Words and Images

Flying good and bad times!

2006-05-31T21:03:00.000+06:00

The sky has definitely gotten crowded rather over crowded over the last 2-3 years. India's first no-frills airline, Air Deccan, commenced operations in August 2003 and opened Indian skies for the common man. Since then there has been no looking back with the introduction of Kingfisher Airlines, Spice Jet, and Go Air. Industry also witnessed some consolidation lately with Jet Airways acquiring Air Sahara. The state owned and operated airline got a facelift and became INDIAN from Indian Airlines. In summary, Indian skies witnessed a plethora of changes lately.

I graduated around the same time when the Indian skies started witnessing these changes, which provided me with an opportunity to travel via various airlines. I traveled by Jet Airways, Air Sahara, Air Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines, Go Air, Indian Airlines, and Spice Jet. The experience has been diverse on these airlines some of which I am sharing here.

First, let me rate these airlines based on timely departure, quality of service onboard, customer care, etc.

1. Jet Airways
2. Kingfisher Airlines
3. Air Sahara
4. Spice jet
5. Indian Airlines
6. Air Deccan
7. Go Air

Jet airway has always been all time favorites. Never compromised on quality, customer care even in such a competitive market. Kingfisher started on a very positive note. It has an excellent focus on customer care, quality of service and convenience. Air Sahara after being acquired by Jet Airways should improve its standards to the same as JA. Coming to low cost airlines, Spice Jet has over-all done a good job. Air Deccan still suffers due to lack of focus on customer care delayed and cancelled flights, etc. However, it has reached to very small towns and has made life easier for a lot of us (I can fly from Rajahmundry to Hyderabad!!!). Go Air has been my worse experience so far. It’s just an illusion that it’s CHEAP. The ticket cost me INR 900 less than jet airways from Jaipur to Mumbai and they charged me INR 700 for 10kgs excess baggage. Further, no food was served in the flight. The facilities in the flight were not up to the mark.

In summary, it has been a mixed experience. I look forward to more flights and newer experiences.

Arabian Nights :)

2006-04-02T21:12:00.000+06:00

So it all started when I left for Egypt 0n 15-March to attend some trainings spanning over a period of almost 3 weeks. Since I was flying from Delhi, I arrived in Delhi almost a day early and spent the whole day completing some pending work. I met a family friend (Sarang) and had lunch with him and then went to his place and enjoyed some Holi celebrations. Later I joined two friends from college - Anuj and Sood. Went to a pub called RPM in Priya and finally took a taxi to the international airport. Met another colleague there (Gaurav) and took my flight to Alexandria via Dubai. So finally I arrived in Alex (Alexandria) and after a little hassle managed to get out of the airport.

We had a batch of 15 people from all over the world - Venezuela, Mexico (2), New Zealand, Brazil, France, Libya, Egypt, China, Ivory Coast, Russia (2) and India (2) and USA. Can't get more diverse than this :). We had 5 instructors during the course with the main instructor from India and others from Ireland, Scotland, Egypt, and Brazil.

During my stay in Alex - I saw the Light House (One of the seven wonders on the world), Library (Amazing architecture), Citadel, Mosque, etc. The walk along the seaside on a long curvy road reminded me of Marine Drive in Mumbai with a similar Necklace. We ate food at an Arabic restaurant called Mohammed Ahmed serving stuff like Falafal. We also had a group dinner at restaurant called Jungle – grand and amazing. Some of the common occurring during the stay was having Shesha, beer, movies and general hangout :).

We also went to Cairo on one of our day-off. Cairo is the Capital town of Egypt - quite a cosmopolitan place. We reached Cairo at around 11pm and went around the town on a long drive. Next day morning started at 9am with a visit to the "Museum of Egypt". It had an amazing collection depicting the history of Egypt including the Roman and Greek phase. It even had some human and animal mummies. I brought some souvenir including the famous Pyparus paper.

This was followed by a boat ride on the river Nile. We hired a boat, which dropped us on one of the boat restaurants. Having the lunch on the boat was a memorable experience.

“Pyramids” followed the boat ride on Nile. We hired some horses and camels to visit the Pyramids. I loved every moment of it, for the first time, I rode a horse at good speeds. There were three big and 6 small pyramids. We managed to get into one of the pyramids and all that we saw inside was two rooms - one for the king and another for the queen. The rooms were empty and the way to the room was a small tunnel with a height of about 4 feet. The structure obviously qualifies for being one of the Seven Wonders of the World with 3 million stones used to construct it. However, 3 million stones pilled on each other for creating two small rooms to preserve the body of the king and the queen sounds quite weird. The horse ride continued for over 3 hrs when we finally got back and also saw the Sphinx.

Now was time for some shopping so we decided to go to the souk. Saw a lot of mosques on my way - Cairo is called the city of 1000 mosques. The market was full of antiques and souvenirs. I brought four hand-made paintings on Pyparus. We hit the road back to Alex and got back by mid-night.

One the last day of my first training, I got to see the Solar Eclipse. It was almost 80% eclipse and was a good experience. The last night was partying whole night. This was followed by a day-off before the next course starts – so spent the day lazing around with some beer at the swimming pool.

This was followed by another 3-day course. This time it was a group of 13 people including 8 from the previous course. Nationality breakdown would be India (2), New Zealand, Venezuela, Russia (2), France, Libya, Egypt, China, Vietnam, US and Malaysia and with a Sri Lankan instructor. Diversity is in the air! The course will get over tomorrow and I hope to pass it.

There were two things, which were a little downside of Egypt. One was the greedy nature of people – everyone seems to be madly running for money. Just about everyone is looking for $$$. We use to joke about it by saying that Egypt got 4 kinds of taxes – service, sales, city and “Shafting”. Shafting tax increases exponentially as the color of your skin gets whiter and the location of your country gets farther. Second was the driving sense of people. I thought that India is unsafe for driving but Egypt is worse. They drive fast and they have limited to no driving sense. Crossing road in Egypt was a nightmare. I saw couple of fatal accidents during my stay, which was really scary.

Finally, I am leaving back on 4-April to get back to India, which will be followed by 2 weeks off at home. J

Talking about ethics!

2006-02-14T23:59:00.000+06:00

A conversation today with a friend made me sit back and contemplate about ethics. So far in my life, I always become so restless when it comes to ethics and the thin line which one has to walk in order to stick to it. I personally think that ethics is like one of those things where you have a clear black and white domain, and when you have to walk the thin line between these domains, the fear of falling into the gray area is so evident. The question that immediately comes to my mind is that when it has clear black and white domain where is this gray area coming from? This is a self-created area, which has been devised for personal convenience.

I always wanted to stick to ethics, which are obviously my own but sometimes in life I have been forced to override them also and then I had to do self condolence by deciding not to do it again. Strange enough, every time they are over-ridden, I emerge stronger and my ability to resist the temptation to override them improves. However, I have still not reached a position where I can stick to them completely.

So what are those demonic reasons, which have caused the irreversible act? Sometimes it’s the urge to succeed, some times to “look good” and other times to “not look bad”, peer pressure, parental pressure and so on. But am I not being “reasonable” by citing these reasons? We all become so “reasonable” when it comes to defending our weaknesses and inabilities. Frankly speaking, I felt so cowardice whenever I have crossed the line, as I was not strong enough to resist myself.

What are these ethics that I am talking about? Dictionary says - a system of principles governing morality and acceptable conduct. Doing a comparison, feels like I am part of a political system where I am a corrupt politician.

Was reading a book called “Freakonomic” – it says very aptly “Incentives are the corner stone of modern life”. We all are moved, touched and inspired by incentives that is being offered in every walk of life and sometimes so much that we cross the so called “ethical line”.

All said and done, do we have the inner strength to avoid the trap laid by “incentives”? I don’t know the answer as I have fallen in the trap few times at least.

Co-ordinates Updated!

2006-02-01T01:33:00.000+06:00

Here are my latest co-ordinates!

Are we racist?

2006-02-01T01:12:00.000+06:00

The idea for this blog was sown in my mind by a colleague (Anish). During my stay at one of the rigs (Nordic), he visited us to provide some assistance.

One day we were discussing about racism and were talking about some of the Western countries (US, Germany, etc.) and their racist outlook. He mentioned that one of his friend (non-Indian) once accused India for being a racist country. I was in topsy-turvily state hearing that.

This friend's argument was based upon the popularity of fairness products such as "Fair and Lovery", "Fair and Handsome" (for man!!!"), etc. Why are these products so popular in India? Do we want to look fairer because we think that being fair is better or superior in anyways? Is this racism?

According to the dictionary racism is "The prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races". This discrimination can be based upon color also. So does that qualify us as racist?

I am still wondering!

2 days @ Calcutta!

2005-11-27T10:39:00.000+06:00

After spending 22 days at home, I was called by my manager for an urgent assignment. I got a call at 11am on 22-Nov and he asked me to take the next flight to Calcutta as I was supposed to board a chopper on 23-Nov Morning. I took the 6'o clock flight from Jaipur to Delhi, which dropped me at 7'o clock, but at the International terminal. My connecting flight was at 8'o clock from the domestic terminal. I had already spoken to the airlines to wait for me till the last moment and 7:30pm was the deadline. I luckily got an inter-terminal bus from the international to domestic airport, which dropped me at the domestic airport at 7:25pm. Rushed to the check-in counter and got a business class check-in (however traveled economy class) due to the last minute boarding. I was in Calcutta finally at 10pm.

Went straight to the hotel - Hotel Park on Park Street. Really nice hotel and very well located. A close friend, Anant who stays close to the hotel, joined me. We went to Barista to sip a cup of hot coffee. Later, went out in his car to his place. In the mean time, I got a message that the scheduled chopper has been cancelled and I am supposed to stay in Calcutta for one more day. So we made some plans for the next day and went to sleep.

I was dropped back to my hotel at 9am. I tried to sleep again but could not manage. So got ready and decided to go out for breakfast. Went to a place called Flurys on the same street as the hotel - had a chicken croissant and masala chai. It was very well prepared and I loved it. This was followed by a visit to Oxford Book Store, which was located in the same building as the hotel. I spent couple of hours there and brought two books, which would be very handy on the rig. But then suddenly, I got a call from my client. He wanted me to visit his office as soon as possible. I spent couple of hours at their office and then was dropped back by one of our company secretary who was there for some work. This was followed by an evening snack at the hotel restaurant called Atrium. Later, my cousin joined me in the evening. She is doing her graduation from a college in Calcutta. I went with her to Barista to sip another cup of coffee. My friend joined me after his office. Three of us decided to go out for dinner in his car. We went to a restaurant called Mirch Masala (I have been to Mirch Masala in Baroda, Ah'bad and Gurgaon already). As usual, the place had a nice Bollywood ambience and really nice food. This was followed by a visit to an ice cream parlor called Ma Ma Mia. So then came an end to my day. My client already told me in the afternoon that my stay has been further extended by a day.

I woke up at 10am next day morning. Called my cousin and asked her to join me, in case, she is free. She agreed to bunk her lectures and office and join me. I hired a car and we decided to go to a place called City Centre in Salt Lake. Had some coffee at CCD. Did some shopping and realized that we don't have any worthwhile movie to watch. So went to Niko Park - an amusement park. I did not like the looks of it so decided to go to a Bowling alley called NiKo Super Bowl. Later we decided to go to another mall called Forum. I called another cousin of mine to join us. We met at Forum and then went to CCD to sip another cup of coffee. Later, we took a taxi to Park Street. Since both my cousins never had any alcohol, I decided to treat them some. Went to a restaurant called One Step Up. Ordered Bloody Mary, Screw Driver and Pina Colada for us. One of my cousins did not like the taste and gave up after few sips. The other cousin was brave, she not only finished her but also sipped some from mine and the unfinished one. I came back to hotel and my cousins went back to their place. My friend joined me again at around 8. I also called couple of my friends from IIM Calcutta. Puneet Bihany (my batch mate, department mate and first-year wing mate at IITB) along with a senior Pramit Kamath. Four of us went to a restaurant called Tom Peters. A really nice restaurant, I forgot the name of dish that we had, however, it was really well done. Later we had another cup of coffee at Barista to end the day. I was dropped back to hotel.

Next day morning after two days of uncertainty, I got a call from my client that I have to board a chopper at 1pm. Had my breakfast at the hotel, checked-out and headed to the airport. So finally I boarded the chopper with just one another passenger. We were four of us - two pilots and two passengers. Had a small conversation with one of the pilot about some technical stuff like speed, altitude, etc. 45mins ride with very low visibility and I finally landed on the rig, which I left about 26 days back.

One thing to conclude, I had a very bad image about Calcutta, however, it appreared much better than what I thought. I would love to go back and spend some more time there.

My Present Co-ordinates

2005-10-29T19:44:00.000+06:00

Thats where I am these days - Off Kolkata Shore!

Satish, Shaqib, Manesh (the creator) and Ravi

2005-10-22T22:09:00.000+06:00

Thats my crew and Manesh (better not talk about him) at Nordic!

Aquaphobia and Acrophobia – Fear Factor!

2005-10-22T19:22:00.000+06:00

Does this not sound ironical – I was afraid of water and heights and now I am working as a field engineer where I work in the middle of water (offshore) and also on rigs/platforms, which are quite high.

I still remember two incidents when I was on the verge of drowning but escaped narrowly. The first incident was in Kanyakumari (Southern most tip of India). I went there to enjoy vacations with my family when I was a kid. One evening, I was enjoying on a beach along with my family, when suddenly, one of the waves decided to take me along on its way back. Since I was a bit far from my family, they did not even realize this. However, one uncle (thanks!) saw me drowning and pulled me out of water.

The second incident was in Goa (not on any beach but in the swimming pool of the resort!). I went to Goa with a bunch of friends from college in my second year. One fine day, we decided to spend the day at the resort itself and use the swimming pool. I jumped in the pool unknowingly that it was 15feet deep. A little later, I realized that I was drowning. I shouted for help but my friends assumed that I was kidding and simply ignored me. They even laughed at me. I was just lucky that some how I managed to get to the side by throwing my arms and legs all around.

However, after working on my present job assignment, my fear-factor seems to have gone completely. I am not afraid of looking down even from the highest point on the rig. I still don’t know how to swim and completely trust the life jackets/life boats to rescue me in case of any incident – but I am much more comfortable and confident.

Makes me laugh sometimes!

PAGE 3

2005-10-19T19:33:00.000+06:00

Yesterday, I got a chance to see Page 3 – a movie by Mahur Bhandarkar (well done!). The movie is called Page 3 as most newspapers have page 3 covering parties involving celebrities, politicians, businessmen, etc. The movie also covers something similar. The cast includes - Konkona Sen Sharma, Sandhya Mridul, Atul Kulkarni, and Boman Irani among others.

The movie exposes the harsh realities (some one rightly said "gutter behind the glitter") that lie behind all the glamour and show biz and that too very succinctly. It exhibits how everyone tries to appear happy but there exists a hidden sadness and pain in their lives.

The most humorous part was the way high-society ladies (aunties!) try to get attention by getting involved in completely pointless conversations – I can’t stop laughing. Another interesting part was how businessmen throw parties (or are made to throw parties by event management companies) to get themselves on Page 3.
Some of the views expressed in the movie were disturbing – pedophile businessmen (really rich and famous!), actresses getting sexually exploited (by famous directors and actors!), convoluted journalism (easily manipulated by the influential!), and irresponsible politicians (as usual) and mixed bag of policemen (some who are limited by their position and others who are Page3 matter).

“Kitne Ajeeb Rishte Hain Yahan Par” – a really nice song by Lata Mangeshkar and "Huzoore-E-Ala" by Asha Bhosle makes the moves further worth watching.

The hollowness expressed in the movie is an eye-opener. Makes me wonder – does every face have a mask on it? Can you trust some one?

I am still wondering. I won’t say that I am pessimistic but definitely heedful.

India: Yesterday, today and tomorrow

2005-10-18T20:17:00.001+06:00

Have been reading a lot of random stuff lately mainly focussing on Indian economy, politics, etc. Some of these include "Fortune at the bottom of Pyramid" by Prof. C.K. Prahlad and "India Unbound" by Gurcharan Das. At times, their words are so striking that being an Indian, it becomes difficult to quitely accept the state of our economy and politics.

Gurcharan Das has talked about the evolution of India post-Independence. He talks about some of the initial policies proposed by Jawahar Lal Nehru (First Prime Minister of Independent India) which caused long-term damage to the Indian economy. For example, he proposed large public enterprises, which have been mismanaged since then and still the government can't privatise them due to political limitations. This was followed by the autocratic rule of Indira Gandhi, damaging our economy further. Some hopes were raised when Rajiv Ghandhi came into power but did not last long. Finally, India got some hope of economic resurgence during the leadership of Narshima Rao. Some of the reforms proposed during his period include abolition of licence raj, etc. Since then Indian economy has been growing at a rate of 6-7% per year. Now we have reached a stage where India is expected to be a economic super power within the next two decades. Indian youth is resurgent and things are looking favourable. Only time will tell the future holds for us. I am optimistic, I am a believer of the Indian story and its success.

C.K. Prahlad talks about the opportunities that lies at the bottom of the pyramid - indicating people below the poverty line. Though he talks about this issue on a global level, his focus is more on India probably because we have a huge chuck. He believes that philanthropy is not the way to get rid of poverty, we need to enable these people in order to get them out of their poor economic state. He also talks about the role of MNCs, etc., in identifying markets, which lies at the bottom of the pyramid. He mentions that though these people can not afford to stock their requirements but they have the purchasing power to buy products on instinct in small quantities such as sachets, etc. Indeed companies such as HLL have launched a range of products targetting this segment such as sachets for shampoo, ketchup, etc. If a combined effort is made, we might be able to realise his dream to eradicate poverty.

Chopper and Rig

2005-10-16T18:48:00.000+06:00

So time to write more about the modes of transport that I use and my offshore work places. As I mentioned in my previous blog that I travel by helicopters to the offshore rigs.

So this time, I travelled from Rajahmundry to Hyderabad (9pm-6am) by over-night train and then took a flight to Calcutta (745am-930am). After landing in Calcutta, I was asked to board a Sumo (SUV) to go to the helicopter hanger. It was a nice experience travelling in a SUV on the run-way. When I reached the hanger, I saw two Coast Guard planes. They looked nice. Then I went for a safety briefing before boarding the chopper (at 1030am). The chooper was Pawan Hans' Dauphin (A versatile twin engine 10 passenger seats Helicopter of robust and reliable design incorporating the latest composite technology and Fenstron tail rotor system. Ideally suited for offshore/onshore operations, VIP transportation, casualty evacuation and rescue operations.). I am including the photo below.

The chopper was really old and it seemed as if it will fall down anytime. However, we finally took-off. It was a 45min ride to the rig called Nordic (The TRANSOCEAN NORDIC is a 3 leg CFEM T-2600-C1 cantilever Jackup capable of operating in water depths up to 300 feet. A 13 5/8 in 15,000 psi BOP is used to obtain maximum drilling depths up to 25,000 feet.) (photo included below).

The chopper was flying at approximately 120-140knots. The altitude was about 3000 feets. I love such low altitude flight which allows me to see the land below exhibiting quite a lot of exciting features. So thats one of my trips to offshore rigs. More will follow soon.

More offshore exploits

2005-10-03T18:48:00.000+06:00

This time my chopper was sheduled from Rajahmundry only (for those who don't know, Rajahmundry has a small airport from where choppers and charter planes take off regularly).

This was a small ride - only 25mins via Global Helicorp's Bell 412 helicopter. The photo is included below.

The destination was D534 (The DISCOVERER 534 is a self-propelled Dynamically Positioned drillship capable of operating in moderate environments and water depths up to 7,000 feet using an 18¾in 10,000 psi BOP stack and 21in OD marine drilling riser.). Photo included below.

This was a short trip - 3 days only. It was hectic but good fun and an amazing experience.

2005-09-28T10:04:00.000+06:00

This is our work place - also known as dog house. We spend time here doing maintenance on our tools. The coffee shop is also here which keeps us running through the day. Kudos to my crew member - Suresh - who makes amazing coffee.

This is one navy ship, which came quite close to our ship. A chopper landed on this ship while it was moving. It was good stuff to watch.

First offshore experience

2005-09-27T19:32:00.000+06:00

This is about my first offshore experience. As part of my job, I have to often visit offshore drill ships or platforms to offer technical services on behalf of my company.

So it all started when I was asked to leave for an offshore drill ship called Sagar Vijay. I left alone from Rajahmundry to Vizag. Luckily, a college friend of mine was also in Vizag around the same time so I asked him to plan a meet. I dropped in Vizag one day earlier (via train) and met my friend. The best part was that he had come along with a bunch of his colleagues to attend a marriage and they planned to visit a near-by tourist spot called Burra Caves and Harraku Valley. So the plan was set and we planned to leave on Sunday morning at 7:30am. As usual things got a little delayed, however, we managed to leave by 9:30am. So we hit the road in a Qualis with 8 of us excluding the driver.

As expected since we were headed to a valley, we had to drive through hills and the roads were really curvy. I was a little down due to some hangover from the previous night and the ride made me worse. One girl in our group also got a little sick, however, we finally managed to reach Burra Caves. Trust me, I have never imagined something like this in India - caves which were almost 100ft high. Not only the hight was facinating, even the span was marvellous. It was dark even during the day but sufficient arrangements were made to ensure good visibility.

We saw a huge bunch of Bats on the ceiling of the caves. We saw a notorious bunch of monkeys - they were snatching whatever possible from the hands of the tourists. They almost freaked out a little girl who ended up crying.

We headed towards Haruku valley now. It was an awesome place with wide span of green fields all around. We had lunch and then we identified some of the spots to visit. The first spot was a garden with large varities of fruits and flowers. We saw some amazing tree houses, which were available to the tourists at very reasonable prices.

We hired a toy train, which took us around the garden - it costs us just 50bucks for hiring the whole train. Next spot was a tribal museum. However, we decided not to waste our time in that and headed towards the next destination, which was a water fall. On the way, we stopped at a bridge and we saw a small river flowing underneath. We all went down and had some good time playing in water like kids. Though we realised after some time that this was a common place for cattles to take bath.
So we moved on and reached the water fall. The water fall was no where close to our expectation, however, we still spent some good time there.
So finally we started our journey back to Vizag and reached at around 9pm. The people I went with were an amazing set - I never felt even for a minute that I was interacting with them for the first time.
So a good day comes to an end and I went to sleep after dinner.

My real journey starts now. After having travelled by car and train over the last two days, I was about to board a helicopter for the first time. After going through security checks and watching the safety video, it was time to board the chopper. So we were 11 people excluding the pilot. It was two rows of people facing each other. The waiting time is over and I am now flying. It was amazing, the low altitude of the chopper passing over the Vizag city and finally reaching close to the ship. We finally landed safely after going around the ship twice. So I am on a ship finally - called Sagar Vijay.
The first and best thing that I realised about the ship was that my phone was working. So I am connected. After going though some regular security checks and orientation, I reached my accomodation. It was a room for two, however, I was the only person assigned to it. The next three days were hell as a long assignment came my way and I was still getting used to the ship. I did not really feel much sick due to rolling and pitching of the ship - these are terms used to define the movement of the ship. One more good thing about this location was the fact that I was very close to the shore. I could see the Vizag shoreline. So during the night, the city lights looked really awesome.

Now starts the bad phase, I will be waiting for the next 2 weeks doing nothing. I tried to find things to occupy myself. So I got along with my crew to do fishing. We had few good fishing lines and we were able to catch some Tuna fish. We caught more than 10 fishes in 2-3 days but got bored of that too. So my routine use to be something like this:

10:00am - wake up and get ready
11:00am - reach the unit and send the daily report
11:00-12:30am - either read some stuff or generally spend time chatting, etc.
12:30-2:00pm - lunch time
2:00pm-7:00pm - general maintenance, reading, chatting, fishing, etc.
7:00pm - dinner or movie
11:00pm - supper if we missed dinner
12:30am - time to hit the bed

This continued for almost 2 weeks. So I finally received my tools and spent the next 3-4 days checking them and getting ready for the next assignment.

One more thing that we did during this phase was some photography as I managed to get my camera on board. I shot a navy ship which went quite close to the ship. A chooper landed on that ship while it was moving - amazing stuff.

We also use to have a lot of fishing boats surrounding our ship. They use to tie themselves to our ship so that they don't drift. They use to come in the evening and do fishing all night and leave next day morning. I was really thrilled to see them coming so far and spening such long time fishing.

The assignment was about to start when we heard about some possibility of bad weather. Trust me, we were almost hit by a cyclone. Wind speeds exceeding 70knots and heavy rains for two days. All operations were postponed for 30hrs. The waves were as high as 15 feets. It was a scary day sitting inside the unit as we could not even go to our accomodation, which was at the other end of the ship. We spent one complete day eating biscuits and drinking tea/coffee, which we made in our bunker (also known as dog house).

So the assignment started after the weather got a little better (wind speed - 30knots and slight rains). It continued for almost 41/2 days. It was tiring and we were all exhausted at the end of it. But it was over and the time to go back to land was close.

So finally after 31days, I am booked on a chooper tomorrow, which will take me back to Vizag and from there to Rajahmundry. Ship-chopper-train-car, all the modes will be used again.

I would say that it was a mixed experience with its own highs and lows. Looking forward to the next assignment. Life goes on.

Check out some photos which will follow.

State with a difference

2005-09-18T12:03:00.000+06:00

AP is a state based in South-East India. I am posted with Schlumberger at a place called Rajahmundry, based on the Eastern banks of River Godavari.

The best discovery about AP so far has been the craze for movie theaters here. I was shocked to know that Rajahmundry (a small town) has 31 theaters. My driver told me that people here are willing to sell their food to arrange money to watch a movie. You find all kinds of movies - english, hindi and more - dubbed in Telugu (local language). I went to very small places and still found lots of theaters. More than 5 theaters in a small village. I am sure that the whole of Rajasthan (state I belong to and the biggest state in India won't have 31 theaters).

Second most facinating thing about this place is the work force. I was really impressed to see lots of women working. I was told that women are really hard working here and a lot of households have women as the main source of income. They work mainly in the farms - agricultural and fishing.

Talking about food in AP, as expected I found typical South Indian food - idly, vada, dosa, etc. People here eat a lot of rice and stuff made of rice. They also love three very similar food items - dal, rasam and sambhar. I really don't understand that why do they need all three of them in all their meals. They are also very found of curd - every meal normally ends with curd and rice. The food is definitely very very spicy. I still feel sympathy for my colleagues who come from other parts of the world, Indian food is already too hot for them, think about hot and spicy Indian food.

15th August is India's Independence Day!!! I was really happy to see that people in AP are really patriotic. Whichever village I went to, I always found statues of Indian leaders like Mahatama Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi, Jawahar Lal Nehru. However, the most common statue that I found was of Dr. B.R.Ambedkar. Even in our office, we celebrated this day. Had a flag hoisting ceremony followed by a speech by one of the new comers in the office. The office staff also drew the map of India on the floor using colors and flowers.

We also had a chicken bar-be-que. It was really a great experience.