Mumbai Chronicles: Second weekend

After staying in Bangalore for a couple of years and a year in Lucknow, those two months in kerela for my TCS training where we had ample encounters with huge water bodies seem like some distant (but good) memory..hence this time round I was suitably determined to make most of my stay in Mumbai. So when my good friend in Mumbai invited me over to juhu one evening to visit the chaupati there I jumped at the opportunity.. the joy was however shortlived..the beach was full of people and on top of that we were forewarned by my friend \ that we should not go into the water as many people come here early morning to finish their ablutions i.e. to relieve themselves.. so all we did was to walk on the sand cribbing about our college and making fun of each other’s internship..
That weekend however it was tough twiddling our thumbs in the hostel and we decided to make it to Alibaug atleast.. only me and another guy finally made it..rest of the gang decided to come by evening..we reached at 11am at the Gateway of India (dwarfed as it was by the sprawling Taj Mahal Hotel) and booked our catmaran tickets..we were already soaked to the skin with sweat and there was no reason for us not to buy AC tickets..after taking a few mandatory pictures from my brand new digicam (Canon A520) we boarded the catamaran and it was quickly on its way..Ok forget to mention Catmaran is a kind of boat that allows water to flow through it i.e. it is hollow in the middle and the two ends join only at the deck.
Sitting in the AC we realized that we missed the sea breeze which appeared all the more luring now and so off went out sipping our warmish seven ups and gazing with wonder at different ships passing us by.. finally after one hour and some pictures we reached mandwa gaon ( made famous by a well known amitabh bachhan movie) from where we boarded a bus which took us to alibaug in another 45 minutes..once we reached there we realized that the last catamaran went back at six and it was impossible to come back by then. Hence the first task for us was to get a hotel room for the night..alas our misfortune that we couldn’t find any place to stay..finally we got a place right in front of the beach but it was so dingy that I would refrain from saying any thing more about it except that it barely served our purpose and was reasonably cheap.
We were informed that we would be allowed the rooms only at 6 pm. The sea looked very inviting even in that heat so we just changed a bit and went to the beach. At 4 pm the sea was neither at high tide nor at low tide..so we were able to waddle in a lot of water and gain confidence..even though we had decided to return by 6 to get our room we decided to follow people more and more into deeper ocean until we realized that those people intend to keep walking in the water and reach a far off fort called fort Colaba. It took us some time to realize that we could actually walk the distance and we decided to go for it. It was a merry journey and once we reached the fort we had a great time. We got to the front part of the fort where the sea meets the fort but which was then tranquil and dry. All in all it seemed like some columbusian expedition. We returned back walking at the stroke of six thoroughly tired but the depressing nature of the room drove us back to the ocean.. again a few mandatory pics and oogling at babes and their antics.. none of our batch mates arrived (later we got to know that they had gone to another beach nearby). We had a silent dinner at a dingy south indian hotel.. one of the few things I have learnt from my stay in the south is that if one is not sure about what to eat then just order a meal..they cant screw up the meal more than what it is already.. My poor friend needed a drink but ended up vomiting it all out and that put paid to our hopes for the night and all we did for the rest of the evening was watch the high tide hitting the shores..finally at 12 when we had no recourse but to return back to our dingy room the owner was good enough to bestow us with a kachua chap which seemed very inadequate in protecting us from the fury of the sea mosquitoes.. the night was spent in agony trying to save our exposed skin and hoping for it to end as soon as possible..

With the first rays of light we packed our bags, looked at the inviting sea and then returned back to Mumbai in the afternoon.. we did swore that next time we do something of this kind we would plan everything and then slept heavily in our hostel rooms..

Mumbai Chronicles: First weekend

Actually I came on a Sunday itself (9th April)… had no place to stay so called up a friend who was staying in the hostel that our famed campus had allotted for us (future CEOs they call us)… the hostel had the most pathetic rooms ever witnessed.. reminded me of those decrepit rooms shown in bengali movies (forget it if u haven’t seen them) and the toilets stank and the water had a bad taste that made one vomit..such was the first impression.. but then one cannot wish for a better location in the city..on one side you have churchgate station where every train starts empty and other side you have marine drive..a haven for love (read lusty) couples and a good place for single guys (or guys whose gals are in some other cities) to gawk..
Ok so now that I have given you a good background let me begin with the recital..actually nothing much infact.. we just decided that we could go to Gateway of India and see that place as it was close by.. frankly I was more enamored by the Taj Mahal hotel there which I believe has robbed the GOI of some of its glory… it was so crowded that I had to walk with my hand on my butt to check my purse at all times..we decided to take a trip on the streamer for half an hour .. I think those 30 minutes passed very quickly and it was a thoroughly joyous time…(we made exotic plans of booking a cruise and having a party on it for a few hours).. the next two hours were spent in idling about looking for suitable place to eat.. finally we went to Leopold which was pretty much a happening place.. (must visit for people who visit colaba) and ate keema at Bade Miya.. finally reached back at 11 but only after finishing the ritual of ogling at gals on marine drive..

Summer Internship

Going through my internship I am not able to figure out how I should react or feel.
I am in Mumbai for the third time in my life but the earlier occasions were so short that they barely count. For guys like me who have big round eyes that can rotate at every possible angle Mumbai is a city full of good ‘sights’..(will recount some in a later blog) so Mumbai is heaven but then I am away from my gal (cant say whether its good or bad but atleast I could have gone to all the discs and pubs where stag entry is not allowed)

One thing I can say is that summer internship in ICICI Prudential is great. Maybe its coz my expectations were too low but then they treat us like royalty and we indulge ourselves fully… I got a live project in which I have to interact with the business process team (operations) and the IT team so as to evaluate a DSS system for the firm and draw out an implementation plan and ROI.. good for me as I feel if I had a chance of a PPO then this should be it ( but then not an ideal situation when everything depends on you and you cant blame fate or some one else)..
With a TBLA project on general insurance sector and now summer internship in life insurance, my baptism with insurance has come a full circle. I do have some notions about this sector in India.. As of now I don’t feel that my future lies in this sector but then one can never say… learning as much as possible and enjoying the experience is now the paramount objective..let God take care of the rest

P.S.
DSS: Decision support system
ROI: Return on investment
PPO: Pre placement offer
TBLA: Tata Business Leadership Awards

half manager!!

just got to know this monday that our results have come..I have passed my first year and how....that is not forthcoming..grades will be known a few weeks later only..but anyway who cares.. if the going gets tough i can always harp on an IT job that will send me to europe and US on a regular basis..surely summer internship in a non IT company is an eye opener.. it makes one ponder as to what one wants..anyway had gone to goa last weekend which was quite eventful and will be described in a later blog..hopefully will be blogging regularly from now on..