Trains, Railway station, Beijing,Shanghai, Singapore, Malasiya and other

My work at office got over. I need to rush to hotel before 6 and chk out to avoid full day charge. I got my Hotel reservation changed in for Shanghai. Took Michelle help for printing. She also offered me to help in finding the train in railway station. I went to Hotel, freshened up, Chked out. As suggested by Michelle I went to “The place” nearby. It has all kind of restaurant. As I entered the premises…there was large canopy above me. It was almost as big a Street. I think it is for the concerts. Went into the mall…found a Indian restaurant “The Ganges”. Ordered for tomato soup, 5 chapattis, Dal and masala chai. Filled myself. Came out of the mall.Oh my god!!!.............the canopy was not canopy but a big LCD screen. Someone told me it is largest LCD screen in Asia. WOW!!!!. Took some snaps. Walked into hotel and collected my baggage. Michelle arrived on time at 7.30. Went to Beijing square …and than to RAILWAY STATION. WOW!!!!!At last I am railway station. Safe with….. Michelle as

she knows Chinese. Parked the car, Walked through the station front area. Very crowded…... Very very crowded. She went to police standing nearby to check for the visitor ticket. We stood in queue to enter the station. It was a small que but we have pass through scanning machine. I was pretty excited by then. My baggage went through the scanner. I was busy in clicking photos. I wanted to take photos of the scanner as well. Oh my ghosh!!!!!!!!!!!!! I slipped . Fell down. Didn’t get hurt but few photos got clocked when I was slipping.I got up. I felt like 2 to 3 pairs of eyes are observing me very closely. We looked at the train schedule. Everything was in Chinese (Thanks got Michelle can read it). We need to go to waiting hall 2 upstairs. The hall was decked up pretty nice and very traditional way (chandelier and chairs). I still had at least 1 pair of eyes very close to me…… watching us. Went it to final hall …..our train was still not called. We had sufficient time. I realized Michelle is not very comfortable with this much crowd. Believe she is in this railways station after almost 4 years. Last time she came to board the train to a location which was not connected by Air. We went back to main hall. I requested her to stand with me till train is called. It was amazing to watch people. The culture, their behavior, dress, interaction ….amazing stuff. Now it was time for our train. We went back to next hall which will lead to ticket chking. We stood in Queue (Well pretty much India Railway station queue. 5 or 6 people moving together.). Ticket chk is done landed in bridge got down by elevator. Holaluya!!! In front of me ….white bullet train. Searched for my coach…...Than my seat. GOT IT!!!!!The coach is really high class….the berths are luxurious. The comfort of a Hotel room bed. I congardulated myself for the my decision to use the Train.. Lady in front of me was from university. She can speak in English. We spoke about Tai Chee, Yoga & recission for 1 hour. Then I went to sleep. Though there was Mr. Mrs smith on the TV but it was in Chinese ( no English channel!).Trying to sleep. The train was picking up speed ( 91 Km/hr….135 km/hr….).ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZWoke up around 5.30AM. it was already sunney outside. Country side was clearly visible. Village house, paddy fields etc. Always seen a countryside from 5000ft . The feeling of seeing at ground level is pretty exciting.Reached Shanghai @ around…..7.30Am. It was pretty crowded ventured out of station without asking anyone for direction. Followed the instinct on where the tax stand might be (depending on the direction towards which empty taxis are going). Ended up in a escalator going down. Asked a police man about “T-A-X-I”. He showed me to go down. There you are in front of taxi stand. I mentioned the hotel name to them. They understood the same. Dropped me at hotel. I chked in and went to office. So convenient!!!!
My next interesting journey was …train from Malasiya to Singapore. Language was not an issue. Everyone understands (almost!!) English. But issue was train. After experiencing Bejing to shanghai bullet train. Malasiya to Singapore train looks very uncomfortable. Well…..train is never uncomfortable…..but the earlier experience has raised my expectation. One was a train where passenger didn’t even feel the vibration when it is moving at 200+ km/hr …other was …oh god….every break u can fall down of your bed or seat. Each break was experience. It is a cabin for 2. I had young male international lawyer as company. We talked about my work …his work…Malay politics… Indian food… recession….They serve food….I ordered for biriyani. It came with Chicken stew and I ate only the biriyani part. Went into sleep mode. Had very god sleep until …they woke me up at Malay border for passport chk. Them immediately I had got down for Singapore immigration. Officer was bit confused of I not mention my address in Singapore. As I was flying on same day my plan was some shopping and then get to airport to write this diary.Got out at Singapore railway station. No one can say it is Singapore railway station. It doesn’t look like Singapore. I felt like suddenly the Singapore was exposed compared what we usually see out there in Orchards road, Changi Air port or bogy junction etc. Take my word….nothing like using road transport to understand real culture of the country. Somehow I felt this time Singapore came out as bit arrogant, Careless and “like any other’ country. I for the first time had experience of Singapore cab driver take me for ride and making me pay more than double to reach my address.

Flight to Singapore

Hi Bhavani,
I entered Airport around 8.15. No one tell this is summer. Very windy and pretty comfortably cold. This is namma Bengaluru. Always surprises you with its whether….really air conditioned. No doubt………… it torubled us with its last 15 days with peak summer of 34 degree.
I stood in the queue to pay airport development fee. Reached counter and gave my Amex card. Guy returned it back saying “transaction declined”. Oh shit…did they really blocked my card for that 5000+ due amount?. Can’t believe they have done something like that as I paid everything on time but this one amount pertaining to prior December…..which I haven’t been able to reconcile. Card worked even 2 days back. Never mind I will work with my personal card plus cash I have.Went to check-in counter. This Singapore airline guy saw my receipt for development fee payment. “they realy asked you to pay”…I said “yes”. “But, no charge for international passengers! Check in and we will get you refund”. I chked in got my exit seat only till Singapore. I didn’t get Exit seat for Singapore to Beijing. Never mind. It is ok. The airline team helped me to get refund of amount paid to Airport authorities in jiff. Indian red tape has really come long way. There was time which required one to fill in forms together to get refund or make payment. But today I got the refund in cash within no time without a hassle.I got in to security clearance. Than into the arena. Than to Kingfisher restaurant. Took some time to choose my dinner. Ended up with panneer mattar and laccha parata plus tomato soup. Food was amazing. Paid by my personal credit card (I can survive on personal card for full trip ….but will connect with Travel lead once I get to Beijing office and get this resolved).Sat at the launge for 30 minitues doing nothing. Well not really. I was watching the people passing by. The tiredness on some faces, frustration on that Japanese guy face, amazement on other guys face, elderly person wearing a Dhothi , 3 old couple probably visiting their children, Families going on vacation, Family which came in and sat in front of me while wife sat few chairs away……………lot to absorb. Natures call, I went to loo. Realized my Zip is open. Look like I had lot to watch about other and didn’t realize this (Shame!!).Who tells it is recession…..lounge is full….restaurant is full. Yesterday at Commercial Street all shops were full with people. Off course even I was there with my family. I am not able to understand this. May be this is the effect of having highest % of employable population less that 65 years.Well….only 10 minute left to take off. Final call. Let me rush now. Oh shit! Computer Is not shutting down. Carry the lap top and open lap top bag on one hand ……. Passport and boarding pass on other. I am mad…never though writing can get so additive. Shameek you are the culprit. You got me into this. Now people have to read this bad grammer.Flight is not full. I got my exit seat. I am off to sleep. Told the attendednt no to my fruit plater. I don’t eat anything else on flight. I hate the preservatives in the food.Bye for now. Will see talk to you soon.ZZZZZZZZFlight landed in Singapore. It is 6.30 in Singapore. My mind tells me it is 3.30 in the morning. Collected my stuff and myself up got up…walked out. Singapore airport…as beautiful as she ever was. She is beautiful. My flight to Beijing is in next 2 hours. Need to go to Terminal 3 gate B9. Got into train. Reached T3. Walked along stores purchased my power converter which will work with my Indian power chord.
B9……..lot sof tourist families…..father , mother, brother, wife, son, daughter, brother in law, sister in law…….group old travelers…..families….honeymooners….etc etc……………….aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………who says it is recession. Who is wrong…what is real?Got into Flight…..didn’t get sleep. I got up……surfed channels. Watched “Dasvidyaian” (not sure I am spelling it right). I got my Fruit platter. This time I was hungry.Survived the 7 hour flight. Landing was terrible. Got out. Got into immigration chk in. Hurrah…..for the first time I filled he imigartion form in Singapore airport itself. Got my turn. He chked double time if at it was me on the passport…with my ever changing hair and beard styles.Collected my baggage. My new bag. It was neat. Went to taxi stand. Got int taxi. Hotel address is in English. He doesn’t understand. My phone didn’t work. He called the hotel number. Hollalya! He got the address. Went their …..chked in.
Will continue later once I get to Beijing Train station. Everything else is official. Doesn’t make sense to document. No photos . wait till I go to Railway station.

Way it works in Corporates - Lagori

Way it works in Corporate is more of Indian ancient rural game called “lagori”.
1. Make two teams of equal number on each team. Get hold of a rubber ball (For maximum pain factor) or make one using cloths rolled around a stone.

2. Have a toss (coin or yes-no on a hand with stone) and decide between the playing and defending teams.

3. Arrange a pile of flat stones in the form of a pyramid.This will be normally done by the defending team to ensure that structure is resistant to casual hits by a ball.

4. One of the players from the playing team will take an aim at the structure from a predefined distance. He has 3 chances to hit it. If he can't, another person from the same team will try his hand. If no one can hit the pile, then the team is said to be out and has to defend .

5. Once the pile is disturbed by the ball, the playing team has to redo the pile while dodging the ball thrown at them by the defending team. This is not easy because of a keeper(!!) standing near the pile, defending it .

6.If the ball hits any of the playing team, then they would be out and the defending team gets the chance to play.

7.If the playing team manages to reconstruct the pile without getting hit, then they score and will get another chance as the playing team.At the end of the day, Lagori was a game of simple rules, hurt backs (courtesy of considerate defenders) and awesome fun.

As you can make out you are out if you don’t make the pyramid fall………..in the end you are you are out if you don’t fix the pyramid back into its shape.

This is pure game……. What can make you a winner at the start of the game will not make you a winner at the end of the game. You need move on with new strategies. I am not making this comparison with cynicism rather with positive note of ……. Playing with moving target and changing success factors is the way corporate works. That is what ensures maximizing revenue and optimizing operation cost.

After all………leadership is about…… bringing stability when things are unstable and creating instability when things stable…………RIGHT?

You can not enter prayer room wearing yesterday’s unwashed cloth….but can you enter prayer room wearing yesterdays soul.

“I don’t want to enter prayer room wearing my yesterday’s cloth…….doing so is not correct as per my religion tradition”

When I herd this it tickled my brain to think…..though I have heard this from child hood till date in different words in different place.
I never believed this to be true but followed it just to ensure not entangle with my parents religious emotions and later with my wife’s religious emotions.
But today I wanted to think about it………..and felt it is so right!!!!!
If we consider there is god in everyone…..when we actually offer our prayer sitting in front of gods idol we actually putting our life into the idol to offer pooja……..
If we take this further …… the idea of this practice of not entering pooja place wearing yesterday’s cloth must be to symbolize…….. Don’t enter the prayer room wearing yesterday’s soul.
We have to grow each day….new learning must get into our should every day every minute….every learning will clean the darkness of ignorance further……if you have not learnt anything from what you experienced yesterday than you are not clean enough to put your soul into prayer.

Negative Charity & Positive charity....

More you think about charity…..the more we get picture of some one giving something to a poor person. It somehow doesn’t make much sense to me.
It doesn’t make sense as:
1. As it assumes poor need charity
2. It assumes something is bad and need to be elevated to good

We need some attempts on creating positive charity…which focuses on:
1. Making good to better
2. Focusing on strengths of poor and channelizing it into sustainable earning mechanism
3. Focusing on weakness of rich and channelizing them to mitigate those weaknesses.

India is on Yang (=light) side of the current recession?

Today I found a great analysis of current recession. It compared the current recession in US with Japan recession. Slides are great insight on what actually happened in US (without talking about usual stuff!) it dwells in macro economics with new perspective out side “text book economics”.
http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2009/04/richard_koo_on.html
What cached my attention is slide 32 (last but one slide!!!) which shows the where each country stands. India was on the Yang side of the recession getting pregnant for next bubble in sub continent. I have asked experts to help me to understand this better. I will keep you posted with more.

Something different but shows correlation.....but i am not sure...but worth looking at

Why we chose what we choose

Today I was watching some inspiring talks on TED. I was really intrigued by what understood for these 2 speeches. They were pretty old speeches done in 2004 & 2006. But had such a strong connection and relevance to current date or even to future.
In his speech Gilbert( http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html ) refers to synthetic happiness and led us to what Adam smith mentioned in “Theory of Moral Sentiments”.

It is truly the over rating the permanent situation lead us to the short sighted decision. This is true both for financial decision for choosing once investment or for choice in relationship or choices in life or even most of corporate decisions.

I recommend you to listen to the following lecture as well and visit below website.

www.authentichappiness.org

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html)