Five people you will meet in your train journeys

Disclaimer: Characters mentioned in this post are purely imaginary. If you can identify with any of them, chances are high that we took a train together sometime to some common destination.

Train Journeys form an indispensable part of my life. They have always been my comfortable and favourite mode of transport. As a child, looking out of the window and watching those lush green fields passing by, was my favourite pass time during my train journeys. Cows grazing in the fields, children playing cricket, bridges over those beautiful rivers were some of the common sights during my journeys. There were a lot more of such beautiful sights on my way to my ancestral home. Periodic visits by chai-wallahs, pantry boys, magazine sellers used to pipe up my mood more.

Even now, with the cool breeze touching my face and tousling my hair, I can hear train singing a lullaby for me. Now most of my train journeys being overnight ones, i don't get to enjoy the sights anymore. But something that hasn't changed till now, is the different types of people I travel with. Let me try and broadly divide them into the some categories:

Loners: 'Live and let others live' types. The easiest of all types to put up with. They would either be listening to music or reading something or dreaming(???). Whatever they are doing, they won’t bother to interfere with what others are doing. They are content in their own world.

Mother India types: They have taken it upon themselves to take care of everybody. They will start off with questions like where u are going? what u are going to do there? where u are working? etc... They would normally be traveling with their sons or husbands or nephews. If they are traveling with their daughters or grand children, they chose to ignore u. Come on, how can they have time to spare for u when they are busy feeding their grand children, talking to them and putting them to sleep. The main advantage of travelling with them is the occasional food packets that they take out and insist that you eat atleast some of it. But I somehow like travelling with them. I feel a sense of security when a motherly figure is around.

Aunty Number One: Mostly in their middle ages, they love to extract each and every minute details of your personal life. Though they will start off with asking about your work and education, it won’t take much time for them to drift the focus to your family. They would be eager to know what your dad do for a living and where your home town is. During one of my journeys, I met this corpulent, nosey lady who started off a conversion with me, in a very friendly manner. She kept on extracting the minutest details from me, starting with the place i stay now to the nursery school I attended(!!). Considering the tangential direction in which the conversation was heading, I started smelling something really fishy. Disappointment was quite visible in her face, when I politely(Gosh, I extracted the last drop of patience in my body to sound so) told her that I don’t belong to the religion which she thought I would be a part of. She shifted gears and continued the conversation with increased vigour. Then, the conversation went something like this.

Auntiji: So do u know that girl named X, who stays there. (She infact gave me her full house address with her dad's name)

Me(thinking when will this conversation finally end): Ya, I know her, infact she studied with me in school(World is after all so small. The girl in picture happens to be one of my best friends from my school days).

Auntiji: U know what? One of my relatives told me about this girl, I wanted to see her for my son. (This was followed by a string of questions about how she looks, where is she now, etcetera)

Me(cursing myself for starting a conversation with her): Hmmm, yeah, she is good Aunty. (I didn’t want to explain the facts that she is seeing someone and she is not interested in marriage and stuff).

I finally managed to act as if i haven't slept for days and if i dont sleep now,i am drop dead. I withdrew to my upper berth with the auntiji wondering whether she should ask the girl sitting in front of her, about another girl whom another relative talked about for her another son :)

Next type of people is the most interesting...
I want friendship types: Travelling alone and mostly in their 20s or early 30s, these men believe that train journeys are the perfect place to make friendships. And me, a girl travelling alone beg to differ. Typically, I carry a book with me and attempt to read it, no matter how noisy the atmosphere is. Moreover, whenever anyone belonging to this group asks me a question, I tell all my details wrong, right from my name to the organisation i work for :). But, sometimes, you dig your own death trap. This happened when i was travelling one day, back to Bangalore, from my hometown. I was sitting in the side upper berth, reading a book. This guy was in the upper berth, perpendicular to mine, sitting on the edge. He tries to start up a conversation. For the sake of simplicity, lets call him Mr.X.

Mr.X: So are you working in Bangalore?

Me(starled by the fact that someone is actually interrupting me while i am reading): Hmmm... yeah.

Mr.X: Which company are u working for?

I mumble out the name of a famous multinational though i work for another company :)

Mr.X: Oh!! So which vertical u belong to?

Now I am really surprised. I have learnt about vertical, horizontal and diagonals in my mathematics classes, nowhere else. The organisation I work for, don't use this terminology either. So I gave him a look as if how come he knows about the organisational ladders existing in my company.

Mr.X: (As if to clear my confusion) By the way, I work for the same company.
This is followed by a grin that says “Don’t you know? We are long lost friends” :|

Now it was my time to be surprised. I didn’t know that one innocuous lie that I told would backfire at me with the same pace. A sheepish grin and a nod, that’s all I could manage before I turned my head back to my book. The guy was left wondering the entire journey how snobbish I am, not even bothering to answer a simple question. As if I care !!!

Papa, Mama is here to take care of you munnu types: Lets end this with the most difficult types to put up with. People traveling with babies. They carry with them feeding bottles, four course meals, innumerable dresses for their baby, small commode and what not. I really don’t know whether they are shifting their base to some other city or traveling in a train. Though many of you may disagree with me, I find them the most difficult ones to put up with. As it is you are crunched for space and you will have to move a thousand times over to make space for them. Not to mention the baby crying whole night, not allowing you a wink of sleep. I may sound presumptuous here, but hey, even I want to have a peaceful journey.

Whether its the sheer experiences it gives, the type of people you meet or the comfort, train journeys remain the most favourite means of transportation for me.

So whom did you meet in your recent train journey?

A broken leg and boredom to boot

So there I was revelling in the financial capital of India, pondering over excel sheets, struggling with the traffic woes, having fun with my friends(the fellow interns spread across different companies in Mumbai), enjoying my hectic schedule, and baaaaammmmmmmmmm, there comes the inevitable.

One crazy dog, one run down the stairs, one twist of ankle and a fall, this is all it takes for me to be transported back to God's own country with strict instruction from three doctors in the family and other othropedics that complete immobilisation of leg is required for the next 3 weeks. After all, ligment tear is not something to be proud of and definitely not something to walk away with. :)

So here I am with a broken leg and boredom to boot, trying to pass the time doing something constructive. Any tips to pass time while immobile, fellow bloggers?

U.S. beckons

13 days, 7 flights, Delhi-London-Chicago-Omaha-NewYork-Washington-London-Mumbai, and experience of a lifetime.

I happened to be one of those lucky few who got the opportunity to be a part of the student exchange program between my B school and University of nebraska, Omaha, United states. Enduring a 28 hour flight from Delhi to Omaha in itself was a huge thing for me. But it was not as bad as i thought it would be. The hospitality of the organisers and students of University of Nebraska amazed to me to a large extent. There were eagerly waiting to receive us in the Omaha airport and take us to the hotel. Everything from accomodation to food to small things like 'no ice in water' were taken care of.

The highlight of the trip was attending the Annual ShareHolder's Meeting of Berkshire Hathway and meeting Warren Buffet. Spending one whole afternoon, amidst 30,000 shareholders of Berkshire Hathway from all over the world and listening to Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger(vice chairman:Berkshire Hathway) answering the questions shooted by investors with innate wit was a feast in itself. We also attended the workshop series organised by University of Nebraska, which included topics like
-Western Perspective on Indian Thought by Prof.Micheal marie Desmaris, author of Changing minds(A wonderful Canadian Lady, who knew about Indian Culture, Philosophy and sanskrit, more than us).
-Virtual Marketing by Jeremy vlcan who is the director of online marketing at Netshops Inc. an online retailer which
owns and operates over 200 online specialty stores
-Creating Wealth through long term investments by the president and vice-president of Mandarin Investment Counsel.

The trip also included company visits of Gallup Organisation, Mandarin Investment Counsel, infoUSA and Union Pacific. The way we were greeted in these organisations, how they took time to explain to us the working of their organisation and the eagerness they showed to interact with us is indeed commentable. While our days were packed with workshops, seminars and company visits, the evening were fun with cosmic bowling in Thunder Alley, picnic in the picturesque landscapes of Omaha where we even taught our American friends how to play cricket, visit to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, visit to malls and a baseball game(I simply loved it) between Omaha Royals and some other team within Nebraska(Omaha Royals lost though, after giving a tough fight to the other team.) The organiser couldn't arrange the win for us. :)

After 8 days in Omaha, the place which i felt foreign in the initial days started feeling home. We were going to miss the warm hearted people we met, who took extra effort to make us feel at home, who showed keen interest to know about India and the culture and some who knew much more about India than us. We were sure to miss the people we interacted with and all the fun and rich experiences that we had. The last dinner brought everyone who worked for the trip together, the organisers, students, teachers and all the non teaching staff of University of Nebraska. The students of University of Nebraska picked up titles for all of us, and i was titled 'Female Warren Buffet' :). Some other interesting titles were 'Cricket Pro', given to a friend of mine, who sacrificed his wicket for an American player, 'Best lugguage Handler', to a senior whose lugguage came late in another flight, 'Unlimited Free Minutes', to a friend who was always on phone, etcetcera.

After spending so many amazing days in that picturesque, calm and serene place, it was time to move to NewYork. NewYork is a city full of life. In stark contrast to Omaha, its a city so vibrant with lights, colours and action. We visited NASDAQ, saw the closing bell ceremony being televised(wherein a famous personality ring the closing bell, when the trade closes at 4P.M.). The Times Square, Manhattan, Top of the Rocks(for the entire view of NewYork), everything was equally fascinating. The best part was the Broadway Muscial show 'Legally Blonde' which we managed to catch up on the last day. Truly an amazing experience, considering the effort and time they would have put in to produce such an awesome musical. NewYork is a city i fell in love with at the first sight, be it for its vibrancy, or their excellent subway transport. :)

NewYork trip culminated with a lunch at Ajit Jain's residence. Ajit Jain currently heads several reinsurance business for Berkshire Hathaway and has been touted as a possible successor to Warren Buffett, an alumnus of our Institute. Visiting his residence and family, having lunch with him, hearing him talk about his plans for Berkshire Hathway was an enriching experience. We were amazed beyond words when his wife came and told him 'Warren is on the phone'. Its not everyday that one get to hear this in one's life. :) A sumptous mediterenean lunch by the river side in the backyard of his house and a book containing collected writings from Charlie Munger, personally autographed by him, was the gift from Ajit Jain to each and everyone of us. His wife made a perfect hostess greeting us individually and taking time out to talk to each one of us. A man of that stature accompanying u to the bus and wavying you goodbye felt so surreal. The humility and knowledge exhibited by him, made me realise that these are the two essential factors to suceed in life.

Like all the good things, even this trip had to come to an end. All throughout the trip, one question that was consistently asked to me by Indians and Non-Indians alike was given a chance would you like to work in India or Us and I always had the same answer, India. The reason being, I dont think there is any dearth of opportunities in India at the present moment, and I have my family and majority of friends here. And I must say, they all told me that if they would have asked the same question ten years back, the answer would have been exactly opposite and they would not have left India if they had the same opportunities ten years back. So I feel I am so lucky to be a part of India's unprecedented growth process.

Summer Internships beckons and I took a flight from NewYork and landed directly in Mumbai, the abode for the next 6 months, were i will be working with a reputed investment research firm. Traffic jams, pollution, rush in local trains and high cost of living, Mumbai is characteristed by all of these, and I am liking every bit of it. Afterall not everyone gets to be a part of India Inc. growth story !!!

Happy Birthday to me, huh?

Six girls plan religiously for a dear friend's birthday.

Cake, candles, decorations, gifts, cards, everything is taken care of. Yours truly, with other friends, work really hard in background to get all this done, without her knowledge.

You send out a mail to the whole batch saying be there sharp at 12o'clock to celebrate her birthday.

So the whole batch assembles at midnight to celebrate her birthday.

She cuts the cake, we sing "Happy Birthday to you", wish her, put cake, water, eggs, n everything that we could see in the vicinity, on her :)

Suddenly the girls take out another cake and lights candles. Me, inspite of being in the core organising committee is totally unaware of this. I innocently asks the question "Why another cake"??

Thats when i get the biggest surprise of my life. They got the other cake for celebrating my birthday. Tomorrow is the last day of our exams and we are all going to be away for six months, for our summer internships. Seven of us are going to be in four different cities. So they planned to celebrate my birthday one month before so that they all can be with me during my celebration. My constant rant that 'no one of you are going to be with me on my birthday' prompted them further to do this.

I cut the cake and the usual rituals associated with the birthday happens to me also. Get bums, get drenched in water and cake, girls decorate my room, gives me a beautiful birthday card, books and perfumes as gifts. So I had a birthday celebration one month in advance of my real birthday. I dont know what makes me more happy - the way they cared for me and surprised me or the way they planned everything without my notice.

I am gonna miss this place for the next 6 months. No matter how far i am from my home, the people surrounding me, always makes me feel special.

Mn,Pj,Sh,So,Nl & Nv, you girls rock. I will miss you people a lot.

She used to dream ...

Years ago, when she was a little girl
She used to dream.
She used to dream of beautiful places,
knight in shining armours and laughter.

As years passed by,
She continued dreaming.
But without her knowledge,
her dreams were taking new shapes.

Sometimes it took the shape of
a position, a promotion, recognition
or something very materialistic.
So fast the winds were whirling.

She went through several
heartaches and disappointments,
She survived all of them. But,
came out disillusioned.

World around her continued to
remind her that rosy pictures do exist,
but only in bollywood movies
and fairytales.

She stopped dreaming about
palaces, princes and rose gardens.
She has come to know that fairytales
were only the sadistic imagination of a cynic.

Now she just waits for the reality
to strike her, the sooner, the better.
The harder the strike,
the stronger she will be.

A virtual journey down the memory lane

I chanced upon my engineering college's image in Wikimapia, while googling for something else. I used to be a day scholar during my engineering college days. I used to travel by bus everyday from my home to my college, either in the college bus or transport buses. It used to the same route, familiar buses and drivers. Because many of the buses leave only at a particular time, it was quite an ordeal to get ready on time and catch the bus. During morning hours, there used to be so many people in the bus that you can barely put a feet down. My fellow passengers used tricks(read blows and punches) that would put many a WWF Champions into shame, to get a seat to sit. People would be exhausted by the time they reach their destinations. Nevertheless, i used to enjoy those journeys.

Reminisence does not always make you happy. The thought of being away from home for so many months and the hard fact that i won't be home for some more months made me sad. So i decided to take a journey down the memory lane, and tranversed the entire route from college to home, as i used to do in a bus. But this time, with the help of simple 'Pan up', 'Pan down', 'Pan right' and 'Pan left' buttons of Wikimapia. I saw the same buildings i used to see, bridges i used to cross, traffic junctions were we waited for the traffic lights to turn green and many of my friends' houses on the way. The only difference being, today i saw all of that by a simple movement of my mouse, sitting so many miles away from all of them. And finally, after so many turns and clicks, i reached home :)



My home is the small rectangle, right at the centre. No points for guessing though!!!

I thank Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev for their wonderful invention. You people made my day. I was so happy to be finally home, 'virtually'. They say, technology can bridge gaps and transcend boundaries. Today Wikimapia did it for me, atleast to a great extend.

Disclaimer: After reading this, if you feel that this girl is crazy, dont worry, you are not the only one feeling that way. Even i feel the same today :D

One of those memorable conversations :)

So what happens when two finance enthusiasts chat?

Before we move on to that, let me give a background of the story, we girls went for buying some things from our so called 'tech market', and while returning, we meet a bunch of guys from our batch. For one and a half hours, the two groups sit in front of an eating joint named 'veggies', demanding a treat from each other. In the end, girls back to their hostel, without eating anything.

So one of my good friends here, Md (also a Finance enthusiast) pings me in the night and so goes our conversation.

(Presented as it is, in the chat lingo)

Md: see...today we returned from the veggies w/o having anything.. :(

me: guys r supposed to treat girls not otherway round

Md: yeah agreed...but when guys dont have money then? :)

come on...atleast someday gals should lend them some money...so that they can treat the gals and then return the money...

me: return the money??? should we expect that :)

Md: wat !!!

why such bad credit rating? :)

me: credit rating of C for Md and S :)
(S is a common friend, who is always with Md)

Md: i have strong cash flows, good amount assets of piled up, lot of goodwill and AAA rating by other gals..!!! :D

i m not sure why ur company is not lending the money ..!!!

me: we don’t believe in other banks’ credit rating, i think all will agree to S&P(my) rating :)

Md: no ..actually their experience speaks in their credentials given to this investment bank..!!! u havent dealt with us...there are windfall profits mam..!!!!

me: we feel tht the company you have recently merged(S) have bad rating also, goodwill of tht company has degraded, esp after it has liquidated(with drinks) some of its assests and made some funny declarations :P

Md: no no..thats rumour in the market...we are not merged with that "Sachs" banks...there might be some transactions of securities but those are general and simple debt obligation payments..we are a stand alone white paper company..:)

me: ok, then we can reconsider your offer, let my principals do some more research and look at the market conditions, if the market feels tht investing in your company is a good option and returns r high and assured, then our bank will be able to lend u some money, and mind you, our credit rating goes a along way in giving confidence to other investors :)

Md: You are welcome...!!!! my books are open for due diligence..but you will have to do Systematic Lending. In which you will lend one ice cream every week till May 2009 and then my bank will start paying your bank in chocolate currency...:)

me: first of all we dont believe in systematic lending and we believe in a floating rate interest with put option, so lets see how we can work this out

Md: see Ice creams to Chocolates...the NPV is really delicious..:)
the risk is really worth taking..:)

me: with the exchange rates for chocolates fluctuating, we dont really believe in a transaction through tht currency, i think we can fix it in icecream currency

Md: ok no issues..!!! but i m telling you...chocolate rates are bound to go up only...as we will buy lot of chocolates in this KGP street, ppl will run to buy them as well..we can infact do a futures contract where you will get future chocolates at current rates..:)

me: i think the same applies to icecreams as well, so i don’t mind having a futures contract in that

Md: hmm...dont u think an icecream with a friendly gesture would have been much better rather than going into these tantrums..:)

me: we r investment bankers, we dont do simple things, we assess,hype up and then do the deal. U know we live life kingsize (courtesy “D”) :D

Md: yeah...that means that you can offer Kingsize icecreams to your fellow bankers also.. ;)

me: only if it comes back in the form of a double kingsize family pack icecreams :)

Md: cool...idea is actually not bad...!!! anyway it will mean that this banker will get more ice cream than normal times... ;)

me: sure, i think ROI is good in this deal :)

Md: you are welcome to announce the deal in the market...wat will be the deal declaration date and when will deal happen?

me: deal declaration date and deal happening will be informed to you in the due course of time, thanks for dealing with us, we hope to maintain a successful relationship with you in the coming years

Md: wow.. that was wondeful...i seriously never thought we can be this geeky..!!! :)

me: seriously :) it was fun :)

Md: out and out FinFinFin...God please let some recruiter see this chat..!!! :P :P

me: we will put this chat along with our resume and give it to placecomm(placement committee) :)

Md: he he..:) colleague recos :P :P

me: :) :) :)

Md: my head is so heavy with the stuff that i have to have one ice cream now :)

One of those memorable conversations which puts a smile on your face everytime you think about it. Dedicated to all the FIN enthusiasts around us :)