LA, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Palo Alto, Boston!
What a whirlwind the last one week was! In 1 week, we did a road trip of over 2200 miles. The Dodge Grand Caravan and 5 of us went across 3 states, ate at strange hours and got very little sleep. The dazzle of Las Vegas, the beauty of the Grand Canyon, the engineering marvel that is Hoover dam and the allure of Hollywood - all in a space of 120 hours. Read on for the details.
Early on Monday morning, we left Palo Alto for LA. It was a longish drive. Helping us navigate was Microsoft Streets and Maps, a kickass software from Microsoft (with one of the people on board a Microsoftie, we couldn't use anything else if we wanted to!). Entertainment was handled by my trusty IBM Thinkpad ably assisted by an FM transmitter that leveraged the car speakers excellently. With our fuel tank full and spirits high, we set off to LA. On the way we watched 'Dil Chahta Hai' - our version of Inflight entertainment - DVD on a laptop screen. Thanks to mobile phone technology, I did an informational session (intended to be 15 minutes long but ended up at 45 minutes) with a London based investment bank on the road.
In LA, we first went to Santa Monica beach (lots of scenes of Baywatch were shot here). The boardwalk and the pier are nice (they were deserted so we had a leisurely stroll). Muscle beach has an array of gymnastic and balance apparatus. So, I did some swinging from ring to ring to feed the Tarzan in me!
Then we went to 3rd Street Promenade and had some Greek food. For the evening, the destination was Hollywood. So, we had a walk along Hollywood Blvd - saw the sidewalk with all the star names. We hung out at The Kodak theatre (venue of the Academy Awards ceremony) for a while. Finally, we got back to our motel. The next morning was the Microsoftie's niece's birthday. So we had some cake with the birthday girl who going to Disneyland for celebrations.
The rest of the morning was spent at the hill on which Griffith Observatory is located. Took some pics of the Hollywood hills and the famed Hollywood sign.
After LA, we hit Grand Canyon. It was late night by the time we reached our destination. Found a hotel and all of us slept like we hadn't slept in ages. Grand Canyon is beautiful. I aim to return there for a longer trip, hopefully for a week long hike.
Next destination was Las Vegas. Nothing can prepare you for the spectacle Vegas is. You build up all your expectations from what people have told you, movies you have watched (Ocean's 11 etc) and it blows everything away. We stayed at a casino away from the strip - Stratosphere. But most of our time was spent on the strip. Bellagio, MGM, Paris, Alladin, Caesar's Palace, Bally's, Venetian and more - we visited them all. Gambled a minimal amount on the slot machines, but could see how addictive it is. Going to Vegas can easily leave you with a sensorial overload. Everything looks plain after that! With a heavy heart, we returned to San Francisco.
Dinner was at Amber in Mountain View. Again, a couple of other friends I hadn't seen in years joined up and we caught up on life. The flight back was a 'convenient' red-eye which got me to Boston at 6:30 in the morning.
At Boston, I met up with another of my friends. We have been great friends for over 10 years now. Spent the day hanging out with him and a couple of his friends from his school. We went to Harvard and looked around the campus. It looks so much like the Dartmouth campus. Then I met up with a friend who showed me around MIT. I hadn't seen him in 8 years! Felt good to be meeting up again. We had lunch at an Indian restaurant and he gave us a wonderful guided tour of MIT. The research he is doing towards his Ph.D is quite interesting.
MIT is one of those places that makes you sit back and think about decisions you have taken in life. One of the choices I made was not to pursue a career in research within technology. If I had visited MIT 5 years ago, I probably would have made a different decision!!
To close the day, I had coffee with a friend from Sloan and returned to good ole Hanover.
I am so tired. I could sleep for days. But, there are cover letters to write and resumes to be sent. During Christmas vacation - I will catch up on sleep!
Lots of photos taken on the trip. (1.2 Gb!) Best photos are on Ofoto. Mail me for the link.
Thanksgiving Break!!
It is Thanksgiving break. Much as I love Tuck and Hanover (you would too - if you studied there), it feels good to getaway once in a while. I have been getting away too frequently of late. But, given the fact that we have almost a week's break, I thought I 'deserved' a holiday. And, what better place to go for a holiday than California!
So, here I am, in my friend's home at Palo Alto, tapping out this blog entry.
We had a Capital Markets exam yesterday. It went off okay except for a silly mistake I made. The mistake was so stupid that even now, I cringe when I think of it. I read wrong a bond quotation off the Wall Street Journal and thus screwed up a question that I knew perfectly well.
Since I had tested out of Statistics, I was able to leave Hanover early and catch a night flight to San Francisco. The flight came in almost an hour early. My friends picked me up from the airport at close to midnight. A couple of them I hadn't seen in 4 years. So, it was great getting together again.
Today, we looked around San Francisco. Did the standard touristy stuff. Went to the Golden Gate bridge, looked at the Red Woods in Muir, took a boat ride to Alcatraz. It was great fun. Then I met up with another friend who did his grad school at Stanford. After catching up on life, he gave us a guided tour of Stanford by night! The school is huge and seems to have a super impressive infrastructure. Chip fabrication capabilities in an university. In my book, there is nothing more impressive than that! He showed us the outdoor Rodin sculptures - 'The Burghers of Calais'. Both our minds immediately went back to some pictures we took with Michelangelo's 'The Dying Slave' at the musée du Louvre in the summer of 2000. Those were the days!! I need to get a copy of that picture from him.
We went across Route 101 a few times in course of our day. For the better part of 1999 and 2000, I used to devour the Red Herring and the Industry Standard. As a keen followed of the technology industry in Silicon Valley, I had read about Route 101 in many different places. Just driving on the road gave me a small buzz.
For dinner, we went to a Thai restaurant - Amarin at Mountain View. The various suburbs of San Francisco are quaint. I would love to work in San Francisco for sometime.
Post dinner, I met up with yet another friend. But unlike most other friends I mentioned before, we did not attend the same school. Surprising as it may sound, we didn't know each other till earlier this year. Around the time I left India to attend Tuck, she returned to the West Coast after doing some great stuff in Bangalore. It was wonderful catching up and discussing the transitions we were undergoing.
I find it fascinating to interact with people of Indian origin who were raised in the US. Bridging two very different cultures can be extremely challenging. Issues like drinking, dating etc, which are non issues for a typical American kid can and usually leads to a lot of conflict in their cases.
When I started at Tuck, I had a mild culture shock. At India, one is exposed to the Western world through different media elements and interactions, but living it out is a completely different experience. As I was discussing this evening, there are quite a few fundamental differences. One example is living with parents. If it was possible, I could spend all my life living with my parents. The importance of family as a support structure and an essential element of the social fabric is huge in India. Whereas, it seems to be completely different in the US. While I am in no position to say one is better than the other, it is necessary to recognize the differences and appreciate how they impact lives of individuals.
Another aspect we found intriguing was that all of us are at an age where we are introspecting. We are kind of confused on what direction to take. Earlier in life, when we were at cross roads (say after undergrad), we knew there was time for experimentation. No longer. The decisions we make now are for keeps. So, it is imperative that all decisions are made after lots of thought and we are comfortable with them. It so helps to find that I am not the only person who faces these dilemmas!
Now, on to LA!!
The Indian Stock Market
The current state of the Indian stock market reminds me of a quote -
"You don't need to be a genius to make money in a bull market".
On a day when 3 elements of my portfolio closed limit up, this quote is very pertinent!
Diwali...
Last week was Diwali. The Indian festival of lights. We had a potluck dinner on Friday where almost 40 people from the Tuck community participated in celebrating the festival with the students with Indian origins. The evening had a lavish spread of food and it had been sometime since I had such a nice meal.
Then on Sunday we had a puja organized by the Dartmouth undergrad students association. It was a small affair but extremely well planned. This was followed by Indian dance and song programs. An Indian buffet dinner capped the evening. Watching the dance performance and listening to the songs transported me back to Bangalore for a while. So many things I took for granted at home feel so precious here. Every year, there were performance by top Indian dancers less than 2 miles from home, and I wasn't very keen to attend. A one hour performance by students who are amateur dancers at best, and I was hoping that it would go on!
At the end of the program, a couple of Indian professors spoke about how Diwali was celebrated in their home towns as kids. The talk of sweets, fireworks and new clothes brought back a flood of memories. Just under a week ago, when I was returning from the alumni party of my undergrad, the challenges of being away from home was the topic of discussion. When I asked my host how long ago he had moved to the US, the reply I got was '13 year ago. So, that is 13 years of missed Diwalis, Dussehras and Holis'.
Today it was back to the grind. Just a week before we take a vacation for Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to going away to California and meeting up with friends.
A while ago I had talked about how a consulting firm presentation had charmed me. Today I had lunch with a partner at the firm, and I think I like what I hear and saw. So, I have decided to make an exception to my plans and toss my hat into the ring for this Firm.
Some people might say I am a totally confused person as far as career choices go. Well, it was just under 10 years ago I almost joined India's most prestigious law school and decided against it at the very last moment. If I am faced with strange choices during my internship search and I make stranger choices, people who have known me won't be surprised!!
The weekend...
The past weekend was dedicated to Murphy. (of Murphy's Law fame!)
Made a trip to New Jersey to attend an alumni event of my undergrad university. The trip went off well, though there were multiple things on the trip that went wrong!
Left Hanover on Saturday early morning (after 4 hours of sleep) to go to the venue via Jersey City. Since I took the train from Jersey City, I reached on time. However, my friend who had the car didn't make it till the fag end because he missed an exit on the way. (Murphy at work)
The party was great. Had a wonderful evening mingling with pple from school (there were people who graduated as far back as 1965). Met a bunch of alumni who worked at different firms on Wall Street and as always they offered to help me in learning more about the career I am hoping to pursue. There was a good DJ with Hindi music. So, we danced like it was Music Nite again :).
After the party ended at 11:30 pm, one of the senior guys offered to give me a ride if I waited for half an hour. The half an hour stretched into over 3 hours since there was an afterparty. I was the baby in the afterparty. So, I learnt about the wild times these people had during their time at Pilani. Finally, I landed at 3:30 at a friend's home but there was nobody answering the door (Murphy at work again). Thankfully another friend who lived across the street had someone walk in just then and I managed to catch a few hours of sleep.
The next morning, I found that the wrong contact number for the friend who was to give me a ride back. So, after paying my respects to Murphy again, I took a Greyhound back to Hanover. The optimist in me is happy to have gotten lots of sleep on the bus :).
Birthday...
This post should have been hammered out on Saturday - but the next post will tell you why that didn't happen :)
Friday I turned 26. So, far, each year I became older, the feeling was one of total joy. I was in the phase where I looked forward to being an older person, being more mature, wiser. Somewhere, a part of me thought that with age & experience, one gets a better grip on deciding one's destiny. This birthday was very different. For the first time, there was a small part of me that was unhappy about becoming a year older. There was a realization that I wouldn't be 25 again - never again. Some people may say it is a fact of life - well, for once, I actually thought hard about this.
This birthday ranked up there among one of the best days I have had. At Tuck, your birthday is featured in everybody's Outlook calendar and the intranet site. So, EVERYBODY knows that it is your birthday. And considering that I know a large part of the class by now - there wasn't a time Iwalked 10 metres without somebody wishing me :) - It kind of feels good.
That evening, a bunch of friends had organized a small party at an Indian restaurant. Had a great time. By the time I retired to bed early next day, I was literally floating with joy of a nice birthday celebration.
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The week that preceded the birthday was awesome too. We had the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi speak to us. Among other things, he spoke about Lovemarks (not what you think them to be ;-) ). Kevin Roberts is one of the best speakers I have heard. Having worked for a marketing powerhouse before, I understand the value of brands. The concept of Lovemarks took branding to a whole new level and I agee that in the future these will capture disproportionate share of the wallet.
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During the past week I also met up with some fund managers - one person with a goliath and one person who started his own shop sometime ago. Most people have been extremely bullish about Indian IT, but the passion I saw about the Indian pharma story was surprising. For the record, I am extremely bullish on Indian healthcare (incl. pharma) and feel that there is huge shareholder value to be created across the chain - from R&D to generics to clinical research to administering healthcare.
