Adventure Island

Loved the Flip Out ride at Adventure Island- being turned upside down really gets your adrenalin flowing:) Also liked Side winder, bumping bars, jhoola, splash down.

Vitruvian woman

Josh spots.

Top management...

...draws Venn diagrams.

Art of Negotiation

Learning while earning.

I love shopping

When it rains good things, it pours. Am beating inflation by shopping at USI sales.

Dr. Jones Dr. Jones, calling Dr. Jones...

This Indiana Jones was a shadow of the earlier ones- but I got nostalgic remembering how mom n I caught the festival in Cal.

Skills summary

College

How to analyse

Never give up.

Bschool

MS Office operation

Googling skills

Work

Never give up.

Data management

Those who can, do. Those who cannot, consult.

P/review

Noone should get married before they are 40. Thus spoke a playboy I met on a plane, thus confirmed Sex and the City. Witty, touching, with gorgeous men, this is a must watch.

Dessert

Treating my cousin at Mystic ball, I sampled lingo as well. Rigged is the female equivalent of ra**ed. Can't we do better?

Shopping

We hunted in pindrop silence, our eyes scanning our prey. The only other time I remember such silence happening is when we eat.

Unfortunately, SN does not allow us to try on our loot. Of my 9 purchases, I only liked one.

But I had such fun:)

Ed!

I've always felt education is the single biggest enabler anyone can have. Broadening it's scope is essential. Kids are bright, even when they are called slow or don't do well in class. It's often confidence or an inappropriate teaching method which is at the heart of the problem.

I love teaching because the results are so immediate- it's like producing brands, watching them grow and become independent. I'm usually learning hindi as a byproduct:)

Game khel raha hai

The May issue of HBR had an article on leadership's online labs. It's true, I've learnt a lot from games and do feel that simulations can motivate people to visualise themselves in roles involving greater responsibility.

How open companies would be to using games on a larger scale than they do, is the question.

In Defense of English Honours

Support came from an entirely unexpected quarter- the Times of India. In yesterday's main section- not even Education Times- I saw a headline designed to gladden my heart- English (H) the most sought after course.

What delighted me was that the article was substantially correct- namely, the course develops your analytical skills, you end up studying history, sociology, anthropoly, economics along with good writing.

It's heartening that people have now begun to recognise that.

Not that I took it for these reasons- I just loved literature, then discovered most of my class had taken it for the same reason. We were in collective anguish in third year when the party came to an end.

Studying about minorities and being in one- that too, a minority of one- in bschool were two entirely different things. Sometimes I too would think that my major in College was a waste from a vocational point of view.

Liberal arts- whether history, philosophy, economics- to a lesser extent did help us become more articulate.

Passion is by it's very nature, inexplicable. I had difficulty understanding how someone could take up history or philosophy. I guess therefore on some level I understood why my bschool batchmates looked at me as if I had horns.

But at the end of the day, passion makes it all worthwhile.

As Langston Hughes said, What happens to a dream that dies?

We must resuscitate them.

Or be dead men and women walking.

Goan Sunset

Sun streaked sand

Liquid gold drops of sun

Drip down the throat rills of sands

Sun butter spreads on

Octaves of waves.

It's been a while

Enjoyed reading friends' blogs so much I got in the blogging mood.

Watched an Italian play, Yerma- the music was very dancey. The freedom of the whirling washerwomen seemed in stark contrast to the daily life of women in reality. The uninhibited laughter may only be possible on stage. Otherwise, Yerma's feeling that she is filled with poison and bewailing the lack of a child got on her husband's nerves as well as ours.

Khamosh! Adalat Jaari Hai had us rolling in our seats. The indifference of the men to the pain of the woman again showed that this was a Vijay Tendulkar play.

Also went on a walk to the Hauz Khas monuments. Now whenever I pass them, my neighbours seem different, with stories and histories.

Ludhiana English, where I was called the Nupur, Tashan style, left me speechless.

Am thoroughly enjoying my new role: Planning- and touchwood, doing well in it too. It's fun to strategise, problem solve for clients, identify differentiators. It's blissful to finally be in advertising, notwithstanding the ungodly hours. Considering 80% of our waking time is spent at work, it makes sense to do something you enjoy. It's been a while since I worked hard and juggled multiple variables simultaneously.

Mangalorean cuisine is delectable, though the name of the mushroom dish escapes me. A Shetty I know called herself mangy:)

Spencer's is done up so well- I love the carts with cars.