Summer Fest 2005

30-Jun: Deep Purple
1-Jul: Survivor
2-Jul: Los Lobos
3-Jul: Santana
4-Jul: Stevie Nicks (of Fleetwood Mac fame)
5-Jul: Allman Brothers Band / Styx
6-Jul: Journey
8-Jul: Whitesnake
9-Jul: Collective Soul

Sayonara...

"It would be so nice if something made sense for a change."-- Alice in Wonderland..
Milwaukee has been my wonderland! [ A line from my diary- Aug 31st, 2004] ...

Though I have been very excited about going back home, the idea of having to leave behind a few things and only having a stuffed baggage of memories to carry along seemed to sink in only lately…My last few nights have been occupied with introspection and deep contemplation of the my stay in Milwaukee…my 15 months long journey in my wonderland ….
A journey that ...
Began with tough people to handle at work place and friends to go back to every evening.
Began with work, targets, ambitions and ended with savvy for life.
Began with Michael Crichton and Fredrick Forsyth and ended with Steephen Covey, Dale Carnegie and Robin Sharma
Began with KM Sessions and ended with a session by Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar..:)

I pause for while and look back .. What I see is a road…with some structures on either side … labels on these structures read 404, 403, 1101, 227, 156, Ballys, Juneau, Pick N save, Blockbusters, Chipotle, Cathedral Square, NM, US Bank,Southridge Mall, Lake Michigan etc… And I see some faces on the road… the faces that have meant a lot to me...

Pavana-

Prashant-
GD

Anshu
Anoop

Given a chance to live the past 15 months again, I'd opt to live it with all of you in this wonderland!

Cut to the Chase

Cut to the chase.. another KM initiative ... an attempted imitation of "the Big Fight" hosted by Rajdeep Sardesai on Star News.

I took it upon me to host the first edition before I moved offshore. There was a time when I used to always fancy myself in Rajdeep Sardesai's role. The very thought of having the power and authority to control the show, channelize the dicussion, cut the crap and in short just cut to the chase... was alluring.
Only when the idea of panel discussion actually started taking more definitive form, did the seriousness begin to sink in to me. Moderator's role is undoubtedly, one of the most powerful ones but if executed poorly, it could kill the entire show.

The Nature of the speakers and the topics i had shortlisted gave me jitters... made me question if I could actually handle it...had I been slightly over ambitious...

A bunch a vibrant speakers and aggressive debators..some of whom belonged to the "high-profile" league..
Uma- the engagement manager, Manoj, Biji, Lucky, Aaman Lamba, Kedar, Manisha, Anshu, Ravi nair, Abhishek Chaudary-

Nature of the Topics:
"IT career is better than NON-IT career" for warm up...
and "For an Infosys Employee, the media perception is in excellent match with reality"...a sensitive one..

For Topic 1, we had Lucky, Manoj, kedar and Manisha- panelists with prior NON-IT experience supporting that NON-IT career was better.- which made the discussion more meaningful.
Uma, Biji, Aaman and Anshu were trying to maintain that we all had the best career.

The Topic 2 : As expected Uma and Manoj spoke for the topic.. And what was slightly surprising to the audience was that Anshu and Aaman also seemed to share the same viewpoint.

I think I did a pretty good job with Managing this bunch of voracious and highly aggressive speakers along with channelizing the discussion, getting the audience invloved and all this without compramising much on time..;) . I kinda surprised myself..:)

I also enjoyed the power to position the full-stop.

Anshu made great openings and fared really well for her first GD. 2 more editions of "Cut to the Chase" and she would be ready to gobble up the rest...

In all, great satisfaction!

The 26 series begin....

Prashant turns 26 today...

Jeetu, Priya, Anshu, Pavi and I joined Prashant's entry into 26 with Champagne. The celebration was in 404 (surprises were no longer in fashion) with the highlight of Prashant's exit from 25 being the bday bumps from the NARIs.

Mithun's comeback movie "Elaan" made sure the entry to 26 was going to be remembered for a long long time...:))

The F Trip!

F se fun.. F se florida...F se Food ...
Bandhu.. F se Fantastic bhi hota hai...

A vacation in true sense... Late mornings, good food, great music(!?)..;) and loads of time pass!
Amidst all this, we managed to visit a few places too!!

Day1---(Islands of Adventure, Univ Studios)

Spidey...We were so excited, we forgot to pose per our plans

Day2- Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom( Cinderella's Castle...truely captivating..)

Animal kingdom ...Back to childhood


Day3- Kennedy Space Centre...very educative and higly impressive! ...
Drive to Miami.. Coconut groove @ night

Kennedy Space Center .. Apollo 1... "Failure is NOT an option"


Day4- Miami ( Pictures Censored!!!)

Dil Chahta Hai...

Dil Chahta Hai...
Kabhi Na Beete Chamkeele Din
Hum Na Rahein Kabhi Yaaron Ke Bin
Din Din Bhar Ho Pyaari Baatein...Jhoome Shaame, Gaaye Raatein
Masti Mein Rahe Dooba Dooba Hameshaa Samaa
Humko Raahon Mein Yoonhi Milti Rahein Khushiyaan

Dil Chahta Hai..
Jagmagaate Hain, Jhilmilaate Hain Apne Raastein
Yeh Khushi Rahe, Roshni Rahe Apne Waaste.


Usha,Anu n Pavi's Day out


The three of us set out to capture Milwaukee and its beauty in the cameras we had recently bought... We hadnt realized... the 3 of us had another thing in common.. the gift or photograghy...;)...[or so would we like to fancy!]

There was this one noteworthy incident...that we tease each other with at every chance we get!
Anu was busy trying her stunts at her newly discovered talent...and Pavana and I were modelling for her..A guy- well built and pretty decent looking -happened to pass by in front of us on his sexy bike and ...
Pavi and I totally got engrossed in gaping at the sexy bike...;)
Anu's attempts to "distract" us was in vain...The lady gave up and decided to captured what was presented to her!!
The outcome was something!!!..


Kaisa Ajab Yeh Safar Hai, Socho To Har Ik Hi Bekhabar Hai
Usko Jaana Kidhar Hai, Jo Waqt Aaye, Jaane Kya ...