Saturday, July 20, 2002

swiss experience ...

The first thing i did in swiss was that i bought a swiss pass ...which allowed me to travel on the complete swiss transport system...land and water!!

next thing i did for ( next 3 days ) was to chussofy my swiss pass .

With a swiss pass in my pocket and a rough plan (thanx to axay and few others )...I travelled from Geneva(including a city boat tour) to Montreux(which for me is the best town in swiss) to Chillon(to the castle ) to Laussane (where I put up for the nite at axay's ex-apartment ) to Montreux( Where I took a golden passline train which takes you through some of the most beautifull landscapes ) to Zweisimann to Spiez to Berne to Spiez to InterLaken (where sunny doel shoots for all his films ...and so do others ) to luzern to Zurich ( where I met Mogu at his fundu apartment ...hes fine and playin' ) to Lugano to Luzern to Olten to Geneva airport ....where I slept for the nite to take flight back to paris next morning ....with a conviction that I'll return..there is a lot to be done next time

Chillon(Montreux) to Laussane was an hour and half boat ride in lake Geneva..and was the best part of the trip !!.Berne was by far the most impressive !!...and lungern is anybody's dreamland ...rest as they say was cute ...really cute.

You can guess ...that for three days i did nothing but traveled... That the beauty lies not in the civilization but in the nature that hails it..

And as it had to be ...I met shippu and gagan at Zurich station ...and realised that yeh duniya badi chotti hai yaar ...aur gol bhi !!

Thursday, July 11, 2002

last week ....

Last day of the first week and first day of the last week.....they have quite similar feelings attached .
I have settled into my last week at work here ....certainly not my last week in europe.I have plans to go to switzerland atleast ...and will be able to return only on 22nd july .

Life is not the same here .....

Pathak is leaving today ....and it seems like beginning of a new chapter ....The penultimate perhaps.

Strangely ...my work here at Renault has litle importance .I have toiled hard to collect 170 pages of information and analysed it in another 200 pages ....and I'm expected to make an half an hour presentation on Friday .They say it should be enough . Well...they are all french ....what else to say ! !

Kim has set up a series of lunch meeting for us ( interns ) to interact with top executives here at technocentre . Had just one as yet ....with a nice german guy ..who kept talking about his kids .Have more to come .....wish me luck ! !

I forgot to continue the " efficiency " series .....its important!! ....will do it in some time.

Mail back guys ! !

Thursday, July 04, 2002

truly global ....

i know i have become irregular ,but its not because I'm bored or nothing being happening here ...just that I've been a bit lazy these days .

Today , I had a truely marvellous lunch .And I Bet if anyone can repeat what I did ,I'll do whatever you say.

At lunch today , We had representation from ten different countries ( given the fact that there were only nine people )

There was A dutch , A Hungarian who also represented Romania ( Sandor is hungarian with Romanian passport ),A Russian girl ,A Brazilian , A spanish , A Sweedish girl ,A Mexican girl , A French aunty ,and An Indian .

we missed Kim who could have represented America ...and a turkish girl didnt keep her apponitment .

so !! ...can you do that ..a meal with 9 people from ten ( or nine ) countries .

Among us we could speak ...Italien , Spanish , Portugese, Hungarian , Romanian , Dutch , English , French , Hindi , & Sanskrit( i tried ..after three years !!) .To celebrate the occassion , we tried all the languages !!.

for some lighter moments ...maryna said to me , she is pregnant( she had eaten too much )..and i replied " who did it " ...poor she ...she never looked at me after that.

chow !!
keep enjoying ....last days of summer ..huh ...monsoon is coming

Wednesday, July 03, 2002

efficiency ...

Since the day i have been here , i have tried to compare french to Indians and France to India .Why are french much more efficient than Indias despite the fact that they work exactly 35 hours a week .

Though i must state intially that i have had very little contact with french and MOST my knowledge about them is second hand , still i have interesting comments to make about Indians , and french . I plan to present it in form of a series of letters ( I have a lot to say )...Here is the first one !!

Few very interesting observation and facts about french ,and my extrapolations.

1. The sex ratio in France favour females
means gals r more frustu then guys .They can tear you down with their staring eyes .( good hunting ground for bugs and alike )Ladies are always well dressed and made up but the guys are always shabby …and i havent seen many guys wearing prssed clothes and suits.In France ( contrary to world average ) ladies spend more time in front of mirror then men .

2. There have been five republics declared in France
and there are talks about a sixth one .French are never sure of what they are doing or how things are going on .After every time power has changed hands , french have found themselves in similar hands. According to Kim , she met a history students who tried to prove that after every revolution and during it, it was peasants and clergies along with the rulers who were killed and eliminated but the upper class had remained same .Infact all the powerfull men in France even today , are direct decendants of the same upper class people who were influencial in 18th century .I cannot confirm on this but i have reasons to believe it .

3. Average french people are very simple and even fools
its true .you dont need to be a bihari to bend them. Playing games to them is very simple, given the fact that they cannot concieve and wdnt realise.But it also means that once they start following some rules , its inconcievable for them to find exceptions.These rules are made by same upper class guys who r in power .

4. The french have a complex education system
not many people persue quality education.Reasons are simple .They dont need to .The rules and provisions are framed in such a manner that you dont have to fight for a quality life as in India , and hence no desire or insentive to try to rise .BUT ? they have have a structure in education system seperating a few colleges from others and calling them supirior (something like IITs ) .A student from these grand college in 90% cases rises to top posts and power positions in France, and 90% of top post , bosses , bureaucrats and polititians are FILLED from these " grand ecoles " .( extrapolating on these two 90% scores means only people from these places reach the top and all of them reach the top )And add to it a fact that good families ( mostly upper class ) have a tradition to send their kids there .Means families in power remain in power .Also ,Your first salary and your growth has direct relationship to the college you come from .

5. French are very proud to be french
and for them its the only way to live , infact they cannot imagine or have never tried to think about anyother form of society and place.They dont travel outside France much , south of France is best possible holidays .They ask ... y do you want to go to switzerland ?...Y do you have to eat vegetables ?..... y do you eat food with hands ?.....y cant i sleep with my girlfriend in her fathers presence ? ?….now i can see that Marie Antennoaite was not a fool when she said : " y dont they eat cakes if they dont have breads "....she was simply bieng french ! !

6. French really care about humans
for example a bus is not a bus …its a vehicle which carrys 40 human lives and hence by all senses has greater priority then all other road vehicles .And that says it all .

And i still havent figured out , why do they marry ?? Joinning there assets ...and lowering their taxes?? ...doesnt seem to be good enough reasons to eat the most dangerous laddoo called marriage .

neways ....
wait for more ...

Friday, June 28, 2002

fatta poster nikala ...herO

Pud ... ! !

Rem , i told you about hero hiralal...
Here he goes ...

Well..our hero , urf shalu , urf shailendra chabbra is an ulto mast guy from trical or tronics !!...IT BHU.

As by pathak he is a major extrovert .But beleive me he is dangerous .

You want reasons .. just try walking with him on paris streets ....or in the metros ...or under the effiel tower ! !

A 5 ft 4~5 ,he is a potpourri of enthu , chill , frankness, simplicity , and a desire for sexual fun .....in short a packet of dynamite .He is more pale then thin ....wears spects ...and carrys a pack of cigerattes , which he dosent smoke , and condoms .( he has been advised not to roam around in paris without condoms ! !)

If it still havent touched you that hes is dangerous ....i can tell you what he has done to me . When i'm with him…he gives me an urge to dissappear ...to melt ....or rather to evapourate from the scene when he is at work .For Last few days , we have been guiding people in the city .... asking people if they work in sun microsystems ...trying to lite our cigrattes from some other cigreattes in beautiful hands …asking aunties , the location of nite clubs ....bending indian-americans for sex advice .....and uff...what not ! !

His task is to use fully ....the pack of 13 condoms that he carrys….

And the only thing left to try is to go to a girl and ask :
" hey babe ....wanna have sex ! ! "

The only reason I'm moving with him is my fear for such deals ....I want to get rid of that fear ...a social kind of fear.Probably trying to shake the introvertness in me or to improve on my incompatibility with girls .

I dont know whats in store for the weekend ..but i surely dont see the end of shalu & me ! !

Pud...pud ...

Tuesday, June 25, 2002

night out !!

Yaar i have been real busy these days. But i think i should sneak in a few times and update you all...
...so much happening here.

Yesterday i met a american who has an indian dad and a cecilian mother.American.... because if the person in question dosent speak " fuckin' " at least 3 times in a sentance ...he is not american .but he was .Nice fellow though...a student of films .inspired by gandhi ...rest is better not said .

And i met a guy from Himachal ...running a restaurant here ....nice guys…nothing to much about him though.

This Friday ...as i told you …France celebrated the " fete de la musicqu ".The annual music festival welcomming summers in true europian style. I hit the streets after the office hour …only to return after my first nite out on paris streets .

Rest as they say ...was amazing ! !.I was with pathak .And it was here that I met " hero hiralal " .well if you rem the movie you will realise the personality which needs a full diary entry to summarize.His real name though is Shailendra Chhabra...urf ...shalu. ( wait for more ! ! )
We also had another sharma with us.Abhishek is a simple guy quite straight forward and likes to RUN ....bad thing being he likes others to run with him.( you will realise shortly)

I saw the whole city on streets that nite …which was when we were exploring the roads ...stopping accross groups of musicians and enjoying french , spanish and other european forms of lovely music.Every single soul in paris ,who thinks he is ,or can be a musician ( except me) was there with his instrument or vocal cord to do his bit .not for reccognition but for the fun of it .

I also developed an interesting theory which goes on like ...if you r a musician on such a nite ...no girl has the rite to refuse you.Though i saw this theory being put to test many times ...it was scary enough not to try it on myself .

So i went along ..with these guys ...through the streets ...below the bridges …over the bridges …accross thez squares .. and the roundabouts….listening , staring and enjoying the city of music in lights .

In between ...Mr sharma realised that he has a train to catch and has read the timmings incorrectly...leaving him 10 mins to run accross 4 kms on a nite when there wasnt any metro .So he did wat he likes ...he RAN ....and so did we.

Fortunately...we were able to make him safely board the train and be sent home ( toulose )....And came back gasping like dogs.

We ran when we had to ....we stood when we wanted to .....we danced when we had company ....we sat when we got space ....we slept when we were tired .

It was 5 in the morning when it was time to go home ....the time for the first Metros .with the musical memories of paris imbedded in our minds we returned to our beds only to wake up at 3:30 in the evening!!

ciao !!!
keep reading ....

Friday, June 21, 2002

21st June ...

guys,

Today is a very interesting day .Its the longest day you can have .

I have got a P ! ! ! at my place now.Ideally it should be used to run VARITY (see footnote).but i hope there will be interesting implications.And it will surely improve my efficiency .

I have come to know that i cant come back home before 22nd july .which is bad .No seats before 22…aaakk ! !.

Today is " fete de la musique " the annual music festival of France when they welcome summer ….rem today is the longest day of the year ! !….start of summers

I was reminded today in a meeting of my class room lectures.and al. I must confess this in my diary that Never in my life i have been able to stand any lecture ,recietals , or orations….including corporate presentations . I sleep through them ! ! . And its painful that you MUST take notes (which i have never done )..otherwise you 'll be sleeping in the next meeting or the discussion at the cofee bars …. " not good for your career ! ! "

Enjoy the you day ! !

FOOTNOTE : VARITY is a million Francs software which is capable of data mining and data mapping .When asked about these terms , The fundu compsc iitians and someother doing internship in same field had no answers except … "you dont define DM & DM …you realize what it is when you work on it .( something like suban said in CS130…. " you dont define OOPS…every (fuckin ) soul in jia sarai knows it …you realise when you work on it " ). Well…for begginers …its grandpa of google and does all sort of searching , crawling on internet given a few parameters , and then give catagorical results .( good for americans and germans ).

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

chapel ..

Life is running along. This weekend i went to a chappel for a change .....dont worry i'm not turning saint...it was carrols which we ( me and pathak ) went for .It was nice to hear french singing.and i think i felt exactly what foreigners feel for indian classical music in regular spic macay concerts.

I have finally decided that my first book will not be my autobiography.Rather, it will be more intresting ....its a story about 12 guys, extreme rightist, well placed, and well fed ( in all the senses of the word ). A representative of what ego , ambition , and talent can do when they are left alone to themselves .

Keep mailing guys ...
Ashish

Friday, June 14, 2002

usine de Flins

guys !!

i hadnt come to the office yesterday ...the reason being that all the interns were stacked into a bus and deported to Flins ( near paris )to see a usine ( factory ).
They make clio and the Twingo (yes ..they same one we crashed ) there.
Its a huge plant making 1900 cars a day in two shifts .they claim it to be 98% automatic , run by robots , although i'm neither sure of this definition nor how they quantify this automation (so unable to appreciate this claim ), but i'll say that it was a lovely experienced .

A Clio take 12 hours to be build starting from metal sheets .The sheets are stamped , fabricated , painted , and then assembled over a platform which is being assembeled simutaneuosly .

Renault imports /produce engines in association of peugeot... to meet its recquirements .

It was quite interesting to see 2000 robots working 16 hrs a day each performing a fixed task ( which can be 1 of the n configuarartions feeded into it )..;and the workers who played music while they fitted respective parts in turn .

the whole assembly line is spread in 83 acers of land and make clio (2/4 door left / right hand driven) and twingo(2/4 door left / right hand driven ) , ie 8 types of car .

I was my first visit to any manufacturing plant so cannot compare for standards ..but i believe it was pretty normal compared to european standards i believe in.pretty down to earth ...nothing fundamentally interesting .

see you on monday ...am going to crash in my bed this weekend

Wednesday, June 12, 2002

Monopsony...

Guys !!

I dont know if i'm in agreement ….but i think ts time to introduce Ms Starovoitova Maryna to our readers

Maryna is the new intern ( a week old now ) and the latest inclusion ( dated 3rd june 2002) in our team.

She is a Russian…lived in Ukraine … worked in France ….studying in Germany… just returning from New York with her boyfriend You dont have read between lines to find out that she knows Russian,French German and English and speaks all of them fluently.

A 7.5 pointer on a BABS scale [ A- , B , B , C- ] ( to the uninitiated brains …BABS scale invented by cooldudes should remain unintialised )…Ms Maryna has caused a rapid repositioning of the socialising groups present here .Old friends of sandor and chris have started to take meals with us …..and its not difficult to make new friends now . It was a discovery for me to find a lot of people in my socialising group smoke ( yes ! !…she smokes and others try to give her company ). There has been considerable changes in my dear Sandor as well…..he shaves daily now .

And if you better realise …its really a MONOPSONY being played here .
I ….as I have stated before …..am out of any such race .

To make you guys feel better …I must tell you that IITians are not the only frustu souls on planet earths …we have stiff competition from these europeans (sadly ….you have weak representation ..…i'm not game this time )

After building such a background for her …i dont think i can do justice to Ms. Maryna if i try to describe her in words..…except adding that she is working on the same project as I'm and on been given a (excatly) similar task ….she declared that its too much for two months. POOR ME ! !.


(not this time)

new signature ...

bon !! ( good !! )

i'm pleased to see that you all do care about the signature people put in their mails ....

i'm also pleased to see that u all try hard to read between the lines of my stupid diary confessions .I'll advise not to overstress your brains ..use it to its capacity and ask me for the rest ...i'm here to back sincere efforts !!

...keep reading .I still have to tell you all about Maryna ..she is due for a week now to make a appearance in my diary .It'll need time ...and agreement .

see you soon guys

(again)
______________________________________________________________________
.....if you could read between these lines

THINK ....

THINK !!...
that you can die while you are having the time of your life ...
like a "the end" before a climax...
like the way "lord of the rings, part one " ended ....
when so much still to be done ....
egony still to be felt ...
when there is no need to die ...when no one can die ....
the death can come to you .
just as a comp hangs mid of a movie ....
just as petrol in the bike runs out before an anxiously waited date ....
JUST AS it feels like somebody stole the tangari when you were seduced by its taste....
as if the road ends when you are not even half way
Think !!!.....you cannot think of it Mr.pathak ....its better if you dont think of it .otherwise whos gonna see those movies ...who will drive a bike ....who will set those dates ....who will hire those cars ...who ll come to europe ....who ll have fun in life .

please dont think ....

i'm game ....we ll hire a car in switz ...wat do u say akshay !!!

friends ...its seems that the "incomplete symphony " brought you back to life ..i was happy to get your responses ....and to tell you everything is fine ...we need to relax !!

and guys dont leak this before we come back to india

And cheer up ...log india mein car thokte hein ...humne france mein car thoki hai ..hurray !!!

Tuesday, June 11, 2002

The Incomplete Symphony !!!

9th june 2002.

The city of marseille was left behind once we found our way out .The road ahead was hilly and Akshay was hesitant to drive .Rahul jumped to the wheel...we had no other option . pathak was navigating ( he is too good for the job )...i sat behind him and akshay besides me. Leaving the city below us and the sea by our side, we moved on... towards heaven (!! its seems to fit here...u ll realise )... towards Cassis.

It had been rainning all nite but the day ahead of us was sunny ...perfect setting for a beautiful climax of trip so beautiful ....so filling ..almost like a symphony (u'll realise my sentiments once you read ahead )

Once out of cassis...we were moving down hill...Rahul..overconfident of his driving skills was moving us at 90 kmph.We asked hm to slow down ...reminded him that we r not setting ne records.....that we can afford to change our plans ...that ....for god sake SLOW DOWN ! !.

He did .

It was ...a peugeot 306 van...10 :27 am 9th june 2002 ...La coita France....a sharp turn and an inevitable mistake.

I saw it coming ...i knew it wd have been a narrow escape ...It was not ! !

It was like being thrown in a time stream ...no destination ..no beginning...but a complete fall....It was dark ...and there was a mystical cloud of dust ....

The first thing i asked myself was weather I'm in heaven or I'm in hell....I had to ....but I saw pathak ...coughing and trying to break out of car. I was sure i cdnt be dead (I and pathak cant be together in heaven or in hell ! !).. logic prevailed ......i saw akshay coughing heavily. I asked myself again...is rahul alive (dead .....was wat i thought ..forgive me for that !!!)....he was not ...air bags had saved his life .. and pathak's.

Twingo is a 2 door car ...we all moved out finally . I stood there gasping for life ... I saw a cycle stopping ...a mobile ... a call for help....a man ...his wife .. a child crying in her arms ....a kid besides her ... and flashes

Flashes of Facts ..realities ..consequences in front of me ...not in my eyes ...rite infront of me !!. I saw a broken car .. damaged beyond repair ...my worthless credit card ... our return train in nite for paris to be caught from grenoble... akshay'face (he was to be the official driver...rahul was underaged..and akshay's licences at car rental)... police sirens ...interrogation...a crate of beer in the car ...our refusing to know any french ...pathak's contact in the embassy .....insurance of the car ....my broken glasses ...The symphony (our trip )...a trip that could never be (completed)....a weekend that it was .....a week that it had been ....the game we had played... the game ....not a draw but a tie .

The police was cooperative and we were left at the station to find our way back. We realised that nobody had dire physical injuries... but a lot of psycological (and financial) trauma .

It took us three trains and five hours to reach Grenoble ..only to find the car rental office closed. We were left... shocked... with cancelled tickets and aching bodies... to discover consequences. Pathak returned to paris... I and akshay stayed to complete the formalities .

We were back in paris by 3 pm on Monday . I had to miss my office and an important meeting. I m just glad we didnt miss anybody...we are all back in one piece .

This is how it ends... or should i say forced to stop ...plans that worked out (we didnt return the car after all)...plans that didnt.....the Incomplete Symphony ...... " dil chata hai " with an anti climax ...the week that should have been......the weekend that it was...the week i ll never forget ! !

Ashish

I'm game ...

Dear diary ! !

It all started a week ago ( last weekend )when monsieur pathak said this .... we were planning a trip to south of France...the occasion ...akshay was coming .

This was the week when i refused to work ...the week commencing my second month in paris ....the week when i did endless hours of planning ...the week which should have been perfect ...the week when most of the things went wrong . ...the week with THE weekend.....the week ...which i lll never forget ! !

As always ....i was the forerunner in making plans . plans which look good on paper .....plans which look like a hollywood movie.But never in my dream did i thought that we ll do wat we did (planned).


It took us 3 full working days ...approximately 50 mails( at one time 15 mails in an hour )...1 hour talk time on mobs ...2 sms and wat not ! !.....to jot our plan ...ammend it ..reammend it and to finalise ( and u people ask me where i was last week ! ! ) .We did plan to go to south of France ..to grenoble .. to hire a car ! !....and to have a remake of dil chahta hai ! ! .

For your knowledge ..there are three people in india who know every nonsense of hiring a car .....And when they did ...they hired a car on a credit card ( valid only in india .. expired may 2002 ..( ofcourse mine )..and a debit card ( which had Rs.27 in balance .... ofcourse mine ! ! ) and 200 euros cash ! !.yes it was a car for 200 euros cash. We did planned not to return it ..and as i said ....we did what we planned !!!

We cdnt voilate copyrite of Mr akhtar ( dil chahta hai fame )...so we included rahul kapoor .3rd yr chem IIT D Shivalik ! !..who has driven to Nice last week .This was the first time when i compromised on somebody in our company ...the reason being that we needed an extra driver and a guide ...which he proved to be beyond our expectations .When we boarded our car ( obviuosly a RENAULT....twingo ! !)...we were five hours behind our schedule and had no intensions to alter our plans .

we wanted to mark on our route ... Grenoble- Valence- Montelimar- Avignon- salon- Marseille- Aix.en.provence- Cassis- Toulon- Nice- Cannes...and every other things which wd come our way .....WE DID ! !

We were intelligent enough to stack our car with 54 euros worth of eatables and drinkable ( those who realise will see that its half a months food cost for a person)..for four people for two days.And we had planned sufficiently to keep 3 guide books for the region ...all kinda road maps ...addresses of youth hostels in every city on our route ...city maps of all the cities and ..We had Bryan adams to accompany us and occasionally Shakira ...The rest was europe at its best .......

It was drizzling and it was raining .. we didnt mind ....we were too satisfied with our investments and the pay off. ! !(Dont expect to tell me how beautiful every thing in every city we passed was ...i dont have words ! !... ask akshay rather )

When we reached Marseillie it was 10 and it was raining heavily ..we had a hard time finding the youth hostel and when we finally did ...i had no intension to miss a nap in the car ( i and pathak thus slept in car ....akshay and rahul had beds in YH).

Next day i was made to sit up in traditional ara style ..u know wat ! !...Rubbing my eyes ..i hardly had an idea if wat is to come ...

I dont intend to write mails as big as this ....but we did everything we planned to, and what we didn't ....i think you should wait for the rest ...

So long .......keep reading between the lines .


Ashish

( this is the firt of my diary mail s reaching pathak ...id like his comments and advise on writing the second part !! )

Thursday, June 06, 2002

dear diary !!

voila !( there you are !! )

it might be news for you that i have survived a month in this company now ....gives me a lot of satisfaction. and As if to commensurate the occasion ...i havent worked this whole week...and plan to have a long weekend.

i have come to the office daily ..sat on my seat and thought ....I have completed the fountainhead and it has done me like a strong vodka ....

and axay had been over my head all the week with his badh badh as well....hes coming tommorow and we have big plans ...plans ....lets see.

I read my diary mails today ....

i noticed a lot of typing,grammatical and stupid errors ...(i hope you didnt)...but it gave me a lot of satisfaction .my initial days ...5 day weekend ..;trip to barcelona ...small games ..parties ..friends ...thoughts ....
and yes ...i cd read between the lines ,so i laughed ( giggled shd be thr rite word!!)...

well...a lot needs to be done still ...a lot more remains ( like my project !!).I ll wait for sardar ...the swiss trip ...and try to fix in rome somewhere...i hope i do !!

and then i remember ..i havent repeated a lunch ( 25 dishes in 25 days !!!...cdnt rem all of them ..had italian lasagnya yest and a oeufs chГ teline today )...i wish to continue on same track

Yes...you must have missed the details of last weekend ...i missed telling you ...it shd follow in some time probably on mon ...

Tuesday, June 04, 2002

its ...all so wonderful

hi guys ..

i have been quite for a while coz i dont want to let you people seduced by my writings ....

and ofcourse ..;as the days go by , french people have stopped amusing me in the small things they do...in their bieng crazy about STAR WARS or they going nuts over those beautiful NISSAN 4*4 cars on display here . I have dicided to take things lightly ...slowly and casually ..as the french do ..when i go back ,i ll have to proved that i was not just a tourist here ...i was living in paris ..as they do ...

though it might amuse us all y every 40 yr old in here is crazy about star war ..but we never will understand how they lived a childhood dream to be one like those in starwars....we never had any childhood heros coz we didnt had many options ( except sri ram and 007 Mr krishna ..;who r too big to be personified even in dreams )

i have started to despise such things ....

but not the NISSAN cars .these machines are amazing ...it gives u better feeling than sitting in a merc ( i have tried )...the feeling of power ...here ..at your diposal ...to be maneuvered.There was a display of these cars in the lobby of TC ...17 cars were booked in the fist week.

at times ....wat i think of is my bike ...not coz i m less mobile then i was but coz i see these parisians make me envy with ther 1200cc 10000 euros jets ( calling them bike will mean i have a bicycle which runs on petrol). you dont nees to see these DUCCATI & YAMAHA & HONDA showrooms to fall in love with them ..u can if u see the worst of them ( single ) in autoexpo.

and yes ...i went to the louvre on sunday 2nd june 2002 !!

Thursday, May 30, 2002

bhaago .....hostel mein aaag lag gayi hai

we have been playing this prank for last three years ...

wat i didnt knew was that french hold an expertise over all in the field .

just 15 min ago ...we all heard a beep ..and then an alarm...fire alarm.It was interesting to feel fire around you ...creating panic ..;and making you run.Run ...u better do coz everyone here was runnig to the nearest fire exist door ...

i was reminded to take my passport ..money ..phones ..;gadgets and all along .I did.then followed the crowd to the fire exit( wich i was shown on the frist day and i never wished to use !!).some how it all sounded very funny ..and coudnt help myself blush ....

this was where i was caught by an aunty in the next block ...she knew me and asked with all her sincerity...." why are you smiling ...its a fire alarm!! .." (i knew she was serious and worried)

precisely...i thought. and then i laughed ...i had to ...
you had to see her face ....seing me laugh .she wd have fainted then and there ...she had to...but she didnt.

i escaped from there... to my friend , where we found it was all an excersise!!

funny ...very funny ..they call it french humor

ummm ... lets talk food ...

hi guys !!
i hope you missed me in you inboxes coz i m missing you all here ...

past few days have been really hectic ...i have finally started ..wat we call as bullshitting .You can see that i have done my preliminary work and devised an algo to work and have now started coding ...its a lot to ask if you dont have office 2000(prety shamefull for renault)

neways ...its long that i have evaded the questionof wat is the food like ...
to tell you frankly ...i hate it and i love it .I have my breakfast made in the hostel and lunch at TC which leaves me little or no insentive to toil for a decent dinner .

breakfast as you wd know is sweet in france ..which means bread jam ..sweet eggs (a speciality of my hostel )..chocolat!! and curd ..sweet ofcourse

the lunches are more exquisite and exotic...not to mention i eat in one of those 8 wonderful reasturants everyday .i have already tried all types of food from all the corners of france and europe . saying this ...meat is as integral part of food here as salt in India ..;so i have already tried all types of sea food and animal food possibly existing here.

once home ...i complete my day with a less exquisite and more sober bread and butter and eggs dinner.

on weekends ..i m with monsieur pathak who is an expert and makes full use of extensive cookery gadgets provided in his hostel...and i enjoy the food (this mail is not going to pathak !!!)

To add a few more facts ...i am now in possesion of a wonderfull MP3 player and enjoy bryan adams in french as much as michel jackson in english .

I have started with fountainhead ..ayn rand ...to which Kim had to say that i had all the paris to my self and i chose a small fountain head ...i hope she realises.
i think i was a fool to delay it for so long ..neways ...a must for all of you(take that bugs !!)


and yes ...i have lost my bet kaps ...martina hingis is not playing this yr at RG so i cdnt do wat i intended to ...alas !! :-((

meet you guys later with more on bikes , Nissan and weather !!!...and yes STAR WARS ....

ashish

Only if you could read between the lines...






Only if you could read between the lines...






Only if you could read between the lines...

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

bon !!

sorry guys ..!!
no mails for long ...i know ...its very hard to resist .
but nothing much happening here except lots of files and presentations...Kim is back and so r my senses !!

i had a lovely weekend (:-D)....started on with fountainhead ...its lovely to read a book when its raining all the day ...and have lots of coffee and snacks ....calm and soothing !!

well lots of thing to be told ...
conclusion of the "le voyage espagnol" ...weather here... food!!...bikes ...gadgets...NISSAN...STAR WARS !!...and a small review on sandor ...

will get to you with all this soon ...

( btw am in my fourth week here and really ...it looks like i have just come...so many things to do ??)

ashish

i hope i was in spain !!

hi guys ....
i m back to my senses and a bit more relaxed ...so
its diary time again....

At times i envy kapoor for enjoying his life in spain ...though he not telling anyone ( read everyone for me )...but i know there is a wealth of opportunity in spain ( and i pray for that idiot !! )

I repeatedly keep telling peopl here that spainsh arictecture is more attractive than that of paris ( and no french will except that ever !!)...the reason simply being the amount of variation in style and mode of construction.

There are a few other interesting things to note bout spain...which includes love of spainish people for their ( big !! ) dogs ( i have been told they trust dogs more than their children )....warm climate ...which has more effect on spaish people than parisians !!...lovely beaches and there extensive uses !!...the fact that musti is as omnipresent as( and at times more effluent than ) GOD himself.

there is simply no place for old people .....and the intresting fact is that they never get old ( 18 till i die types !!).Girls on average are more beautifull than french ( no comparison with indian possible ...totally different domains !!).

the Barcelona city was very nicel presented and i found it more lively than paris( people r always running for their lives coz they r machines !! ).The walking tour will be an everlasting memory ...it was one those fantasies turned realities which ( i thought ) happens only in movies ( and in present case ) in travel shows.

As for Mr pathak ...i have found the (atleast one) answer to our question ( for others ...i and pathak when roaming around those beautiful and grand showroms of paris were mystified by the fact that while the shops( by pais standards ) r filled with exotic clothings and lively manequins but ...WHERE ARE THE GIRLS !!В°.... who get dressed or buy these lovely things ..)
the answer as evident is SPAIN !!

Well another example of french coolness and spainish(concernlessness should i say )...i lost my return ticket ( 60ВЈ!!)when i was madly searching for kapoor in this !! land ....the logical solution wd be i shd get a copy of my ticket with some charges ...but they simply told me to get a new one ( myheart sank...60ВЈ!! )...
the sol was less costly ..trusting on the french..i went to the french border by a spainish train and told the SNCF(frech equivalent of IR) guy bout my prob...though it was in french ..i made out that i dont need the tickect nemore ..( u can always trust frenchies in need !!)

since morning i have been hoping ...wat has now become my signature for this mail accout
_______________________________________________________________________

Just hope that you could read between the lines...

ashish



В° : trademark question

Monday, May 27, 2002

game/set/match ...or COINCIDENCE

well....

A lot of queries for the sat party….
Here is a snap of it …
Any furthur queries will automatically be dumped with a no comments tag.

The party was placed in Chris's apartment which is in the northern part of paris .some of You already know the rules for the party.,for the rest …
1. bring a photographs of a part of ur body ..
2. get ur own drinks ( no soft drinks allowed
3. no exception to the rule 1 &2

to gather some importance and to avoide the initial slow part of the party i reached there an hour late only to find myself just an hour earlier ..as the crowd started to build up .. …chris's apartment shrinked in size …
one fact which i was made torealize was that i was one of the few who cd speak english and the other that i was the youngest there ( my nearest competitior fell short by 7 yrs )

with some nice music providing the ambience the evening proved to be a slow starter ending in a roaring nite ( witha slightly diff kinda music)…i found myself to be raged by a lot of queries about subjects ranging from indo pak blah blah to my existing gf (which u all know …never existed ! !).Most of these people were working for renault and if not renault then neother big company…i met workers ranging from inters to marketting directors who when drunk gave me woder full advices .

the photo was used to identify ur parter with whomm u ll play a truth and dare game …which was pretty sober even by indian standards…..with an unusual photo( i still have it ! !) and a T & D chit in my hand ( written in french ofcourse) i set out to explore ..my luck.I found her in a corner and the chit was useless when we found niether of us knew french .she was swedish and pretty decent ( 7.9 or 8.1…for the uninitiated ..u better not know )and a tourist just like me ( perfect ! !)Chris cam to rescue when he deciphered the chit for us which was like..*

TRUTH : define ur dream date

DARE : kiss the shpoulder of ur partner …

And the deal was either she will tell me the truth and i do the dare or i tell the truth and let her do the dare

She decided to tell the truth

The party continued as people found their partners and did thier ( foolish not exciting ) dares ! ! !
And as with all parties …when people got bored with the things in hand ..the party ends
It was 3 in the morning and i was droped back by some one who i dont even care to know the name and all

…..thats all i had for u

take care
ASHISH

Friday, May 24, 2002

Barcelona on foot ...

sorry guys !!

i left you in the middle of an exciting story(atleast for me !!)

(( recap : available on recquest !!))

well ...since we had enjoyed ur sunday thoroughly ...hum ghode gadhe aur iitians ..sab bech kar so gaye .

next morning kaps had to join office and i was too move for my quest..
i planned to roam onthe streets of barcelona . my train back to paris was scheduled for 3 pm so reaching barcelona sants at 11 gave barcelona four full hours of my presence....
i hope they enjoyed as much i did ....
i started my walking tour from the temple of gaudi ....which in itself is a masterpiece ( some do count it as one of the wonders of the world)....for the uninitiated...antoni gaudi was a gem of a architecture...and hes is known for his innovative works which have made barcelona a marvellous site to look at ....
by kapoor it was ridiculous to describe barcelona as a city which u can walk through...but kapoor i ll suggest that u reconcider ....coz as i went along with my four hr walk i found some amazing piece of architecture casted in a unmatchable style ( unlike paris where repition is is highly noticible ) .
i had my lunch under the sun at a street side mcD( one of my fav past times ...to have food or drinks at tables placed out on streets ..a common practice here in europe !!) in front of gaudi' temple ...it is an amazing struture and i kept looking at it for all of my 20 min
lunch.
i found time running out of my hands ..so i moved toward the monumental de la catulnya (original parliament of catulunya region )...to arch the triuph( as u can guess ...buld to signify some vitory ..pretty much sam as the A D triumph inpais and india gate ...)
to the musee de zoologic ...to the twin towers ( spanish version ..looking over to the beaches )..
it was then i realised that i took a wrong turn i i found myself in a munirka like residencial area ...thanks to the vast sea ..i found out my way to the main street and then moved to the mirador de colom.
it was interesting to find every crossroad in barcelona to have a pillar or a monument to center it .place catalunya ( which will come soon ) M de colom arch de triumph and all r such roundabouts and all.
i even found a small killa in the centre of city which was surrounded by classical channel of water ( sans water in this case ).
then i moved to the most beautifull site of the city ...

the museum of arts of catalunya(marc) is built on a mound and looks into the city..built symmetrically ...th front covered by the water which flows down centrally ..and looking into the city u find the place catalunya and two tower placed on the road connecting it the MARC.rest cannot be described in words wait for the photographs ...

then i moved to the 92'olympic site and saw some pretty regular( olymic standard stadiums and all!!

tome was running out ...and i decided to return to the station ....

and if kapoor will follow his map ..through this route i covered most of the imp places in barcelona and also enjoyed the streets and the beaches and the culture of the city ( highly recommended to alll))

next i found my self moving to paris ..with all the memories and a desire to return ....

I ll suggest that we assemble in paris ( with serd and mogu )it will be a nice idea to go back to barcelona ...

allot has to be said and it looks am running outta time again ...and i think it will be disrespectfull if i dont add a few things about spain and spanish people ( with some interesting add ons i recieved about
Spain from my socialising club !!)

hoping to return in ur inbox ...

ashish

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

LE VOYAGE ESPAGNOL !!

hi !!

well..this was the most happening trip i have had to ane where ...
it started with finding myself alone in spain with lo where to go ( i had lost kapoors add) and losing my ticket ..and ended with spell binding beauty opf barcelona city !!

i have to say that spain has shocked the hell outta me !!.all my presumption and assumptions about the (amazing)country had been dealt with utter severity .

Infact ...if french people enjoy thier life and have fun ....in spain THEY PARTY !!

thanks to mr kapoor ..i didnt have aadd to go when i reached barcelone ...after a desperate search for about 4 hours ..i found him in a small town called MANRESSA ( quite near barcelona !!).small it was but it had the same aroma typical spanish people and musti in the air .It was sat when we were roaming on the streets of manressa when we found that wat party means for us is only an appetizer for spain.

spainish towns have a tradition of having a town centre and an attached RAMBLA ....a street with bars and cafes ..near the centre of the city.it looked like the whole town was out by 7 pm (it was deserted at 4 pm when i came searching for kaps ...think about u searching for somebody and reaching a town with haunted ...big churches ..tolling bells ...and no one to speak to (even if u knew spainish) ...aaakk!!)
with full spanish galore we enjoyed the street cabre ( which u cant even dream to see inside bars in paris )...beautifull crowd and music all around ...it was toital musti in the air ...After enjoying our quota of it all we strolled around the streets and retired to ur beds after a very ful filling session of BC ( which we both missed so much !!)

we had an idea but wat we have in store fro tomm ...but it surpassed all our imaginations when we found ourselves humbled by the wonderful sight of mediterranean sea !!...and ofcourse the beaches in front of us ...to tell you frankly ...the spanish people have a sligghtly different concept of nude beaches ...so we decided to enjoy the sun a little longer than expected....dressed in the same way as ideal beache mover are ...we enjoyed the cool medtt. breeze till the eveing and then we decided to move to the city ...(we had decided that we wont return to ur room but will put up a nite out on the streets of barcelona ..)
before reaching ur desired destination...we found ourselves entring a park ..which some what vaguely defined the spanish definition of party and fun.That park seemed like the centre for spanish culture , dance and music ...many groups ( i think from near by towns ) had assembled there and were playing wonderfull music ...interesting as it was ...the samba ( or watever they call it ) invariably made me start thumping and enjoying the music ...it was simply wonderful( i can still hear the music in my ears ).traditional spanish dances , music and food was all over ..musti was in the air ...
these people had a habit of making a corcle and playing there instruments and leaving the arena for movers and shakers ...
we saw the people dancing on drums ...music produced by plates and rods ;..classical tap dancing ...and god knows wat not !!
we spend around 4 hours in there and found that barcelona nite life should have nothing more to offer than wat we had already seen !!
so we decided to move back to ur lovely town manressa .....

...opps!!!its 8/12 and i ll miss the last bus back to paris ...

the adventure of ash chan and " le voyage espagnol " will return tomm
same time ...watch out ...

take care ...

ashish

in the next episode of the french diary ....
" le voyage espagnol ..part 2 ".....dont miss the excitement ...brought to u by ...your fav car RENAULT !!

executive meeting ...

hi guys !!

i always forget to ask how r u all..never mind ...take care and have fun !!

rem i told u bout the meeting at renault headquaters !!...you can say it was my first corp.style meeting ...

the guy ...some Englisbe Ross !! .. some manager in DOI ..is an american ..
with the most strongest american that i had seen so far ...this guy told me how difficult corporate life can be ( all those budding managers take care !!)
not ready to listen or help ...he continued to tell us his (MY) SUBJECTIVE ANALYSIS of the indian automotive market ..and guys believe me ...agar hum uchchaltein hein to woh hamara baap hai !!..he reported that McKinsey & comp is the biggest bullshit around and all its data acc to his (MY) VERY SUBJECTIVE ANALYSIS...is all horseshit !!( and then he d calmly keep reporting from and quoting mckinsey figures as they r the only existing sourse of info on planet earth !!...typical american i as told !!)

aneways ...he has given me 30 kgs of confidential reports ( rem i have signde a confidentiallity agreement )on india ..and have been asked to come back in a week for more !!

so have to read hard this week ..( now i rem eaish telling me to improve my reading speed ...!!)

abientu ( see u )
ashish

in the next episode of the french diary ...
"le voyage espagnol"...the amazing land of musti ..in your inbox..brought to you by RENAULT !!

till then ...

Saturday, May 18, 2002

plans ...

bonjour !!

last day of first week ....or forst day of last week
its all the same...you just wanna pack your bags and roll !!!

the plans are that i ll be at kapoors place this weekend ( monday is a holl )....in spain !!!
before that i still have to recieve my first dividend for my socialising investment ...and then i have my first formal meeting at renault head qtrs in paris ...so looks like a long friday ( french standards !! )

btw ...have got my first mob yesterday ...
its a nokia 3310 and my no is

(0033) 6 17 80 22 55

so ..everybody is free to call me ne time( incoming is free in france )...given that u miss me !!

ok...then will mail u back with my firt dividend after the lunch

bye

ashish

Friday, May 17, 2002

the french kiss ...

voilГ  !!

we all have our fantasies about the FRENCH kisses ..even i had a few..
the thought of it melts the very core of your psyche ...but never in my dreams i would have thought to laugh at it when you its your first...

well it all came along with my first dividend of my socialising investments...chris invited us( wait for the definition ) at lunch today. It was in one of those expensive rest . in the TC.
US ...includes a dutch ( chris ) , an italian(vini)a romania (sandor),
a spanish girl( she was more like "mummy" ..;an engg ofcourse), a spanish hero (some jorge) and two very interesting french girls (florence and caroline ...one of which is chris's roommate ...dont ask me who !!) who laughed all the time....and ofcourse ur beloved ..ashchan

my definition of french kiss lost its ground when i saw the french girls offered their cheeks to be kissed ...on by one...on both cheeks
...to everyone .well here is the fromal procedure( as observed and then follwed by me !! )...

1. when offered to by a girl (tha will be defined by as she coming forward and placing her right ckeek some weher near you !!)
....get ur left cheek to touch the right cheek of the girl

2.take care that ur lips are not in contact anywhere ( this i think was the important part)

3.make a noice..when you hear one from your (partner)....like ....pucchhhuuuaaaaaaa ( and the aaaa was by god is distinctly heard)

4. follow the procedure for the other cheek

well ...i dont know bout you but after seeing the ritual done by 2 girls for five men ...ie 10 times ...which means 20 pucchhhuuuaaaaaaa
i couldnt help laughing ...infact the spanish girl/lady/aunty saw me laughing and nodded in my support...

woopps !!!

yup...those were my first four french kisses ....

the food was good ...( a speciality from normandy servered with local alcohol( i forgot the name) ...for casual eaters it was the french version of dosa !!)

and ofcourse the coffe affter the lunch ..to sum up a traditional 2 hour french lunch ...dont ask me how we spent 2 hrs coz it was all in french !!!

see you guys ...
am of two a (french style) meeting and then to spain...

get to you on tues ...

abiento( see you...i guess)

ashish

hurray ...!!

well !!!

at about 11:10 local time their was a kinda celebration here at renault ....
ITS OFFICIAL NOW ....the news just released proclaims that this year RENAULT has been the NUMERO UNO car manufacturer in eurpoe !!....11.2 % of market share in all ...higher than ford gm fiat ferarri , peugeot and all...

pray for them !!

another interesting remark .....

LIFE IS A SEXUALLY TRANSMITTABLE DEADLY DiSEASE !!
originally by WOODY ALLEN ...quoted to me by Emily Ross !!

ashish

Thursday, May 16, 2002

monsieur pathak !!

well...its high time that i have ignored monsieur pathak in my discussions...i'll try to introduce him thus...

i met this guy at the french embassy when i went for my visa...though i had seen him before at the calcutta convention...this was when we talked....and as it had to be ....we met here in paris in the midst of a long ( 5 day ) holiday .As the destiny had it...we had no one to share ur misery so it was not difficult to come together.

I'll have to say that my initial impression stands still...mon. pathak is a ultra fundu ( his fav remark ) person...he was a 10 pointer at IT BHU comp sc. in cal but holds 9.85 points on a scale of ten nowadays.

he is ultra sincere ..(for all impractical purposes ) organised ...energetic...very friendly....slightly darpok(never likes going out in nites)...and a whole hearted brahmchari. (dont look at me like that ... monsieur pathak had more to to him than met my eyes .... kindly note this opinion dates back to May 16,2002)

for a guy from a small township manakapur near lko...he has done allot
cleared maths oly. chem oly. ...comp topper ...now in paris.fortunately for me ( as i had always been endowed by God )....he has been my savior in france.....he knows french( better than me ).so he has been there with me in all my shoppings...asking direction...holding inquries at counters..standing in line with french
and every possible thing which i as non french speaking cd not have done ( cooking lunch for 5 days included ) ...must say without him my life here wd had been "trГ©s difficion".

neways ...we r into ur work now...he is at inria ... working for a reco and may be a paper .. and here i m socialising ...in order to gain some french connection in my life ...

ashish

Tuesday, May 14, 2002

a la paris ...

dear diary !! ( guess i should include my diary into ur group once in a while )

today i complete my first week in paris ...its unbelieveable and almost unconcievable !!!...its just like i'm in india and some how a lot of tourist from europe have emerged from some where ...
but their are a few things which reminds that this cannot be india ..
spot accuracy of trains and buses ( scheduled 17:07 for a bus means 17:07) and the matrix ...( u'll come to know bout it soon !!!) wooops !!! ..its all amazing .

PARIS AND MATRIX ...
well if you recall the scenes of the movie matrix ...u 'll surely rem the ultra fundu outfits by the gang ...agents all dressed in black and black glasses ..;girls with long shining overcoats( and with glasses )..;triniy ..short hairs black robe and ofcourse glasses..a girl in all white ..all building grey ..greyish green ( yes they were eaish !!)..( or similars ) old man at metro station changing into an agent ..!!! YES I'M SURE THE MOVIE WAS PLOTTED IN PARIS !!!Although they didnt speak french but we can assume that hollywood directers are still not perfect.
travelling in metros again and again reminds me of matrix ....the fundu black long leather overcoats cannot be mistaken for nething else ..even the street scene can be recognised somewhere near la defense !
and if you are still in the subway around ten ..the only person there ( except you ) surely haunt you with the fear of being converting into a agent ...YES THE MATRIX DOES EXIST IN PARIS ...have any doubts !!! come to paris ....

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE ...
i invariably said this when i saw parisians running to catch metros and trains and busses ...it was too amusing to find women 50 yrs old running faster that you to enter the metro before you and leave before you ( young people here are clamer and cooler)...but guess what i found muself doing the same ...
guess what you do when you sllep for 3 mins 47 sec extra in paris !!!
i 'll tell ( it can be unimaginable in india ) ...you can miss the 8:02 metro to montparnasse ( next metro at 8:06)..which means you will miss 8:19 train to versailles(by anywhere from 30secs to 1 min ... since 14 min by my watch to montparnasse ; next train 8:24)...which means you will miss the 8:47 bus to TC ( 23 min to versailles ...next bus 9:02 ; add to it more traffic close to 9...traffic grows expo around 9)[ NOW I CAN SEE AKSHAY LAUGHING COZ HE KNOWS THIS CAN BE TRUE ]then ..if you find yourself in this situation guess what you do ....you RUN FOR YOUR LIFE buddy !!!! coz you cant be half an hour late on day 2 !!!

i can see a few of you laughing ...but yes ..;thats my life here ...and i m thoroughly enjoying you ...
day 2 is going uneventfull...kim is nothere ..busy in meetings.
yes chris showed me around the TC today( huge building baap!!it has a lib .. a photoshop...a movie lib ...car museum..clothes shop...and wat not )..and i guess it will be good for me to be friends with chris ..i ca see some imediate benifits ...

challo see you guys soon ...

take care and pray fro my life !!

bye
ashish

Monday, May 13, 2002

Day One ...

Hi ! !

So …that looks like it is the start of my work here….

My core team has an american ( kim ) a dutch ( chris ) and sandor …and but ofcourse me( it seems my position is always taken by a inter …a spanish girl is coming in next month and the a mexican …so !)

Kim is a very nice lady …< 35…she is a very exerienced manager who has worked in more companies and countrys than my B tech years …she manages her small team very nicely..we had our lunch and breakfast together today..and a small offcial meetings.
[ foot notes : meetings in renault means discussions held in a meeting chambre …which has ultra modern facilities for presentations e conferences and all ! ! ! …wat if you sit next to each other …if 2 people are having a meeting it has to be in one out of n no of these chambers ]
i was introduced to the office structures and behaviour and wat not in a corporate like renault ( french corporate ! ! ). In short she is sweet and i look forward to giving good results for her

Chris is a cool dude…he is just back from a vacation ffrom Canada with her gf …so ! ! …and he was introduced to me as a ladies man…valla' ! !

My socialization today extended to chris …am still working n gaing stregnth and quality….wish me luck ! ! !

I have my …ucchhhallo work for the week and am expected to read ! ! few articles this week…yes !thats all
And a copy of similar prject which reduces my work to cut copy paste and other kinda sponti stuff ! ! !so lets see

To…its six time to leave ! ! !

Bon soir ! !

ashish

long hols ...

Hi doston !
Akshay, kapoor , vivek : bienvenue a l'europe ( welcome to europe)
Guys ..europe is a major musti spot and France is the best place to have jobs…i had such major fun this weekend(5days)…it was time of my life types …
Akshay …rem wat i said …trains and busse in europe are always on time ( means on spot) but the planes are often late so beware …
I have by now seen all mjor spots in paris …traveled the legnth and breath of it …and have a lott to say bout it …ooops …

Paris is a fundoo city…it seems i cant enjoy it full in next 2 months …you need a lifetime to do it …
Every thing is so well organised that you cant help thinking that you are dreaming…you can appreciate this instantlly when you see the paris metro system…the paris is a very beautiful city …and is exotic at nite .. ;the bad thing is that the sun sets at around 10( yes ten in nite ) and the metro system stops at 12.. ;so u prac have around two hours of nite life ( its not safe in paris in nite )

My hostel is a student hostel …which means students who r not parisians…so they r not so much like fashion hunters and all..and like most big places they dont like to interact…just had hiiis and hellooos with few …they dont give tim to you to go furthur…

Next mon is a holl and we r deciding to come to swiss…akshay give some advise ( i hope u r some capable of )

And working hard in office means i m not expected to use hotmail much so…
Back to work
Bye
ashish

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

the socialising expenditure

hi friends !

i thought i ll mail you on monday .....but during my very first day see what i have found out ....
unlike most of us my internship stripend has to bear a expenditure to socialise....see how

the technocentre is a big place ....10000 people !! and since its a techno centre almost all of them are engg. Now as i was explained ( and we know) that ladies generally dont form a part of TC. so the ratio being 1:10 ..;there r few 1000 ladies ...and as it seems all the bull fighting is done when people r relaxing a bit...as with a coffee or any other drink...
So bieng a french company...people r expected to take break from work to take a drink and socialise ...so if you dont drink ...you cant socialise ...ie... you cant have fun...,
more over I was also told that all the major discussion and feedback r excepted here at these small joint ...
so ...the socialising hrs ( yes hours!! ...one around and after lunch and the other around 3 hrs later) r a must to survive ....or be left out !!!
the expenditure comes round to be a euro per drink ( every thing in TC is subsidised )...that means a exp. of 2 euros a day...ie 10euros a week...and ( yes i know u r all good at maths !!) around 50 euros a month ...fewwwhhh !!!!

And i can tell you that i have socialised with a few guys ...and when we open on mon( france is on a holl this week..;the attendance here is 3%)...i'm ill have some adventures...
so ..;see you all on monday !

bye ...going home ...
ashish

the game begins ...

doston !
ahhh !
finally i have got time to pen it down...Yes the game has begun В§
so here is i diary of what all i hav done till now...

THE FLIGHT !
the flight was cool.. and all those who say check in " hrs before schedule departure ..fuck you...the whole deal takes not more than an hours if you have allthe paper and another hour if everything goes wrong so...dont check in before 2hrs . I passed evrything by 10:3Г  and waited till 12 for boarding .IT was a window seat alrite coz i recquested ( the cute)KLM girl for it ..but fuck her... she gave me a seat rite over the wing... so it was useless .the flight was cool...except the landing coz it had to cut throught dense fog an d believe me ...it was shaking .once in ams ..everything was cool...i was the only asian on the ams paris flight so ..and yes it was a delayed flight so...in europe trains r never late ...but planes r very often late !!!

CHARLES DE GAULLE !!!
cdg is as beautifull as u can dream it to be ..the central thing is a dme ..5-6 storey and with lifts all criss crossed ..absolutely beautifull. KLM delaed my BAG and i found it broken so they r paying for it...the guy who came for me ...sandor...is still with me

DAY 1 :
we first went to take my room;its a student hostel room...bieng no better than the IIT hostels ...god help me...as by sandor ...its gonna be a survival excercise ...
BTW everyone in france speaks only frech so sandor is a part time interpretor for me...hes taking care for every thing
then we went for RENAULT HR office ...a chinky is heading it( lots of chinkys and blacks in paris )
after that we went back and i brought some food and stuff for me...
i bought a calling card and still havent figured out how to call home with it coz all the phs r in french and sandor cdnt make an int call( Akshay plzz inform mom about everything)
i left my room soon after sandor left me for the day...Kim has gifted me a city guide and a travel ticket for the month so i decided to use them...i found that i want to go to the TOUR EFFIEL ... so ther i was in 10 min ...and guess wat ..i found many indian ...lots of them...(trying to )sell little towers to all.it was gr8
The tower is much bigger than i thought ...and it was this moment when i said it loud .....FUCK YOU BASTARD ....I'M IN PARIS ... then i walked around siene river ...seeing people do things ...
i was tired ... so i decided to return ...
and then i slept....

DAY 2:
sandor picked me from my room at 9 and we left for EGIDE...the group who r paying me ...its a fundu office and good thing is they work only from 9 to 2.
soon from there i'm here in Technocentre( a tip : dont ride taxis it cost you 10euros for 5 km...sandor paid for it)

THE TECHNOCENTRE:
its the place i'll be working at....must confess it is one of the most beautiful building i have seen ( will get you photos for confirmation
itsbigger than IIT D & K combined ...ho_uses office for more than 10000 people ....has 10 restaurants ( all subsidesed), book shop , an apprel shop ( clothes with renault monogram)...a barber shop...and god knows wat else ...
i have my own space ...a cubicle ...which in short is a bigger office than geetu didi's room..a comp as well with a central admin...so might not have Ymess or msn ...


So...am in technocentre ..in my office ...and next 5 days r holl in france so...next mail will be on mon ...with the next news...

and yes since everthing is french ..including the OS and the keyboard ... its not going to be the easiest of the games ...

so good bye and best of luck to all for similar experiences
luv u al
ashish