Mistress, Da Vinci Code and more

I have not finished the book but this is perhaps one of the best books that I have read in a long time. I started reading 3 books before this, all of which broke some record or the other, but could not finish any of them so I was quite pleased when I kept reading even after being on the throne for more than half an hour. She has an uncanny way of tapping into different 'mallu' minds and then switching so fluidly between characters trying to justify the lies they live. Yes, this book is set in the paradoxical "God's own country", so perhaps that could be why I was able to connect with it. My cousin Robin was telling me that Anita Nair struggled as a writer for many years and eventually used a caucasian name to publish a book because she could not find anyone to publish the book. Coincidentally we met Anita Nair's cousin for a wedding recently. Priya also liked the book. I read the Da Vinci Code a few years ago, thought it was a good book till I read Angels and Demons (another Dan Brown book) which I thought was better. The movie was good also, worth the 9 Euros that I spent for balcony seats. The last couple of weeks that we have been to church, every sermon has been punctuated by some mention of the code or a full blown papal sermon on how books should not shake your faith. In any case, its just fiction cleverly written so treat it that way and appreciate it for what it is. Many people think this book maybe one of the biggest challenges that the catholic church has had in centuries, I am not so sure. Compare this with communism, reformation of the church, public scandals about priests, this probably just another flash in the pan. This past weekend was 'Long night of Music' weekend here in Munich which we being young and hip could not afford to miss. Got high on Jazz, bored with some rock and finally went to sleep in a piano bar. Priya narated her weekend escapade as part of some excercise she had to do in her german classes (in german) after which her classmates started calling her- Party Mouse. So those porkies at Enron finally got roasted eh! Great Day for Capitalism?

Guess who won an IPOD Nano!

Highlight of the week or perhaps the whole goddamn year is that I 'won' an IPOD Nano! Isn't that cool? I submitted a business idea a few weeks ago to one of our forums at work and looks like they like the idea :) I must also mention that Reeba bought me an IPOD Nano (black) for my birthday a few months ago so it not so much the IPod that I am excited about but its more the fact that I actually won something! My parents will be here on June 2nd and Reeba lands on June 4th, so we are going have lots of family time, really looking forward to that. Our furniture from India has not arrived yet, so guess who is going to be sleeping on parquette flooring pretty soon? Not my parents :) We are having an INSEAD stamtisch this week in Munich, looking forward to seeing some familiar faces again. It's hard to believe that we are going to be in the middle of the largest football frenzy ever and not have tickets to any of the madness. In order to make amends to our disappointment, we have decided to buy a TV :) Priya's German is getting pretty good, we went out this wine bar near our place yesterday and everytime the waitress asked me something in German I would look at Priya and she would sputter something in Deutsche. You should have seen the glee on her face and the embarassment on mine. We have seen it many times already in the newspapers around the world, European Markets are dead! Many people don't seem to think so, here is what the CEO of my company has to say about it - "Europe has actually been a tremendous success story on many levels. Think of what's happened: the Iron Curtain has fallen and the Cold War has ended. German has been reunified. Europe now has open borders and in many countries a single currency. Nations that were once dictatorships are now democratic. Many countries once in the poorhouse are today economic success stories. In the Baltic states, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, GDP is growing 3-8 % per year - rates many countries would envy. While other countries are growing slower - including Germany - there are positive signs of change, there too. This includes wage moderation in labor negotiations, macroeconomic reforms on the part of many governments, and a growing recognition that innovation is the key driver to creating jobs with a future. Further, Europe remains on the global cutting edge in many key industries including automotive, aerospace, healthcare, GSM technologies, etc. (incidentally, these are many industries in which Siemens is already active)." I read an article today which said that Germany exports over 1,000 Billion euros worth of goods every year making it the largest exporter in the world - this with 9 million people unemployed and a 35 hour work week! The question but beckons, how do they do it? Obviously productivity is a big key, any other ideas? My theory is that the true secret lies in their beer :)

Think about this the next time you have coffee..

"A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.Now...............if life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it." So, don't let the cups drive you... enjoy the coffee instead....... " Simple explanations for a complicated life? Too much food for thought and can't be bothered then have a look at our amsterdam trip pics at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=prq6b9l.ciyl7csx&x=1&y=-ggf20n I must warn you that a lot of the pics are flowers and buildings!! We did not take the camera with us everywhere so its not really representative of trip but it has some nice moments.

Fancy a run through Kerala?

A friend of mine, Peter Dulvy, visited kerala last year for my cousin's wedding. Peter along with many of Robin's friends did a whirlwind trip around kerala and stayed with us for a few days. Little did I know, his jaunt to the tropics would leave a permanent impression on him so much so he would return in a few months. This time though, he plans to run through kerala!! I think it is one of the by products of globalisation, otherwise how do explain an Irish Pakistani Pathan dodging lungi clad men running through the bylanes of kuttanad hoping to cover 600km in 30 days in Kerala during the month of May? Did I mention that Peter thinks he is an economist? Desmond, the photogrpaher, and Rahul, the chronicler are there with him in body and spirit. The blog is very well written and captures very the soul of rural kerala life. Almost makes me nostalgic sometimes when I go through it. Desmond takes fantastic photogrpahs, I saw him in action at Robin's wedding. You can visit their blog at www.heelsonfire.org Priya's parents are moving to Botswanna, predictably the project is in the middle of nowhere. My friend's father lives in Botswana, he claims that its nicest place on earth. He always exclaims what a nice place Botswana is after he travels out of the country and comes back. Hopefully we will be able to find out first hand when we visit. We also have to go visit my parents in Nigeria where I have not been back for a few years now. Our luggage seems to have arrived in the hamburg port, lets see how long it takes to get to us. Cannot wait to get settled again. Anyone planning any vacations? Still a bit jetlagged, going to bed.....

May Day

I am spending May day working in a conference room reeking of chicken curry (lunch) in an empty office gazing over spreadsheets that need me to prune workforces for a new project we are doing? Ironic, don't you think? Work has gone into overdrive this time around in Malaysia, not much fun. Other than seeing the insides of my hotel room and the office I have not been able to do much. Would like to go home now but from all indications I am here atleast for another week. On the brighter side, I am really beginning to enjoy work. Anyone heard the rumour about Motorola buying Siemens COM? Rahul got married to Megumi last week in Goa, one wedding that I regret not being there for. Another one coming up is Angy's in a couple of weeks, which I am going to sorely miss. When we moved to Germany, we still had luggage in France, England, US and India waiting to be shiped over. We have slowly worked through the list to get them to Corneliusstrasse, our final shippment from India should be here in a few weeks. Cannot wait to get settled, sitting on boxes is no fun. So far the feeling of having some sort of permanency is still non-existent. But I have hope....