Hi! Hi! Hi!

I know its a long time since I have blogged and hey! I was in the US for around 12 days. Just arrived to home sweet home. This is a few lines I had jotted down in US. I have not run a spell check on them so please excuse the grammar and spelling mistakes. Hope all of you are doing great and drop me an email on what's up at your end. I will update with the other events as soon as i can. Tomorrow I am off to the IIMB for a Marketing event. Second trimester has begun and this time I plan to work from day one to avoid a break down. LOL Just kidding. Happy reading and I will augument later. TC!

4th october, wednesday 2006

Time 7.45 am Place: New York

After 4 days i am getting the chance to sit and type and i must say that this is like heaven. the internet, my writing, my reading is my saviour. i left bangalore on 27th sep and met Artrivia, my co-passenger. we didn't talk the first day or the second but in the evening he talked to me and we had a nice chat on MBA, his family etc. He is doing his MBA from ICFAI chennai and came across as a computer nerd trying to fit into the management world.

Shamshard came to pick me up... I had messaged him that i was in AS1 where A stands for AC but he didn't know that so he went to the Sleeper coach S1. I waited for 5 minutes for him wondering if he got my sms. Artrivia voluntered to drop me at the taxi stand and we were waiting outside for some 5 mins. Then I saw a guy and my glance stopped at him for like 5 seconds. I was thinking 'This one must be how delhi guys look like' it was at that time that he came and asked me "Are you Alefyah?' I said "Yes" and I realised he was Shamshard. Artrivia was quite surprised that someone I had never met or seen was coming to recieve me and drop me to the airport. In that way I too felt that I was blessed. Shamshard took care of everything. We bidded farewell to Artrivia, wished him happy holidays and went off to get a taxi. I thought we would be going home to freshen up but Shamshard's place was like 3 hours from the station and my train was already 3 hours late.

Getting a taxi in delhi itself is an 'experience' you will have 5 drivers after you 'threatening' to take you for Rs.450. Honestly I would have agreed coz it was so hot and I just wanted to sit and go. Had it not been for Shamshard I would have done it too but he had the patience and he said 'No ways! Don't take me as a stranger here. I know what is the fare and I am not giving anything above Rs.250' We starting walking out to the road and the driver followed us. The price was finally fixed at Rs.260 and that for me would have been like the best bargain made ever. Hats off to Shamshard.

So I got to know my new friend on the way to the airport. He told me about Patna which is in Bihar. Bihar is a controversial state where on one hand the whole of India laughs at Mr.Lalu Prasad Yadav and the people in Bihar suffer due to the poverty, kidnapping and tyranny. We also talked about what a nice friend Rahman was and he told me about his degree day and all the fun they had.

We reached the airport by 5 pm and checked into the waiting room. There is a charge of Rs.30 per person but it was worth every cent to sit in a cool AC room compared to the outside heat. I also got the chance to freshen up in the bathroom. The bathroom facilities were good and since a lot of cabin crew are on transit they have good facilities.

I must admit that this has been the best plane trip so far. for once, I was not travelling alone but with my group of friends and Continental airlines gave excellent food! The dinner, brunch and breakfast was too good. I was sitting between two very friendly americans. Arien, a lady from Michigan who had been to India for a week on business. I had a nice chat with her and a gentlemen from the Bio Research Industry. It seems they are doing R&D in India and he had been to all different cities. He was full of praises for the Leela Palace. He liked the Indian architecture and the hospitality. I told Arien to come down to Bangalore in future.

When we touched Newark at the Liberty International Airport, the temperatures were low. The imigration check was normal just like that of India. Only here there were a few questions like why you are here for etc. The immigration officer must have been a native of Brazil. Unfortunately, In my trip so far I have not really gotten a chance to sit and interact with any one. America is people from all over the world. Its like a menu card. You want Irish, french, Germans, Indians, Mexicans etc. They all are available. Infact my cousins said that the Indians are doing pretty good economically.

The first thing that struck me was the roads. wow, they are so cool: broad and smooth. Nothing like my good old indian roads laced with potholes. Holiday Inn, Newark International airport is very near to the airport. They have their shuttles which bring the guest to the hotels every now and then. We were mixed up with other section students as far as the room allocation went but we all swapped. Divya and I had a room to ourselves. The room had two king size beds, a desk table, chair,sofa chair, TV almira and a side table. Quite spacious, carpeted and we kept the thermostat on to keep the room warm. Its fall and its pretty cool at the moment. Much like Nairobi's climate.

I freshed up and called Rasheeda, My maternal uncle's daughter. Her husband works for Karvy consultancy in NY city and boy am I happy or what! Its was absolutely fantastic to see her... We went around Walmart, Sam's club (where I went crazy and bought $72 dollar chocolates!) I saw what best buy looks like, Radioshack, FedEx. All the MNCs which I had worked indirectly with from India. Over the phone I would just tell the customers go to Best Buy or talk to the agents in Best Buy and here I was actually seeing the places and most probably the people with whom I had once talked with.

In the evening we had a nice time where Rasheeda cooked a grand meal of Chicken, gralic toasts, 'Special' dhal and Jeera rice. Hmmm, very delicious. We sat and chatted and they told me about their life in NY. Their home is so sweet. Rasheeda has decorated her home very well and I admired her taste. Its amazing what marriage can do to a person. I have seen her from a college girl to a working professional to a fiancee to a wife. Star dust to Good Housekeeping.

On Sunday, Shabbir and Rasheeda took me around NY. We took a path train to ground Zero were the twin towers were. My dream of travelling in the subway came true. All that I had seen in the movies and TV shows. We went to down town NY, the wall street, Battery park, took a ferry across Straten Island, saw the statue of Liberty. We had been to the Liberty state park on saturday so I got both the front and back view. I thought the statue of liberty was grey in color but its actually Green. We then went to Central Park, Times Square, Empire state building, the downtown Pier. Lets see if I can get to post Photos so you guys can see the tall tall building of NY. I have never seen such tall buildings in my life. In Mombasa, the Bima Tower is still the tallest building since the day I was born. Bima would definitely feel short in NY.LOL. We are talking 100, 200 stories!

The one place i fell in love with was Central Park. I simply adored it. I loved the greenary and got to see lots of dogs. All kinds. Tall ones and short ones, and poodles and bulldogs and dogs with sharp ears. Even the cop dog. I don't know the breeds so this is the best I can describe them. I should be going back to Newark on Sunday morning and Definitely go to Central park just for the day. It would be amazing. Farid, my cousin in California said he might be coming down to NY to see me and I told him he HAS to go to central park. I am looking forward to going back to NY and meet my cousins, May be I am emotional or what but I need my family and friends. That's my weakness. And that's my strenght.

Two days in NY and lots of sight seeing, lots of chocolates and back to the hotel. My friends went to Madam Tussad's Museum of wax and had a lot of fun there. They showed me their photos and it looked fun. They also went around NY city and got a crysalised 3D photo of theirs. That was an amazing thing to have.

The first day of our G.O.T.A programme was NYMEX (New York Merchantile Exchange) and our presenter was Ms.Linda. I liked her immediately. She made us at ease and told us to make a lot of 'noise', took us to the ground where the trading takes place. I saw how the brokers sell and buy energy and metals and it was shocking. I was flabbergasted to see them in snickers and shouting out like in a fish market. In fact in here, you have different rings for GOld, Plantinum, energy etc. Later on in the conference hall we had a discussion on the importance of NYMEX, its role in the economy, Business policies and strategies. It sure opens up your mind which is confined in a small place like Bangalore when you come out and see them trading. I couldn't see myself day in and out trading on the NYMEX or COMEX floor shouting out the prices. I guess the brokers make a lot of money in it and may be that is what keeps them going. The amazing thing about NYMEX is that it started out as a cheese and butter exchange in 1872 where farmers got together to trade cheese and butter which was rare during those times. Then came eggs and then potatoes! Right now, its metals like copper, gold, silver, platinium, and energy like crude oil, heating oil, petroluem products that they trade. I wonder what would be the next 'precious' commodity.

UCA Global was a pleasant surprise. Its an IT solutions company so most of the employees were Indians. We were given a site tour and a talk on Enterprenuership. Mr.Asim Hassan showed us that at the moment it is Thailand and other Asian countries are raising as Enterprenuers. Mr.Anwer Qureishi drove down a good point about 'Experience Delivery' which is the X-Factor of any business. That is something I totally agree. When we go out to buy a product or service, we don't remember the product or service much like a shampoo or a visit to the dentist, but we will remember how the sales man spoke with you, how friendly and helpful so in your mind, next time you see a shampoo and you see the brand which you had fun buying, you will unconsciously go for it. Similiarly when we go to the dentist or doctor, if he has the ability to put you at ease, talk to you and connect at a personal level, next time you fall sick, you ideally prefert to go to that particular doctor. These are ofcourse my examples coz after the brief definition he gave us, the previous day's toll of walking up down Manhattan and the few hours of sleep look over me. I just found myself very tired, very sleepy and very hungry. Fasting is really difficult while travelling. Anyways I did my best to get as much as I could. We took group pictures and all loved the organisational feel and culture. Friendly is the word.

On the way home, I slept like a baby. It was a hours drive to the hotel and I just prayed, had iftar ('Ready to eat' is a knight for Indians on a trip abroad) and went to sleep. The funny thing is that I woke up at 3 am and couldn't go back to sleep. we got ready for the next day: Dow Chemicals and Sanofi Aventis.

Dow Chemicals. What can I say about it! I have fallen in love with Dow. Dow is a chemical company that makes chemicals that are used in our day to day stuffs. From shampoos to skin care to toothpastes to paints- Everything! We visited the R&D center where scientists were working on all new chemicals that can be use to make the already 'great' products even better or to bring about a new innovative product. They gave us a lovely welcome and had a video camera on. A presentation about the company, its vision, mission and they why NJ was the ideal place for their company. The students were divided into groups of 20 and taken to
I adore the way they speak and are cohesive in their speech and delivery.