18 February 2009

Goa

Goa is a fascinating place, more in the mind than in the physical world. There's something about Goa that will make me relax - automagically. All I have to do is land at Goa airport and I feel the stress easing out of my body and my muscles relax just that crucial bit.

I've been to Goa over 20 times in the past few years and each time has been a time to remember, including the work trips. Anyone who tells you they're going to Goa purely on work is LYING. Such a thing doesn't exist.

There was the time I went to Goa to manage an event of ours and spent the entire 2 days indoors at the hotel where we were, but even then I managed a twenty minute swim in the pool and that was enough - its all in the mind.

But the best way to enjoy Goa is when you leave home in shorts and chappals and spend the entire holiday in the same state of mind and come back in chappals too. Goa is the kind of place I don't worry what I'm looking like and often don't worry what about I'm doing (I know most of you are thinking he never worries about what he's looking like!). Goa can be such a great leveller. The best of us and the not so much will rub shoulders at the same beaches, markets and bars. Many of us wouldn't be caught doing some of the things we do in Goa, back home where we live. Goa brings out that part of me, the me that is willing let my hair down and let go.

Parts of Goa, are unfortunately over-developed and bursting at the seams. Its the price of growth and popularity and there really is no way around it. All it means is that you have to be willing to go off the beaten track and often further down the beaten track to find places that are fun and relatively untouched.

But there is an obvious good side to all the development in Goa... There's so much to do and places to go to... Some of my favourites...

- Favourite Cafe/Lunch place - Leela Cafe

- Favourite Pub - the one in Baga which shows live football matches - I forget the name

- Favourite Restaurant - Brittos

- Favourite Club - Club Cabana

- Favourite Hotel - Tah holiday village

- Favourite Beach - Morjim

- Favourite 'fancy place' Restaurant - Fiesta

- Favourite Spa - Snip (incredible indonesian massage)

- Favourite shopping place - the little store in Calangute that sells football stuff

- Favourite View - the view of the beaches, Calangute and Baga when you're para-sailing

There are very few places in world I could go to again and again and again and not feel let down....
Goaaaah. Enough said....

08 February 2009

Top 30 random memories from "when I was younger" (in no particular order)

1. Playing football with Alok in our bedroom, most often getting my ass whipped by him.

2. Missing a goal from 1 yard out... mis-timed the shot and scooped it over the bar... worst miss EVER.

3. Trekking up to Bhrigu Lake (near Manali) when I was in Class 6, youngest person to ever reach there at the time... 6 hour trek in knee-deep snow.

4. Playing Foot-squash in college... probably the best and lasting memory of College!

5. The bus rides to and from school on MS-15... with all my friends - mala, mandira, soma, sumant, gauri, anjali, jai, joe (sometimes), rohit, jaspreet, amar, divya etc etc.

6. Watching the planes flying really really low over our football field in school.

7. Playing football instead of eating lunch during our 20 minute lunch break, it was almost like we went to school just for THAT 20 minutes.

8. The scambled eggs (bhurji, really), bread and nimbu paani in the SRCC canteen after football practise..... tasted like a gourmet meal after the hard work on the field!

9. Scoring the first penalty kick in a semi-final shootout against Govt School, Moti Bagh (the most feared team in Delhi). We went on to beat them and win the tournament..... if I close my eyes today I can still see the ball nestling in the net in the bottom left corner. Sheer joy.

10. Sitting on the wall in college and doing NOTHING all day long.... just talking about just about nothing or just about anything.

11. Camping in a 3-man-tent in Samar's back garden when we were 10 years old and waking up in the morning and cooking our breakfast on a stove (sort of).

12. Mince and bread at st stephens 'cafe'.... crap college but the one good thing in their canteen!

13. Sitting and gallivanting at various airports while traveling all over the world and watching all kinds of different people.... (even today, i feel a strange kind of comfort and ease at airports).

14. Arriving at Ambedkar Stadium to play against a random, non-descript school... finding that they were fielding 3 over-age players (looked like they were in their mid-twenties)... lodging an official protest which was summarily shot down.... had to play the game.... BEAT THEM 4-0. we played out of our skin that afternoon...

15. Chole Bhature at Chacha's in Kamla Nagar (K-Nags) before / during / after college... enough said.

16. Camp Blue Ridge, Blue Ridge Mountains, Georgia - 12 weeks of an incredible experience with American Kids and counsellors from all over the world.

17. Winning the Youth Review Football tournament playing for school in 1988... well against the odds... beating 2 of the top teams in Delhi who were massively favoured against us.

18. Scoring the winning and solitary goal in the Sarthak tournament final in Ambedkar Stadium in 1988.

19. Missing a penalty kick in the shooutout in a school tournament (Jatin Bedi memorial, i think) and pulling my own shorts down in disgust (fortunately, my t shirt was long enough!).

20. Checking my Class 12 Board results and finding my result was pathetic... my whole future life (or the lack of it) passed before my eyes).... Alok had a closer look and realised i had seen the next guy's result... my result was considerably better. Cant ever forget that sinking feeling.

21. Playing football in the rain. Simple as that.

22. Going to watch India-Australia at ferozshah kotla in Delhi during the 1987 Cricket World Cup.

23. Seeing the Niagara falls for the first time... awe-inspiring. the ride in the 'Maid of the Mist'  boat to the best of the falls was the scariest thing I ever did at the time. 

24. Lying down on a park bench next to an artificial lake close to Toronto and staring at a pristine blue sky with white fluffy clouds and wondering what it would be like to live in Canada for the rest of my life....

25. Walking the streets with my cousin Rahul in Hongkong. Massive cultural assault on a relatively young mind.

26. Lying down in a massive puddle on the road on my walk home from the bus stop after it had stopped raining and i was absolutely dry. (in response to a challenge)

27. Christmas 1987. Dancing to Strangers in the Night. Enough said.

28. Straight out of Modern School and SRCC... feeling on top of the world.. selling vanaspati and refined oil to traders who could only speak hindi. Learnt a lot about business, trading and hospitality.

29. The first five minutes of my Class 12 Maths Board exam. Was the most bizarre paper ever set and most of us in the exam room exchanged bemused and confused looks with each other. Took me a good 15 minutes to collect my thoughts and get down to it. It was an abject lesson for me - how important it is to stay calm in a pressure situation and keep coming up with solutions. 

30. Getting into IIMB on my second attempt. Arriving at the institute was an experience with a lot of importance in my life. It was something I had waited almost 3 years for. Sweet.

04 February 2009

Top 20 NON-FOOTBALL random memories from "when I was younger" (in no particular order)

Never one to turn down a challenge... (you know who you are – the ones I’m talking to)...here's the non-football list......

1. Seeing the Niagara falls for the first time... awe-inspiring. the ride in the 'Maid of the Mist'  boat to the bottom of the falls was the scariest thing I ever did at the time. 

2. Lying down on a park bench next to an artificial lake close to Toronto and staring at a pristine blue sky with white fluffy clouds and wondering what it would be like to live in Canada for the rest of my life....

3. The bus rides to and from school on MS-15... with all my friends - mala, mandira, soma, sumant, gauri, anjali, jai, joe (sometimes), rohit, jaspreet, amar, divya etc etc.

4. Walking the streets with my cousin Rahul in Hongkong. Massive cultural assault on a relatively young mind.

5. Sitting on the wall in college and doing NOTHING all day long.... just talking about just about nothing or just about anything.

6. Lying down in a massive puddle on the road on my walk home from the bus stop after it had stopped raining and i was absolutely dry. (in response to a challenge)

7. Camping in a 3-man-tent in Samar's back garden when we were 10 years old and waking up in the morning and cooking our breakfast on a stove (sort of).

8. Mince and bread at st stephens 'cafe'.... crap college but the one good thing in their canteen!

9. Trekking up to Bhrigu Lake (near Manali) when I was in Class 6, youngest person to ever reach there at the time... 6 hour trek in knee-deep snow.

10. Christmas 1987. Dancing to Strangers in the Night. Enough said.

11. Sitting and gallivanting at various airports while traveling all over the world and watching all kinds of different people.... (even today, i feel a strange kind of comfort and ease at airports)

12. Straight out of Modern School and SRCC... feeling on top of the world.. selling vanaspati and refined oil to traders who could only speak hindi. Learnt a lot about business, trading and hospitality.

13. The first five minutes of my Class 12 Maths Board exam. Was the most bizarre paper ever set and most of us in the exam room exchanged bemused and confused looks with each other. Took me a good 15 minutes to collect my thoughts and get down to it. It was an abject lesson for me - how important it is to stay calm in a pressure situation and keep coming up with solutions. 

14. Getting into IIMB on my second attempt. Arriving at the institute was an experience with a lot of importance in my life. It was something I had waited almost 3 years for. Sweet.

15. Chole Bhature at Chacha's in Kamla Nagar (K-Nags) before / during / after college... enough said.

16. Camp Blue Ridge, Blue Ridge Mountains, Georgia - 12 weeks of an incredible experience with American Kids and counsellors from all over the world.

17. Finding the "Best of Then Jericho" in the HMV Shop in London - On Sale. One of my favourite albums ever.

18. Checking my Class 12 Board results and finding my result was pathetic... my whole future life (or the lack of it) passed before my eyes).... Alok had a closer look and realised i had seen the next guy's result... my result was considerably better. Cant ever forget that sinking feeling.

19. Overnight train journeys to Central and Eastern UP for weekly visits to my Sales Territory, meeting all kinds of people in the interiors and experiencing the 'real' India.

20. My first day of Summer training at HLL.