Would you want to be seated in the last row? Hmm.. but where?

I know a few friends who would always prefer the last row – be it the classroom or a evam play. Their freedom to comment & yap without getting noticed. So much of their last row choices are much wiser though – like in the cinemas. Some of them don’t enjoy last rows as much. Probably they are more like me but of course are smart at times and prefer just the opposite at the right occasion.

Today, I am seated in the last row. In an airplane. Thinking and writing about it. I am on a budget airlines so the last row really isn’t the best place to be. Anyways, so I am on the last row and ahead of me all I see is a sea of heads. Some are dark, some partially and rest are shinning in the bright aircraft lighting. A few grey, white and even fewer brunette. And I am noticing something very peculiar for airplane. I can see a hand raising every few minutes trying to grab and terminate the mosquito on-board. Yes, you read that right. Some of them must have managed a boarding pass and are now guest to the airlines. Of course, under attack or rather defending the human counter attack. My co-passenger whispers (he had been quite observant as well) – “they are quite dangerous these days”. Danger + Airlines brings the word terrorism to my mind but I managed to get into context immediately and acknowledged with a smile.

The last row also means lowest on the priority for meals. Two air hostesses start at the first row and the other two from the middle of the aircraft. The only brighter side to it is – plenty of time to access the, right around the corner, rest room. The tiny little bathroom in a fairly big aircraft that is best described by Jerry Seinfled (Everything on planes is very tiny. There’s always tiny food, tiny liquor bottles, tiny pillows, tiny bathroom, tiny sink, tiny soap. Everyone’s in a cramped seat, working on a tiny computer. There’s always “a small problem, there’ll be a slight delay, we’ll be a bit late, if you can be a little patient).

I like the concept of first-in-first-out which is what you get when you are seated on the first row. The last row does give you a similar advantage if you choose the right door to step in. Pretty trivial, huh?

I am heading to a startup conference with an option to be seating in the first row (being a pre-event jury and part of the organizing team) but now I am contemplating the last row. Thoughts?

Arna-Jharna is a beautiful desert museum conceptualized by Padmashri Komal Kothari and brought to life by his son Kuldeep Kothari. I visited the museum about a year ago and was amazed by the way it was built up. Very small team, almost no machines used, 100% indigenous resources, using only the local knowledge for everything and anything. The museum is located on the outskirts of jodhpur. They managed to effectively collect water in the middle of desert and use some of Israeli irrigation techniques to make the entire patch green. This place is full of inspiration, I could share only the pictures.

Took Naksh for a beach walk. He collected shells all the way. Here are some pictures:

Bangalore was my dream city a decade ago. But not anymore. It has been a victim of the so called ‘development-era’. Nevertheless, I love the city for it’s weather and food. There has been plenty of memorable trips to Bangalore that I have never written about.

Anyways, I am heading to bangalore to speak at Proto, The Startup Event at Nimhans Convention Centre on 23 & 24 Jan 2009. I would be sharing a session with Amit Ranjan. Unlike my usual speaking engagements, to engineering or business school students, for the first time I am going to address India’s top grade upcoming entrepreneurs. It is both a chance to share experience and gain a lot of enthusiasm and inspiration from peers.

I am compiling a quick list of 5 top restaurants in Nungambakkam, Chennai. These are the places I visit more often than others, they are not very expensive – affordable for a person who eats out once in a fortnight.

#5: Sigree

Cuisine: North Indian

Where is Sigree in Nungambakkam?

1Hotel Aruna Complex
5th Floor, 144/145 Sterling Road
Nungambakkam, Chennai
Phone 42664222, 28238286, 43596224/28

#4: Casa Piccola

Cuisine: Continental

Where is Casa Piccola in Nungambakkam?

17, Kader Nawaz Khan Road
Nungambakkam Road
Khader Nawaz Khan Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai
Phone 68230808, 64500500, 28330808

#3: Subway

Cuisine: Subs & Salads

Where is Subway in Nungambakkam?

12, Crystal Lawn wallace garden
2nd street
Nungambakkam, Chennai
Phone 42038800, 28111177

#2: Mainland China

Cuisine: Chinese

Where is Mainland China in Nungambakkam?

Hotel Tulip Aruna Complex,
144 – 145 Sterling Road, Sterling Road,
Nungambakkam, Chennai
Phone 28238345, 42317920

#1: Little Italy Ristorante

Cuisine: Italian

Where is Little Italy Ristorante in Nungambakkam?

1/2 Eldorado Building
Nungambakkam High Road
Nungambakkam, Chennai
Phone 42601234

Restaurants not worth trying in Nungambakkam are New Yorker, Bella Ciao and Sweet Chariot Cafe. For south Indian food Komala’s and Palmgrove is great and they are just located at the beginning of Kodambakkam High Road (so not so far from Nungambakkam).

Have you ever spoken to a stranger in the most unexpected place that kept you wondering all day – not why but how did he do that? Well, I just had one such experience.

I was browsing few books on marketing and entrepreneurs bio-graphies at Landmark bangalore and I heard someone making a remark about the books I was just looking at. He added, “I have recently started reading a few of them and I think they are excellent reads”. I nodded without paying any heed. I first decided to ignore him totally. Why would someone tell me (an absolute stranger) about his reading habits.

However, he went on. “So do you find these books interesting as well?” he asked. Now, what kind of a question was that. Who the hell was he. Maybe someone I had met earlier – no ways! I nodded again and added “kind of”. I was quite surprised on how somebody could just attempt to strike a conversation to a total stranger. Maybe he laid a bet with his friend that he would talk to some stranger and manage exchanging business cards. I suddenly decided to check on his background. I asked him what did he do for a living. He turned out to be a SAP India employee. I didn’t want to believe it for the first time he told me that.

By now I had picked up Seth Godin’s – All Marketers are Liars. He returned back the question to me. I told him I was a small time entrepreneur. Within next few questions he was already impressed with what I did. We exchanged cards and he left.

I couldn’t buy that story that someone could just strike up a 2 minutes conversation in the middle of an extremely busy store. I don’t think so I’ll have the zeal to do anything like that. I walked out of the store buying Seth Godin’s book and pondering on how extroverts do it.

This incident immediately reminded me on how one of my friend struck a conversation with a guy wearing FOSS(Free Open Source Software) t-shirt in bangalore and eventually hired him.

Probably next time you walk into a music store or a book store, try conversing to people who are standing right into the section that attracts you the most and see if you can strike a conversation. You may really have an interesting story to tell. It sounds a little too adventurous for me but I think I should someday give it a try.

Writing from Terminal 23 at the Dubai Airport. Incredible Airport!

I started my flight with a movie. The Illusionist. Rated 7.7/10 on IMDB the movie is worth a watch. Thank you to Taj catering the food was hopeless, expecting a better meal in my next flight. Thought would recover some sleeping hours but the travel excitement is just catching up.

This would be too early to say but I think I would prefer SriLankan Airlines to Air Emirates.

I haven’t bothered my shutter yet, so pictures will have to wait.

Gangtok (which means ‘hilltop’), capital city of sikkim, still lingers on my mind. A place abundant of beautiful hills and people.

We met Bheem at the taxi stand. A young (20) taxi driver with tons of enthusiam, we asked to transport us from the stand to our hotel, Golden Pagoda. We got a room with a market view for 600 rupees. Bhima was still waiting for us, he had suggested us a 7 point visit for 500 bucks. With just 1.5 days with us in sikkim we quickly agreed to and got started. Our second was well account with pictures in my other post “Heaven – 12,400ft above sea level!“.

For people who wish to travel to sikkim here are some list of places to eat and stay.

(M.G. road is the hub of all activities in gangtok. All shops and life comes to halt at 8pm).

Top hotels:

Tashi Delek (has great views!!)
Double: 2500+ / Suites: 4500

Hotel Tibet (Tibetan Decor- great resturant)
Hotel Tibet (2-3 mins walk from MG road)
Double: 1100-1600
Phone: 203468 / 204962

Mid range

Hotel Golden Pagoda
on MG road, with a roof top pure vegetrian resturant
Double: 600-850
email: goldenpagoda ‘at’ hotmail ‘dot’ com

Budget stay:

Green Hotel on M.G. Road
Single: rs. 150 / Double: rs. 250-300

Places to eat
Cafe Tibet for fast food (gen. see college crowd there)
Hotel Tibet is a great place for dinner (little expensive)
Bakers Cafe, MG Road – amazing place for breakfast and cakes!

Ofcourse there is lot more to sikkim beyond Gangtok. Will write about those places when I visit them

I was digging into some CSS (code) that I wrote few months ago. It’s nice to know that you can still write some ‘code’ and term them something as complex as classes (I hear a lot about it from the next cubicle at work). Well these classes are relatively (absolutely) simple. Usually, I am lot more busy at work. My mobile was already ringing. It’s karthik, yet again.

kk: hi da,
me: hey kk, wassup?
kk: nothing da, busy aa? (typical south indian da and aa’s)
me: well just thinking about a break, a weekend in Kodai.
kk: really?
me: yes, I should head to kodai road. correct?

kk: ofcourse, you would reach kodai road by 3:45 a.m. by train.
me: really? not 5am or something like that?
kk: Yes, 3:45 a.m.
me: well I can sleep on the platform till it’s 5am and then head uphill.
kk: you on the platform? (he laughs)
me: yes, I can. I mean, I have already done something like this before.
kk: (still thinks i am kidding) dai!
me: really man, I slept on the floor at the Sri Lankan airport.
kk: (impressed!) tell me more about it..
me: why did you call? I would write about it sometime, tell me why you called first?

And another 15 minutes or odd and I got rid of him. But yes, I wanted to write about my swiss trip. I wanted to write a travellogue. I could only gather enough time to post some pictures on trekearth. But now, I want to write about it. Every bit of it, my flight, airports, people I met, food that i ate, toilets that i used (kiddin’), places I travelled, malls that I visited, evenings that i spent by the river rhine, german (lang.) that I fell in love with and so much more about me, switzerland, money (CHF), dreams and life.

My swiss experience – *coming soon*. (Thanks KK, I can really sleep on a platform).

I had recently learnt from my friend Preetam that China had never recognized Sikkim as part of India. It treated it as an independent country. He also explained how pragmatic chinese government is when it comes to acquiring back their so called lost terretories. They played smart with HK. They let Britain rule and develop it and finally chucked them out when it seemed most profitable. It puts me to great relief that sikkim is no more a disputed territory. It’s one of the most exciting place in India. I hope to get there soon to explore more of it. Truly India’s pride.

Read more about this news here.