Weekend in Goa

I've been too busy to blog recently. Drove down to Goa for the weekend with some friends from office. The trip was actually supposed to be just my team members - old and new, but in the end we took two 'outsiders' along too.

We started on Friday night (after working all day!) and we got to Goa almost 12 hours later!!!

Well the drive down is supposed to take about 8 hours but we cut from NH 4 to NH 17 through Mahabaleshwar. Do NOT do that if you're interested in a quick short trip. If you want to take your time and drive along hairpin curves overlooking a fantastic view... well that's the route to take.

We set off in 3 cars. An Indica, a Maruti 800 and a Spark. The guys who were doing the driving (Chetan, Shishir and Kiran / Praful) were fantastic! They're the only reason we enjoyed the trip as much as we did.







Friday midnight saw us under a full moon admiring the "table land" in that region. Something I'll always remember. A vast expanse, no other signs of life except for little twinkling lights in the distance.

And after zooming around all those hairpin turns, when we finally joined NH 17, we were shocked to see that it was 3.00 am and we still had 400 kms to go.







Well when we finally got to Goa we relaxed, had some juice / beer / rissois / samosas, and then relaxed some more until lunch :)

My dog was so excited about the new comers he didn't even bother to look at me.





Lunch was at Anoushka's. Loads of fish, prawns, squids, limesoda, beer and feni. Lunch got over only by 3.00 and then at 6.00 we were ready to see Goa.

What did we do that night?

Well we waded along Calangute beach, snacked at a shack, watched a guy do some fire-juggling under the full moon, climbed over rocks along the sea shore at Anjuna at midnight, admired Vagator beach in the moonlight, feasted at another shack at 2 in the morning, and finally drove back home at 3 am.

I had more fun than I've had in Goa anytime this year. It was a night I'll never forget.

Next day there was breakfast (coffee or beer?), sightseeing, and hat-buying at the Dona Paula jetty, and later shopping - for cashewnuts and all the other stuff Goa is famous for ;)

Lunch at Ritz Classic. Crabs, a fish platter, a whole kingfish, all in quantities I'd never seen before.

And then it was back home to pack, rest, have a cup of tea (prepared by Anirudh) and leave.

We were back in Pune in 9 hours, tired but happy.

Slow Down

I first read this article almost two years ago. I don't know who the original author is but the words have more meaning that ever before...

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An interesting reflection:Slow Down Culture

It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalized processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. We have come to possess a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold endless meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end though, this always yields outstanding results.

Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm, has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their cars to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, neither the second nor the third. One morning I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be in a hurry and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think?"

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality" or the "quality of being". The French, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than the Americans or British. The Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen productivity driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking essential human values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, happier, lighter and more productive where people enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in what each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

Congratulations for getting to the end of this message. There are many who would've stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this "globalized" world.

Spreading the blog....

I mentioned a colleague who wrote a poem on peace in my last post. Well I've convinced him to start a blog and put his poems up there. What I like about him is that he writes straight from the heart. He doesn't focus on the words themselves, his emphasis is on the feeling that made him write that particular poem and on sharing that feeling with everyone.

Once some of his stuff is up and running I'll link to it here.

Until then here's a list of three good things that happened today, my own personal "gratitude list".

1. A good friend who was away has come back to Pune.
2. I've borrowed the secret of chimneys and I've started reading it again..
3. I cancelled plans for a movie and it started raining... :) Now I feel like I have precognition.

I love lying cozily in bed while it's pouring cats 'n dogs outside... Nothing quite compares..