What happened before and after I asked a question to Mr. Kamath!! :)

A brief background to the situation will help :)

Dainik Bhaskar (Indore's favorite and now half of India's favorite newspaper) has just completed its 30 yrs in Indore and is organizing a series of events, may it be the concert of Shankar Ehsaan Loy or talks by eminent corporate leaders! 

Few days back I had attended Mr. Piyush Pandey, the O&M chairman's session at the newly renovated Ravindra Natya Grah. I was awestruck at the beauty and grandness of the auditorium! Atleast 2-2.5k seats! Came to know that it has been renovated entirely by the Dainik Bhaskar group as a CSR activity!! Respect hai boss! Bhaskar rocks!

The newly renovated Ravindra Natya Grah!

2500+ capacity easily (50 per row*50 rows)!

The session was also very good as more than half of the time Mr. Pandey showed ads from some of his classic campaigns like Fevicol, Mentos, Dairy Milk, Asian Paints, Vodafone Zoozoos, MP & Guj Tourism, etc. He also gave some good fundas like Product lies in the mind and Brand lies in the heart! And also that using celebrities in ads simply shows lack of ideas :P Funny but confident person!

His talk was anchored by a smart person who was some head in the Dainik Bhaskar group and I had a faint desire to meet this person and appreciate his impromptu speaking style. Nonetheless, talk over, Kinetic start and off we go back home.

Next up, Bhaskar organised another talk. This time it was by Mr. K V Kamath. Mr. Kamath is the Chairman of Infosys and the Non-Executive Chairman of ICICI Bank from where he recently shifted. Being an MBA graduate about to join a marketing firm, I was not sure about going to the talk of a respectable Chairman who just moved from a Bank to an IT company! But thanks to the general enthu in attending such talks, I still collected the pass a day before the talk just in case. Also asked my bade-papa (uncle) but he didn't seem interested.

Next day, 1 hour before the session was scheduled to begin and I was happily shopping for spectacles with Dad, my uncle calls up and says that he got a pass from somewhere and that we could go together. I had almost forgotten about the talk but seeing his interest I said lets go. He also sounded half-hearted but it was better than doing nothing. Yes that's what i've been doing for the last few days.. Nothing! So we went there. It was a good session, Mr. Kamath talked about the ICICI growth story, then Mr. Venu (Managing Editor, The Financial Express) asked a few questions. 

Mr. Kamath talking about the ICICI growth story.. Impressive indeed :)

The Tete-a-tete with Mr. Kamath!

The the floor was opened for audience questions. As usual my mind was cooking up a question! Mr. Kamath was the Chairman, Board for IIM Indore. I asked a relevant question at the end about the disconnect b/w the number of seats in IIMs and the job opportunities and also mentioned that I'm from IIML where I just saw this all happening. He gave a not-so-satisfactory answer saying that its just a passing phase and that once the economy comes back to 8-10 % growth, all students will get jobs. Seeing the lack of time and lot of other people wanting to ask him a question, I decided not to ask him again about those 100 odd people who didn't get placed this year and maybe next few years too. Towards the end, the  man who anchored Mr. Piyush Pandey's talk gave a thank you note for Mr. Kamath. He spoke well as expected. 

We all got up and started leaving. Now we were going from the back door but then since it was crowded we decided to take the front door to exit. And there I was called by the gentleman who gave the thank you note by a wave of his hand. I thought what did I do. Was my question too lame and irrelevant. I went upto him and he asked which batch are you from in IIM Lucknow? I said I just graduated. And then he says that he's from PGP12 batch (i.e. 1998 batch) of IIM Lucknow! Whoa! That's what you call a pleasant surprise! His name's Puneet Bali and he heads the Dainik Bhaskar Group's MP & CG operations. He invited me to his office sometime and I in turn invited him for Nostalgia 2013, the 15-year reunion for his batch :)

So when I look back now, all these micro decisions:

1. deciding to take the pass + 

2. deciding to go, thanks to uncle's call + 

3. Mr. Kamath being the IIM-I chairperson which prompted the placement related question in me + 

4. my asking the question despite so many butterflies jumping in my stomach and so many other senior people around willing to ask more important and relevant questions + 

5. my mentioning that I'm from IIM Lucknow in the question + 

6. Mr. Bali's noting that point + 

7. deciding to take the front exit & Mr. Bali being present there + 

8. him remembering my face and calling me...

Finally led to my meeting the Head of Dainik Bhaskar MP Operations who happens to be a 15-yr old IIML alumnus! Whoa! Sometimes, your universe happens to be the best one among all the parallel universes since it appears to take the best possible decision at every step!

One big learning, its a small world and we should definitely say 'Yes' to every opportunity! I had once thought not to ask the question, there were lot of people willing around! But I did. I hadn't planned to mention that I'm from IIML, but I did. And there you go, The Dainik Bhaskar Head calls you to his office!

Sometimes in life, you get things just by a simple 'Yes' you say! Forget all the efforts and all the luck for the time being, just be a 'Yes!' man! Cheers!

TRAVELOGUE: Darjeeling-Sikkim-Bhutan Trip

Darjeeling-Sikkim-Bhutan Trip: 3rd March to 14th March 2013

(1 day in Darjeeling, 2 days in Sikkim and 4 days in Bhutan, rest spent travelling in train/cab)

Trip Members: Himanshu (a.k.a. Bond, The Trip Manager), Ashish (Java, the timekeeper), Arpit (Guptaji, the cool headed guy), Rajdeep (Raju, the joker), Vidit (did it!, the snory DSLR cameraman), Tejas (Teja, the billmonk manager) and Me (Hulkat Moondhra, the enthusiastic notes-man and the digi-cameraman)

These travelogues are a product of the travel in cars and the large waiting time in restaurants esp. Bhutanese and this was the time when Bond, the coordinator and Tejas, the bill manager updated the budgets.

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THE DAYWISE NOTES of the TRIP

Day 1: 3rd March - The Kanpur Day + train travel

Off we go to Kanpur to catch the train to New JalPaiguri (urrf NJP)!

Booked a cab, departed iiml at 12pm, reached Kanpur station at 3:30, had a pretty good lunch at a Punjabi dhaba and bought some fruits for the train.

Boarded the train, found 2 other groups, one of Subhankar and his so called Aukaat group and one of Shanker Mohan, Avin, etc.

Fought hard and got all 8 seats of a compartment, convincing the uncle aunty of the side seats was the toughest! And then began the real fun. Played cards.. Hearts, Judgement, 29.. Slept around 2am..

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Day 2: 4th March: - Train Travel + NJP Night stay

Woke up by 10am.. Had lunch by 1pm.. then played Judgement! some more time pass and we reached NJP station around 7pm..

At the NJP station, where it all began!

Change of plans, we stopped over for the night in a lodge nearby called Prince Lodge.. All cabs and rooms pre-booked, thanks to Bond (Himanshu)!

Got fresh, went for dinner across the road. Played judgement for a couple hours before retiring for the night!

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Day 3: 5th March:

Woke up early arnd 6:30 am and had some oily aloo paranthas and left for Darjeeling in cab..

The group at NJP just before the trip began :)

Reached Ghumm station midway, took the toy train down to sonada.. What an experience! Reminded of Barfi the movie.. Awesome view on the way! Took pics and videos..

Boarding the toy train at Ghumm station :)

Cab came back to pick up from Sonada and reached Darjeeling..

Started with the Batasia Eco Garden, was a shaheed smarak types.

The Batasia Eco Garden!

Took some nice mountain-background and on the toy train track pics.. Our timing was just right and we actually witnessed and captured the toy train taking a u-turn there!

Then moved on to reach the ropeway! Best place in Darjeeling, undoubtedly! What a view..

The picturesque Darjeeling ropeway!

And then at the reverse point, stopped for some tasty maggi, omlette and breezers while we sat facing the mountains! Just the kind of experience we had imagined :)

Moved on to reach the Tenzing rock, had the darjeeling tea, not that good as expected, maybe it wasn't well prepared. Didn't do rock climbing.

Then went to tea gardens, took some superb pics in the valleys, purchased Darjeeling tea!

The Pehla-Nasha posers at the Tea Gardens! :D

Then booked a hotel, nice and cheap (Araniko, 1320 bucks, 2 rooms, 7 ppl).

Went to The Park restaurant. OMG! Awesome thai food! Veg was the best.. Paneer with vegetables, Thai Noodles & noodle rice! And the dessert, chocolate mousse!

Dining at The Park restaurant!

While returning saw the clock tower where Ranbir Kapoor had changed the time in the movie Barfi!

The 'Barfi!' clock-tower :)

Played some cards before retiring for the day!

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Day 4: 6th March:

Early morning wake up at 4am for the sunrise at Tiger Hill. Car broke down for 10 mins in b/w and we thought we missed it but got there just in time! Pretty much overhyped the sunrise, I'd say.. was overcrowded like anything! Cars everywhere.. Different view points and diff rates for each of them.. 

Then we started moving towards the trek start point called Manebanjang, had a very healthy roti chhola, maggi and omlette en route.. Then began the trek to Tonglu, a 7km stretch! Amazing decision we made! What a view, walking literally in the clouds, ah the most refreshing moment!!

The trekkers!! :)

 Stopped after 2km, had boiled eggs, dal-rice and some local small achari berries! Then the most difficult 6km part of the trek, steep and high! Clouds literally blocking the entire way up and it felt as if we're going to the top of the world! OMG, the best trip of my life so far!

While trekking...... :)

Rajdeep being the show stopper and the limiting reagent of the trek! Some lovely pink and white flowers with very good fragrance. Took pics on each milestone on the way to Tonglu and listened to some of my favorite songs on headphones while walking up!

Vidit got lost towards the end and we were literally searching for him down into the valleys only to find that he had reached the destination already! Some day I’d  want to go on further all the way up to Sandakhpur i.e. another 21 kms from Tonglu.

Phew!! Finally we reach the destination!!

Talking abt the destination at Tonglu where we stayed for the night, its a beautiful wooden hut house and we stayed on a low roof top storey with awesomely cut windows and amazing view! But no electricity and no phone network!

Wooden hut where we stayed in Tonglu, no electricity!

Had maggi in the evening.. Very different, 'pahadi' maggi and then witnessed a slight hail storm and saw small pea sized olays. Then, there was lightning and a very strong thunder actually shook our wooden house and we actually thought it might collapse! Like a movie story..

Had dal chawal sabji mix for dinner and some rounds of rhododendron juice at their hut i.e. The local liquor cum medicinal drink as we chatted around a bonfire!

A typical pahadi hut and our dining place at Tonglu :)

And not to forget, the most clear night sky i've ever seen in my life! Stared at it for long! Himanshu also tried to show us the milky way's spiral arm and it looked real! We talked abt some campus gossips revolving around HUL interns/joinees, thanks to Java’s updated knowledge :p

Came up and played some Atlas with Tejas and Java, naming places. Successfully slept amidst Vidit's thunderous snores!

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Day 5: 7th March:

Woke up arnd 6, just in time for the sunrise.

The Sunrise from Tonglu stay point!

We were pleasantly greeted by snow crystals on the ground and a beautiful view of the kanchenjunga and other peaks around! Never expected this!

My first ice experience! Look at the crystals! Beauty :)

The Kanchenjunga!

 Had some breakfast and headed downwards for the base station Chitray where we left our car. We trekked down 7kms in just 2.5 hrs quite comfortably! And this time the weather was very clear so got some amazing brown field views!

While descending.. Superb background!!

A pahadi stray hairy horse we encountered along the trek!

Took a sprint with Arpit for the last 1km stretch, felt elated on seeing the car there at Chitray and ended on a high note making video of everyone with cocks!

Then began the journey to Gangtok and we were blessed with some amazing mountain drive sceneries and ran along the river Teesta passing by loads of bridges!! Lunch at a kirana shop's extended eating place.

Reached Gangtok around 5pm and got a very decent hotel deal for 1600 per day for 7 ppl and 2 rooms. Went to the main city mall market for dinner and had some good chinese including my fav Crispy Honey Chilli Potato at Chopsticks and sweets like Rasmalai.

The Gangtok main market street was very well made, like a movie set!

The Gangtok main market (looks like a movie set!)

 It has been a dream trip so far with all kinds of varied experiences.. 

One day we eat dal rice in a small wooden hut in Tonglu and the other day we eat proper top class Thai/Chinese in an uptown restaurant in Darjeeling/Gangtok!! 

One day we go for some local sightseeing in Darjeeling and the other day we go for a proper 14km trek! Totally loving this and making the most of it :)

As we returned from the mall area, found the hotel main channel gate locked with our bills stuck to them. All our luggages were inside the rooms and for a moment i thought we'd been conned and looted. 

Then we banged the door for like 15 mins feeling more restless and cheated. Finally the guy came to open and Java literally blasted him left right and center!!

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Day 6: 8th March:

Woke up around 8am to depart for Changu Lake, could not get the permit for Nathula due to snowfall! But still we went on. And it was the best experience of the trip so far! As we moved up, the terrain changed gradually and we encountered some snow and icicles on the walls of mountains!

Beautiful! Seeing ice capped mountains for the first time in life!

Saw a car almost skidding off the road and then all cars went through the patch one by one.

The line of cars behind us enroute Changu Lake!

Crossed Changu/Tsango lake and then went ahead and stopped at Hathi Lake, awesome view! Half part frozen rest half liquid!

The Hathi lake!

Then went to Baba Harbhajan Singh's temple, took some pics with the scenery. Went 10km further to the actual baba temple called ‘Babaji ka Bankar’. Went up the stairs, ringing the bells along sides.

Babaji ka Bankar! The actual one :)

The temple was a small room, a bed laid down and boots kept there and some radio music being played. His story is interesting. They say he still patrols on the border. Read the wiki page. Mano ya na mano...

Then had some ice ball fights and jump coordination pics. Stopped for clicking pics on snowy mountain slopes.

Coordinating a jump! Arpit not interested!

On the way back stopped at Changu lake.

The beautiful Changu lake! Definitely wallpaper material :)

Clicked pics with the beautiful backdrop and on the Yak (animal).

Funny Yak Ride!!

We wanted to go to the back side of lake but driver denied. We still went, he got angry and went down to the market area and asked us to come by ourselves. We walked to the back side of the lake with Java and Arpit and took some nice pics there.and threw ice balls into the lake to break the ice formed on it.

The Creator pose at the back-side of the lake! :)

Returned and went up and down abt 3-4kms to find the car but it wasn't there! Then me and Vidit went up in an Army Truck (Yes! First time in life) to find the car and saw him in the parking space chilling out!

Left arnd 5pm and had a big fight with Java abt his stubbornness! Returned while discussing a b-plan on using icicles for some very unique purposes :p

Reached the main MG Road market around 8 and had a Subway (after a really long time, Lko sucks!) and then went to Rasoi restaurant and had some dosa and papri chat!

Came back to the hotel, this time Mr. Kaushik was right there in apologetic mode. Had some clarifications with Java abt the happenings/fights of the day and then slept arnd 1 am for 4 hrs!

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Day 7: 9th March:

I woke up around 3:45 am, 30 mins late to find everyone sleeping, even Java! Woke everyone, even Rajdeep and made sure they're all ready! Arpit went home to see his dad, who had a minor accident, and we carried on with the trip to Bhutan!

Had a very cool driver and a good Innova with awesome music system to start the journey uptil Phuentsholing, the border point! Ate awesome poori sabji dal for breakfast at a small but very efficient and in demand restaurant mid-way.

After some hilly terrain, got a nice plain stretch and then a very very bad 20km stretch which reminded me of MP roads!

Reached Phuentsholing around 1pm, 2nd international stint after Nepal and got the permits done! Had lunch at a multi cuisine restaurant, good food and taste, esp the Bhutanese dish called Vegetable Dashi which tasted like Baked Veg!

Departed for Thimpu and had a very smart and safe driver who cleared all our doubts regarding where to stay and visit. Also the Bhutanese agent Mr. Gupta was very genuine and good to talk t, he definitely didn't want to cheat us like the previous agent Gautam!

Went very fast but equally safe and listened to the driver's music for a change! Stopped at Dam View point, took some pics with another IIML group and saw the dam from within the restaurant!

Where the two groups met.. At the Dam View Restaurant!

Totally hilly terrain and lots of loops and turns, almost everyone got nauseous and Rajdeep actually vomited twice!!

But then we were happily greeted by the Thimphu city and its 4-lane roads!

Then to top it all, the hotel we got, 'Hotel Home' was simply awesome! Great large rooms, superb view and mindblowing room service! Mostly female staff, strangely even for picking luggage!! 

Had dinner there itself.. Then food was ok, as expected, plain and bland, almost like boiled veg!

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Day 8: 10th March: Thimphu Day

Had the best sleep ever! Comfy beds, superb blankets and woke up to a very fresh and beautiful morning! The view from the hotel window was worth watching for hours.

View from the Thimpu Hotel room :)

Took steam bath and left for the city sight seeing around 10am and had breakfast on the way and also watched Jab We Met there.

Stop 1: lovers' point: saw a couple of couples chirping there :p

Stop 2: Buddha Point: huge atleast 100ft tall metal statue and what a lovely face, felt like Buddha is really looking at you and smiling! Some good echo was heard esp of Java's name! Took some pics frm various spots in the vast field ahead.

The huge 170ft tall Buddha Dordenma statue! Impressive :)

The Buddha's Army :P

Stop 3: Monastery - revolved the drums, many of them. Inside the temple complex, the Buddha idol was amazing, triple faces like Brahma and that too 3 levels up. Also dragon god idol.

The Monastery

Stop 4: Takin reserve - Zoo

Saw the special Bhutanese animal called Takin which has a head of goat and body of cow!

The Takin, Bhutanese animal (head of goat and body of cow)!!

 Tall trees and sunlight coming in.

The tall trees in the Takin Reserve :)

Stop 5: King's palace view

Bhutan King's Palace View :)

Stop 6: stadium - played football, amazing turf and superb stands

At the central Footbal stadium! Amazing view :)

Stop 7: Coronation Park - buddha standing/walking statue and dragon around it, took pics.

With the standing Buddha statue at the Coronation Park!

Stop 8: Main market - Had food in hotel no 16, Choephal Norkye. Saw rainbow from the window there and loved the ambience there.

The rainbow from the restaurant window at Thimphu!

Had proper Bhutanese dishes, Mushroom & Kewa Datshi (potato). Superb taste, esp. the cheesy gravy.

Did some shopping, got shoes and jeans, good quality and decent rates. Also got Dragon embroidery t-shirt!

Walked to Druk Pizza which is opp Taj Tashi for a pizza dinner. Ate thin crust cheese and farm house pizzas and barely escaped Vidit's Coke splash!

The Druk Pizza! Thin crust and chewy cheese (like Joey's Pizza!)

Bhutanese traffic sense is amazing! They'll stop for you if you're crossing the road! Plus the SUVs that you see here, Toyota, KIA, huge in number!

Came back to room and watched 3 movies in parallel with Teja, no one killed Jessica, Rowdy Rathore and finally Mr. India!

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Day 9: 11th March: Paro Day 1:

Woke up in Thimphu hotel and ate budget breakfast, got bread and jam from shop and ordered tea/coffee! Good cheap fun..

On the way to Paro, saw a plane take off just above our heads!

Got a very good hotel for 900 bucks, hotel Phunsum, it even had Bath Tubs and a nice mountain view on two sides!

The Hotel we stayed in Paro! Hotel Phunsum!

Site 1: national museum - got some great view of the city plains on the outside and clicked lot of pics. Very good and informative stuff inside the museum, started from their mythology, some stories depicted by masks of characters involved, also stories about the visions some rulers had in their dreams and how they were converted into dance forms!

Then saw some info on the flora and fauna of the region, primarily rhododendrons, cordyceps, takins, etc.

  

View from the National Museum at Paro!

Site 2: river side - Java wanted to take bath and was reiterating for days! Finally we all went and it was a good experience! Crossing the initial stretch of river on rounded stones, almost slipped and then took some pics. Played stone throwing to the bridge and it was a nice bridge!

The Usain Bolt pose near the river! :D

Went back to hotel and had lunch. Bhutanese mostly, but one item sucked and we could not order more since the cook had left!!

Site 3: Cheong Monastery

Went up the stairs, got amazing view of the city, and went up and down the extra steep stairs!

The Cheong Monastery! It was huge..

Site 4: Art Sale Exhibition just opp to the monastery, very vulgar painting at the entrance, very goos ones in the inside but all above 10k! Some even touching 25 lakhs!!

Site 5: City Main market: went into handicraft shops and purchased a golden mug with dragon drawings. Then went to Hotel Peljorling (Authentic Indian) and ordered some Biryanis to find that it was just Cherry, Carrot and Dry fruit pulao!

Went to a Bhutanese disc to find that it was just girls dancing in a religious setting!

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Day 10: 12th March: Paro's Tiger Nest Day

The best of Bhutan was stored for the end! Woke up and got ready by 9am, had Aloo Paranthas in the hotel itself.

Departed for the Tiger's Nest! On the way saw forests which looked like the ones where the movie Raaz could've been shot! And the driver's animated stories about his experiences in Banaras, Mumbai, Goa, etc. was funny and scary too!

Took some sticks to support and also the traditional colourful prayer flag roll from the shops below to tie it up there as a victory flag!

Thus began our trek experience number two, this time amidst the jungles and up the mountains! We kept looking up to the Tiger's Nest and kept moving up!

View of the Tiger's Nest from the trek start point!

Saw some temples on the way where the traditional bhutanese drums were getting rotated by the water flowing down from the mountains and the drum had a stick protruding out which rang a bell once every rotation! Great concept on the whole!

Moved up and decided to take the shortcut, would be much shorter and more adventurous! And we also got some great mountain views along the way and had the Tiger's Nest in sight all the time!

Rajdeep again the one who kept it all slow and steady.

But it was a hell of a trek, risky, tiring but yet very satisfying!

When we made it to the tea point it was like conquering a peak!! Very costly tea there though, 84 bucks per cup, we preferred to freshen up instead and continued the trek upwards.

View of the nest from the mid tea point!

The final pakka steps stretch was the most beautiful one! The destination was right there and we had to descend a bit first, reached a bridge with a thin yet lovely waterfall and finally ascended some steps to reach the Tiger’s Nest.

The Tiger's Nest with the fluttering prayer flags!

The Tiger's Nest up close!

  

Spent a good enough time there seeing a lot of temples, wrote our messages on the prayer flag and tied it securely to another long string just before the entrance to the temple. Saw all the temples inside, the last one having huge idols of Buddha, Dragon Lord and the monk who came up here with his tiger.

Also went down into the actual cave to the exact point where the monk had prayed. A very tough way to go in there!!

Ate some chips and biscuits offered to the gods to get the much needed energy!!

Finally began the descent and quickly came down! Very satisfying indeed!

Came back to the hotel, hot water Bath tub and then Dark Knight on TV! Bliss!!

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Day 11: 13th March: Bhutan - NJP travel day –

Said goodbye to Paro after seeing this beautiful view where you can see the mountains, the Cheong monastery and the National museum, all in one!

The farewell view of Paro and the Bhutan country, the snow peaks, the monastery and the national museum, all-in-one! 

Saw the sunset while we were returning on the worst 20km road stretch in India!!

Night stay at Tirupati Lodge near station! Apart frm regular FTV stuff, Watched Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai - my all time fav movie to end the trip in style!

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Day 12: 14th March: NJP - Lko Train travel day –

left early morning 5 am to catch the train from NJP to Lko and travelled for 24 hrs, mostly sleeping after the super happening and tiring trip and reached campus on 15th morning! Over & Out!

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