Travel Logs

An airport is never quite just a place that harbors countless airplanes and staff alike, trying to get you to yet another place on this bizarre planet. It is the hub( a hotspot, if you may) of emotions. Goodbye's are always sad, but there are emotions of every kind brewing at the arrival and departures of the airport.

You would usually see happiness at the arrival (unless of course you have the occasional unpleasant visitor), there's frantic goodbye's at the departure, anger at having to deal with the distance, anxiety for those leaving, excitement to head to a new place all juxtaposed with the familiar sound of the airport attendant ranting on about flight details and announcements.

Then there's fear.

There have always been people who are scared to board a flight and get in the air with the fear of a crash. There have also been a plethora of people scared of a hijack, ones that took place only occasionally a little more than a decade ago. 

Then there was 9/11.

Fear took a whole new definition as the possibility of commercial planes flying into skyscrapers came alive.   This fear was not confined to people of the United States- believe me, I still think of 9/11 every time I board a flight- it was almost a new emotion all together. My string of thoughts was interrupted by the cabin crew asking me if i wanted a vegetarian or non-vefeterian meal. As i looked down at the plastic cutlery on my tray- I knew that a lot of things had changed post 9/11. There was change and hope in the millions of people traveling everyday- to not succumb to the fear, and not give into terrorism.

& that's all that really mattered. 

The bug

The most important part of an experience is that you can relive it as the years go by and gauge a perspective, you couldn’t see at the time. As I look back, boarding school engendered me to meet students my age who were dynamic, brewing think tanks and terribly bitten by a bug- the entrepreneur’s bug.

The effects of the bug were evident. From taking casual school projects to the next level and engendering change, both social and economic-they were on it from the start. They might have been wearing school uniforms, but one could literally sense the suited executive from within- bursting to surface.

‘Preneur’ may not have a definite dictionary meaning (even autocorrect is exhausted trying to correct the word) but it’s the only way to do justice to what drives aspiring entrepreneurs the way it drives these bug-infected –brewing-tanks I’d like to call my friends –

‘Rigidity and rules never appealed to me. I need to surpass the realms that the world confines my dreams into, and probe unchartered regions for a source of revelry: just to feel alive. I need something to look forward to; a sense of satisfaction that no other achievement can give. Couple that with the thrill of taking a risk: the concoction is my preneur. That is what is going to keep me from being ordinary. That is going to make a difference- MY preneur’

-       Ashutosh Khetan, 19 | Singapore Management University

‘As an individual, your most valuable asset is your network. Everyone has come across times in their lives where if it weren’t for their network- things would go down south. My ‘preneur’ is the people I interact with- beyond the business card or the phone number. That’s what keeps me going- not knowing who ill be grabbing lunch with or negotiating a deal with next.

-       YM

An entrepreneur takes risks; an entrepreneur recognizes talent; an entrepreneur is willing to give it all.

The beauty of such an individual is to build ideal terms and manage all possible resources to create value in an inexistent space by capturing opportunity through sole leadership.

-       Keshav Reddy, 19| University of Michigan


 This is believing that some of the youngest people make the biggest things happen.. So, what's your preneur?

So what's your Preneur?

No dictionary will certify that 'preneur' is a legitimate word and has solid definition, but for people who know better this word has a world of meaning.

In a corporate world where you have a definite income and a labyrinth of other perks there is little room for a business person to push his innovative techniques but for a person who embraces this bug known as his very own 'preneur' - the opportunities (both to succeed and fail) are limitless.

So in this very competitive and idea-pregnant world, what is your preneur?

Stay tuned to find out what some of these aspiring entre'preneurs' have to say :) 

Midnight in Paris

It was one of the starry, crisp Paris nights where the quaint moonlit café's and the eloquence of the refined french language blended into one another to give writers the base of a romantic novel and film directors the gut to make a blown-out-of-proportion love story.

As the rain pelted down, the silence grew thicker and besides the occasional smoker underneath café shades there wasn't a nuance of the city being alive. That was up until you reached the much acclaimed Eiffel Tower. It seemed like a new Paris- lit beyond imagination, bustling with people and wrapped in a flawless fragrance of wine and smoke. There were couples and entire families lying down on the floor with the Eiffel in front of them and budding entrepreneurs running around serving them wine as their latest venture seemed to be making considerable strides.

It all looked picturesque in the larger sense, but as you sifted through the nooks and infringements you saw numerous girls waiting to be taken. This girl in particular stood with her leg perched up against the wall, her red lips smoking a cigarette and her raven hair naturally poised at beautiful. She had the most solid eyes. As the bells of a distant clock struck 12- she ashed her cigarette, took a shabby half bag from the ground and turned around, adept at every move and said "I'm no cinderella, but 12 o' clock does mean work."

Everyone takes a part of Paris with them as they leave and just that occasional one time it isn't part of a fairytale..and this was it, on that starry damp Paris night.

Out of Focus

From rusty politics and failed success stories to the stardom of cinema, there has always been controversy. A juicy piece of conflict that feeds adrenaline into newspapers, news channels and fleeting bus stop conversations and pumps life into our much mundane routines.

So where does that leave us? In the midst of a terrorist lashing out against hundreds and writing a heroic manifesto to supplement it or caught in between the political humdrum of politicians publically humiliating one another to get to the throne?

 In times like these, where the death toll from terrorist attacks and bombings are more than that of Mother Nature what can we really do? Can we really stop the silent war building up and escalating higher as we read the next word?

Well for now, we delude ourselves into believing that there’s not much we can do, and like everyone around us- sip on our morning coffee and focus on the controversial Birkin that we can’t have. 

Where's the safe in safety as the terror in terrorizing is growing three fold?

As the commercial capital of India, Bombay moved from the longest ever in history, popularly called  26/11 to reassuring promises of the government and an unbreakable spirit that refused to give in to trepidation, the only advice it received was to move on yet again.

Sure we will move on to the Friday with a new blockbuster movie, we will move on to the next big sale and we most definitely will move on to the same locations that were etched with the blood of innocent lives.

The pursuing question then remains..When will our security move on to the next level of efficient and enhanced? When will it sink in that a life lost, is a life never regained?

A dedication to all those terrorirized by the current state of affairs and a more specific dedication to the unfortunate who had to bear the brunt of it directly.

Lets just face it

As we evolve from desktop PCs to laptops, worn out shoes to shiny new ones, from one soap opera to another and from true love to friends with benefits, we’re only bound to think that everything around us is in a state of change.

Sure, change is sometimes reversed in a bizarre yet very real way where vintage clothes come back into fashion and put new age stylists to shame, but lets admit it- that’s rare and sometimes close to impossible.

Getting back to change that changes us, Facebook changed the face of social networking from rusty and scant to widespread and almost conquering. Unlike other changes that almost sequentially merge into the next change, Facebook stood its ground for a majestic 8 years(and still going) and conquered the world to the most popular tag line yet, ‘ It’s a Facebook world’.

From an ever-expanding reign to being headed by the youngest billionaire in the world, Facebook’s throne seemed rooted for decades to come. Sure, we all know that every tagged picture, every additional friend and saying too much has its side effects, but we continue to indulge in our daily dose of Facebook anyway!

But as change would have it- a new product hit the market, a subtler version of Facebook- not as much exposed information and no grimacing facebook sins. Google Plus. With riveting reviews and a rampage of sign ups, is the throne finally transferring? Is the almost decade long Facebook take over slowly declining?

Booked out!

The weather's making it more and more impossible to work.

Cuddling up with a great book, some coffee and my favorite music playing in the background.

Now reading Chowringhee. I have a fetish for Indian authors. :)(great book suggestions always welcome)

How are you spending your rainy days?

Dude, it's not my problem!

Let me sum up some of our current affairs to you and present you with the irony of the idiots in our world today.

We finally thought we were making progress with our ideology when New York passed a law to legalize gay marriages- to the east of New York, in India; the Union Health Minister refers to ‘gay sex as an unnatural disease.’ When we were finally on the brink of embracing a world that is open to individual choices and commitments, 1.2 billion people were reading headlines that made this progress null and void.

Speaking of headlines, read of the Royal wedding in Monaco? I’m sure all the gaga and splurging made you go like ‘woah.’ Now to come to the irony of it- the total cost of the wedding and a few other extravagance stories could buy out Greece! To add to this fund is the $11B found underneath a temple in India (in terms of cash and assets). Moreover, India is still a developing nation, and as recently discovered home to slavery and bondage of over 500 odd people; and it is funny to know that where buying of people still seems a profession- there are billions, ofcourse belonging to religion itself.

Amidst all of this let’s not forget a recuperating Japan whose reconstruction manager has, ‘quit’ the ‘job’.

Delving into a more global problem- The world today is fighting terrorism and every day we read horrifying stories of terror attacks and bomb blasts, we are spending crores of rupees on a terrorist , caught red handed during the 26/11 attacks in Bombay. Keeping with crime and terrorism of a certain kind, rape in Singapore deserves the capital punishment but in several other places it does not?

How is it possible that these differences exist? Sure we cannot live in an idealistic world and although we’ve learnt about interdependence all our life, when will it take over the global scenario? When will we embrace the truth of the ‘me’ attitude we have today and instead of looking to profits and numbers, look to lives and conditions? So let’s not play the blame game. We’re all idiots. Idiots with maybe just a lesser say.

So, tell me you didn't smile

Truth is,

When you smile- it scares people. It also makes people wonder. It makes you look pretty no matter how crooked you think your teeth are.

& the biggest truth is that as you smile, sometimes even when you don't want to- it makes you feel happy and warm and in most cases is the most contagious part of you.

So whether you think you look retarded, out of place, feel like you have issues that make you want to cry- think of something that has made your stomach ache with laughter before; an inside joke, a clutz, an incident that is so ridiculous you have no idea how you survived it & just smile :)

PS- I am not advocating any or all dentists.

Funny when you come across an essay you wrote for a college application :)

The Good Life

I possess an “ I love Mumbai” T- shirt in 17 different colors. Well, almost 17.

Every little bit of me reeks, (considering the sweat and pollution), literally reeks of Mumbai, so much so that when I enter a clean environment, I begin to choke and the clean air cuts sharp into my lungs and pierces my inner thoughts until I scream, “ I need pollution”.  Well that’s what the city does to you- you learn to love it through all its flaws. Bustling with constant activity, the fast paced Bombay life engenders an amalgamation of people to learn, to laugh and to live with each other. The city is constantly buzzing with energy, there’s so much to do that there’s no time to stop and think, to wait and react or to placate and console. When you’re heart broken, this busy city acts like your very own tub of ice cream, healing wounds with the never ending second class train rides, roadside pani-puri, haggling street vendors, 5 Rupee coffee in the pouring rain, empty wallets and a constant chase for what we Mumbaikars like to call “ the good life.”

My city has taught me to take things, with a pinch of salt, and to make peace with the fact that people (including myself) mess up a lot. Once, my sister and I were returning from our swim, when we saw a giant CRV parked bang in the midst of an anyway cramped Bandra lane. As my sister drove past this “king” she said in Hindi, “Do you think this is your father's road?” A degree higher than prompt this man replies, “ No it’s my mother’s”. The animosity just melted and my sister and I burst into fits of laughter. There’s just never enough time to linger over anything. We adapt to what’s going on, compromise a little and carry on.

Bustling Bombay has exposed me to a wide ocean of diverse people, culturally and emotionally diverse people. From learning how to eat at roadside stalls because of pocket money issues to not snapping back at the grumpy ticket collector, Bombay has made me malleable to any situation, gregarious and easily adaptable to all kinds of people.

I’ve learnt to fuse with any sort of situation- whether it is making a friend while waiting in a queue or dealing with a portly man taking up three quarters of the bus seat. When you’re amidst a throng of such magnitude you tend to feel lost at times. But what matters is that, amidst the crowd, Bombay has molded me into a person who can adapt, and at the same time stand out. It has enabled me to mix around with almost everyone, but at the same time retain my individuality at all times, and has given me the discretion to know when to take a step out and lead from the front. Yes, I am part of the crowd that makes Bombay what it is. Part of a crowd of people, who make mistakes, don’t know what to say or do at times, but it’s only fun that way, fun to learn how to deal with things and move on in life with a pinch of salt. 

The beast of our time.

Flipping through a newspaper or staying tuned to one too many news channels always makes me wonder about stories unreported, lives lost and injustice done. As we move through this age boasting of every new gadget to hit the market, every new billionaire to hit the ever expanding Forbes list and the endless progress made in fashion, communication and other such thousand lines- how is it even possible that we have no thought and no time to gauge evils that we 'believed' to have conquered- slavery and bondage? 


The story of 500 slaves ruthlessly tortured in South India- that shocked the world and continues to stain our image of the idealistic world we live in today is just a nuance of everything else that we're oblivious to. What is to become of these people who had been 'bought' and are suddenly overcome with freedom they never knew? 


Speaking of freedom and justice undone the story of a 20 year old Bangladeshi girl 'sold' on two different occasions (the second time being in India) makes all of our trophies look even more pale and all of the progress look barbaric. What exists today as one of the most flourishing businesses in the world is an issue that needs the most concern and maximum media support to unveil the beasts; in whichever part of the world they are. Sex trafficking might exist anywhere- in the area you've grown up and stayed all your life, a street away from you and in almost any other place; teasing us as they parade their horrendous inflictions even in the light of day. 


As we sit in a world different from the world of these innocent girls and women, forced into trafficking and bondage we can only do our bit to keep an eye open, to pay more attention to what isn't reported but very much exists and levy this information to authorities without fear and the ideology that someone else will report it.


All of this because behind every such heart melting story, are thousand stories that go unreported and behind every new set of sex trafficking statistics are actual people dealing with this beast. 

The Ghost

In a world where logic comes before emotion and austere practicality comes before everything else, where is the room for unconditional relationships, senseless love, romantics and..well, all of that jazz? Sure we see it in just about digestible amounts like texts saying ' I love you' or 'I miss you' and an occasional flower or two, but amidst the humdrum of struggle and work, friends and family-the romantic of an era long gone seems lost with time.

As someone who falls in love with Pablo Neruda poems every other day, I believe in relationships. Relationships of every kind - not just with the one person you love but with family, friends and ofcourse the occasional fictitious charcter. As we move from high school to college and college to well- whatever comes after, you see people you love less(maybe once in a year- some people would still call that lucky) given the different cities, states, countries and one of my friends even carried out a little expedition to space! (Just kidding). So the essence of this boils down to the three dreaded words that can sometime convert an 'I love you' to 'see you never'- LDR aka Long Distance Relationship.

So in today's concrete - jungle world, where the workoholic of today barely has time for a relationship in the same city, what hope remains for the unfortunate who have to deal with time difference, country codes and phone bills that reach one's toes? As I got to thinking about my (still) closest friends strewn about in every place on the map- perfectly content with emails, phonecalls and an occasional fight or two, I couldn't help but wonder.. Is the ghost of a failed long distance relationship generated from our minds?

It probably is because if you name anything to do with Skype conversations,emails, facebook chat, gtalk, blackberry messenger, twitter, sneaky trips, brainstorming ways to evade the distance and celebrating the countless anniversaries-we've done it all. I guess the romantic era still exists- maybe in subtler ways and with more love emails than love poetry, I have reason to believe that consuming love still exists. So as I move onto yet another phase in this frustrating yet envigorating long distance relationship with everyone who I love but can't see everyday, I can only say- that the era of Pablo Neruda and Napolean might have passed but till today, till now- the feelings are the same- strong, unconditional and lasting.

A dedication to everyone struggling with long distance (including my friends and family) and a more specific dedication to someone who makes this whole thing worthwhile.

The big 'M' and its side effects.

When you have two older sisters in the house, hovering around the age group of 22- conversation rarely shifts from the all time dreaded word, 'marriage'. I got to thinking. What is it about this word that makes a woman's knees weak and a man's heart terribly nervous?


As i moved from thinking about marriage to asking people who were actually living a married life or about to take on the challenge, I began feeling a clash. A clash not between nagging mother-inlaws or of the choice of a wedding cake, but a much spoken about clash- between man and woman. 
The further I delved into the topic, I realized that men were more nonchalant about marriage- no over excited phone calls (rather a mundane announcement to the locker room), no quandary over the wedding suit (even the mother is now 'skilled' enough to pick it out) and most definitely no form of generosity when expanding the guest list. Men were giving up their single life and they weren't happy about it!


Women on the other hand are all over it- from hyperventilating about 24594939 different shades of red or white for the wedding dress to the intricacies of which chair will be where during the wedding- the whole affair seems to be a nuance of a big time budget Kjo movie, wedding scene. They wanted to celebrate the rock on their finger making a not so modest display of their settled, committed (read- envy me now) life. 


After days of flipping through what seemed like a 1000 couples wedding albums, gauging their stories and still seeing the blush of a girl on full grown women did I realize that it is the clash that kept a 'marriage' alive. From the chase and romantic dates to bickering about the little things- a marriage is beautiful because at the end of the day you've found your soulmate- someone you chose to share your closet, toilet space, kitchen and most importantly your life with. 


It is the clash that makes it interesting, the difference in opinion that keeps it alive, the change in lifestyle that makes it a voluntary compromise and the quenching of a quest of finding the perfect one for over 2 decades that makes it unexplainably special. 


A dedication to my two beautiful sisters as they set out to find their soulmates :)

Make it or Mark it?

In a world where there's a rat race to even get to the check-out counter of supermarkets, how long and hard is the race going to be to get a great education and an even greater job? The answer came with a bang that could barely keep my morning coffee in my stomach; Delhi's Sriram College of Commerce announced a cut off of 100% to make it to the first list- effectively making my then majestic 92% seem a little, well- 'out of the race'.


As I read more articles, scanned more news channels and judged diverse opinions via twitter and other social networking sites, I couldn't help but wonder; are Indian students getting smarter, or is the requirement to get educated from a great college simply impossible to match? India's progress in practically every field has been evident since the past decade, but how is it possible that a sector that is supposed to usher in more development and pump out the best from the nation- education; is so primitive in its approach? Since when did you have to grill yourself at home, with an external tutor or at any spare moment during the day to 'learn'? The question, now seems rhetoric. With cut-offs of a 100% (essentially leaving no room to make even a single mistake), it seems natural for students today to feel like education is a task, rather than a process of growth and learning. When will the system change to include more students without a perfect marksheet but greater knowledge, students without tutors but actual learning? Who's to say that a 100% marksheet will make it in life, and someone with an extremely humble education background but great sense of learning will not? Experience tells us that the exact reverse is true, so why is an extreme level of importance attributed to what we know isn't the be it and end it of it all?
Moreover, the sirens of teenage death have been ringing for a while and have increased in the last few years in an almost mutually proportional relationship with escalating percentage requirements, to strengthen the argument against the gaping holes in our education system today.


Ultimately, everyone wants a fabulous education at an extremely well reputed institution- because that is a trump card to get the corporate jobs, high end perks and societal pleasures; but when will it dawn upon us that if everyone gets involved in a donkey race to tutors and excellent marksheets, the system will never change, the education will never be worthwhile, the pressure will not stop and the death toll (both emotional and physical) will only increase?

Rain or Reign?

No work can be uninspired. Today my source of inspiration is the Bombay rain; simple, recurring and yet thought provoking.

 I remember waking up today morning, looking outside the window and thinking ' How can anyone possibly complain about the weather- it's gorgeous'. I admired Bombay's newest trophy; the Bandra- Worli sea-link from my balcony and couldn't help but feel a rather pretentious sense of pride in something that belonged to the city as a whole. Almost sequentially, I transferred my breakfast from the dining table to the unevenly leveled balcony that overlooked almost all of Bombay. I felt like I could never have gotten enough. Soon enough, the early morning freshness began to fade and as the sky took over a more yellowish nuance, I got up and began to embrace my chores for the day. I stepped out feeling rested, confident and almost too content for my own liking. 

My pink umbrella did absolutely nothing to protect me from the wrath of the downpour, as I hustled about looking for a cab. How had my mood gotten from crisp to mucky, from dry and comfortable to wet and miserable? The longer I took to find a cab, the harder it was for me to appreciate the Bombay rain. What seemed perfect from my balcony, was different in the true light of it. 

After what seemed like hours, I finally got into a cab and as luck would have it, I was hitting every possible signal in the city. In a desperate attempt to distract myself from screaming at yet another signal, I bought a newspaper from a boy who's eyes barely came up till my taxi window. It occurred to me, not until later that he was soaked in the downpour, no shelter - but had handed me a perfectly dry copy of The Times of India. As I began reading of the death of a senior journalist's(crime reporter) murder amidst other chaotic political stories I couldn't help but wonder.. till when will people sit in the comfort of their balconies, reading about gruesome criminals, political hum-drums and letting it pass like a bad storm? When will we be estranged from the claws of political leaders, cold blooded murder and scott free criminals? Here we are sitting in our homes thinking we're safe, but when will it sink in that a journalist; a journalist who was doing his job by letting the truth surface was shot, on one of our Bombay roads, in our Bombay rain and within our judicial system, how safe are any of us?

Maybe its time for a unified 'us' to evade the comfort of our balconies and step into the storm of our current affairs to understand the gravity of the situation, and press harder for change.