An evening in Zurich

"I think we may be the only Indians there tonight", I said as we got towards the end of the A3 to Zurich.

The wife works for a legal firm, and is always game for a debate; so she immediately responded saying "you think Credit Suisse has no other Indian clients?"

"I think there will be no other high net worth Indian clients that will be invited tonight."

"How do you know? How can you say that?"

"I must be wrong. I am sure there will be many others. Let's see if we know anyone." I give up easily. This discussion would not result in anything useful.

CS had done a good job in organizing this event. The Park Hyatt parking lot had been closed off except for invitees. We were forced to walk into the hotel through the front entrance (where a carpet had been laid) so that somebody could stop us and take an "official" photo. The lobby, bar and restaurant seemed to have been closed off to the general public and reserved for the Roger Federer charity event. That's where we checked in at about 6:15 PM on Monday the 20th of December, 2010.

It was already pretty crowded. Through the grapevine (read Edy) we had heard that there would be about 350 people invited. The objective was to collect money for Roger's charity for children in Africa. It seemed that many of the 350 were there already. People were milling about, imbibing from an impressive list of drinks. On the whole, the food and drink selection was very impressive as well. And did I mention the service staff? They were absolutely brilliant and impeccable. First Class.

Roger made an appearance about 7 PM and stayed there until about 11. He was charm personified. He mixed with everyone, fielded all kinds of questions, posed for photos, signed a thousand or more autographs. An amazing person. You can argue that it was a high end charity event for him, so he could not afford to be otherwise; but he smiled and was in good humor for all 4 hours. Could tennis or Switzerland wish for a better ambassador? If you did not love him so far, this evening would swing you fully into his camp.

Avid followers of mine on Facebook have already seen our pictures of this event, but the crowning glory was his contribution to Kiran who would have given her life to be there. He signed the invitation with a personalization for her after we told him that she had met him in Rotterdam in 2003, and the he agreed to speak to her by phone a couple of hours later. And to crown it all, he remembered and mentioned the meeting in Rotterdam. I think she fainted after he hung up.

Hats off Roger. We loved meeting you and will be your fans forever.

TA End of Year Party

Yesterday was the TA end year party, and I was asked to make a speech one day ahead of the party. About a half hour before we left for the party, I remembered that I had to do this and quickly scribbled some notes, which came out as below (approximately):

Gosh, this is a hard act to follow. It was always Paul's job to make a speech at parties; and Senta told me that she had done her first and last speech at Paul's farewell. Anyway, here we are. It's December and it must be a Transammonia party.

It's great to have a party each year, the only problem being that as I get older, I cannot remember the last one. Did we have a party last year? Does anybody remember? Well, the good thing about a party is that if you have had a great year you can celebrate; and if it was not such a good one, then you can still have something to cheer about. Because TA NEVER has a bad year, right? TA NEVER HAS A BAD YEAR!

The TA family is growing. I am not a great one for socializing but it's wonderful to see everyone here. It's great to have spouses here since they often make us what we are and their understanding helps us in the long hours that we put in the office and the travel that we have to do. Sometimes they even provide lunch everyday.

Chris spoke about Zurich and Prime Tower and we have indeed come full circle. I understand that some of you have seen the premises and I am sure it will be nice to be there. Of the original office in Zurich, we only have Angela, Hans-Jorg and myself left now. But the spirit of Peter is with us. I always valued my interactions with him and the memory of my last meeting with him is still fresh in my mind.

A word for the girls of Trammochem. They are absolutely wonderful and the gasoline which keeps the engine of Trammochem running. Please take a bow Patricia, Hedi, Sybille, Sylvie, Senta, Jackie. It;s also great that we have a young team now. I remember when Paul and I used to meet customers we always said how much longevity there was amongst the employees of Trammochem. Now the team is young and I am sure will take Trammochem to the next stage of evolution and development.

Thanks to Cees and his team in IT for the wonderful organization and the Rockin' Hillbillies for the music. Thanks to everyone for coming and I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas!

(And as is typical for me, I forgot to say the punch line that I had written down: Oh yes, one last thing. Can someone please remind me on Monday if we had a party this year?)

Hard Facts: Oct 2010 Edition

This post is only for my hard-core followers and those that are interested in hard facts. It contains absolutely no substance. None whatsoever.

(Listening to "Sajda" from "My name is Khan", an absolutely brilliant song from a movie of superbly memorable songs)

Travel Facts:

Cities visited: Budapest, Florence, Pisa, Essen, Leverkusen, Cologne, Ludwigshafen, New York, Darien, Stamford.

Miles earned: 9928 (Swiss & Helvetic airways)

Hotel nights: 14 (Intercontinental, Tornabuoni, Sheraton, Waldorf-Astoria)

Kms driven: 2600 approx (excluding usual daily driving)


Workout facts: My activities are mostly in the gym and my personal record keeper says that (during October) I did

30.4 mi biking
21.1 mi elliptical
9.1 mi walking
(excludes 3 sessions with weights/aerobic combo)

[Don't tell me that I did not warn you!]

Now that I am officially "old" ...

... I wonder what I should do differently. I do like to write, so one resolution is to write more regularly and also record my comings and goings. It's not really to create a following, but more like a chronicle or journal. The girls came with a bunch of ideas and gave me the most wonderful photo album with memories.

Memories makes me think of a play I saw on Friday evening in Singapore. "The Blue Mug" was directed by Atul Kumar and partly based on a book that I owned (but only partly read) back in the mid 80's called "The man who mistook his wife for a hat" by Oliver Sacks. It was a very simple production, but the structure was based on the memories of its characters in a semi-autobiographical kind of way. There was a bunch of stuff that anybody who has grown up in India could identify with. In the end the memories come together and unite the characters, who forget what they are there for.

It is funny that a lot of what we remember goes back a number of years. I find that I do not remember most things which have occurred in the most recent past. Why is that? I think it's because we have the most intense reactions with our experiences when we are young. You know how a child plays with the same toy endlessly? How (s)he wants to listen to the same 4 page story day after day, night after night? They find something new in each repetition and that is perhaps what sinks deep into our memories. At my age, I suppose I am skeptical, cynical and uncaring about many of the things that touch me. Or my mind is too cluttered to experience each moment with intensity. Or I am not expressive emotionally (for a variety of reasons). Or, quite simply, it's ADD.

Technology has created a lot of simple ways to record our experiences. Facebook is perhaps the best example. It has made us willingly want to share moments of our life that we would not have dreamed of sharing, at least not with all 678 of our friends. Perhaps with 6 or 7 or 8 in an intimate moment. But this is 2010, and hey, a lot of our daily conversations also revolve around "Did you see what XYZ wrote on FB?" I must admit that it is addictive in a voyeur-ish kind of way. As far as gossip rags go, I am not a big fan (Twitter excepted), but FB is all about gossip from people we actually know, rather than people we want to know!

I am meandering ... From memories of the past to voyeurism. But that's the fun ... nobody to control or stop what I am writing! On to the next!

Invitation to a Bat Mitzvah - and a cuppa tea

It all happened by chance. I had received the invitation from the Stanton family (my first ever to a Bat Mitzvah) and had thought no more of it. But one thing led to another, and finding myself in Manhattan for work, I called Oliver and accepted the invitation. The occasion called for "festive dress" and was clarified to be a suit.

Now for the gift that Smita reminded me I should not forget to take with me. Not knowing anything about Mitzvah traditions (I have been to a Jewish wedding, but that's another story). I did some research and came up with the appropriate gift : cash. How Indian! And there are traditions to determine the amount!

On a beautiful, sunny Saturday, I made my way to the Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue on the Upper West Side. This is the first time I am at a Synagogue (and on Shabath, no less!) and am amazed by the building, both outside and inside. It looks very ornate and I sit through the service with a cap on my head and a cloth around my shoulders (you can Google to see what they are called). Alex appears about an hour after I get there and goes through the ceremony. Oliver says that she wrote her Thank You speech herself. All very American. The ceremony consisted of her reading through some prayers and then her speech followed by Oliver.

We repaired to a Kidush lunch downstairs. Some jostling and grabbing of seats took place. I lost the one I had put my book on. Being the polite sort, I ate standing up rather than make a fuss. I don't need to Google this because I was there : the food was mainly salads and cold fish dishes plus fruits and desserts. The Rabbi said something like grace first, following which we swallowed thimble sized glasses of red wine; before fighting for a place in the buffet.

The dinner was simply spectacular. Hosted at the St. Regis on 55th and 5th, it was a teenage birthday party to beat anything I have ever seen. Describing it all would probably make y'all glassy eyed. Lots of thank yous and I love yous in the speeches. All American.

Starting at 7, we got our main course at 10. About 11, I was so tired that I was ready to fall asleep at the table (had walked about 3 miles in the afternoon) when I discovered "Energy Jetlag AM" tea at the back.

Magical. I am a new person in two sips. A new quest begins.

Stuck for words

Its getting on to a couple of months but no inspiration has struck me enough to write about and share with my fans, as they are, out there.

I had the most wonderful birthday day, but that was followed by some intense traveling and activity, which threatens to continue apace. Probably what I need the most is a long holiday at this point in time. Firenze was short, but at least I managed to stay off the email. Now there is a work-in-progress ...

The girls gave me a wonderful album with pictures and writing tips, but I am missing inspiration. To some extent, the ADD that has been afflicting me is to blame. I think I need to find ways to concentrate and focus. Life is not about flitting from one subject to another and, in my view, multi-tasking is an attribute that is vastly over-rated.

So all I am going to do today is leave my footprint on the blog but not really talk about anything. Hope to see y'all again sometime soon with something meaningful!

Adios.

Monday Morning at the Gym

I haven't told anyone so far, but it sometimes bothers me that I am the only non-white person that I see at the gym. Perhaps there are others, but I seldom (if ever) see any. There was an older person of Indian origin who I used to meet with on Sundays at the spinning class, but I haven't seen him for months. Ram is a doctor in a nearby town and had this routine of spinning and sauna on Sunday mornings.

Those of you who go to a gym know that everyone has a regular routine; not just with the machines but also in the locker room. There was an incident one time with Ram when the way he kept his stuff got in the way of another guy (white) and his stuff. Some words were exchanged ... the white guy said that Ram did not know how to keep his things in the locker room and Ram did not take kindly to this. I felt at the time that this was a white vs non-white situation. Anyway, I stopped showering at the gym years ago (membership has grown and locker area remains the same size so it's got kinda crowded), so don't have things lying around.

Today, I was up early and on the elliptical machine at the gym, when one of the regulars took the machine next to me. No big deal, but after a few minutes he started to fumble with his heart beat monitor and after a few fumbles, ditched the machine and took another one a bit further away. I felt bad, because this has happened to me: the neighbor's monitor interfering with mine and no doubt his putting some distance between us resolved the issue. I did not feel the need to do anything ... after all, I was there first!

When I ended my workout, he came up to me and explained why he had moved away and how it had everything to do with his monitor and nothing to do with me! I was surprised, and told him it was no big deal ... it happened to me sometimes as well. He thought it worth repeating one more time before moving on.

I guess it was thoughtful of him, but it also told me that I was obviously different.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis

I just finished reading this book. Terrific is the word that I immediately think of. Its been some time since Lewis has written anything that I enjoyed reading and this comes as a breath of fresh air. Of course, Liar's Poker takes some beating, but that belongs to another time.

It was hard for me to understand all the chicanery that has gone on in the subprime, CDO, CDS, ratings and other related markets during the last decade and how that led to the near collapse of the financial system as we knew it. What this book brings home forcefully is how much of all this was plain fraud perpetrated by wall street bankers. Knowingly. And nobody could stop them. When the world exploded around them, American taxpayers (forced to do so by the US government) rescued them and the rest of the world. We need to say a big thank you to them for that.   

It wasn't that long ago that some of my friends, family and me were thinking of pulling all our money from banks like Credit Suisse, UBS, RBS & others just to keep them at home under the proverbial mattress. 

How quickly we forget. The great fall of Q4 2008 & Q1 2009 was led by the great rise and euphoria that led to a 60% retracement of the DJI and the doubling or more of corporate and bank bonds. 

Recent events, especially in Europe have shown that we are not out of the woods yet. How long do we have to be afraid?     

Say again?

We have all seen pictures of signs from China with bad English, but I like the sign on the right for more than just this. I did not quite realise why until later.

Avid (as well as alert) followers of mine on Facebook may have noticed some mind numbingly pointless posts from me when I landed in Shanghai airport on Sunday 16th May. As the driver (finally) whisked me away from the waiting area, I stole a quick look at my news feed on FB. Nothing dramatic.

Upon getting to the wonderful Shangri-la hotel in Pudong, I was happy to find that they have free WIFI (even though I have to agree to their terms each time I power any device on and off). It is a small amount of money relative to the price of the room, and I still don't understand why all of these premium hotels insist on charging for WIFI. The ones who charge individually for each device deserve to have all their guests desert them immediately.

But I stray ...

Having connected to the internet and read my email, I go on to FB. Nothing happens. Try again. Nothing. Twitter? Same result. WTF is going on? I

struggle for a few moments trying before ADD kicks in and I stare at the wonderful view out of my window. Shanghai has wonderful buildings -- the view alongside is of the Jinmao Tower and the World Financial Center. These are the two tallest buildings in China and they are across the street from each other! From my POV, Jinmao looks the taller of the two, but that is not correct. Wikipedia tells me that the WFC is 492 m tall to Jinmao's 421 m. (Not to rest with this achievement, the Shanghi Tower at 632 m is being built at the same crossroads!)

Later that evening, my colleagues tell me over dinner that FB, Twitter, Youtube, Yahoo Taiwan and maybe some other sites are blocked here. Now I know why I was unable to get in earlier that day. Ah well, a few days without social networking was not gonna be a big deal.

Couple days later we drove out to Nantong which lies about 2 hours west of Shanghai by road. I nap a bit, and at a pitstop see an email from my dearly beloved spouse telling me that "BG is in China and he just posted on FB!". Quelle horreur! Outdone in technology! I try to connect via my iPhone app and guess what? I am connected! Uh?

Hongtao is surprised when I tell her this, and then suddenly says "ah, so it must be just blocked in Shanghai". True, that's what seems to be the case. Living in Shanghai, she just did not realise that the ban was local and not national.

Suddenly, the sign at the rear entrance of our office building increases in significance. Whenever a door is "closde", another one opens. I had just found the other entrance.

The grass is greener

There is this old joke about 3 men adrift in a lifeboat with a can of baked beans between them but no can opener. The blue collar worker wants to smash the can with any hard object they can find on the boat. The engineer starts to devise complex algorithms relating to pressure and heat which would snap the top of the can. The economist says "Let's assume a can opener."

Every problem has a solution, but what do you do when you have no clue? The problem is real -- you can't assume a solution. Recently, I had a situation that needed urgent handling.

So we have a piece of grass - 3 pieces actually - around our house and have had a gardener taking care of it over the years. About the only thing I know is how to start the lawnmower and take out the waste. Even starting the lawnmower has been a chore at times - no petrol, too cold to start, choke has flooded the engine, a runaway accelerator and many other situations. When the girls were at school, they knew the occasional young man who would come by and mow the grass for a nominal wage (this was not easy by any means - apparently most kids in our neighbourhood do not feel the necessity to earn some pocket money. Believe me when I say this - we often had to beg!).

Winter is out and the garden needs work, so Roberto comes by and while mowing the grass our lawnmower of 10 seasons just gives up. It has been sick multiple times over the years and needed TLC which only Roberto could provide. But this time, it was time to bury it. Roberto explains the need to buy a new one and makes some recommendations that I listen to carefully. Given my ADD, and my knowledge of the Swiss German tongue, I had forgotten everything he said the next morning.

I assumed the internet -- et viola! Things started to happen. Do you know how much choice there is in lawnmowers and what are the factors that you need to consider? I knew that I had my work cut out for me.

• Size: Width of cutting blade, weight.
• Engine: Manual, Petrol, Electricity, Battery, Robot.
• Speed: Single or multi-speed
• Push or Ride
• Even one with an air cushion for zero friction movement (but you have to rake the cut grass later)

Uff. So I decided that

• Our garden was less than 500 m2
• I was too old to be pushing the machine
• I wanted the lightest weight in it's class
• Go for the best brand .. which turned out to be a Honda in this case!

I go to the biggest DIY and Garden store in our area and guess what? They have Hondas (which the sales guy called a Mercedes of lawn mowers). Perfect. But there was a catch. They only had the lowest (push for 500 m2 gardens) and highest end of the range (rear wheel drive for 1500 m2) and my request was for a rear wheel drive of the low end version. Next: they said that they "cannot order one" which is not in the shop. The customer service took a leap for the worst. Sometimes this country is just unbelievable!

Back to the internet, Honda Swiss website, hunt for dealers and a week later I am the proud owner of the lawnmower mentioned in my previous post.

Phew, spending money is tiring. Almost more tiring than actually cutting the grass and putting the waste out no later than Thursday morning to ensure it gets taken away. But the garden finally looks nice .. on the few days that I have a chance to enjoy it.

The weekend that wasn't

Avid readers of my whereabouts & activities (such as they are) usually find me writing about my travels, so this is surely an exception.

Those of you who have kids know how important it is for them to have parents attend school functions. Those of you who have a busy work life have a long list of excuses to not go there. Important meetings, slave driving bosses, project deadlines etc.

The time has come to add another excuse to this list.

I am sorry sweetie, I can't make it to your concert because there was a volcanic eruption in Iceland and my flight got cancelled! This is very original. Come one, who could have even thunk this up? Reality is stranger than fiction and all that. This one is right up there with the best.

Ah, but there you go. The ash from Iceland dashed my plans to be in St. Andrews this weekend and watch Kiran participating in Diya and the added bonus of visiting wonderful Scotland again. As Anil said, Iceland is repaying the cash they got from Europe with ash. It's the second time in 2 years that Iceland has screwed Europe. There should be a law against this.

Someone tweeted that all those stranded passengers are now feeling like Salman Khan & Vivek Oberoi. Ash has spoiled their trip. Haha.

Well, with most airports around Europe closed, it aint so funny for everyone. Hedi was to fly to NYC for a vacation yesterday and probably will only fly on Tuesday. Zurich airport is closed ... another first. I have been flying in and out of there for over 20 years and this has never happened before.

Seriously, Kiran & I were both very disappointed but, yet again, man proposes & God disposes (what a terrible cliche). It's outside our control. Fortunately I was able to rebook for 1st week of June when Srishti & I will be there for a week's vacation. Yay!

In the meantime, I watched some IPL, tried to watch Love Khichdi (terrible .. gave up after 15 mins) and went to the city for dinner with Anil. So that was OK. Today's plan to try and start a new aerobic course at the Gym and try to get as far as possible with The girl who kicked the hornets nest. Oh yes, I did order a new lawnmower as well, which should arrive by Wednesday.

By the way, this year's IPL has totally proved the capability India has to put on a global reality show and have a soap opera running on the side. What a carry on and what a cast! If I ever figure out what's going on, I may write about it.

Last but not the least, I think it was about time someone sued Goldman Sachs.

Ashok is back!

It has been some time since I wrote a book or movie review on Facebook ...

But now, your pesky & irregular amateur movie & book reviewer is back! It's not that I stopped reading or watching, it's just that I told myself that no one was interested, including myself. One reason that I wrote was that it helped me to remember what I had seen! Age. Sigh.

The truth also is that I have been spending more time peering at a screen than at a page. Being an avid reader was such a matter of pride for me that I started to feel ashamed of myself for reading less. I think I had started to suffer from ADD, which made it easier to watch TV & movies than read. I still think that to be the case.

To some extent I blame my job. In the past 2 years (almost), I have been overwhelmed by things to do. I think of writing my blog and I end up watching TV. I think of reading the newspaper & I end up checking my email. The hamster is well & truly on the wheel.

I have taken to loving my iPhone. I live in it. I read email & books. I watch TV. I read the news. I take pictures. I track my gym activity. I catalogue my movie & wine collection (why not my book collection?). I make a pest of myself by emailing news articles & pictures to people who have kindly given me their email addresses. I was even sleeping with it next to my pillow (sleep cycle app), but mercifully have de-addicted myself of that. The iPhone now sleeps 2 floors down from me. (It's called the battery charging app)

Oh yes, I also follow the Indian cricket scores and track all my travel & frequent flyer memberships.

Gosh, I have been rambling. Let's go back to the start and start reviewing again! Feel free to debate with me (Arvind Vijh and I had a lively one on "My name is Khan" in Twitter size bytes back in Feb), or ignore me; but remember that this is my review and my opinion is final!

I am sure by now our girls and my wife are thoroughly embarassed and can't wish me far enough ...

By the way, this note/blog has been written on an iPhone on a Continental Airlines plane between New York & Houston. It's a bit noisy to watch Season 2 of Damages on the iPhone and I don't have episode 13 of Season 8 of 24. Waiting impatiently for the next episode of Fringe Season 2 be aired. Kinda lost interest in Lost sometime early in Season 2. (Gosh, I have to watch less TV!)