has bought some of the fine players in the football world such as Barry, Robinho and Santa Cruz. Many believe that the club still has a long way to go, though I reckon the Manchester City football club can give a good fight to the top four clubs of the premier league next season. I do not watch many matches and the only matches I have seen involved Manchester United because of the dominant support this United team gets in my friends circle. This summer, the football fans have seen some insane amount of money being thrown to buy the players, with the transfer fee reaching for 80 million pounds for Christina Ronaldo and there is more to come. Although I really can’t be bothered which club is buying whom, but I do keep myself updated with the football news happening around the world.

I have finalised my itinerary for summer and will be also visiting Bangalore and Mumbai to visit my batch mates. Also I have been given my complete job description for every week that I am working with UNIDO.

Played street football with Rudra and his mates with loads of dribble and tackling. It was really dark in Delhi today, with certain areas facing upto 6 hours of power cut. Where is all the electricity gone? And are we living in the capital of India. INSANE !!

Long ladder to climb

UN guest house, Delhi

I searched for my name on Google and to my surprise I found myself on the 10th Page. There are people with this name in almost all the continents and doing every kind of work. Travelling from Delhi to Faridabad, there are billboards advertising for massive projects undertaken by Piyush Jain CO. and investing in others.

To be the first search result for Piyush Jain, I would have start shifting things or do something really different which sets me apart from all the Piyush Jains before me. Starting a graduate job and climbing the natural ladder of success is not a great way to top the search result.

As part of the internship, I have been given a task to formulate a business proposal by the end of my internship. The business proposal is for a small business in the pharmaceutical industry and must be comprehensive and detailed. Starting a company is not everyones cup of tea, there are enormous risk involved along with huge capital demand. First and for most, you have to risk something which is very close to your heart, this might be Capital for some people, could be comfort, job, family, etc.

Me and Yatin have given a big thought about starting a pharmaceutical company in India, but often our conversation is halted by risks involved in it and benefits from a graduate job. However I am determined that this summer I come up with something exciting and something we can work upon together.

I ran 15 laps of the cricket field, which is around 6km and I am completely exhausted. Another thing, I have started taking driving lesson everyday at 0530 hours and to be honest it is not easy to drive.
Good Night !

India on the road to recovery

I am away to my relative's place for the weekend and so will be dropping a quick blog entry. This week I was reading a lot of Economic times and I have learnt some hardcore finance from equity to guarantee schemes in my internship. According to economists, India will be the first country to come out of recession and is going to serve as a major investment destination.

I will be travelling to Chennai next week to visit the leather industry and interact with other project partners and will be spending three weeks in Chennai before travelling to Hyderabad. I am a bit disappointed because the only person I know in Chennai is leaving the next day I arrive.
Every time I visit Delhi, I seems like nothing has changed at all from the road side panwala to the college crowd in the north campus of Delhi University. Although I am loving every moment of my time in Delhi and with UNIDO, I do miss London in many ways.


You may be surprised to have my blog entry in your inbox, I am allowed to send my blog entry to 10 people only and I have chosen you. Thanks for being there. Love you all

Narrow Escape

UN guest house, Delhi

Yesterday incidence has proved that there is no assurance to life in any circumstance you are. I finally met Ankit Modi yesterday; this was the first time we were meeting after leaving school and he hasn’t changed at all.

Yesterday, Rudra picked me up from south delhi to his way home in his santro, which he normally drives. Also with us was Rudra's friend Geet who was also coming with us. So, on our way as usual we were chatting listening to music and talking general stuff when suddenly we smelled something burning. Now our first reaction was that there must be something outside because of which the smell originated, but it didn’t look that way because after 5 seconds the air conditioner just went off. Couple of seconds later the car just shuts as if someone removed the car key. Following the law inertia opposed by friction from the road, the car rolled for 50 meters and we directed it towards the pedestrian payment.

Here starts the story, the moment we stepped outside the car, what we saw was something we have never imagined. There was fire in the engine of the car. We all started shouting and running simultaneously, because the moment fire comes in contact with petrol, the car would explode. With flashes of car exploding from Hindi movies running in front of my eyes, I ran as fast as I could.

People started coming from everywhere trying to figure what’s happening. We didn't know the extent of the fire, because no one has the guts to open the bonnet. With Geet shouting and throwing sand through the air opening in front of the car, nothing was controlling the fire really and we thought any moment the car will burn. Here comes the hero, a man went inside the car and opened the bonnet. With Modi trying to reach the fire engine and is not able to get through, a local bus driver got a fire extinguisher and extinguished the fire.

After couple of hours, the car was sent to the workshop and we left for Rudra’s Place. Well it’s hard for me to express the whole scene in words but it was a big deal. I still can get over with the whole incidence but like someone says anything can happen at any moment of time.

Talking about my Internship, `The project is called consolidated project for small and medium business development in India through establishment of mutual credit guarantee schemes, cluster twinning and foreign investment and technology promotions. However there are doing this project on two sectors which are auto components and leather based in Pune and Chennai respectively. They also work on a Pharmacy segment in Hyderabad which is of a great interest to me. There project head office is here in Delhi but the project focused business is in Chennai and Pune. Today I had a good training on Mutual Credit Guarantee scheme.

Compete to grow

UN guest house, Delhi

I am currently living in a Guesthouse in Sarita Vihar, which is near the Delhi Badarpur border. I have been given a complete room for myself with someone to cook food for me. My drive to the UNIDO office is around 40 minutes by car, which is the normal driving time in Delhi for a single trip.

My first day at work was pretty much knowing about the office, getting introduced to different staff and knowing various aspects of the organisation. I have been allocated a big room for myself in the office which I share with another Intern, Anna from Italy. She has already spent a month with UNIDO and has studied law. I spend most of my first couple of hours with the Anna going through the basic information about the project and little things to know in the office. The work environment is great, with the staff being very friendly. My normal working hours will be from 0900 hours to 1730 hours although I can be flexible with them, I have to be responsible for my working hours. I was lucky to join them on the day the office was celebrating birthdays of two of their staff. Lunch time was completely chilled, with cakes, pizza and singing birthday carols.

My boss is an Italian and is an impressive man with a great sense of humour. He is the technical director of the project I am working on and I enjoyed two couple of cappuccinos today, since he is a great lover of it.

In the next blog I will be briefly sharing with you about my project, but one of things which today sunk into me while going through the project proposal was the words “compete to grow”. What these words really say is that, competition really brings the best out of a person and for a continuous growth, you need to face competition because without it you will lead to stagnation.

Found a huge park near my place and will start running 6 Km from tomorrow. I will try and run as early in the morning as possible to avoid the hot and humid temperature of Delhi.
Tomorrow I will be meeting a close batch mate from school called Ankit Modi. We were in the same house and he is currently doing an articleship to be a chartered accountant in Kolkata.

As the Italian say ciao !!!

Swadesh

UN guest house, Delhi

India is India from the moment you step outside the Airport, it’s in the air. I titled this blog Swadesh because sititng in the plane I was going through the same emotions which Shahrukh Khan experienced in the movie Swadesh on his flight back to India. Swadesh is a 2004 Indian film, produced and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker with Shahrukh Khan performing the lead role. Well I was introduced to the movie by Monsoon Dutt (Scindian) currently reading for MSc. in Chip designing from the University of Westminster. He himself has watched the movie countless times and still can watch it if given the opportunity. I landed at the Indra Gandhi International Airport which is currently under major renovation for the upcoming commonwealth games in 2010. I will be working in Delhi for a brief period of 2 to 3 weeks before heading to another location which could be either Pune or Hyderabad. Currently temperature in Delhi soars around 42C with head waves sweeping the city.

Watching the India vs England math on tele it looks like I am missing a beautiful summer in London with city hosting great sporting events such as the cricket twenty 20 world cup, ashes cricket series and the Wimbledon.

I spend my Sunday meeting couple of relatives and a batch mate of mine from school.

Dubailand

Hala Building, Dubai

Dubai, situated in the heart of the gulf region is well known because of its real estate market. However its growth has been severely hit because of the current financial crisis. Numerous projects have come to stand still and property rates have fallen steeply. One of these projects in which I am really interested is the DuBiotech which will comprise of over 100 biotech companies setting up their offices and labs to carry out extensive research in the Biotechnology. Dubai will offer these companies tax free imports and exports and these companies will offer me vast number of job opportunities.

Dubai does not have much to offer for nature loving people. It seems the people in Dubai are trapped in their own customized prison breathing artificial air every second and to the outside world all this looks like a big Disney World.

Today is my last night at home; I will miss my family a lot. Nothing can substitute home, it’s truly a special place and I am not lucky enough to spend more time here. I am off tomorrow at 1530 hours DXB to my motherland India for an Internship with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation in the field of small and medium business development. I am really looking forward working with United Nations and that too in India. My internship will involve travelling which will allow me to appreciate and learn about my diverse India.

I do ensure I do some form of physical exercise everyday and tomorrow morning I going for 2 hours of badminton. SO will catch some sleep now!!!!

Happy Birthday to Me

Hala Building, Dubai

I was born on the 11th of June 1989 in a small hospital situated in the heart of Karnal. As probably most of you don't know about Karnal, is the town of Kalpana Chawla ( first Indian in space). Karnal is a lovely three hours drive from New Delhi in the state of Haryana. I complete 20 years of my life today, for which i consider myself to be very lucky as not many people have the privilege to even live till this age. Lucky to have have such lovely family and friends around me that allowed me to reach wherever i am today. I play life as a game and this day will be remember as the half time of my game. Looking at the odds I will carry on playing the way i am playing and will be no difference to anyone. Games are played because you want to play but not because they are supposed to be played. So far i was playing because thats what is expected from me however today i declare i will play. Its three in the morning on the 12th of June. I celebrated the completion of 20 years of life..... God bless me , God bless the World

Luck By Chance

420, London

With my second year almost coming to an end, time really flies. I named this blog luck by chance because firstly there are loads of people telling me about a bollywood movie with the same name and also my activities in the last month were purely luck by chance. My last week started with two deadline, a practical report on Monday and Molecular Biochemistry essay on Thursday. Along with these, I was called for an assessment day with Genzyme on Wednesday. Genzyme is the 3rd largest Biotech Company in the world and I was interviews for an industrial placement in Quality Control. Assessment day is like the final round for the position; it involved group task, personal interview, verbal test and numerical reasoning. With over 20 candidates on assessment day for 1 position in quality control, it seemed a herculean task to me. My interview was in the city of Cambridge, which lies about 50 miles (80 km) north of London. Cambridge is best known as the home of the University of Cambridge, one of the world’s premier universities. Genzyme really looked after me from booking my train tickets to showing me around their company and Cambridge. Altogether it was a great learning experience. I received a letter from Genzyme this week, regretting to inform me that I wasn’t selected for the position. I was in different spaces after reading that letter but this letter opened a new realm of opportunities for me. I reached home on Wednesday just after the assessment day with 2000 words more to go for my essay which was due the next day. Starting the essay at 0100 hours on Thursday, it looked impossible to finish it on time. However I was able to submit it 10 minutes before my deadline. My room 420 is going great with a couple of setbacks which have been handled. Aman Batra (Scindia 07) has moved to ISH last Monday, I wish him all the very best for his future endeavors. The picture with this blog is Aman Batra and me, thou he is sick most of the time I was lucky to have one picture with him where he looks alright. Vatsu arrived last month and I was an absolute pleasure to have her back. With her beautiful smile and cheeky mood, she really brings a smile to my face every time I meet her. Her arrival was followed by an evening with all the Scindians. After the evening our founder of 420n giggles, Mayank Kamboj came up with another one. Now you may be wondering what are 420 giggles, 420 giggles are group of words which when Yatin, Kamboj and I are together with Kamboj emphasizing on things which have been previously unnoticed. Word already created are Waste, Nikalna (to go), Foreigners and the latest one is Chupchap (quietly). The wonderful thing about these words in that they are capable to fit in any context at any time and sounds funny. Little about my winter 2007. I was lucky enough this holiday to spend an entire day in Hans Raj College with my friend Deepanshu Chandra. One of the things I noticed was English, most of the students especially girls conversed in English, which is truly amazing. My day started with Deepanshu taking me around his college followed by a great lunch in Alaknanda Market, a popular market in that area. With the college festival taking place at the same time, it couldn’t better. Popular bands such as Euphoria and Parikrima performed with an audience of over 2000 students. Awesome day!!!!

Dharamsala

420, London

I was in India between 13th and 30th December, to visit family and friends. It was the most amazing holidays I hvae had in my life from Euphoria concert (Indian Band) to trekking 7 mountains. I have loads to share about my trip and in order to not make my each blog entry lengthy, I will be sharing each day at the end of my each post. Due to weather conditions at Delhi Airport, I landed on the 31st December with just 9 hours for New Year and nothing planned. Getting out of the doors of Heathrow, it seemed like the there is no running away from the grey sky and the chilling wind. Given me a choice at that moment I would have gone back to India but my destiny in London underground. Getting out of Great Portland Street Tube Station, I could really feel the buzz and rush of central London with people not bothered about anything and coldness among each other 420 thats where I live, my room faces the regents park and is one of the prime locations in London with over 100 people visiting in a year. It a long story how me and Yatin got this room and there are countless stories attached with the room. I was welcomed with my new roommate Shrey (Indian Diplomat) who recently moved to our room and is a long term resident at ISH. Shrey is also a classic person and a share holder of a company founded by Rahat, Yatin and myself. The company is still private and so far we haven’t come up with a name of our Company. My new year was spent with Infected Mushroom playing in one corner and Eric Prydz mixing in the other corner of the room. The picture in this blog is from Zoo bar though I have never been there. From left Shrey, Vatsala, Kavya and Jasleen, beautiful pic innit !!! My couple of weeks have been a complete rollercoaster with knowing about an exam and day before it to watching a complete season of 24 in one go. In these two weeks, I have gone through lots of spaces from being a foreigner to managing 420 Dharamsala. Dharamsala is a Hindi word, where refugee and religious people stay during their movement. Our room occasionally serves the purpose of Dharamsala with a wide range of people from diplomats to bar tender spending a night in 420. Most of my friends are getting back this week, can’t wait for them to arrive.

Dream World

420, London

The last week has been both challenging and confronting. The molecular biochemistry coursework was great as I got 87% which is a lot if you look at my first year grades. My grades this year count towards my final degree so cant take them lightly. Spend a lovely weekend at Kamboj’s place cooking paranthas and dal. Plus I was considering moving out of International Student House, but finally decided to stay back. In less than a week I will be on Indian soil and I cant wait. I have wasted enough time in my life and its time to get some work done. Looking at the current global market, there are not many jobs in my field after my degree, which sometimes worries me. Also my core friends’ circle are finding it hard to spend time together as one entity. Yatin is shifting with Kamboj in a couple of weeks so it will be hard to get everyone together. But as my commitment I take on organising our meeting every fortnightly. I am taking a day off from the busy and noisy life, as I just finished the last coursework for this semester and spending quality time with my friends. My current roommate Michael Wilson (Mike) is going back to Wisconsin this Saturday. He was the coolest roommate we have had and will miss him. The photo for this blog is of mike singing rock on with us. We have karaoke every Thursday at ISH (international Student House). It was amazing to have an American come up with us to sing a Bollywood number. God bless Mike, God bless America. Also in the white shirt is Zorawar Singh, we met him through Rahat and he’s great friend. We watched 12 hours of 24 at his place and it was amazing. Rest all good at my place cant wait to go back and my next blog will be in India. Thanks Kavya for editing.

First Blog

420, London

Today is my first blog entry. I am creating this blog as a commitment to be across to as many people I can.

This weekend was amazing, it was Yatin’s birthday for people who don’t know Yatin, he is my friend from last 7 years. We were together in Scindia School and are in the same course in the university. His photo is attached with this page. Completely blew our heads out and watched 24 till 6 in the morning along with Rahat, Aaditi and Zorawar. Have a Biochemistry Test on Monday and to be very honest just spend couple of hours reading for it, its 20% of my module. SHITTTTT !!!!!!