Part 4 - 19th Dec 2007 to 21st Dec 2007
No rain here on 19th Dec. Feeling better bcoz there were rains in Chennai. CCH tried some new menu for us like spicy jack fruit curry, paratha, some kind of idiyappam.
Climate here is very funny and we felt really humid on 20th morning. Climate oscillates between rain and warm very fast and it gives some irritation of body adjustment. I have learnt to drink black coffee, black tea.
We had a good session with customer on 20th Dec and we went through work smoothly on 20th. Our travel plan to Anuradhapura, Kandy (semi-official trip) was finalised by customer. So we started planning out for that.
We had some indication that we will not be able to book the lodging in Anuradhapura and we need to go out to look for it. We made up our mind for some adventure.
On 21st, we went to House of Fashion and bought some clothing material. I didnt like Boy's dress whereas others were reasonably good. The sizes for shirting above 43 were bit of issue and white shirts were in shortage. We entered the shop by 10am and realised the crowd starts in full mode by 11am or so. We had some time to breathe and we picked our stuff. The prices were quite reasonable. Shirts were priced from LKR 500 (5 USD) to LKR 1450 (14 USD) approximately.
We came back to room after eating our lunch in Amaravati. We went out to buy a trolley bag (from China) and we bought in Pettah market area near our hotel. Initially he quoted LKR 2300 (22 USD) and we closed it out for LKR 1800 (17 USD). CCH tried their hand in Indian food so we got Chapathi, Dhall Fry for dinner on 21st Dec.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
That's not my job
This is a story about four people named
EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY AND NOBODY.
There was an important job to be done and EVERYBODY was sure that
SOMEBODY would do it.
ANYBODY could have done it, but NOBODY did it.
SOMEBODY got angry about that, because it was EVERYBODY’S job.
EVERYBODY thought ANYBODY could do it.
But NOBODY realized that EVERYBODY wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that EVERYBODY blamed
SOMEBODY when NOBODY did what ANYBODY could have.
EVERYBODY, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY AND NOBODY.
There was an important job to be done and EVERYBODY was sure that
SOMEBODY would do it.
ANYBODY could have done it, but NOBODY did it.
SOMEBODY got angry about that, because it was EVERYBODY’S job.
EVERYBODY thought ANYBODY could do it.
But NOBODY realized that EVERYBODY wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that EVERYBODY blamed
SOMEBODY when NOBODY did what ANYBODY could have.
Travelogue - Chennai to Colombo - Part 3
Travelogue - Chennai to Colombo Part 3
17th Dec 2007 to 18th Dec 2007
Meeting with customer is going on full swing. Mostly they were Sinhalese and bit of srilankan tamil mix. The officials were nice, forthcoming, smiling, time conscious. They were looking forward to share the information to experts (stupid - its me and my boss ofcourse).
Officials were quiet humble, un-assuming of what they have achieved so far and I should admit they had come a long way in their professional life.
The Fort area where we are staying is buzzling with activity, traffic and people. Men dress nicely and asst.Vice president above wear tie to office. Females dress sarees, skirts, trouser - shirt and most of the girls look good. The way the lankan women wear sarees can be said as very precise, elegant. It has a statement and increases their personality. There are two different types of wearing the saree one indian type and the other lankan type.
Office goers of Colombo start the day early by 8:30am or so and wind up their day by 4:45pm. People feel proud when they say that they from places like Kandy or Anuradhapura.
We ate lunch in office canteen for couple of days. Rice, Dhal, Curry are main items of lunch. But the taste is completely different due to some "black spice". Even though the food looks like Indian food, but the taste is totally different. Non-Vegetarian is fully prevalant over Island and offers full comfort. Rice available in two types - white color and brown color.
I forgot to tell you twist of security. Actually, we stay very close to WTC. So security frisk is very high. I am always checked by guards When i step out of hotel to main road. The best part was when we took a stroll to WTC on sunday evening. We realised that some 3-5 guards with machine guns are just above our hotel watching the roads. Actually, they were one floor above the roof top of our hotel.
It was fun to observe that we are taken care so well !!!
SX4 is sold in Lanka for around 13Lakh sri lanka rupees. Pls convert into your currency and check your affordability. 1USD is approximately can get 106 Sri Lankan Rupees.
Sri Lankan Newspapers cover events of India and Tamil Nadu in particular very well.
17th Dec 2007 to 18th Dec 2007
Meeting with customer is going on full swing. Mostly they were Sinhalese and bit of srilankan tamil mix. The officials were nice, forthcoming, smiling, time conscious. They were looking forward to share the information to experts (stupid - its me and my boss ofcourse).
Officials were quiet humble, un-assuming of what they have achieved so far and I should admit they had come a long way in their professional life.
The Fort area where we are staying is buzzling with activity, traffic and people. Men dress nicely and asst.Vice president above wear tie to office. Females dress sarees, skirts, trouser - shirt and most of the girls look good. The way the lankan women wear sarees can be said as very precise, elegant. It has a statement and increases their personality. There are two different types of wearing the saree one indian type and the other lankan type.
Office goers of Colombo start the day early by 8:30am or so and wind up their day by 4:45pm. People feel proud when they say that they from places like Kandy or Anuradhapura.
We ate lunch in office canteen for couple of days. Rice, Dhal, Curry are main items of lunch. But the taste is completely different due to some "black spice". Even though the food looks like Indian food, but the taste is totally different. Non-Vegetarian is fully prevalant over Island and offers full comfort. Rice available in two types - white color and brown color.
I forgot to tell you twist of security. Actually, we stay very close to WTC. So security frisk is very high. I am always checked by guards When i step out of hotel to main road. The best part was when we took a stroll to WTC on sunday evening. We realised that some 3-5 guards with machine guns are just above our hotel watching the roads. Actually, they were one floor above the roof top of our hotel.
It was fun to observe that we are taken care so well !!!
SX4 is sold in Lanka for around 13Lakh sri lanka rupees. Pls convert into your currency and check your affordability. 1USD is approximately can get 106 Sri Lankan Rupees.
Sri Lankan Newspapers cover events of India and Tamil Nadu in particular very well.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Travelogue - Chennai to - Part 2
Travelogue - Chennai to Colombo - Part 2
15th Dec, 2007
We went to Amaravati restaurent for sunday lunch and we walked to House of fashions. That was mistake as it was really far. Some of the passerby misguided it as "1/2 KM" but it is not so. Now we realise that take a auto if lankans say near by and take a taxi if they say go in auto !!! But one comforting factor was the place looked more british style and quiet and had some nice buildings.
We went to House of fashions (ala New Saravana Stores) and the place is fully choking with people mostly locals. Hectic shopping was going on and every inch of sq.ft was occupied. We somehow glanced through the stocks, prices and returned without buying due to paucity of time.
From there we went to a place called Deliwala and I should admit the neighbourhood or suburb had lot of shops, people and traffic. People were moving around normally and one can see normal life. Police guarding was relatively very less. We took a round and took a bus to return and got down near WTC.
The realisation was we stay in fortified area so filled with police whereas others lead normal life. We thought of drinking tea in WTC food court and found all the shops were closed due to sunday factor. One can imagine the business activity then.
15th Dec, 2007
We went to Amaravati restaurent for sunday lunch and we walked to House of fashions. That was mistake as it was really far. Some of the passerby misguided it as "1/2 KM" but it is not so. Now we realise that take a auto if lankans say near by and take a taxi if they say go in auto !!! But one comforting factor was the place looked more british style and quiet and had some nice buildings.
We went to House of fashions (ala New Saravana Stores) and the place is fully choking with people mostly locals. Hectic shopping was going on and every inch of sq.ft was occupied. We somehow glanced through the stocks, prices and returned without buying due to paucity of time.
From there we went to a place called Deliwala and I should admit the neighbourhood or suburb had lot of shops, people and traffic. People were moving around normally and one can see normal life. Police guarding was relatively very less. We took a round and took a bus to return and got down near WTC.
The realisation was we stay in fortified area so filled with police whereas others lead normal life. We thought of drinking tea in WTC food court and found all the shops were closed due to sunday factor. One can imagine the business activity then.
Travelogue - Chennai to Colombo - Part 1
Travelogue - Chennai to Colombo - Part 1
13th & 14th Dec, 07
I came to Chennai airport and tried to find baggage screening of Jet. I saw huge cue of baggages waiting to be screened. Looked like clothes being exported. I am not exaggerating some hundreds of "bale"s. Finally spoke to some guys and realised that they are garments and going to Lanka for stitching.
We found our way and boarded the plane. Some 70% of the crowd were these small, un-organised sector business people and 30% of others looked little more polished.
We landed in Colombo in 1h:15m or so. Sri Lanka looked beautiful from aerial view and filled with green trees. The airport looked very big and super neat. We cleared immigration and collected our bags. It is bit of waiting due to the garments bags.
Airport is well lit, broad and natural lights coming inside cleanly so it was a good feeling and i should admit, i was deeply impressed.
By this time the rain started and it continued for another 1 1/2 days or so (and washed away the second test match between England and Sri Lanka). The roads were good and the median was more of road separator. No high grills i mean.
The driver was easily doing 60km per hour and i could see all kind of cars Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Honda, Hyundai and our own Maruti. Driver looked well built like a pub bouncer and spoke decent english. Buses were of Ashok Leyland and they looked more of Bangalore buses than Chennai buses.
We crossed a nice Galle (pronounced as GALL) River and entered Colombo city. We started seeing lot of people, police, check-posts. Lankans were kind of cross between Tamils and Malayalees !!! The accent of their tamil or sinhala is more of malayalee and their script was bit similar to Kannada (strictly by look and feel !).
We entered fort area and entered Galadari hotel and checked into our room. We had view of beach bit indirectly. Window had a sticker prohibiting the usage of Binoculars, camera. I stuck to the instruction due to heavy guarding around the hotel.
The hotel staff were always smiling and had a eye on customer service only when you directly interact with them. Service was bad when one interacts on phone. The food was decent and priced moderately. Lot of variety of food Italian, Lankan, Indian, Continent etc. I tried one Lankan dish called Kirabaath (rice and more kozhambu types) and found it nice.
I went to office for project kick-off next day and once again went through complete security checking before entering premises. The visitor pass was issued against handing over of passport. The people from customer side were friendly and most Sinhalese. The listened to our kick-off presentation keenly and reserved their questions to the last.
We went out to have our dinner on that day braving good rain. We commuted in Auto mostly for nearby distances and some times the security stops and enquires about where one is going and whether the drive has valid papers.
We ate in Amaravati restaurent and found the food tasty and spicy.
We shifted our hotel on Saturday to Colombo City Hotel. This hotel is for price sensitive people but the facilities were quite decent. Roof top restaurant served food and one can view WTC clearly from here. We took a walk on saturday evening around 5:30pm in neighbourhood but found the roads were deserted mostly. Shops and offices were closed (due to week end) and thin vehicle movement was there. We walked into Kraft supermarket and bought water bottle and came back.
On Saturday, the rain gods went away and we had bit of sunshine. It was really humid and we started sweating. The overall feeling the first 3-4 days is bit of confusion as it looks like people go into some packets of hotel or pubs for time pass rather than stroll in roads. The malls were missing in fort area.
We ate in CCH dinner twice. We realised the lankan food is bit spicy and no pickle concept over here. Side dish quantity is very less compared to what we see in India and the lankan rice served mostly not fully or completely cooked.
13th & 14th Dec, 07
I came to Chennai airport and tried to find baggage screening of Jet. I saw huge cue of baggages waiting to be screened. Looked like clothes being exported. I am not exaggerating some hundreds of "bale"s. Finally spoke to some guys and realised that they are garments and going to Lanka for stitching.
We found our way and boarded the plane. Some 70% of the crowd were these small, un-organised sector business people and 30% of others looked little more polished.
We landed in Colombo in 1h:15m or so. Sri Lanka looked beautiful from aerial view and filled with green trees. The airport looked very big and super neat. We cleared immigration and collected our bags. It is bit of waiting due to the garments bags.
Airport is well lit, broad and natural lights coming inside cleanly so it was a good feeling and i should admit, i was deeply impressed.
By this time the rain started and it continued for another 1 1/2 days or so (and washed away the second test match between England and Sri Lanka). The roads were good and the median was more of road separator. No high grills i mean.
The driver was easily doing 60km per hour and i could see all kind of cars Toyota, Nissan, Ford, Honda, Hyundai and our own Maruti. Driver looked well built like a pub bouncer and spoke decent english. Buses were of Ashok Leyland and they looked more of Bangalore buses than Chennai buses.
We crossed a nice Galle (pronounced as GALL) River and entered Colombo city. We started seeing lot of people, police, check-posts. Lankans were kind of cross between Tamils and Malayalees !!! The accent of their tamil or sinhala is more of malayalee and their script was bit similar to Kannada (strictly by look and feel !).
We entered fort area and entered Galadari hotel and checked into our room. We had view of beach bit indirectly. Window had a sticker prohibiting the usage of Binoculars, camera. I stuck to the instruction due to heavy guarding around the hotel.
The hotel staff were always smiling and had a eye on customer service only when you directly interact with them. Service was bad when one interacts on phone. The food was decent and priced moderately. Lot of variety of food Italian, Lankan, Indian, Continent etc. I tried one Lankan dish called Kirabaath (rice and more kozhambu types) and found it nice.
I went to office for project kick-off next day and once again went through complete security checking before entering premises. The visitor pass was issued against handing over of passport. The people from customer side were friendly and most Sinhalese. The listened to our kick-off presentation keenly and reserved their questions to the last.
We went out to have our dinner on that day braving good rain. We commuted in Auto mostly for nearby distances and some times the security stops and enquires about where one is going and whether the drive has valid papers.
We ate in Amaravati restaurent and found the food tasty and spicy.
We shifted our hotel on Saturday to Colombo City Hotel. This hotel is for price sensitive people but the facilities were quite decent. Roof top restaurant served food and one can view WTC clearly from here. We took a walk on saturday evening around 5:30pm in neighbourhood but found the roads were deserted mostly. Shops and offices were closed (due to week end) and thin vehicle movement was there. We walked into Kraft supermarket and bought water bottle and came back.
On Saturday, the rain gods went away and we had bit of sunshine. It was really humid and we started sweating. The overall feeling the first 3-4 days is bit of confusion as it looks like people go into some packets of hotel or pubs for time pass rather than stroll in roads. The malls were missing in fort area.
We ate in CCH dinner twice. We realised the lankan food is bit spicy and no pickle concept over here. Side dish quantity is very less compared to what we see in India and the lankan rice served mostly not fully or completely cooked.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Next posting from Colombo
I am all set to travel to Colombo. Next update would be from the Buddha's land.
Gujarat Polls
Gujarat Assembly Poll - Phase I got over yesterday. Election commission banned publishing of polling details for the reasons best known to them.
Media all out to see Modi falling down. I personally feel, Modi would scrap through.
If at all Modi loses, congress would gain strength and coalition partners might go slow on pressure tactics on issues like Sethu, Nuclear deal. Otherwise, we will certainly see a most populist budget. That would be a worst ever show of P.Chidambaram as FM.
Media all out to see Modi falling down. I personally feel, Modi would scrap through.
If at all Modi loses, congress would gain strength and coalition partners might go slow on pressure tactics on issues like Sethu, Nuclear deal. Otherwise, we will certainly see a most populist budget. That would be a worst ever show of P.Chidambaram as FM.
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