India "official" trip

Sept 26 - Oct 3

India "official" trip happened amidst a lot of uncertainties, but it finally happened. A good trip. Adjectives for this trip would be hectic, fun, short, busy and rich. Yes, rich. Since it was official, we were going by the official policy which mandates to fly business class, live in a big hotels and has significant per day expenditure limits to enjoy other meals. Interviews at blore very too many, hectic but a lot of fun to talk to people. Overall, it felt that people were really very smart, the only difference was finally in the exposure. Indian companies, even though may be paying competitive salaries, the exposure to work has still been not that great. I wonder what would have happened to me if i had stayed back there. A thought that often crosses my mind but fails to give any answers.

Trip photos can be found here


Bramin's cafe -
Tired of having the daily rich and formal food at Leela, we decided to visit Brahmin's cafe (The number 1 Idli shop in Blore, Thanks to a recommendation from Abhay). Brahmin's cafe serves Idli, chutney and filter coffee and it was really really good, i think it was the best food i had in my entire stay there.  The filter coffee was amazingly strong. We took an auto from Leela to Basvangudi (round trip cost of about 250 rs) just to have this Idli. Thanks to Nikesh for coming with me.  We left Leela at 6 am, thanks to the jetlag, this was very easy :)

From India "official" trip 25 Sept - 2 Oct 2011

Business class -
It was great to fly business class, the key advantage is that the seat can go all the way back to an horizontal position, so one can sleep. I also got to sit on the higher deck both while going and coming back, higher deck has nothing special about it. The other advantage of the class is the lounge access at airport which basically gives you food, drinks and alcohol. But the best feature of lounge is access to shower which i heavily used at the HK airport. Since i had about 14 hrs layover each time, having the option to take a bath was very useful. Food was ok, not that great, freshly squeezed juice was awesome.

Kochi -
Went to Kochi for a day (20 hrs to be precise). Going to Kochi is always fun and relaxing. Seeing relatives, naniji brings back spirits. Life in kochi has a different feel than everywhere. Plus the greenery, yes, those trees, it is just soothing. But this time, i saw many many malls. Too much money is coming in. Aapam and egg curry is always a delight along with Payampoori.
Kochi pics can be found at -

Kochin Oct 1, 2011