Puttgarden, North Germany

Recently I had a chance to go a beach in North East of Germany named Puttgarden with my MBA classmates....In my opinion not certainly the best of beaches in Germany....but decent enough to hang around when the sun shines....many funny incidents happened in this trip...one of my friend got drunk to the core and we have to take him in the cart....barbie queue was good....the youth hostel provided a decent place to spend some time....and more importantly the weather stayed amazing most of the time...

Sathish Kumar S

Date Comedy

I totally forgot to narrate a funny incident which happened to me in recent times. We were scheduled to go to Stockholm on 05.04.2007.....we were busily preparing for the trip...with everybody in excited enthusiastic mood....we were searching for our bus to Stockholm....unfortunately we couldnt find our bus to stockholm.....we thought oh god we missed the bus....and we asked the concerned officials....the guy asked us the ticket and saw and said....guys you came so early.....I asked immediately...how many hours before.....he said 24 hours.....I couldnt control myself laughing on that moment....we returned back home with full of comedy by eating all the stuffs which we packed for the trip....An incident to remember!

Sathish Kumar S

My Dad

I have been writing about my experiences and about my good friends, how could I forget to write an article about my father, symbol of grit and aggression....to be honest I am no way related with my father....i am poles apart from him...heheeeee....he is hardworking to the core whereas I am lazy to the core....he has never tasted alocohol in his life but I never missed the chance whenever there is a free alcohol...hehehee...he is exactly just half my height...never gets excited or emotional for anything in life whereas little happiness will make me to fly....heheee....only resemblance between us is...we are both dark and we get angry very easily....heheeeeee....

What amazes about my father is calm and composed nature in all the situations of life...I have never seen him emotional or sentimental or excited...to give couple of facts....I didnt see him cry or weeping when my grandma died...may be since he lost his father in younger age when he was in 9th standard and had to work(weeving) while studying perhaps would have made him really grit and strong.....even when I reached Chennai from Germany after a gap of 19 months without informing them...he was the one who opened the door...to be honest...he didnt say a single word....he just gave a smile.....just a smile and no reactions or emotions.....I was standstill for a moment....:) well thats my father.....

Other thing which I loved from my father is, he never crossed my privacy or questioned my decisions...he has never interferred in any matters...he gave me absolute amount of independence where a son could imagine from his father....to be honest, this independence made me to do the things what I love to do....he never expects anything from me...I am sure he will never expect anything from me even in the future...since he happened to be a railway employee, we could travel in AC free of cost....;) I travelled to all parts of India with him from north to south and east to west...infact this motivation which I obtained from him made me now to explore different parts of Europe....:) he never motivates or discourages me in any part of time in my career.....when I got school 2nd in 10th standard and informed him.....he didnt say anything....when I got medicine seat in 12th standard...he didnt say anything....when I got a job in HCL through campus interview......he didnt say anything.....when I came here for my Masters in Germany...he didnt say anything.....well he wont say anything if I marry a blond european girl and stand in front of him...heheeeeeeeee

What I admire about my father is the peace which he is having...I can bet one of the happiest and peaceful guys I have ever met...has his own way of life....with engaging most of the time with gardending, household activities and reading books in the night before he goes to sleep.....I sometimes think why I cant be like him....as I mentioned before, I am no way related with my father......:)

I still remember this question during my campus interview for HCL in college....the HR guy asked me who is your role model....I answered without any hesitation, my father is my role model...why not he is definitely my role model....I wanted to be like him with utmost peace and satisfaction with whatever god has given....but what to do...human mind is sometimes so demanding......:( I still remember the way he used to iron my school clothes, I still remember the way he used to sharpen the pencil and keep it ready before the exams....I still remember when he took me to hospital in TVS 50 vehicle when I was suffering in typhoid fever during final year of my engineering, I still remember when he bought a separate TV for me to watch the cricket match and not to fight with my mother during the serials....I still remember the way he packed my clothes and luggage before leaving to Germany, I know my father gets angry very easily but I know behind that anger is a great amount of love and affection....

I love you appa!
Sathish Kumar S

Crazy Amsterdam

Recently I included Amsterdam in my European Voyage...a crazy, bubbling, enthusiastic city of Europe....with amazing long streets, huge architectural buildings, picturesque river flowing across the city and not to forget the crazy night life existing in Amsterdam....;)...its a city full of museums but I am not a guy who cares about art...so went to wax museum, sex museum and torture museum...;)......it has some amazing parks with lush green fields and city's tranportation is fully occupied by trams and bicycles...I guess they use more bicycles than in Indian villages...;) and fortunately weather turned out to be awesome with sunshine most of the time....Not to forget about the Dutchmen, they speak awesome English and I find the Dutch to be more open than the Germans during my short stay....

I had a chance to explore the country side of Netherlands, Vollendamn and Marken, simply amazing green fields and typical countryside houses....with small boats and yatches strolling in the riverside....Had some heineken beer in the sunshine and chilled ourselves in the hot sunny weather of Holland...took tonnes of nice pictures but ofcourse wasting most of the time for that...;)


Keukenhof, the place where the tulips are grown, the most important thing to be seen in Netherlands, one should have definitely seen this place in tamil or telugu cinemas..(anniyan...oh kumari)...but unfortunate thing which happened in this trip is...the tulips have gone...the tulips grows only in the month of march, april and mid may....unfortunately this year, it disappeared before two weeks...but the garden at Keukenhof has a very good garden with many varieties of flowers grown there...On the whole the trip to Netherlands was a memorable one and will reside in my memory for the years to come....:)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Baggage Comedy...

I had a big problem during my baggage check-in at the airport in Chennai...my allowed baggage limit is only 20 kgs and hand luggage of 7 kgs...unfortunately my main luggage weighed 25 kg and the handluggage weighed 13 kgs with additionally my laptop as well....the check-in officer clearly said you have to pay extra amount of nearly 1500 rupees to take the extra kilos...i was totally confused what to do....thank god...father was having the extra money and I took from him and was about to pay for the extra kilos...I went to the other check-in officer who happened to be a beautiful girl..hehehe...the beautiful lady checked my luggage and said ...oh you are going to frankfurt...you are allowed two pieces up to 45 kgs...then I started to shout....why didnt you inform before...she said...."sorry....the other officer might have not known about it"...then happily I took my hand luggage of 15 kgs and was walking towards the immigration check....

Suddenly one more check-in officer entered the scene and said...this is totally impossible with hand luggage of 15kgs...and the size is too big....I said...its your officials who allowed me ...then why the heck are u asking again....he asked me to show the concerned check-in officer...we went to the beautiful check-in officer....the other check-in officer questioned the lady how is it possible to allow 15kgs...she said..."he is going to frankfurt..so total allowed baggage is 45 kgs"...suddenly the head check-in officer was called and asked about the details...it seems as per the rule...passengers flying to Toronto are only allowed to carry up to 45kgs...and not the frankfurt passengers....heheeeee.....the beautiful lady was caught in the trap....now came the real comedy....

The beautiful lady said to Chief Check-in officer....oh sorry sir....I didnt know that...and said a lovely statement...."his main luggage was only 16kgs(actually it weighed 25 kgs by that time the main luggage has gone to the cargo so one cannot weigh it once more heheeeee)....and his hand luggage was just 8 kgs(actually it weighed 15 kgs...including my laptop heheee)...so why to charge him extra luggage fees....the chief check-in officer asked one more time...are u sure it weighed 16kgs...she said with a blushing face..."i am damn sure sir"....I was laughing inside to the core...heheeeeeeee....the chief check-in officer had no other say... and he said ok sir you can proceed....heheeeee...I exchanged a very surcastic smile with the beautiful check-in officer and a grave look at the chief-check in officer...heheeeee and I proceeded further...

And one more time, the beautiful lady appeared in front of the entrance to the flight...gave my boarding pass to her and exchanged one more surcastic smile and said....Many thanks to you...heheeee...I wanted to have a snap with her for my blog....but unfortunately the chief check-in officer, the great villain was standing next to her...then I thought forget it....Anyway hats off to that beautiful lady! heheeeeee

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Reality Check....

Three weeks have gone so fast...and when I look at my calendar it says you gotto pack up the happiness, the moments, the idlys, the dosas and go back to lonely ghosty life...hmm what to do...one has to proceed, one can not bog down in the same niche forever...in many ways this trip boosted my confidence...met all the friends and well-wishers....ate to the maximum...slept well like kumbakarna..and in the end increased my flesh by 5kgs in three weeks...;) and more importantly temperatures hovering around 42°C....

I had many reality checks during this trip...some people have changed...some still the same old buddies....some places have changed...some still the same... but it was quite easy for me to answer this question which I posted to a mirror....Mirror Mirror..who has stayed the same showing the same care, affection and love...the mirror undoubtedly answered in a splash of a second...its none other the two souls...your mom and dad....:)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Well Deserved Champions

Australia, no doubt the deserving champions...the way they outclassed other teams...its not just the victories they obtained but the margin of victory they achieved against the opponents...total brutal force against any teams for that matter srilanka or south africa or scotland or ireland...One could clearly see the gap between Australia and rest of the world...hope the cricketing pundits agree to the fact they are one generation ahead....I am really amazed with the way they play, giving no respect for the opponents...On one side its good that the best team wins the worldcup three times in a row...but on the otherside its not good for any sports to have a one winner all the time....I guess ICC should now think of selecting rest of the world team to play against Australia and pose them a little challenge in the years ahead...:)

Sathish Kumar S

The Big Boss.....

Now I am back to cove.....I get a chance to meet all my old friends and well-wishers during this break...recently I had a chance to spend some time with one of the big boss of Computer Science Mr. Aravind...:) I say he is a big boss, since he represents the elite community of Computer Science engineers from India....recently completed his Masters from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and final year thesis on Compilers ....It was really nice sharing views from one of the very few modest guys I have met......has the capability to challenge any computer science engineer on this planet....heheeee...yes I am not kidding....Computer Science needs your contribution and more importantly India needs your work in the field of Computer Science...Hats off to you Aravind!

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Surprising Visit to my home....

Atlast I arrived at my sweet home....It was a lengthy journey from Hamburg to Frankfurt by train, Frankfurt to Doha of six hours of travel, Doha to Chennai another five hours and finally landed in my hometown. In many ways, this trip is special just because I booked the tickets before one week and more importantly I didnt inform my parents....:) I just wanted to give them a shock....In the end turned out to be really exciting....

My father as always never excited...just a smile on his face....mom was sleeping infact snorring heehehee....I just woke her up and said good morning....she couldnt believe for a moment what was happening....she hugged me, cried, kissed me...sentis...emotions....ya I loved it...Straight away first ball dosa with chatni...sambhar, rasam, appalam and bhajji's in the evening...hmm first day...but I am sure I am gonna be roasted in this chennai's heat....it is unimaginably hot....but anyway this is my hometown...:) I can handle it....

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Flying soon to India after 19 months...

Atlast the much awaited day came for me....yes I am going to India on 21st of April and returning back on 11th of May....I have to wait for 19 months to get this day on my calendar...It was a sudden decision....My friends back in Hamburg were motivating to the core to go to India...but somehow I said to myself that I have to go to India with peace....then I aked myself where is the peace....My heart said....the peace comes only when you satisfy the two souls(mom and dad) back home crying, craving, praying for my arrival....I am really excited about this trip and can never be compared with the trips which I made in Europe....Keep the fingers crossed for more articles when I reach India...hehehee!

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Sunny Stockholm....

Recently I had a chance to explore one of the scandinavian cities, Stockholm, Sweden. It was a lengthy journey from Hamburg to Lübeck.....ferry from Lübeck to Denmark for about one hour...then two hours in land....one more ferry from Denmark to Helsingborg, Sweden...and finally to the capital city, Stockholm, the cultural capital of Europe.....As such Stockholm is a picturesque city with breathtaking buildings, huge bridges and beautiful lake Malaren occupying most of the city's mainland remembering me of Venice in Italy.....

The frustrating part in Stockholm was the currency....they dont use Euros and Swedish croners is the order of the day except in few places like McD.. Sun was shining to the core which made our trip better....One thing which I noted from stockholm is....it doesn't have the worldclass wonder like Paris or London or Amsterdam....But anyway a trip to remember with many funny incidents and count to my list of European Voyage :)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Indians the big chokers.....

One of the most disastrous days in the history of Indian cricket ....where the sad memories are going to linger around for years to come as far is world cup is concerned...But its a known fact that Indians are chokers in big situations and when the situation demanded them...they meakly surrender to the feat of opponents like kids playing some school cricket.....It will be really foolish if I start saying ...they should have restricted 10 or 20 runs less...or they should have batted well....the most important thing which I want to narrate is the lack of fighting spirit from the so called legends of cricket (Sachin, Sourav, Rahul summing a total of 30,000 runs) but couldnt score 255 runs when one billion people wanted them to do so.....One can argue winning and losing is part and parcel of sports...but if losing always happens in every crunch situations...then one has to seriously look into it....

Cricket arguably the next religion in India...where most of the younger generation take it to their heart but really hurts when India fails miserably in big tournaments...The kind of passion, craziness this sport has got can never be compared with any other things in India...but still we struggle to make it up in big occasions.... On the other side, I really pity the players where one has to fullfill the hopes of one billion...I guess the most watched and scrutinised players than any other international cricketers in the world...sometimes really backfire them....But at the end of the day no excuses for big chokers in big occasions...It will be interesting to know where the Indian cricket goes on from here...some overreactions, some retirements, some sackings, some protests are always on the cards....Lets keep our fingers crossed!

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Supply Chain Management (SCM)

Recently I had a lecture on Supply Chain Management (SCM) in one of my MBA course. To be candid, I didnt have any idea of what SCM is all about...this course really gave me a great insight of SCM....we had one exercise in this lecture of optimising the network distribution of products...and calculating the total logistics cost....i really loved the task....Thanks to my MBA which gives me an idea of new concepts like SCM,CRM,Product Development, Innovation Management, Presentation Skills, Facilitation Skills, Communication Skills, Economics....!

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

CEBIT

Recently we had a chance to go to CEBIT, Hannover, Germany...one of the biggest industrial exhibition in this part of the world...Thanks to Prof. Gisholt who made it possible for all of us...It was a nice experience to be there to see huge malls from big giants like IBM,SAP,Intel,Microsoft etc...and also the medium and small enterprises...Hannover a decent city to hang around...had some time to hang around in some parks...rathauses...strassebahn....All in all, a day to remember!

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Lufthansa Technik

Recently we had a chance to visit Lufthansa Technik, Hamburg - One of the sponsors of NIT...It was a bright sunny day with sunshine most of the time...started of with a boring presentation from a marketing guy (I guess he needs to get training from Prof.Gisholt ;) ....then followed by a nice visit inside their plant...with good explanations from two retired guys answering patiently to all our questions like how many litres of petrol does it consume for the flight from Hamburg to Losangeles...heheeeee....that was the question of the day for me....Boeing 747 was incredibly awesome...had a chance to see the internal parts of it....then followed by delicious lunch with as many varieties as possible...I even heard some of them packed their food for dinner...heheeee...all in all a day to remember...Thanks to NIT administration for organizing this short industrial visit!

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Product Development

Recently we had a chance to develop our product in one of our MBA class "Innovation Management". The idea is to develop a new product, in our case, it was a new brand of sporting car..The exercise was really awesome...with strict time schedule of three hours...with each one assigned the role of Manager, Marketing, Finance, Software and Hardware engineer...our team was filled with exuburent individuals specialising in their own field...we learned a lot as a team how to tackle different situations and in the end turned out to be a decent show by us...It was certainly one of the best lectures I had in my MBA studies...

OUR TEAM!

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Exchanging Pants

Recently a strange and a funny incident happened when I went to skiing in alps....I was wearing a dark fluorescent green pant...you could actually see that pant even from a far off distance...it was so catchy....honestly I didnt like that color which I was wearing...A crazy drunken lady came near me and asked in German...that she needs that Green pant and in return she will give me the black pants..oops....But I thought, I am not going to do skiing in my life next time...because its so tough for me...and I am not going to wear that Green pant once again...so I said "YES"....Could you believe it....I really enjoyed that moment because it was so funny and crazy for me....these incidents reside in your memory even after some years...when I think of skiing, I will remember the green pants and the crazy lady...an incident to remember!

At the Start of skiing


The crazy Lady wearning my Green Pant



After my exhausting day at skiing with the pants exchanged ;)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Octopus

Do u know what octopus is....fish with eight legs...recently I had a chance to eat this fish in my mentor's place...take it from me...it was so delicious which I didnt expect it to be....People say octopus is a typical spanish food...but who cares...I tried yet another new food in Germany...There goes a saying... "Some people live to eat and some other people eat to live"...you know which category I belong to...;)

Sathish Kumar S

Vodka...

Recently I had a chance to visit my mentor Mr.Merkel at his home at Lattenkamp…. It was a nice dinner prepared by Mr.Merkel ….with fish as the main ingredient…I was joined by his childhood friend with whom he maintains contacts till now….amazing…world is so small...this dinner was quite different from the other ones which he offered to me….the reason behind is….it wasn’t so official…..it was so casual dinner and I drank so many vodkas….thank god..his wife wasn’t there…she went to Switzerland for skiing…it was really a nice experience of drinking vodka …I didn’t get drunk …..Thank god I arrived safely to home without any fuss….Thanks Merkel for the dinner and also for the vodka….;)

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S

Skiing

Skiing, the sport which I tried for the first time in my life in Oberstaufen, Alps. It wasn’t certainly an easy task for me to do this sport…since I haven’t done any great sport in my life and I am a lazy goose as well…Cricket, one of the easiest and laziest sport one can do…. One could easily imagine, I was the struggling guy of all the beginners…;) I really envy the kids who could do all possible combinations of skating and rotations…of course they are born in the midst of snow…while I was born when the temperature was hovering around 40°c .

More difficult part in Skiing is…when one falls on the ground…its very difficult to get up without the help of others…especially with the snow boots and the snowboards…When the slope is down…its really an amazing feeling to go down…but there is also difficulty in applying brakes …and the frustrating part is climbing up the slope with the snow boots and the sticks…I was literally gone to death after my three hours of skiing.. But any way, I thoroughly enjoyed each and each very moment especially when I fell to the ground…;) I really thank my University officials who made all the arrangements for the international students to experience skiing for the first time in their life…I loved it….

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S