1 overcast Saturday Evening, 2 motorbikes, 3 friends, 4 Minerets , 5 months late....

I have been in hyderabad for over 5 months now and that is how long it has taken me to make my way to the most famous part of town, "Char Minaar" or the Four minerets which are the most prominent icon of Hyderabad. Its the old part of town which is majestic and built in a time when there were kings and queens ..

It was on a overcast saturday evening that me and two other friends decided to make the 20 km trip and get transported into a completely different world.. there began our adventure...

We left at about 6ish in the evening not thinking about the peek traffic we would face and more importantly not really knowing the way to the place.. we figured that we could ask people on the way where Char Minaar was , surely everyone in Hyderabad could point us in the right direction..after close to 45 minutes on the motorbike i noticed out surroundings had changed there was an old world feel now and people were moving at a different pace.. the buildings were looking more ornate, even though they were probably in need of repair .. but i love all things old so it was a treat to my eyes to see the majestic city around me, the hussle and bussle of people and the thousands of lights slowly going on getting ready for the night shoppers..

As we saw the four minerets we all smiled, partly for having made it in one peice and partly for not being disappointed at the site..just beneath it we were stuck in traffic which gave me a good chance to take it in and also look at all the exciting shops around me and all the trinkets.. i ear marked a few for shopping when we found parking ..

We finally found some parking inside a hospital. It was a calm place in the midst of so much activity and you got the best photo opportunity for the char minaar from there .. being the Japanese tourist that i am i made the most of it.

Our obvious next stop was FOOD.. it was everywhere.. hundreds of fruit vendors selling the reddest pomingenates.. we went looking for Haleem thinking that Ramzaan had started.. only to find out that it was still two days away.. although disappointed we thought we would have a glass of the famous lassi and head to the famous Bangle Bazaar..

Girls, if you ever want to go crazy come to this place.. hyderabad's famous bangle bazaar.. there were ladies in burkhas everywhere and shops filled with glittering bangles. Bangles that were full of glittering gems and stones .. i have been to a few shopping places around the world but never have i seen such beautiful bangles.. the catch is though you have to know how to bargain and we soon realised this.. i ended up buying a beautiful maroon bangle set studded with maroon stones.. the shop keeper gave me good wishes too saying now that i have bought the bangles marriage can't be too far away .. ;) ..

The shop keeper gave us the old world hospitality.. insisted that we stay for some special hyderabadi chai..in the mean time he told us where we would get the best food in this part of town.. 'Shahdaab'was the place we needed to head to and he gave us the exact order "one plate chicken chilli fry with two naans followed by a mutton biriyani' .. we found and auto and headed directly to the place all the time thinking of the chilli chicken fry and mutton biriyani .. all i can say is when we got there , ordered and ate we were not disappointed at all .. it was by far the best biriyani i have had..we did make the mistake of ordering something that wasn't recomended .. we should have stuck to what the local recomended..

As we headed back the clouds arrived .. and it started pouring .... this was going to be a long journey .. we decided to head back regardless as we had assignments to finish (you must have been wondering what happened to the assignments) .. stuck in traffic with water upto our toes we could do nothing but laugh.. the rain got so heavy we had to take shelter at a local shop.. there were going to be atleast another 2 stops like this.. just as we were about 20 minutes away from home one of our tyres got punctured... we went looking for a puncture man .. his name was mr. Syed who was kind enough to help us out ...

All in all it was a fun day to remember .. and i got a beautiful set of bangles to remember it with.

Food Files I ..

Sorry i've been away for a while .. but before you jump to conclusions about me being lost in books let me set the record straight I was out and about looking for good food.. eating at the dinning hall here at the ISB can get very monotonous, with its exotic dishes like 'yam pudusu' , 'snake bean poriyal' and 'something papu' your mind starts to play games with you. It forces you to ring up a taxi, rush out of class and just head out in search of something that will satisfy the foodie in you.
Lucky for me I have discovered that Hyderabad is a place for foodies like myself.. being a city of so many cultures the variety of food available here is certainly refreshing... So here it goes some of my food adventures so far ..

Stop1: Punjabi Rasoi .. a small family run restaurant on the cross roads near ISB. Anyone who has ever passed out of this school has eaten here. It can also be renamed to TGPR 'thank god its punjabi Rasoi' . It has become the life line for many here on campus, when we want to eat something that will chear us up after a hard night full of group assignments ... in fact to celebrate the submission of a long group assignment me and my group drive down to have some good old tucker at punjabi Rasoi..Great feel good food.
Must Have: Mutton Rara Punjabi- succulant pieces of mutton stir fried in dry spices and served dry.
Mita's Rating: Concept : hmm..survival Food: 3.5/5 Ambiance: 1/5

Stop 2 : BBQ Nation .. a ISB favourite , at any given time you will find atleast 2 tables occupied by your fellow Isbian...
Concept: Taking on from the original Korean table BBQ where in the middle of the table there is a coal BBQ set up on top of which meat is placed and gets cooked fresh in front of you. This restaurant is the Indian Tandoori take on it.. there is a small tandoor in the middle of every table and delicious marinated meats and veggies are brought out 3/4 cooked and placed on the hot tandoor..
What I ate: Well since this is an all you can eat restaurant (and i come under the profitable clientele category) i tasted just about everything that they brought to the table, first there was chicken tikka, thai fish, tandoori prawns, lamb kebabs, marinated mushrooms, paneer tikka.. if your mouth isn't watering yet please go and see the doctor.
Must Have Gilaffi Naan, a soft semi sweet bread straight from the tandoor with pistachio nuts and almonds. Fish on a skewer , tender marinated fish that melts in your mouth. Make sure you ask for these when you head there.
Mita's Rating: Concept : 5/5 Food: 4/5 Ambiance: 3/5

Bon Appetite...

Walking up the steep hill

The one thing that is a constant here at the ISB is the constant climb up the steep learning curve. Especially if you are up for a challenge. They have leavers on the curve to make it steeper and steeper, just when you get used to the incline it gets cranked up a few degrees.. currently i'm on an incline of about 38 degrees (this calculation was done by using simulation in the solver, using 'how thin can you spread yourself' as the decision variable).

Want to share a recent experience which was both unusual and challenging for me ..
Being a director in one of the student councils here i was responsible for creating a team that would work with me during the year. The selection process required resume screening and interviews, this may sound normal but there was a catch.. i was going to interview my friends and peers, people who i have come to admire over the last few months.. and people who i would be having lunch with for the rest of the year. This was certainly going to be a challenge cause every resume here is a star resume and everyone here is so talented. The interviewing process was probably more daunting for me than the people being interviewed, after all these were my fellow classmates and passing a judgement on them was a tough call.. But learning how to take tough calls was why i was here in the first place. And I took this chance to learn some skills. The interviews went well, kept them somewhere between formal/casual/serious/friendly. Made the decision. To my surprise everyone of my peers that was interviewed took it in the right spirit, and i have to say thank you to all of them for being such good sports. ISB certainly creates so many opportunities for growth (and pain). Its truely upto the individual here just how much muscle you want to build.

So for all those that are planning to come hear in the near future please pack some comfortable shoes and the will to climb, cause here 'attitude will decide your altitude'

Suffering from PMS...

Never thought I would say this but everyone here is suffering from PMS * , doesn't matter if are you from mars or Venus (or from any other planet for that matter) you have positively been diagnosed with a case of PMS*.. the uncanny symptoms include ..

1. Feeling of being deflated amongst the inflationary pressures..
2. Sudden bouts of anxiety sparking from thoughts about India's current account deficit...
3. Dreams of swimming in the money base with the RBI suddenly pulling the plug on you..
4. Loosing the ability to make decisions without first drawing a decision tree ..
5. Working out the critical path from SV1 to Sv2 so that you get there on time ..

If you are suffering from 3 or more of the above symptoms then you have PMS* .. Although no cure has been found as yet but some people (research firms like Bacardi and Smirnoff) are working on it .. tomorrow night there will be a mass camp at the Lounge and medicine will be handed out to everyone .. i have a feeling all will be cured ;)

*PMS (Pre - Midterm Syndrome)

Back on the treadmill

Its been long since i blogged and i'm sorry about that friends.. just that the speed of the treadmill here just went up a few notches over the last couple of weeks and it was hard to type and run at the same time.. I wouldn't say it has got any slower but i'm going to attempt to write regardless.. can't have some stupid speedometer stop me .. So whats the update ?

• End term exams where over and then came our first break.. I was on campus during break time and it was quite a weird feeling, the place looked deserted.. its funny how after such a hectic first semester most of us found it difficult to the sudden halt in activity.
  
• The club elections are over and we have new presidents for all the professional and social clubs on campus.. i can feel the momentum building up now for the year ahead.
• Term 2 is a whole new ball game.. its much harder, has many more assignments and seems far more intense than term one.. but then again looking back down on the climb you have made always makes it seem easier.
• The weather here in hyderabad has cooled down.. its overcast all the time and very windy.. infact here at the atrium at the ISB i have felt like i will be blown away , no kidding ...

A bit rusty from not blogging for a while thus i will keep it short for now.. hope to keep you posted :)

The calm before the storm

As I look out window all i see is grey today.. its been over cast here at the ISB for the last few days.. not much rain or noise but a constant cloud cover indicating that a storm is lurking .. people are in their quads studying away for the coming end of term exams and when you walk out at night , at 2 or 3am you notice the vast majority of the room lights on.. each room holding a potential star in the dark night..

The weather report goes something like this
Sunday: Cloudy and over cast ..
Monday: Stormy with heavy rains continuing all day .. stay indoors.
Tuesday: Morning showers continuing throughout the afternoon .. Sun will come out late afternoon. A lucky few will see a rainbow, luckier few will see the a pot of gold at the end of it and the rest will enjoy their time in the sun..

Its an honor

I needed to write a blog entry today. The journey that started off approximately 8 weeks ago from the other side of the equator took a new turn. I was elected as a Director for Alumni Affairs in today's Student board council elections. Even i'm lost for words (and that is something). All i can say is that its a great honor to be representing the Class of 2009 on the student board. Its also humbling cause my fellow students have put a great deal of faith in me and I hope to do the best I can. The journey at the ISB has just got a whole lot more interesting and a whole lot more intense. A year ago i would not in my wildest dreams have thought i would be sitting in India, in my quad at the ISB, have my own blog and be writing a blog entry about being elected.

I would like to say a big thank you to my study group who are like my family here. They encouraged me to stand for the position and showed a lot of faith. Thanks to everyone else that also supported me .. and before this blog entry gets too mushy let me sign off .... will keep you posted on life at the ISB.