Chp 459. Being an introvert in a Mizo society

One of the biggest misconceptions in our Mizo society is how we often confuse being shy or introvert with being "inchhuang".

The Mizo word “inchhuang” means somebody proud, conceited, snooty, vain, arrogant... Somebody who feels they’re so uber important or above your class/status that they consider it improper to talk to you in public...

...which is quite ironic because we Mizos probably have the most class-less non-hierarchical society here in India, where maids and servants dine together with their employers eating the same food, where a Minister plays table tennis with his driver and is thrashed by the latter, where everybody meets each other at an equal platform, where social gatherings consist of the richest rich working hand in hand with the poorest poor cutting vegetables and meat together for a grand feast... and yet “inchhuang” is one of the most overused words in our Mizo vocabulary.

I'm an introvert, especially when it comes to our Mizo society. I may be quite open in the online world but I’m shy as hell in the real world. I have serious people issue, I can't look at women (I'm not acquainted with yet) directly in the eye, I can't socialize in real life and I prefer not to be in a room full of strangers. I’m also a geek and I love doing most things alone.

Maybe that is why I’ve been blogging for almost 10 years now. To me, blogging is an outlet to express my feelings since I’m not able to do that in the real world. And most bloggers would agree with me on that.

I once tried socializing with complete strangers here in Mumbai, and that was when I decided to take part in Indiblogger’s Anniversary Meet, where I even got to meet Gul Panag and took a pic with her. But I felt awkward the entire time. Other than that, the only other times I socialize with strangers here are the occasional Coral Networking dinners conducted by i2cook where we meet new people and try to network with each other over exotic cuisine, and the only reason why I participate at such events is only because i2cook is run by Pawan and Meg, two of my dearest friends since Hyderabad days.

In our Mizo society, we have a lot of social gatherings, and sometimes I wish I was just a lizard at such functions, quietly being on my own at my own little corner. We have this thing called “mitthi tlaivar” where the youth of a particular locality gather at the house of somebody who died that day in their locality, and they sing songs the entire night till dawn to keep the grieving family accompanied. I participate (whenever I’m home for a vacation) if and only if my cousin is also participating. If he’s not going, then I don’t go. If he’s going, then I sit next to him the entire time till dawn breaks. The same with “ruaitheh” and other functions. I go only if my cousins or a handful of childhood friends I grew up with are going. Otherwise I stay at home.

The same with wedding ceremonies. One of my dear friends N got married recently, and I went for her wedding. After the wedding, we had the traditional photo session, where different groups were called out turn by turn to take a picture with the happily married couple. When it was the turn of the “bride’s friends” (mo thian), I didn’t know any of her other friends, so I didn’t step up. She even actually called me out from the Church’s steps to come for the photograph, but I just froze. That’s how bad I am among strangers.

Hence if you see me feeling uncomfortable and not speaking to anybody at such events, don't say mean stuff like, "A va inchhuang em em, tumah pawh a be duhlo, en pawh min en lo etc" (Look at how arrogant he is, not speaking to anybody).

It's not about "duhlo" (don’t wanna). It's more about "thiamlo" (don’t know how to). Remember there are quite a number of people like me who are very shy and introvert’ish... not everybody's like you... I know how open our Mizo society and culture is, but you should also be aware that not everybody goes through that same ultra bonhomie phase.

Maybe instead of passing scathing judgmental remarks, you can take an attempt to make things comfortable for such people by approaching them and starting a friendly conversation... Just my two pence :)

We really should do away with this negative outlook and judgmental opinion about people who don’t interact with others at our Mizo social functions. It is definitely not because of “inchhuang” or “induh”. Try walking in our shoes and you will be amazed at the introverted solitary and lonely life we lead.

Think about it.

Chp 458. Bye bye Chile

31st July, 2013 – That is the date I’m supposed to report at Moneda 921, Santiago, Chile, to start my seven months program at Start-Up Chile, a world renowned Start-Up Accelerator. 1577 companies from 68 countries applied and only 100 were selected. The program comes with 40,000 USD (24 Lakhs INR) equity free funding, a capital that we very much needed.

Today, 30th July, 2013 – I’m sitting in my room. In Mumbai. India.

No, I’m not taking a super fast direct flight to Santiago from Mumbai tonight. All trips require at least three layovers, with around 25-38 hours flight duration.

Yes, you must be aware of all the things I did the past two months running from pillar to post, getting all my papers, identifications, passports, police clearances, medical checkups, Visa, travel insurance etc in order. I even went for dental checkups, had a molar extracted, had another molar root canalling, in case I get a toothache in Chile as it’s expensive over there. Bought new clothes, new sets of disposable contact lenses, new glasses etc etc.

I even posted this photo from Delhi right after I got my Chilean Visa approved, dressed in my traditional Mizo clothes, all set and ready to spread some Mizo love in Chile.

But once I got back to Mumbai, a few developments came up and after a long talk with our Co-Founder Sumeet and the director of our company Sidharth, we finally decided that it would be in our company’s best interest if I don’t go!

So… yeah, with a heavy heart, I sent them a mail announcing my withdrawal from the prestigious Start-Up Accelerator program.

Before you judge me or lecture me or anything, here are a few reasons on why we decided to withdraw. I’m making them as short and concise as possible:

1. We have decided to allocate some of our funds on R&D as this is of utmost importance in an ever-developing industry and platform as ours. Apart from that my Co-Founder and I need to focus our time and energy here in India looking for more investors, which is a common issue faced by most Start-Ups.

2. We are not a 2-3 people Start Up. We have already employed 15 people across two cities, and as Co-Founders, we need to keep their welfare above ours. Of course I would LOVE to be in Chile and network with other awesome entrepreneurs and gain from their experience (and also visit the beautiful Andes and drink Pisco among other things), but I cannot just leave my responsibilities and employees back home hanging and probably facing a setback in the next few months while I’m rocking the scene down there.

3. Start-Up Chile does not sponsor our employees working back here in India, as it gives provision for local Chilean employees (contractors) only, or if our people are based in Chile (but there's a limit). And even if Start-Up Chile does reimburse the operational running cost of my team in India, the reimbursement model does not work in our favor because the money comes only after 3-4 months. We do not have the luxury of time.

4. The initial amount of capital I’ll have to take with me to Chile (around 4,00,000 INR since it takes time for reimbursement to come) including flight tickets which now cost a whopping 2.5-3 Lakhs one-way, was also a bit of a problem. Already having spent so much the past two months getting my papers, passport and visa in order (not to mention flying across 11 sectors!), I now have no other option but to take a loan, and personal loans are not approved if the company we’re working at is less than a year old. We are just 6 months old. This is not a very big problem as there are always ways to get that amount, but the point is, even if I do get that amount, we'd rather spend that 7 Lakhs right now on R&D and other verticals we're currently exploring rather than have it reimbursed 4 months from now.

5. Another nagging thought was the time difference. Like I said, we're a 10+ team, so it is obvious some will have to be in Chile while others remain in India. We looked at the amount of time we can actually work together at the same time, and that window is too small. Suppose both groups work from 9:30 AM to 10:30 PM everyday, then we can all be online together for just 3 and a half hours in a day. This can will affect our productivity. Of course initially we were willing to take this risk, but considering all the other points above, this suddenly became a valid reason to withdraw.

Hence, having discussed all this with our Co-Founder and the director of our company, and considering the current scenario, we finally decided that it would be in our best interest if we withdraw from participating in the 7th batch of Startup Chile.

Of course I sincerely regret all the opportunities I will be missing, and I am very much aware that this will haunt me for the rest of my life, but the timing is just not right for now. If only we were able to maintain a steady cash flow for the next few months, then I would have taken the first flight to Santiago. As Romeo laments, “I am fortune’s fool”.

Lesson learnt. And maybe this is a good thing. After all, what is a Start Up that doesn't make any mistake? :) Start-Up Chile works best if you’re a one man, two men, three men Start-Up venture. Or if you employ a large number of people and their financial situation back home is stable for the entire duration of your stay in Chile. We've come to learn that the hard way, having wasted so much time and money chasing paperwork.

But hey, let’s be positive here. I now have a valid passport, a valid driver’s license, a valid Electoral ID card and a valid Residential Certificate because of what I was doing the past two months, and if another opportunity like this arises, I don’t have to go through any more bureaucratic red-tape nightmare.

And let’s not forget the fact that we were selected for a world renowned accelerator program! That in itself says a lot about us. Maybe we’ll apply for other Start-Up accelerators that is more economically feasible to us. The future still looks bright for us.

And hey, I can still go to Chile anytime for the next 365 days as the duration of my visa is one year. A vacation would definitely do me good, maybe sometime in December? :P Who's with me? :)

Cheers. Here’s to the Pisco (Chilean brandy cocktail) that I will now not get to drink :(

Chp 457. You know what I did last month

It's been exactly a month since I decided to stop trying to apply for a passport from Mumbai and flew straight home to Aizawl and start my application from scratch using my home address for all documentations. 16th June 2013 I flew home with a heavy heart. And as of today, 16th July 2013, I have achieved the following -

- got my new Voter's ID card

- got my new birth certificate

- got my new driving license

- got my new ST certificate

- got my updated residential certificate

(Trust me, all the above require a lot of additional documents in order to be processed)

- got a joint bank account made with my mom's account

- got copies of past one month water bill from PHE office

- got copies of past one month electricity bill from P&E office

- got affidavits stating Vanlalruatkima, Vanlal Ruatkima and V.L.Ruatkima are the same person

- got six other affidavits for other various reasons

- got police verification certificate from Dr. Franklin, DC of Aizawl

- got second police verification from the SP of Aizawl himself

- got special request letter addressed to head of RPO, Guwahati

- flew down to Guwahati

- applied for tatkaal passport at PSK the next day with RPO letter

- after a long wait at counter A, B and C, they finally accepted my application

- flew back to Aizawl

- passport arrived in a week!

- since it’s tatkaal, police verification to SP and CID arrived 2 days later

- personally went and pushed them to hurry up with the verifications :)

- CID understood my situation, they verified me in half a day

- they handed me their verification in a sealed envelope

- SP office too understood, gave me my Police Station verification form

- ran to Bawngkawn Police Station, requested them to hurry too

- Bawngkawn Police Station investigated me and finally verified me

- ran back to SP office with the Bawngkawn PS verification

- SP office handed me their verification in a sealed envelope

- flew down to Guwahati the next day with both CID and SP sealed envelopes

- filled more forms and Xerox copies
- submitted the two verifications at Guwahati RPO the next day

- got my Police Clearance Certificate the next day, stamped on my passport

- went for medical checkup the same day, did ECG, HIV test and Hep-B test

- got my results the next day, woohoooo I’m HIV negative :P 
- got my medical clearance certificate

- flew back to Aizawl the next day

- got my health insurance, required for the Visa application

- it was a wrong insurance, so next day got a TRAVEL Health Insurance

- finally submitted all my documents and applied for a Visa

- now I am finally relaxing, waiting for my Visa appointment

- in between all these, three of my neighbors (u Ziaka, Pa Zahlira and u Chama’s mum) passed away, may their souls rest in peace, and is traditional, I tlaivar’ed on all three nights and spent time at their houses. And of course there were also the “we haven’t seen you in a long time, let’s have a dinner party” occasions, playing regularly with a local basketball team I’m currently co-sponsoring, and many other family commitments.

So looking back now, I can’t freaking believe it’s been just a month since I packed my bags for Aizawl. It felt like at least three months. My friends lauded me for achieving the impossible.

Hmmm… well, time is indeed running out for my Start-Up Chile program, and even if I don’t receive my Visa in time and have to forfeit my participation, I must say I am still proud of what I managed to achieve in just a month’s time.

Once again, a big thanks to Muanpuii Saiawi for putting a good word for me at Guwahati RPO, and to all my family and friends who helped me along the way. The best part is, I managed to push most of the people without pulling any strings because as Dr. Franklin advised me “Influence hian limit a nei ve a, a bak chu nangmah a i zu in hai chawp a ngai ang” (There’s a limit to the number of things you can get done through family and political influence, you’ll have to struggle on your own for most of the part).

And I did just that. At most of the offices, I mentioned the reason why I was going to Chile and it felt really good to see them, strangers, feeling proud of my achievements and hence putting my papers on the highest priority. The Mizo connection I guess.

Right now, I don’t know if I will be going straight to Delhi directly or first get back to Mumbai, it all depends on my Visa appointment date, but whatever be it, I will be bidding goodbye to Mizoram until I come back from Chile (IF I DO get to go to Chile). So here’s to all the great moments experienced in the past one month. Love you Mizoram. Cheers.

Chp 456. Mizo Bloggers Meet v3.0

While I waited for my passport (which was recently dispatched via speed post) I made myself useful at home and also caught up with a couple of friends.

Just recently, I took part in my third Mizo Bloggers Meet in Aizawl and I really had a great time.

Like any other Bloggers Meet, even though you’re meeting people for the first time, if you had known each other for a long time online and gone through their blog posts regularly, when you finally do meet, there is nothing awkward at all – it’s as if you all knew each other personally for a very long time.

And so I met bloggers Njldst, Puipuii, Vered, Gisele, Andy and Tluanga for the first time. Father Sphinx was the only person I knew personally from before (he and I go way back, and by that I mean aizawl.com and zoram.com days, when mIRC was popular).

I turned up five minutes late. The meeting was supposed to start at 7pm. I reached the venue at 7:05. I took this photo at 7:45. Yup. I guess punctuality is lost in most people :)

So anyway, here are the peeps who made it that day –

Michael was as interesting in person as his blog. We tried to pronounce his blog name “Njldst”. Not surprisingly, only those of us who were a bit tipsy managed to enunciate it perfectly. Like me, he was also brought up in Tamil Nadu (maybe the only difference was that his family settled there, whereas I was brought up in a boarding school). And of course it felt great to finally meet another Mizo who had an English Tamil accent :)

Vered was just as I expected – mischievous, playful, witty and full of life. Since she lives in an isolated place outside Delhi, she wasn’t exactly used to all the fancy lights and glitter of an urban lifestyle. In fact, when we went for a ride after our dinner, she thought the parking lights of our cars were disco lights, so she started dancing right in the middle of the road. The video is at the end of this post :)

Puipuii – She apparently lives somewhere in Durtlang tunnel. When you pass through the tunnel, if you see some strange kid climbing the walls of the tunnel, just wave and smile at her. That’s Puipuii. Don’t mind her. But if she starts growling at you from the wall, throw stones at her, she’ll scoot. She was the reason why we drove to Durtlang after our dinner to feast our eyes on the “best” view in Aizawl, according to her. Ah, more on that further below.

Father Sphinx needs no introduction. He had been mentioned more than enough on my blog so I’ll leave it at that. He’s the mawng.com guy. In Mizo, Mawng means ass, and com (kawm) means dig. So you figure it out why he’s a mawng.com. Don’t believe me? Type mawng.com on your browser and see where that leads to.

Father Sphinx brought his friend Tluanga along. He’s also a regular blogger, blogging about different topics. Nice guy, he was also another person who had never met any of us before and yet decided to turn up. That’s the kind of person I admire, because we Mizos (including moi) are known to be quite introvert’ish when it comes to socializing with somebody new.

Andy showed up really late because he had a jam session. He’s the vocalist of Scavenger Project, one of Mizoram’s leading rock bands. He’s the rhymester among us, updating his blog with soft penetrating poems (that rhyme). In other words, he was the emo of our group that night :)

Since he loves to rhyme so much, here’s a limerick (a-a-b-b-a):

I met a dude called Andy,

And boy was he all dandy.

He mimes and croons like Mick Jagger on dope

And when he does those, all we can do is hope

he doesn’t flash us his pink panty.

And finally there’s Lal Khiangte. Formerly known as Gisele in the blogosphere, but now known as “Miss Remruati”, she’s a lecturer at Mizoram University. She came to the meeting with an agenda – to get to know more about Mizo bloggers, interview us and do some research and shit. I made sure that didn’t happen and sabotaged her every move :D Yeah, comon, it was a night to enjoy, socialize and let our hair down, not a night of academics and surveys. She’s much sweeter in real life than her blog, and small world, she’s the younger sister of a very dear junior of mine from college! I really do owe her my time to discuss about her research and paper, which I will definitely do so in the coming days.

And so there we were, the seven of us, at one of my favorite restaurants in Aizawl – Octangle, sharing and laughing our way through the night amidst the beef steak, sliced pork and Nasi goreng. It was a night to remember. Kudos to Mahmingi, the owner of Octangle for serving us the usual extremely scrumptious appetizers and main course dishes.

Here are some of the pics that night:

L-R: Me, Michael, Puipuii, Lal Khiangte, Vered, Father_Sphinx, Andy and Tluanga. The bill came to around 2k, which was not bad at all, considering the amount of fun we had.

We talked about ourselves and what we do, about the things we love and hate. We discussed about blogging and Mizoram, and how it is a very powerful and much underrated tool. We shared our opinion on various matters and argued too on a few.

Vlog – we discussed about vlogging, and even though the trend had died down, we wondered why there had been no Mizo vloggers till now. And then Michael brought up a very valid point – why is it called vlogging? By his justification, since “blog” is derived from “web log” and they took the last letter to construct the word “blog”, shouldn’t “video blog” be called “olog” instead of “vlog”? Good point Mikey boy, here’s a cookie.

And then, true to the tradition of socializing in Mizoram, we went for a ride after dinner. Yes, the famous ride culture. Puipuii suggested we drive to Durtlang to enjoy the breathtakingly beautiful Aizawl scenery.

And so we did. This is what we saw from the best Aizawl view point in Durtlang –

Lolz, yes, it was that misty. Visibility was less than 5 meters. Here are some screen grabs of a video I recorded from my phone.

And of course, as promised earlier, here is Vered doing her moves on a heavily mist covered Durtlang road, lolz.

Great people, great time, great night, looking forward to such get-togethers again.

Cheers.

Chp 455. Of Chile and Passport nightmares

I know I’ve been away from the blogosphere for a really long time. I’ve been through one hell of an adventure the past few months, hopping from one city to the other with no time for proper rest.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, along with a few friends, I started a company called FITH Media Pvt Ltd, where we develop mobile games for Android and iOS platforms. We have four investors so far, but as you know the story with most start-ups, the money aint ever enough because of the necessity to spend more time on R&D. We still need more time to properly monetize and be self sustainable by introducing smart In-App Purchase strategies.

And so recently we applied to a couple of incubation programs like YCombinator, TechStar and StartUp Chile.

StartUp Chile is a world renowned accelerator program, where they select the best start-up companies from across the world and fund them. The catch is, the founder(s) will have to be in Chile for the entire duration of the program – 7 months.

But in exchange, they fund the selected company with USD 40,000 (that’s around 22 lakhs INR yo!) and the best part is, it is equity free! Other accelerators fund similar amount but they take around 7-9% of your company’s share.

And so, even when we applied, we never expected to be selected. But then, what was the harm in applying we said, and submitted a short introductory video (our pitch video) we made in roughly less than two hours.

1577 companies from 68 countries applied this time.

Only 100 companies were selected.

And yes, *drum roll* we’re one of those selected!!!

Here’s what the judges said about FITH Media –

Judge 1 –

The games are of a good quality and would interest people of age groups as well as backgrounds. The only worry is you are up against many game developers who are in the similar space. My high ratings are based on the parameters mentioned and hopefully you will remain differentiated.

Judge 2 –

I think you are underestimating your uncertainties. Is not only where the market goes, is about what can limite your success. How are you going to acquire users? how much it costs? what is the ratio of success of a game in the industry? how can you increase that ratio? what kind of results do you need to be profitable? The differentiator with your competition is maybe not too strong, and your industry is very competitive with a lot of offer. I think you have a strong team and the right spirit. Good luck!

Judge 3 –

Looks like a very interesting company. The team looks very talented and they seems like a great bunch of people to get to Chile. It's always difficult to know how it goes with companies like this - but this is one of the better ones I've seen.

I was in Delhi with our Co-Founder Sumeet for a couple of business meetings when the news broke out. We couldn’t believe it. We cancelled all our remaining meetings and immediately called the entire FITH Delhi team for a celebratory party at 2 in the afternoon at T’zers, Saket. Dayymmm we all got royally sloshed even before Sunset. I even pulled my girlfriend along, who was doing her PhD research at IGNOU then. To hell with work, it was worth celebrating.

That very night I got severe poisoning – puking and loosies every two minutes followed by severe chills and high temperature. I was bedridden for the next two days. In a hotel room. All alone. The room service guy became my new best friend, checking up on me every 30 minutes.

But thoughts of Chile encouraged me to live and fight the fever. My cousins, friends, colleagues and girlfriend visited me every day and brought me fruits and medicines, and even gave me sponge baths (thank you zualbonez :) )

Finally when I was strong enough, I flew back to Mumbai, and the nightmare started. The nightmare of applying for a new passport since I didn’t have one!

Oh Goddddd is all I can say. Again, I don’t wanna bore you with the nonsense I was doing for one month in Mumbai, that too amidst the seasonal monsoon, running from pillar to post to get this affidavit and that verification certificate, completely drenched. Finally, when I was rejected for the sixth time at the PSK (Passport Seva Kendra) in Mumbai due to incomplete documents, we said enough was enough and I booked my tickets for home to apply for a fresh passport using my permanent address in Mizoram.

Trust me, getting a passport from a temporary (rental) address is next to impossible especially when you’re in a unique situation like me – I haven’t completed the mandatory one year residence in my new rental apartment so even though I have all the rental agreements, I had to submit both my current and previous rental agreements, along with electricity bills of both places. And then I needed an NOC from my landlords (current and previous, again because I didn’t complete a year in my new apartment) and both landlords weren’t in India, one was in London and the other in Kuwait. And so we had to draft power of attorney letters for the affidavit (annexure i) and so on.

Then came the mandatory verification certificates, which was a completely different set of issues – my friend who’s an IRS officer in Mumbai wrote a VC for me but it wasn’t accepted because the letterhead wasn’t official enough! So he approached his boss, the Commissioner of Income Tax himself but again, his VC was rejected because the letterhead (which they use every day for official correspondence) wasn’t official enough according to the TCS staff at the passport office. And so I approached another friend who’s the Chief General Manager of EXIM Bank, a PSU, but again his VC wasn’t accepted because it didn’t have a reference number among other things.

Apart from all that, my electricity bills weren’t in my landlords’ names and so I had to get more affidavits for that… aarrgh… after spending more than 20K, it was still not going anywhere and so the TCS staff in Mumbai told me to apply the normal way from Mumbai (which would take 2-3 months) or apply through Tatkaal (fast-track) from Guwahati using my permanent address in Mizoram for all references.

And so I took a very expensive last minute flight home to start from scratch.

The nightmare continued.

The moment I landed in Mizoram, I again ran from one Government office to the other because:

a) I didn’t have an EPIC (voter’s ID) card

b) I lost my driving license years ago

c) My Birth Certificate stated my name as V.L.Ruatkima and not Vanlal Ruatkima

d) Both my ST and Residential certificates were outdated

e) I didn’t have a freaking bank & telephone account in Mizoram, all my documents were Mumbai-based. Hence the only solution was to get a joint account with either my mom or dad’s accounts.

f) I needed fresh Verification Certificates

g) …and many other small small things.

In two weeks, I was able to get everything, thanks to favors. Yes, that’s how the system works. Favors. I hate pulling that string, but I really had no other option. It was a matter of do or die. Name dropping here and there to speed up the process. And yes, I didn’t feel guilty because of the frustration I faced back in Mumbai.

Funniest thing was, on my way home I was relieved because my parents knew so many IAS and IPS officers in Mizoram. Family friends. One of the perks of being in an influential family. It was only when I reached home that I realized all those renowned officers in Mizoram whom my folks knew, were all retired! And so I was on my own again.

Fortunately, the new DC of Aizawl, Dr. Franklin, is my senior from school. He wrote me a Verification Certificate, and based from my past experience in Mumbai, I got a SECOND Verification Certificate from the Superintendent of Police, Aizawl district. Dr. Franklin also wrote an introductory letter to the head of the Regional Passport Office in Guwahati who was his former batch mate at the Academy. Again, to be doubly sure, I got another introductory letter from my friend Muanpuii Saiawi IFS, who is currently an Indian diplomat at South Korea. Yes, this time I was covering all my bases, taking every back-up possible, leaving no stones unturned.

And so I flew up to Guwahati. Hot and humid, cocktailed with the heavy monsoon rains.

In five days, I was able to sort out everything. My passport submission was finally accepted after spending the whole day at Guwahati PSK and I will be getting my new passport in the next 5-7 days!

I reached Mizoram yesterday.

But of course, the nightmare hasn’t ended yet. Once the cops in Aizawl have done my Police Verification and I (hopefully) receive my new passport, I have to submit the details to StartUp Chile and then fly back to Mumbai immediately, do all the Visa requirements like Hepatitis shots, HIV tests etc and then fly to Delhi for an appointment at the Chilean Embassy, apply for a Visa, interviews and that, fly back to Mumbai, and if I do get my Visa, fly back to Delhi again to collect it, and then arrange my accommodation in Chile, sort out my insurance and book my flight tickets, for I have to be in Santiago, Chile, by July 31.

Who said life was easy?

I would personally like to thank Bego and the people of StartUp Chile for understanding my unique situation and extending my deadline due to my passport complications.

Keeping my fingers crossed. Cheers :)

Chp 454. My new S4

Ever since I bought my first Android phone back in 2010, there had been no looking back. Back then, everybody around me were buying iPhones and Blackberrys, with a strong percentage held by WinMo devices as well.

Android was considered the cheap rebel, a phone with no class, a phone that doesn’t get you laid. Everybody in office laughed at me when I decided to switch from WinMo to Android.

“But Kima, what shitty device is this Android? It’s not gonna survive in the market at all. Buy a blackberry. We have BBM. We are the majority. We are the masters of this universe!”

“Dude, don’t listen to him. Buy an iPhone. I don’t know what is so great about the phone but everybody says it’s great so even I bought one. I still don’t know what is so great about it, but I am an iPhone user now so that means I have more class than others. Come become an Apple fan.”

But the geek in me was completely fascinated by the possibilities of an Android device. I became the first person in our office to own an Android device. And I did it with style. I bought the Galaxy S, the first of its series, the I9000, Samsung’s flagship back then.

It cost me 29K, which was more than my monthly salary back then, but thanks to EMI option, I had my dream phone. As the years slowly rolled by, I started converting more and more people in our office to Android. We became close friends. More than that, we became a secret society, a pack of blood brothers, shying away from the condescending glares of iPhone and BB users. We shared many jokes only we understood, signaled each other in codes, developed our own sign language, and went on weekend trips and clandestine operations to assassinate evil dictators.

Anyway, yes, this is not a techie post. I am not going to talk about the specs and features because I’m sure most of you would know already.

So why the S4 for 41K?

I know that’s a lot of money.

But before you judge me, hear my story first.

I’ve been using the Galaxy S for the past three years. I rooted it. I even soft-bricked it once. And yes, for the past one year, it used to hang at least once or twice a day and I eventually had to remove the battery for a force restart. Apart from that, most apps either do not run or are extremely slow. I had to go through all that frustration and stress because I value my hard earned money. I never went for the S-II or S-III, or any other android devices like the Nexus 4 or HTC One.

Sometimes all my contacts would get deleted. And other times it would be my messages. I even upgraded my OS from Éclair 2.1 to Gingerbread 2.3, completely bypassing Froyo 2.2! That’s how laidback I can be sometimes. And history repeated itself because I am now on 4.2 Jellybean directly from 2.3 Gingerbread, completely bypassing Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich OS! So yeah, to me, this had been a HUGE leap for me.

I really love the dual shot feature where I can take a photo or video of what’s on either side of the phone at the same time! Apart from that, there are various awesome photography modes, like the ability to record sound along with the photo, richtone photography etc.

Other features like the ability to scroll pages without actually touching the phone (merely waving), or turning pages by simply nodding or how a video stops playing if I move my head away are simply mindblowing new features I’ve been missing out for a long long time.

Hoping to have a great experience using this phone :)

Cheers :)

Chp 453. Networking dinner IV: Pondi Salon

So last Friday, I decided to take part in my fourth Coral Networking dinner. As I have mentioned a couple of times before, Coral Networking dinner is this exclusive “invite only” dinner hosted by Digicat and i2cook at Prahlad Kakkar’s cottage. We have to register in advance, and if we are accepted, we go to the location on our own and meet the other invitees there, where we talk about our work and network with each other, while at the same time enjoying exquisite cuisine you won’t easily find at most restaurants across the city.

The participants last Friday were -

Arjun Basu – Vice President at Reliance Retail

Salonee Doshi – Founder of “It’s Showtime”, equity analyst at a financial firm

Neetu Prasad – Analyst at Orange

Neha Toteja – Corporate planning and BD at Times Television Network

Megha Goyal – Founder of i2Cook and Head Chef at Coral Networks

Pawan Deokule – Managing Director at Digicat Digital Marketing Pvt Ltd

Kima – Lover of Old Monk

I had a very cozy and comfortable time because I already knew Neetu and Neha from previous Coral networking events. Salonee recognized me from my recent stint with our Mumbai Police which was splashed across many local papers.  And Arjun was an alumnus of IIM-B, so we bonded over Old Monk immediately, talking about L-Square parties and the professors. So, yeah, I really enjoyed being there that night.

The theme was PONDICHERRY SALON, and it was my first “desi themed” Coral event. Most of the food served had heavy influences from the French, which had this really awesome blend of French cuisine with different culinary from states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

For drinks, we had the nectar of organic Hibiscus flower served as a cooling juice. But the cooling effect wasn’t very effective for me as I was already on the nectar of organic Old Monk. :P

For appetizers, we were served this really awesome Mundir Parupu Bagoda which is their version of a cashew-nut pakora. I really felt bad eating so many of them because they were actually meant for the vegetarians. For us non-vegetarians, we were served this equally delicious Erral Masala Vadai, which is prawn chana dal patties, served with mango coconut chutney.

For the main course, there was Muthaiy curry (egg curry) served with ghee rice. This was for the vegetarians.

For the non-vegetarians, there was Markandam dalcha (lamb blanquette dalcha) served with ghee rice. Creamy dalcha is a combination of lamb & mango, and it really kicked ass.

Since there were more non-vegetarians, we also had another non-veg dish, and this was Mutton Ragou (Ragout) served with bread & potato salad. This is another Pondicherry dish created under the influence of French gastronomy, and the dish melted right in my mouth.

For desserts, we were served this awesome Vennai Puttu (coconut rice flan), and this traditional dessert is actually a favorite at many homes in Pondicherry. It was the perfect way to end an evening of great food and greater company.

Looking forward to the next Coral event. Cheers :)

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Previous related posts:

Networking dinner III: Spanish Surprise

Networking dinner II: Mediterranean Cuisine

Networking dinner I: Coorgi Blast (link no longer available because it was on my Posterous blog)

Chp 452. Love, from a distance.

From a distance,

you assured us everything is fine now

but reality be damned, we’re not.

From a distance,

you told us not to worry

but all day long, we’ve been nothing but distracted.

        Because we’re not there

        our hearts bleed faster

        for kindred lost and laughter silenced.

        Because we’re not there

        we feel so obsolete

        for neither hand nor sweat can we lend.

                But no matter how damaged we become

                our resilience and spirit will live on.

        Because you’re not here

        our love for our land grows fonder

        with every pain and suffering we share with you.

        Because you’re not here

        the hellish nightmare you faced

        intensified a hundredfold for us in this distant abyss.

From a distance,

we mourn every death, a newlywed, a student, a daughter, a Gooner,

everyone… because our love is of an undying one.

From a distance,

our words are meek but our prayers are strong,

Rest in peace to all the victims, we're very much with you all.

**************

Dedicated to all the victims of today’s horrific landslide caused by the pre-monsoon cyclonic rains right in the heart of Aizawl, just a few minutes walking distance from my house.

And the pain intensifies even further when you don’t know the victims personally but you find out some of them have been your Facebook friends all along.

Rest In Peace. And prayers to all those in Mizoram because it looks like the hurricane is only just starting to intensify! :(

**************

[Photos courtesy misual.com and various Facebook groups]