Sometimes in your life a day comes when you experience a wonderful feeling where everything goes according to what you had planned or even better & you just hope that the day should never end & should keep going on & on like a Duracell battery :). After a pretty long time, I went through similar emotions on Saturday 17th January when I completed my first ever trip to Water Kingdom.
This much awaited & anticipated picnic to Water Kingdom(WK) was more than two months in the making & kept getting postponed due to various reasons. Initially when this trip was planned I wasn’t supposed to be a part of it but as they say in Hindi, “daane daane pe likha hai khaane waale ka naam”, a similar thing happened with me as well. In my case it was “Water Kingdom ke ticket pe likha hai picnic jaane waale ka naam” :).
This picnic to a very large extent was the handiwork of the Sheppies & ably supported by a dedicated band of their followers (all my office-mates who come to office taking a specific shuttle from the local railway station to office). It would be a bit too tedious on my part to explain who & what the Sheppies are all about (would take an entire new post (wink)) & also how I fitted into this group, even though I don’t take the aforesaid shuttle, I would just say that for once, I was the right man, to be at the right place & at the right time :).
We were all supposed to meet at Borivali station at 10 am & from there proceed to Gorai, where a ferry would take us to WK. Initially about 12-14 people were supposed to come, but ultimately it was only in the destiny of eight of us to have the time of our lives :).
We stepped on the island at about noon thanks largely due to a few of our fellow picnickers who had their watches set on some other time rather than the Indian Standard time (wink). But once we entered the premises of WK, every thing was forgotten. A toy train dropped us right in front of the main entrance of Water Kingdom. We wasted no time in buying the tickets (though, in hindsight should have bought the passport which gives you the chance to visit thrice a year at a throwaway price) & then changed to our nylon clothing which is a must in WK.
So finally we all were in Asia’s largest theme Water Park & about to experience the magic of the place. WK is set amidst an exotic jungle complete with sculptures of various animals, ruins & exotic vegetation. The first thing we set our eyes was the Wet Atlantic. It is said to be the world biggest wave pool which has water cannons across the entire cross-section of the pool & then there are artificial waves as well that are created at periodic interval. There are fountains as well around the wave pool for those wishing to venture in the shallow sections of the pool. This is also the area where one would encounter many couples sharing many romantic & pleasurable moments much to the amusement of singles like me (wink).
After spending a few minutes in the wave pool we headed straight to Misphisly Hill. This is the area which has many thrilling rides. We started with Humunga Kowabunga & Rushing Gushing. For both these rides you have to cross your legs, put your hands beneath you head & then lie on your back & surrender yourself to the law of gravity. The first one has a steeper fall while the second one has a few angular drops on the way. My heart was in my mouth when I saw the spectacle of the people taking the rides. I was feeling pretty scared to try it at first, but ultimately gave in to the wishes of my fellow mates. I said a silent prayer to God & Alvida (just in case) to my friends, before jumping down in the aforesaid position. Thankfully, I survived. These near-death experiences last for a few seconds & then ultimately you feel relieved to be alive & kicking. After you have done it for the first time, the fear subsides & then you feel much more confident next time round as your adrenaline starts pumping & you yearn for more of it.
After these two rides, the other rides that we tried out were the Black Demon, Rafia-Fafia & Bobble-Boggie. Compared to the earlier two rides, I found these rides to be very easy & not at all scary. You get this feeling more so because in these rides you have to use a float & the rides are within a cylindrical structure as well. So the fear of tipping over the edge does not enter your mind. We did these rides a few times & then headed next to the Wave Pool.
This time round, we had our first encounter with the artificial waves. As the pool becomes progressively deeper & goes to a maximum depth of about 6 feet, things can get a bit difficult for those who don’t know swimming & on top of that if you have hydrophobia, then the best you can do is lean against a supporting wall & watch your mates have the time of their lives in the pool. That’s exactly what I did :(.
We then headed to the Aquadrome. This is the place where you need to put your dancing shoes (well not exactly, you still dance bare-footed) & get your feet moving to the music put by the resident DJ. There are sprinklers on the roof as well as on the floor which make you feel that you are doing a rain dance. Some of the dances that I saw been performed by my fellow mates was quite a revelation & I really enjoyed watching them enjoy the rainy ambience. The only negative aspect of the Aquadrome is that floor gets quite slippery at times & when you are too engrossed in your dancing you might slip. One of us did take a fall but resumed dancing with greater enthusiasm & gusto. Way to go!! There were no such issues for me though, as I stood out like a sore thumb here as well due to my two left feet. Hopefully some day, will rectify this.
From there we headed to the Adventure Amazonia section of the water park. This is the place where there are some amazing rides where one can go rafting on the rapid rivers. There is also a ride called What-a-coaster. For this ride, you have to climb about 5 floors to the top from where the ride starts. Then you take a mat which you need to put on a platform & lie on your stomach, keep your chin up & cross your legs. It is of great importance to hold on to the handles that are there on the mat. After you make yourself ready in this position, the platform gets raised & you are dropped from such a height. There are many curves along the way & since you are now completely dependent on your gravitational force, you feel a churning taking place in your stomach & many times as well you feel that you are not touching the floor of the slope. At the end of it, you get an amazing feeling when you turn your head & see from where you started. One more good thing about this ride is that at least 6 people can take this ride simultaneously as there are six platforms. I got a tremendous high from this ride, as each time I managed to beat the remaining people who where with me on this ride :).
We then tried out the rafting rivers rides namely the Elephant Safari & Rock-n-Roll Safari. We start from the same point but then on the way you choose one of the two paths. There are single & double floats which are available to take these rides. The rides are quite bumpy all the way & it is very important to sit properly on the floats else it is our backsides that have to bore the maximum brunt of our mistakes (wink). We tried these rides with both the single & double floats & tried to hold each others hands throughout the safari rides. That was quite an experience!!!
At about 3 in the afternoon, we headed to have lunch. This lunch was courtesy one of the Sheppies. A big thank you to her!!! While some chose the veg. lunch thali the others got pau-bhaji. Some of us just gorged on the gulab-jamuns which we received for free thanks to incessant bargaining from the other Sheppy, which simply exasperated the kiosk-owner & forced him to give it to us for free :). Man, we all should learn the art of bargaining from her!!!
After lunch, we headed to the lazy river. You need to just sit on the float & enjoy the journey as the water pushes you ahead. This is the most ideal place to come after you are done with your lunch. A word of caution: just make sure no one is over-turning your float from behind & putting you in the water :). Once you are inside the water, it is a bit difficult to get back on the float on your own. In my case, the one who pushed me in the water, helped me get back on the float as well, so all bhul-chuk maaf (wink).
Since we had completed all the rides before, we went back to all the places all over again. We did all the rides umpteen number of times to our heart’s content till about 6.30 pm.
Finally, the time had come to capture the memories of this trip. So the camera came out & all of us posed along side the many animal structurse, all around the park. I took a special fascination to a water mermaid sculpture & posed with her at least thrice. Don’t ask me the reason (wink).
Before we left the park, there was a karaoke player at the exit. Some of us tried singing to the music been played on the player. While some scored a perfect 100, one even manage an even perfect score – zero (wink). I also tried my hand at singing & realized that I am much better than a bathroom singer. I had a score of around 85 & could have scored a 100 as well if not for the ice-cream which I had just before singing. It really affected my singing to such an extent that the pitch of my voice & lower notes of the song were not falling in place (wink).
We stepped back on the ferry to return to the Gorai creek. I was back home after about 12 hours from when I had started for this trip. To conclude, this has been one amazing trip & hope that my future experiences also turn out to be as great as this one was. Till the next time.. tc..
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
All that really matters.......
I got to hear a great love song today. I always like soft & slow numbers, this one fits the bill completely. Liked it a lot. Have been listening to it repeatedly since the past hour an hour. It is by Richie Sambora. I hadn't heard about him before. Thanks to Wikipedia, came to know that he is the lead guitarist of the band Bon Jovi. This song is from the album Undiscovered Soul which he did as a solo artist. Thought about sharing the lyrics with you all. Hope everyone likes it.
When I look at you
you're beautiful
there comes a time in someone's life
when you find things that matter
and every time we touch
the love runs deep
we realize it's our to keep
and that's all that really matters.
You'll always be my sweet addiction
in this life my saving grace
you're all that really matters
you know it's true
ain't no me without you.
When you're in the dark
baby don't despair
I'm just a spark away
I will be there
and that's all that matters.
You'll always be my sweet addiction
in this life my saving grace
you're all that really matters
you know it's true
ain't no me without you.
We'll share our lives together
yes our flame burns on forever
and at the final curtain call
we can say we did it all.
You'll always be my sweet addiction
in this life my saving grace
you're all that really matters
you know it's true
ain't no me without you.
And when we turns to dust
and we fly away
there'll be a light stil burning bright
and that's all that really matters
When I look at you
you're beautiful
there comes a time in someone's life
when you find things that matter
and every time we touch
the love runs deep
we realize it's our to keep
and that's all that really matters.
You'll always be my sweet addiction
in this life my saving grace
you're all that really matters
you know it's true
ain't no me without you.
When you're in the dark
baby don't despair
I'm just a spark away
I will be there
and that's all that matters.
You'll always be my sweet addiction
in this life my saving grace
you're all that really matters
you know it's true
ain't no me without you.
We'll share our lives together
yes our flame burns on forever
and at the final curtain call
we can say we did it all.
You'll always be my sweet addiction
in this life my saving grace
you're all that really matters
you know it's true
ain't no me without you.
And when we turns to dust
and we fly away
there'll be a light stil burning bright
and that's all that really matters
Saturday, January 10, 2009
The Shocking Satyam Saga….
It was circa November 2007. At that point of time, I was in my first semester of MBA program. The exams were done & dusted with, but we students still had to perform the last rites of the semester. And that was to do a presentation on the various aspects of Financial Accounting.
As a student with an engineering background this was the toughest subject for me. After giving the exam for this subject, I was quite sure that I would definitely flunk the paper & had mentioned the same to many of my friends (they still don’t believe me on this). That’s when I received a ray of hope of passing this paper. It came in the form of this presentation. For the presentation, we had to analyze the balance sheets, P&L accounts & other financial statements of a company given to us by our professor & summarize the performance of the company. As luck would have it, our group was selected to analyze the performance of Satyam.
We, group members worked very hard on the presentation. Right from getting the yearly reports, researching stuff from the net, calculating the various financial ratios, doing a SWOT analysis, preparing the final ppt, rehearsing for the presentation, we did it all. The presentation went just about okay but when I got my marks for this subject, I realized that the professor thought our group was really good. :)
In the last few months, we have been hearing just negative news about Satyam. Right from the ban that the World Bank put on Satyam to the Maytas fracas, everything put the company in a bad light. But nobody in this world would have expected what we got to hear on 7th January, 2008. The promoter of the company, B.Ramlinga Raju confessed of committing a fraud to the tune of Rs. 7000 crores by cooking his organization’s financial statements.
Initially, I did not realize the magnitude of what was revealed. The very first thing that came to my mind was about the presentation that we did on Satyam. I was feeling like a fool for having done a financial analysis on fictional numbers thinking that they were real & then concluding that the company was in superb financial positions to handle any unforeseen troubles in the future. In the SWOT analysis, for the Threats to the organization, we had failed to put Promoter’s misgivings as the biggest threat as well. For all these reasons, I thought we surely owed an apology to all those present in the auditorium for having given them a wrong impression about the company.
Now, when I look at the bigger picture, I realize the extent of damage that Raju’s deeds have done. Not only has he damaged the institution which he built, but he has maligned the name of all Indian companies & IT companies specifically. The IT sector is as it is going through a tough time in these days of recession; this incident has made it even tougher.
I am still unable to think about the rationale behind Raju’s misdeeds. If a company is not able to make substantial profits, then it has to take steps to stem the rot, not by way of inflating one’s financial statements but by taking measures to keep the operating expenses down by going for cost-cutting, etc.
Now that Raju & his cronies have been arrested, I sincerely hope that the truth comes out & these cheaters get what they deserve. I also hope that the Government & Corporate India takes adequate measures to do damage limitation & put the company back on track, not only for its employees, investors, but also to keep India story growing going ahead.
As a student with an engineering background this was the toughest subject for me. After giving the exam for this subject, I was quite sure that I would definitely flunk the paper & had mentioned the same to many of my friends (they still don’t believe me on this). That’s when I received a ray of hope of passing this paper. It came in the form of this presentation. For the presentation, we had to analyze the balance sheets, P&L accounts & other financial statements of a company given to us by our professor & summarize the performance of the company. As luck would have it, our group was selected to analyze the performance of Satyam.
We, group members worked very hard on the presentation. Right from getting the yearly reports, researching stuff from the net, calculating the various financial ratios, doing a SWOT analysis, preparing the final ppt, rehearsing for the presentation, we did it all. The presentation went just about okay but when I got my marks for this subject, I realized that the professor thought our group was really good. :)
In the last few months, we have been hearing just negative news about Satyam. Right from the ban that the World Bank put on Satyam to the Maytas fracas, everything put the company in a bad light. But nobody in this world would have expected what we got to hear on 7th January, 2008. The promoter of the company, B.Ramlinga Raju confessed of committing a fraud to the tune of Rs. 7000 crores by cooking his organization’s financial statements.
Initially, I did not realize the magnitude of what was revealed. The very first thing that came to my mind was about the presentation that we did on Satyam. I was feeling like a fool for having done a financial analysis on fictional numbers thinking that they were real & then concluding that the company was in superb financial positions to handle any unforeseen troubles in the future. In the SWOT analysis, for the Threats to the organization, we had failed to put Promoter’s misgivings as the biggest threat as well. For all these reasons, I thought we surely owed an apology to all those present in the auditorium for having given them a wrong impression about the company.
Now, when I look at the bigger picture, I realize the extent of damage that Raju’s deeds have done. Not only has he damaged the institution which he built, but he has maligned the name of all Indian companies & IT companies specifically. The IT sector is as it is going through a tough time in these days of recession; this incident has made it even tougher.
I am still unable to think about the rationale behind Raju’s misdeeds. If a company is not able to make substantial profits, then it has to take steps to stem the rot, not by way of inflating one’s financial statements but by taking measures to keep the operating expenses down by going for cost-cutting, etc.
Now that Raju & his cronies have been arrested, I sincerely hope that the truth comes out & these cheaters get what they deserve. I also hope that the Government & Corporate India takes adequate measures to do damage limitation & put the company back on track, not only for its employees, investors, but also to keep India story growing going ahead.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Ghajini...
Let me first wish all of you a very Happy & Prosperous New Year. I would also like to apologize to the readers of my blog for having not posted anything for such a long time. Well, the reason is that I was simply not able to think of any topic on which I could write an interesting piece.
I really envy the columnists who continuously manage to write articles for the newspapers weeks after weeks & never suffer from a paucity of ideas (like I am going through at present).
Well, I participated in at least two interesting things in the past few days. The first one was a New Year’s Eve party at a friend’s place & the second one was watching Ghajini. The party was expectedly rocking & I had a good time there. But I am not going to write on that as my last blog also had a similar premise, & if I write on this one all my friends will soon declare a teetotaler like me to be a bewda …. as some have already done. :(
So, what I will do is share a few observations of mine regarding Ghajini. I saw the movie last Sunday at a theatre near my place. I did ask a few of my friends to come along, but then unfortunately, I was all by myself at the theatre. :(
As many of us know by now, Ghajini is a remake of its Tamil namesake which was copied from the Hollywood flick Memento. Let me give you a brief comparison of Ghajini & Memento:
• In Memento, the protagonist is an insurance fraud investigator while in Ghajini, the protagonist is the Chairman of a mobile phone service provider.
• While Guy Pearce searches for the man he believes has raped & killed his wife, our very own Aamir Khan searches for the murderer of his girlfriend.
• Both the protagonists suffer from amnesia caused by a severe blow to the head. This leads both of them to suffer from short term memory loss.
• In order to work around this problem, both the protagonists use pictures, notes, tattoos all over their bodies to remember things that would ultimately lead to the murderer.
• Finally & expectedly, both manage to kill the murderer of their respective beloveds.
The most redeeming factor in Ghajini for me was ASIN. She plays the bubbly, vivacious & extremely kind-hearted Kalpana in the movie. She is definitely a treat to watch & looks absolutely amazing in the song Aye Bachchu. I could watch the first half of the movie (her best moments are in the first half) at least 10 more times for Asin !!!!
Another thing that always intrigued me prior to watching it was the name of the movie itself. Initially I thought that Ghajini might be the name of the heroine in the movie. But ultimately after watching this film, I came to know that Ghajini is the name of the villain. Well, there have been greater villains in Bollywood like Gabbar, Mogambo, etc, but none of them had a movie named after them. This is one lucky villain to have a movie named after him… way to go, Ghajini !!!
At the outset, the film is just a revenge drama that we must have already seen in the past. Only this amnesia thing is what separates it from the rest. But I liked the movie because of the 3 As – ASIN, A.R. Rehman & Aamir Khan (specifically in that order) & wouldn’t mind seeing it one more time if I get some company this time round. :)
I have also got a fantastic tip for those who haven’t seen the movie yet. You will enjoy the movie a lot more, if you manage to catch Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi before Ghajini. Believe you me; I certainly enjoyed Ghajini a lot more than I had thought… :)
Till the next time … tc..
I really envy the columnists who continuously manage to write articles for the newspapers weeks after weeks & never suffer from a paucity of ideas (like I am going through at present).
Well, I participated in at least two interesting things in the past few days. The first one was a New Year’s Eve party at a friend’s place & the second one was watching Ghajini. The party was expectedly rocking & I had a good time there. But I am not going to write on that as my last blog also had a similar premise, & if I write on this one all my friends will soon declare a teetotaler like me to be a bewda …. as some have already done. :(
So, what I will do is share a few observations of mine regarding Ghajini. I saw the movie last Sunday at a theatre near my place. I did ask a few of my friends to come along, but then unfortunately, I was all by myself at the theatre. :(
As many of us know by now, Ghajini is a remake of its Tamil namesake which was copied from the Hollywood flick Memento. Let me give you a brief comparison of Ghajini & Memento:
• In Memento, the protagonist is an insurance fraud investigator while in Ghajini, the protagonist is the Chairman of a mobile phone service provider.
• While Guy Pearce searches for the man he believes has raped & killed his wife, our very own Aamir Khan searches for the murderer of his girlfriend.
• Both the protagonists suffer from amnesia caused by a severe blow to the head. This leads both of them to suffer from short term memory loss.
• In order to work around this problem, both the protagonists use pictures, notes, tattoos all over their bodies to remember things that would ultimately lead to the murderer.
• Finally & expectedly, both manage to kill the murderer of their respective beloveds.
The most redeeming factor in Ghajini for me was ASIN. She plays the bubbly, vivacious & extremely kind-hearted Kalpana in the movie. She is definitely a treat to watch & looks absolutely amazing in the song Aye Bachchu. I could watch the first half of the movie (her best moments are in the first half) at least 10 more times for Asin !!!!
Another thing that always intrigued me prior to watching it was the name of the movie itself. Initially I thought that Ghajini might be the name of the heroine in the movie. But ultimately after watching this film, I came to know that Ghajini is the name of the villain. Well, there have been greater villains in Bollywood like Gabbar, Mogambo, etc, but none of them had a movie named after them. This is one lucky villain to have a movie named after him… way to go, Ghajini !!!
At the outset, the film is just a revenge drama that we must have already seen in the past. Only this amnesia thing is what separates it from the rest. But I liked the movie because of the 3 As – ASIN, A.R. Rehman & Aamir Khan (specifically in that order) & wouldn’t mind seeing it one more time if I get some company this time round. :)
I have also got a fantastic tip for those who haven’t seen the movie yet. You will enjoy the movie a lot more, if you manage to catch Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi before Ghajini. Believe you me; I certainly enjoyed Ghajini a lot more than I had thought… :)
Till the next time … tc..
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