I feel like a rock star – part ii

I don’t like narcissist posts on principal. After all what is the use of having a fan club/site/page if you have to blow your own horn all the time. But this morning when the SP Jain student feedback quietly sneaked into my mailbox and I saw the most generous comments I have ever received as [...]

February 16, 2010  Tags: , ,   Posted in: Alchemy stuff, Failure, Startup Insiders, Training, new ventures, small business  No Comments

Teaching with Promethean boards

I have’nt done a narcisstic post on this blog for a while now. I think one post every few months is good for my circulation, ego, profile and image. So while the post is supposedly about my recent love affair with Promethean Boards, there is as much of moa in each of the pictures as [...]

February 14, 2010  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Alchemy stuff  No Comments

Broad walk Dubai – Lunch, view and seagulls

So on the day in the middle while we were off from our training commitment in Abu Dhabi Nasr took us out for lunch to Broadwalk in Dubai. Three decks of pierside lunch and dinner tables on the creek with a panaromic view of Dubai, and a fusion menu shared with aggressive and territorial sea [...]

February 14, 2010  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Alchemy stuff  No Comments

Abu Dhabi and Dubai – a tale of two cities

My first visit to Abu Dhabi occurred courtesy of Zayed University and Rashid Azeem Khan. Rashid was a witness to my teaching days at the new campus of FAST ICS in 1996 and somehow over the last 15 years we had managed to stay in touch. He coerced his then boss in passing out an [...]

February 14, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Alchemy stuff  No Comments

On Shaikh Zayed Road

Three days in a row I have made the trek from Dubai to Abu Dhabi with Nasr. On the last two trips we hooked up the laptop to the Etisalat EVDO USB device to see how internet connectivity works on the highway. I was very pleased with my ability to turn the 90 minute ride [...]

February 10, 2010  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Alchemy stuff  No Comments

Dubai Tech Nights – 9th February 2010

It ended up being an evening full of surprises. When Adnan first checked with me about my availability on the 9th for Dubai Tech Nights I thought we were talking about a small gathering. So when I walked in at 5:45pm after following some really colorful directions to Room 212 at the RIT campus at [...]

February 10, 2010  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: Alchemy stuff, Startup, Startup Insiders, TIE, Training, new ventures, small business  No Comments

Working with Promethean boards

So it was an interesting transition to go from a conventional white board to a promethean white board at the training academy the other day. My first reaction was this is to coarse and slow for it to be honored by my presence and my pen, but after twenty minute of usage I was sold. [...]

February 9, 2010  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: Alchemy stuff  No Comments

On the road between Abu Dhabi and Dubai

I spent the last two days on the road between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Nasr closed a training engagement with a forward looking bank in Abu Dhabi and off we went to teach a treasury team. For an outsider, Abu Dhabi is a lovely city with tremendous potential. During our last two trips we had [...]

February 8, 2010  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Alchemy stuff  No Comments

Travel log

Travel long enough and you will someday hit an incredibly lucky day or an incredibly interesting one. And every now and then you will get one that is a bit of both. So yesterday’s trip to Dubai started off interestingly enough! I reached the airport late and while I was fretting if Emirates would let [...]

January 18, 2010  Tags: , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Personal shit  No Comments

The second best job in the world, part two…

To the three batches (Division A, Division B, and EMBA Batch 13), who made me feel like a rock star two Thursdays in a row. Thank you. Keep them pictures coming J

December 20, 2009  Tags: , , , , , , , ,   Posted in: Columbia Business School, Education, Failure, Startup, Startup Insiders, Training, entrepreneurs, new ventures, small business  No Comments

Dreamers in Dubai

Kumar, the soft spoken driver from Kerala, has been picking me up from home and dropping me back for the last seven days. On Wednesday night he finally asked if I was working the hours I was working by choice. Starting the day at 8 am and landing on Villa 16, Cluster 35 at 11pm [...]

December 12, 2009  Tags: , , , , , ,   Posted in: Alchemy stuff, Desi Back to Desh, Desi Startup, Education, Failure, Startup, entrepreneurs, small business  No Comments

Old friends…

Amir and I grew up together in Bombay. To be accurate the “togetherness” was the alternate summer we used to spend at our grandfather’s apartment on Club Road, right behind the YWCA, opposite Nair hospital. But the intensity of the experience was enough to make it last for the next two years. The summer we [...]

January 31, 2009  Tags: ,   Posted in: Personal shit  3 Comments

Red light zones in Dubai…

Red lights at two am, late night, on Thursay (weekend night), in front of the convention center. Red lights at eight am in the morning on Friday, on way to the airport on Shaikh Zayed road. Things I have to do to get traffic on this page.

December 20, 2008  Tags: ,   Posted in: Personal shit  No Comments

Morning walks…

Adding 50 pounds to your bulk and spraining your knee leaves you with one choice. You stop running and start walking. Since my first sprained knee, 7 years ago, I have learnt to love my early morning walks. Add December and single digit tempratures and the walk becomes even more lovable. Here is the one [...]

December 18, 2008  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Personal shit  One Comment

The road not taken

Beware of the Ides of December. 10 years ago, this month, packed up and got ready to move to New York. 9 years ago, the same month, received my first six figure offer and said no. The next time the month came along, I found myself in Tokyo, pitching to the third largest bank on [...]

December 13, 2008  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: Alchemy stuff  4 Comments