London - My City of Dreams

Who would have ever thought that i would land in London? The same question my Cousin who has been in London for the last 3 years has been asking to himself with a slight change to my question, where he rephrased it telling "who would have ever thought i would be driving my own car on top the very famous One Tower Bridge".

My 1st impression of this famous city was WOW. So here is my 1st peep into the City. It was raining so hard as i arrived with lot of thick clouds in the sky, as the flight all of a sudden came out of the last layer of thick Clouds suddenly there was this bright light from the Buildings of Canary Wharf, the Business District of London. It was a sight indeed, and the moment i took my phone out to capture that very moment the flight had already reached on top the Millenium Dome which was another sight to see.

The network is so properly laid you need not grab a Black Cab (Who are the same category of people ie the
Autorickshaws we see back in India who are infamous for the Rip-Offs). I was given strict instructions from
my cozin who asked me to take the trains from the London City Airport to Greenwich where i would be put up for the next few days. Climate has been pretty OK as compared to what i had seen in Denmark for more than a Month and this is something that i wanted London to behave as well.

There couldnt have been a better day than having to land in London on the Eve of Bakrid, One of those 2 festivals that i celebrate in a calendar year. Went for a late night drive to the One Tower Bridge (Pic Below), which many unknowingly call it the London Bridge. I was so fascinated to see the Bridge as this structure is something that i have been seeing since childhood days and all throughtout my life i have come across in News and other happenings.

Put up right next Canary Wharf (Pic Below) the Financial City for the 3 days, All my eyes were on the tall
skycrappers that had all the world famous Financial Companies like Citi Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan and the likes. Some where deep inside i happened to wither a little because what i see myself in the next few years is working in one of those top notch companies and what i have been doing all this while was nothing as compared to my high aspirations. One of those things that has caught my attention is how busy everyone is, people are just running here and there and i just love doing that as well. No one likes to sit idle and everyone loves to be occupied with something or the other.

Mumbai will happen to be the City of Dreams but to me after this short visit to this awesome city, I think London will be my City of Dreams untill and unless a new city impresses me.

Esbjerg – A Small Beautiful City

As i boarded the train just under the Copenhagen Airport, I only had a brief idea of what Esbjerg was to offer as far as sightseeing and food is concerned. A little over 290 kilometers from Copenhagen was this very typical European City. Esbjerg, a Sea Port on the South West of Denmark is the 5^th largest city in Denmark and was once known for having Denmark’s biggest fishing harbor.  As I reached the Esbjerg station one fine Saturday evening, the Cold Breeze welcomed me thanks to its strategic positioning of the city in the sea coast.

Not that a town where you can see lot of High rise buildings or Cosmopolitan culture but then a lot of Monuments & Architecture is what can keep your mouth wide open. A few 100 meters from the Railway Station is Skolegade, street which is the most happening place in Esbjerg which also houses most of the best hotels in Esbjerg. Cabinn Hotel, Hotel Brittania, Hotel Ansgar, Scandic Hotel to name a few. The main Town Square (Picture Below) happens to be in Skolegade as well which attracts a lot of crowd during the evenings. Restaurants from Chinese to Turkish to the authentic Danish food are available in this square so if you are to decide which suits your mood for the day, the Delicacy is there.

I got my apartment in Kronprinsensegade which is again a few meters from the Railway station, also very close to the Walking Street (Picture Below), which happens to be one of the Longest in Denmark. All those big brands that you would have seen worldwide or would have heard of are here in the Walking street.

Tried a few different cuisines here in Esbjerg which has been pretty much non Danish as even the Danes here Prefer having Italian or Turkish. So I decided to try the must eat one’s. The Pasta I had from one of the Italian joint was awesome and I must say I haven’t had that delicious Pasta (Lasagne Bolognese) in my entire life. But who knows there could be better joints elsewhere in Esbjerg that might taste better than that. Kebabs are a must have at the Turkish joints as these huge Sub kind of sandwich can fill your stomach and might not need anything else to eat for the rest of the day :P

Commuting is not at all a problem considering the City is really small and that every place is reachable by walk, and the Buses which run are all well connected. You just need to plan the place you would like to go and find the bus number which is easily available in the Tourist Information Desk in Skolegade itself. Buses are always on time and reach the stop at the time mentioned in the stop itself.

In my quest for finding an Indian Restaurant failed so if you are coming from that part of the world you can forget about getting some Indian Food. Now if you are here for a while and not just for travel you can as well get the Spices (Not the very authentic one’s) from some of the Asian/Arabian stores in Esbjerg and can have some so called Indian food at home. People who are not used to the other cuisines have no other go but to do this.

A little outside the City is this beach called Hjerting (Picture Below), which is around 9 kilometers from the Esbjerg Town Centre. An awesome beach which gets crowded during summer (Its most of the time winter here but then if you are lucky you can get at least 1-2 months of 20 Degree’s in a Year !! J )

“Men at Sea” (Picture Below) is a landmark in Esbjerg which is a must visit by anyone who comes to Esbjerg. This huge man made monument of four 9 meters tall white males is one of the most visited places by the tourists, and is located in the west of Esbjerg by the coast of Sædding Beach. The monument can be seen by ferry leaving or entering Esbjerg.

People in Esbjerg speak English as well and you will not have any trouble here not being able to speak or understand Danish. People are very hospitable and would be glad to help you if you happen to have any query or a doubt about reaching any place.

More places are on the cards as far as visiting is concerned so i will have a post on the other places in Denmark i will be exploring in the days to come.

Europe - A Distant Dream?

What looked like a distant dream, became a reality. Exactly 2 weeks before I was to start to Europe my Boss calls me and tells me that I’m the “Choosen one” to go to Denmark, to start off a project and be there till the implementation process. Did expect a trip abroad but then not so quick and I did not even give any hint on not being interested and was all excited. Visa arrived just a couple of days before my schedule departure and was not quite sure if I ll go as one cant be sure if the Visa will arrive or not. Stayed quiet on the topic and did not really tell friends of relatives as nothing was finalized.

As I started the flight bounded for Copenhagen via Dubai I was just looking at the World Map and in particular the Europe side of it to just plan and see which are the nearest countries that is in Denmark’s reach. Love International Travel especially for the fact that you get to meet a lot of International People and sets a base for a lot more contacts. Exchanged business cards with a few people I met on the flight and looks like those will turn out to be really good contacts considering they all come from different fields. Someone to Mention was this Indian Doctor in Prague who has been settled there for years and this Australian Adventure Sport Enthusiast and Businessman who was bound to Paris. Talked about the various adventure sport and the one’s that he is associated with. The only adventure that I could boast about was the traffic in India :P . And due to this long interaction with him and talking about the Indian Culture and Climate, he was so much interested in visiting India that he just made plans to come to Chennai this year end, Now the Indian Tourism folks can reward me for brining in a tourist from Australia.

I was told well in advance that almost everyone in Denmark spoke English and it was bang on, everyone knew and they all spoke well. My 1^st concern was this but then to my relief it was in my favour. Boarded the Euro Rail train to the place where I was supposed to go “Esbjerg” which is around 3 hours train Journey from Copenhagen. After that tiring 12 hour long flight I just could not resist myself from going to sleep. And Esbjerg being the last station, I had nothing to worry. My Journey for a little over 2 months here in Denmark/Europe started when I came out of the Esbjerg Railway Station (Below in the Pic).

More about Denmark to follow, Looks like I need to make this a travel blog now considering the number of travels I had planned for 2 long months !!

Time to Change - 'INDIA'

After having lived abroad for 14 years and then coming back to your hometown, it might sound exciting and it indeed was for me. Bu then i never knew what i had to witness as soon as i came out of the airport. Infact inside the very airport i arrived. There were 'PAN' being spit on each corner and i was like is that a new Interior design initiative by the Airports Authority of India. Sarcasms set aside i was really laid back at seeing this and wonder when will this change in India. This happened almost 8 years back and i am sure things are not as worse as it is.

Some of the major issues we have here in India is Pissing in Public, Spitting pan or anything in general in the public roads, Beggars in the traffic signals and Littering the public spaces. I wouldnt quite call it an issue but more of something which we need to eradicate as soon as possible.

My manager who arrived from the US had the same concern, He has heard of India being the next 'BIG THING' and the moment he came, he was fortunate to see the above 'Issues'. It indeed gave a very bad impression in the eyes of a foreigner. This are some of the small things which can bring about a bad goodwill and this in turn will reflect in the country's progress as well.

How difficult is it to go to the nearest public loo when its so urgent, Stop the habit of chewing Pan and spitting all over? If the government does not come out with any strict rules, its the citizens who should come out with a draft of the things not to do in public and ensure that the local corporation has to pass a resolution.

Did you know, If you spit on the roads in Singapore you are imposed with a huge fine? And Singapore is now known as a country of Cleanliness. It becomes very disgusting when you happen to be a victim when someone from a Public bus spits outside without even checking if there is someone down there.

New Delhi, the Capital of India is one such state who have come out with the "No Peeing in Public Campaign" The campaign had sign boards all over which had characters Mr Thu Thu Kumar (the Spitter), Mr Su-Su Kumar (the person who pees in public) and last but not the least Mr Kuda Kumar (the litter bug). It is campaigns like these that can bring about a change in the society we live in and we will not be far from where countries like Singapore is.

Why Soccer is the Best Sport in the World!

Before we get much further we are 3 Billion strong. You did not quite get me right, Some of you must have got it by now, What i am referring to here is that out of the 7 Billion odd population in the world 3 Billion view Soccer. More people in the world watch soccer than any other sport in the world.

I know a lot of them who tell about the sport they play and tell about the physical demand it requires and let me guarantee you that if they would have played Soccer, Lived it, Understood it they will know how Physically demanding is the game of soccer. Those 90 minutes of running around which on an average a player covers a ground of almost 8 kms a game.

Soccer or Football as it is called requires a lot of physical movement, requires the most creativity, overall skill, agility and total athletic ability more than any other sport by far. I have played quite a number of sport which includes Cricket, Basketball, Volleyball, Golf & Badminton and a few others and let me tell you there is no other sport that has given me more exhaustion than football. Football is the most dramatic sport as everyone on the playing field is equal. Everyone gets to touch the ball, everyone can score at any given time.

Let me now take the scenario of India, Who has not reached anywhere with respect to this sport. Thanks to this game called Cricket (No Offence to the Cricket fans, not blaming you for that) . Money is put in more into the Bat and Ball game 'Cricket' and there is nothing allocated for Football. I agree that in the recent years India is doing something to bring Football to the top. A few individuals and corporates have come forward supporting the game.

(Pic above : Taken during a Tweetup for Supporting Football in India)

This could be a turnaround for Football as far as country like India is concerned. Lets hope that small initiatives like these bring about a Change in the mind set of the people in the country. Its not just the financial support that is required for a sport, its also the support the people around gives you and India lacks with respect to the support part. My Plea is, save the hate.

Why Social Media?

1^st of all many who will be reading this post will be on any one of the Social Media platforms. Interestingly all of them reading this will someway or the other be routed to this post via one of the Social Media Platforms.

Agree or not we are all Social beings and we are proving right in a different way, Not socializing in Public but via the Web. Turn on the radio, TV or for that matter any advertising media, end of the clip/poster there will be something like “Follow us on Twitter” “Like our page on Facebook” and so on. Did you guys ever wonder what is so great about social media?? I am not taking any complicated stories here, but what level of reach “Why this Kolaveri” has attained is all because of Social Media.

Today, all Global Companies ranging from Consumer products to IT products & services to Manufacturing companies to the Recruitment Companies, they all do invest on the Social Media. Even the Healthcare fraternity no longer ignores the Social Media.

People obtain information, education, news and other data from electronic media and print media. Social media are distinct from industrial or traditional media, such as newspapers, television, and film. They are relatively inexpensive and accessible to enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information, compared to industrial media, which generally require significant resources to publish information. Apart from Email, Instant Messaging which have been extensively used, a few of the other examples of Social media are the Twitter, Facebook, etc. Social media is a waste of time if you don’t utilize it in the right sense, Playing games or just chatting over these sites will just waste your time but what you have to make sure is it is make use of it by gaining information, proper contacts in all walks of life, Getting your news/post to maximum number of people etc.

A recent report indicate that Indian’s are now spending more time on social media sites. Social Media in India is growing at close to 100 % and is likely to touch 45 million users by the end of 2012. As subscribers are now coming out with cheaper internet packages this figure is slated to grow much further.

The flip-side of all the virtues of Social Media is that there seems to be no universal guideline on usage of the social media. Though we have increasingly more social network users the question that stands out is how familiar they are with these social networks and what precaution have they taken to safeguard themselves against any information leak or against their vulnerability. Off-late, it is been felt in various forums that we need legalized checks to rein in the opinions being expressed, intrusions of privacy all of which may hurt people and their sentiments. Companies like Twitter & Facebook is taking steps to combat this and its ultimately in the hands of the user who uses it properly and not click on things which are in the 'SPAM' category and get trapped.

My suggestion is just this, No matter what people say you are going to need this in the years to come if you want to be successful. Think about it and you will know what i'm trying to convey here as i do not represent any company and its just the person in me that is requesting you.

The post cannot end just like this, I need to give away my Social Media reach as well right?

Follow me (Twitter) : @iMishaal

Blog : The very blog you are reading this post, If you are that illiterate, here it is (www.mishaalhk.blogspot.com :P )

LinkedIn : http://in.linkedin.com/in/mishaalhk

Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/user/Mishaalhk

What Provoked 'THE HINDU"

Nope, this is not about the Religion 'HINDU" i am talking about in the title but the News Paper "THE HINDU". I know there wont be anyone here who wouldnt have seen the new "Go ahead of the Times" campaign of the Chennai based newspaper "The Hindu".

It all started with Times of India coming into the Chennai market where the market leader was "The Hindu". People view this battle with so much of Interest as they are considered to be the market Leaders in the Indian context point of view. Like the very famous Blackberry & Apple fight which happened over a couple of years back (Ad link below for reference)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNj2XPhPrx4

The very moment i saw this Hindu Advertisement it reminded me of the video above. Strange as you call it, TOI did not do it targeting only The Hindu but for some reason the latter took it pretty seriously. I would personally want to read Hindu as against the Entertainment friendly TOI as they hardly have any news in their papers and only Advertisements in their main paper. If you have a close look you would find that atleast 40% of the Newspaper is advertisements, and would you want to spend money for a paper that shows advertisements or read some sensible news? I am sure if a survey is done atleast 70% + people would opt for The Hindu as against the Times of India.

I agree people are moving to TOI loosing their senses to think and wanting to know about what the Entertainment industry is upto and all that, and Hindu would have sensed that they are loosing a lot of people that way and hence the new Ad just to make oneself understand the importance of newspapers. From my small study i did i find that people who have subscribed to the TOI are using it as a secondary newspaper as Hindu remains their primary one. And for a yearly subscription of just below Rs 300 (I guess) people would anyways go for it being a silly amount and that is how they are just a secondary paper. No offence to the TOI fans here but this was just my personal opinion and there is this one right called the "Freedom of Speech" (Refer Jan 27th 1950 Edition of The Hindu :P)

Year 2011 - A Tribute

Well this wouldnt be a long post as like my earlier one's but i would call it more of an Ice Breaker as i havent posted anything here for ages. My reasons for not having posted anything here for a while are many but being 'LAZY' tops the list and then the 'NO TIME' reason tops the list.

All in all a great year it was from passing out of B-School and getting into Maersk, the worlds largest Container operating company in the world. Meanwhile that one phase where i was in the Job-Hunting position was quite a pain and i must tell you its one time that you cant do anything freely and have this thing of getting a call any moment (For Interviews). I was left stranded in this city with friends inviting me to join them for trips and i had to reject it all because of my calls for interviews mostly being on weekends.

We lost lots of Talent Personalities in the area of Cinema, Music, Politics and even well known "Terrorists" as well. We saw many CEO's being replaced and it was indeed a great business year for most of the Companies. Indians point of view we witnessed something which was hard to witness with that of the Rupee falling at its all time low at Rs 54 a Dollar.

Securing the Gold Medal in Finance at my B-School was an honor and i was to be honest surprised at getting that medal but i hope this one achievement can take me places in future. There were no International Trips last year and i'd make it up this year for sure.