December Memories

Nostalgia Warning!

Thanks to my in-laws, I am officially off baby sitting duties for the rest of  the year which means 10 days of real vacation without having to worry about the little one too much! The first thing I've done is actually make use of my Sonos 1 system and listen to some good music all morning long.

Being able to just listen to your kind of music without having to worry about pesky neighbours, or complaints from the missus about the volume is indeed a wonderful thing. Total bliss!

Listening to music invariably makes me feel a little nostalgic and I get to remember so much more bits and pieces of the past. Listening to Clapton singing My Fathers Eyes brought me back to the good old days at Lovedale and all the fun we used to have during the winter holidays. Lunch at the lawns, playing under the brilliant blue sky of the Nilgiri hills, night time bon fires, keeping a vessel of water waiting for it to freeze the next morning, reading comics under the shade of a tree.....memories that live with us forever perhaps.

A scream from the little one brings me back to the present and I can only sigh at the fact that she cannot possibly enjoy some of things we used to living in this concrete jungle. I make a promise though to show her much more of the world I enjoyed when she grows up a little more.

Till then I promise to enjoy the next few days of freedom!

Seasons Greetings to all and may god bless all of us with happiness and joy in 2015!

Aum tat sat!

Back Home!

I am finally back home in Bangalore after spending the best part of May in Phom Penh. The project is finally over and we successfully accomplished what we set out to do in December 2009 when we first started this project. The feedback from team members and the customer has been very positive and all I care about this time is for all the talk from the managers to translate into some extra money when the pay scale is revised in July.

I finally managed to go out and see the royal palace at Phnom Penh and the infamous S-21 jail where the mindless morons from the Khmer Rouge tortured innocent civilians during their terrible rule in the 19070's. It was definitely not a place to visit for the faint hearted.

We had all night our party arranged by our customer on May 24th which I definitely enjoyed although karaoke singing is definitely not my forte. My ability to guzzle beer is now a story of the past...one that I probably will look back upon and get nostalgic about when I share a beer with my kids one day. I spent another afternoon shopping at Singapore. I figured out that I probably need to put side some money every month and save up to begin expanding my photography gear.

Getting back home was a pleasure and this time was made more memorable since my niece and nephew were visiting Bangalore. Having my sister dearest is always a pleasure although she spends most of her time working these days no matter where she is! The entire family went out to see Shrek 4 and I came out not feeling too impressed about the movie. Not quite the same as Shrek 1 or 2. Saw Prince of Persia too and liked it very much.

A trip to Hyderabad awaits this weekend and the only thing I am dreading is the weather. 42 frigging degrees! On top of that I seem to have sprained my back pretty badly and have been under bed rest the last 2 days. 

The monsoons will soon be upon us and I really want to take a trip to the jungles time permitting. The furniture in the house needs to be revamped. A good sofa set and a dining table seem to be top of the priority list. Am on the look out for a good notebook too so that the missus can come home early and work from home if needed. The hunt for a house too needs to begin again. So much to do and the biggest question that lingers is where is the money going to come from? Not a thought that worries me too much though. 

Finally got rid of Suzlon Energy, Idea Cellular and JK Lakshmi Cement from the portfolio and if the experts are correct (I hope this time around at least), I should have some money to invest in a good blue chip stock when the market falls/corrects the next time around.

..And more stocks tank!

WTF!!! Telecom stocks seemed to have tanked today. Bharti's down by 7% and so is Idea Cellular. And guess what? I own both stocks. Bummer! Apparently the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendations on companies not having paid enough for 2G spectrum has something to do with the fall. Punj Llyod is also heading down and so is JK Lakshmi Cement.  I've been tempted to dump Punj Llyod and JK Lakshmi Cement and maybe Idea Cellular but will hold out a little longer to see what happens. 

I bought Reliance Communications at 150 day before and once again the timings been bad and the stocks down to 145. Damn! Not much damage done though since I got only 50 shares. 

Vishy Anand's done it again. Four time world champion! And the useless Indian media still devotes more space for the cricket teams loss to Sri Lanka at the T20 World Cup. Now I am a die hard Sachin fan (follow him on Twitter too), but if there was ever a sportsman that has continued to shine consistently at the world level its got to be Vishy Anand. Sachin is a genius and deserves every accolade that comes his way but Vishy deserves just as much applause as Sachin. Congrats Vishy!

I watched another episode of Austin Stevens Adventures on Animal Planet yesterday and the more I see of him, the more I certain I am that he is the best in the business. Yesterday's show saw him go to Swaziland to photograph the African White and Black Rhinoceros. Totally fascinating. His entire approach to his work and his passion for wildlife photography is so pure and natural. For anyone who's not watched his shows on TV, I highly recommend you to go see one. You'll be a fan, just as I have in no time.

10 days to d-day on the current project and everything seems calm and settled. I hope this is not the proverbial calm before the storm. I'd love to keep things just the way they are till I'm off the project. Calm! Mom and the missus zeroed in on a house which they absolutely loved and just when I made up my mind and decided to go for it, I've been told to hold back by the family astrologer who says this month and the next may not be ideal to conduct any financial transactions. Sigh! Maybe there's just a better home waiting to be picked. Listening to Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard. Takes me back to the memories of seeing this move in Mr. Rajan Thomas Mathews place in Lovedale. Aah..nostalgia!

From Phom Penh

I am back in the road. This time its a 25 day trip to Cambodia. I've probably been spending more time in Phom Penh this year than I have at Bangalore. This is the final stretch of the project I have been working for and May 22nd is D-Day. I've got a pretty good feeling about things and am not expecting any major surprises. This is my first end-to-end project implementation with my current product group and I'm just waiting for the migration to get over. Cambodia is stiflingly hot and humid and this is the month before the rainy season sets in and the humidity outside is killing. I've never been one to fancy the heat anyways. Such long trips are not comfortable and I am already beginning to miss the missus and mom and of course home sappad!

The stock markets all over the world seem to take a beating and the timing of some of my stock purchases couldn't have come at a worse time. Punj Llyod and JK Lakshmi Cement have been the worst losers and these are the only two stocks I've have lost money on. I would love to buy stocks during this period but sadly I've run out of money and am left cursing myself for the bad timing. But hey, this is a valuable lesson learned. A lot of my stock purchases have been impulsive and the lesson I've learned now is to pay more attention to things happening around the world that influence our markets and not concentrate only on stock fundamentals and financials.

I spent Wednesday house hunting with mom and had a look at a few places. Prices are through the roof and it looks like a decent apartment is going to cost me anywhere between 45 and 50 lakhs. But then again, this seems to be a good time to buy one before the prices go out of reach of salaried class people like me. Mom and the missus are house hunting this weekend as I write this post and hopefully they come up with some good news!

Time for the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend and once again Red Bull Racing are leaving the others to eat dust. Ferrari once again do not seem to have the pace to match the Red Bulls or the McLarens and this has left me hugely disappointed. India got pulped by the Aussies yesterday and our shortcoming with the short pitch deliveries once once again exposed by the Aussie quick's. Thankfully the World Cup is in India next year :)

I was pleasantly surprised to see fruits and chocolates delivered to my room when I checked-in to the hotel day before and just when I thought the guys at the Intercontinental had read my complaints, things are back to how they were. The same old fruit basket lies in the room and the choc's have not been replenished. Sigh! The stay at the Intercontinental has been a total disappointment. But this is the only 5 star hotel at Phom Penh and what these guys need is some serious competition to get them to wake up and offer frequent travelers something extra.

Summer Ramblings

Once again lethargy has gotten the better of me and I find myself in familiar terrain. I've changed the blog template and have gotten rid of all those widgets that were cluttering up the old blog. I have decided to keep it simple for now. 

So many new things happening around me and while the eyes seem to observe all the change, the mind does not want to express itself through any medium. Strange! But the most important thing is that I am happy and content and for now that is all that matters. I've got someone to share my life with me now and it has made all the difference.

A good part of the year has been spent in Cambodia on a project with Cambodia Angkor Air and the time I spend at Bangalore has been pretty limited. Trips to the outdoors has been very limited but I did manage to squeeze a few trips to BR Hills and Bandipur in Feb along with the missus. 

We spotted a fine male tiger at Bandipur and it really was a dream come true for me after a 12 year hunt for the king of the jungle. Pictures are put on Picasa.

I managed to add to my lens collection and have got a 55-250mm zoom with image stabilization and a wide angle lens that I can add on to my existing lenses. The field trials will have to wait sadly due the frequent trips to Cambodia. I could however take them on a trip to Angkor Wat again.

The investments in the stock market continue and I have added a few new sectors to the portfolio namely Banking and IT. I am pondering over the possibilities of getting an apartment in Bangalore now that the missus is also working but it still continues to remain a plan in the deep recess of my brain.


My book collection has swollen up once more and I have a lot of new books waiting to be read but the damn lethargy seems to be taking over. Read Malcolm Gladwell's latest book - What the dog saw and this was as eye opening as any of Galdwells other books. Highly recommended. I am currently reading a book called How we Decide that takes a fascinating look at how the brain decides. 

My brother-in-laws father passed away last week after a long battle with a brain tumor. He was a thorough gentleman and a great humanitarian and in my opinion one of the last among the dying breed of "humane" human beings. Strange are the ways of the almighty. Over the last year I saw him being reduced to an almost vegetative state and the mind could not comprehend why such suffering was bequeathed to someone who was of such good nature. The human mind immediately revolts against the concept of the almighty, religion, good, bad etc when such things happen before ones eyes. The suffering ended on April 10th and I am positive that Shri. P.N. Gopal's soul has found everlasting peace in the realms of the almighty where it mingles with similar souls, of people who have selflessly given back to society and have made us realize the good virtues and humaneness that dwells in all of us.

Music

I was never one of those big music fans when I was school. Sports was more my kind of things and I while I could play for hours on end everyday, my patience with any kind of music was limited to a few minutes. Like a fine wine that matures and gets better with age, I find myself appreciating all kinds of music as the years roll by.

The years I spent in Germany really got my interest in music going and I personally feel that one gets to appreciate music so much more when one is alone (be it circumstantial or forced). I cannot think of any other medium that brings out the variety of emotions stuck deep inside our minds and consciousness.

Listening to old instrumentals gives me a sudden rush of feelings, raw emotions about my dear father a man I place at the uppermost pedestal in my life. Listening to a 5 minute track gives you a flashback of over 25 years encapsulating moments of joy, sorrow, happiness and just about every other emotion the human mind and senses are capable of feeling .

I forced myself to listen to a few of her favorite tracks and marvel at the response my system brings out, the soul cries, the heart pounds and yet the mind deep inside feels calm. The tune I am listening to now was one of her favorites and as I type out the thoughts rushing out of my mind, I can see, sense and realize what she meant to me, what she has taught me. The mind sees and although I cant touch, I can feel, unspoken thoughts, words - caressing, soothing...simply marvelous. Yes the pangs of sorrow and sadness are mixed into this intoxicating cocktail of emotions. You become aware of deeper realms of sensation that you normally don't feel. However a mind that is not strong enough to go through this surge of emotion can break down and I am grateful that I am in a position today to savor feelings that cannot be put down in words.

These feelings are however shared, experienced and held dear to anyone who begins to appreciate a gift that home sapien sapien is blessed to have gotten from the almighty and that is what sets music apart. Not everyone can calm their minds through meditation or other such mediums but even a wandering mind can be brought to a standstill by a piece of music, the basic notes of life. Peace!