Cristina's Visit

Its been a very tiring week out here but also very interesting. All thanks to Cristina.

Now, now... hold on to all the inquisitive thoughts... and Kin, dont be J... you know who I am talking about. Cristina is a vendor for our company. She originates from Spain and currently lives in Dubai. She was here on a 3 day trip to speak to my colleagues about all the strategies and plans she has for her products. But, with me, it was a different time all together.

I realized she is a believer in Feng Shui and got on to re-design her visiting cards and logos that will bring her steadiness in her career. She was indeed impressed. Took her along the town, to my new office... had good 'Chinese' Lunch buffet at the Main Land China. It was yummmmm....

The most interesting part was about Kinjal. I had told her about Kinjal and that I was getting married. Showed her Kinjal's pic... her first reaction was: "What do these people eat? She has such a lovely skin."

And thats when a journey back to time started. Being a non Indian, she was very excited about how an Indian wedding takes place. But guess, she never had spoken to any Indians on how they select a bride for themselves. She asked me questions on how I met her, what happened... how did it click?

Phew... sometimes it was difficult to answer her, coz it is not always possible to put in words what you really feel... but it was a good time. Went back 4 months in time, when Kinjal and me first met. We spoke, we met again... chats, a few messages... the talk was getting more interesting. I almost re-lived every moment of what happened then... and she was already thinking how exciting the wedding would be. If things work fine, she says she will be there to experience the ceremonies.

Ceremonies, and I was all trying to explain what happens in the wedding. Thanks to all the experience I have had in Bangalore with my cous' weddings, its been quite easier to explain things. Her questions and doubts really put me on to a different track... that was the only interesting talk I had since long ;)

She was here for almost 3 days and that was a good thing to me too. Sold my desings to her and also got to know about a charity event she does every year in Dubai called the Kings' Parade.

She has invited me and says she would love to see Kinjal there too. Not only that, she promised she would make me the king and Kinjal the queen if we were there to lead the Parade! ;)

Dont know if I would be there.. but just hoping to get there sometime in my life ahead.

SK (truly) International

Last afternoon, after a heavy lunch (complimentary, thats why very heavy) I decided to make a visit to my friend's factory at Hosur. His factory is into processing Granites from Chunks of Rocks.

My first visit through the signages gave me the feeling that this place was sure different. Black boards with green letters, this is not a common sight on a highway. After all the twists and turns, we made our way to the factory that stood besides a newly made temple. This temple had larger than life statues of Gods & Goddesses and surely an indication that we were meeting technology that was larger than life.

The security asked us the relevant info he needed and on satisfaction, opened the doors for us. Now this was a long door that runs through a motor. The door slid by slowly allowing us a complete view of the factory. The car drove in and I got down of it to catch a glimpse of this gigantic structure. This was huge and clean. 

My friend took me around the factory and he explianed me the process of how they make stones out of chunks. It was an interesting tour through the process. What was even more fascinating was the Gang Saw machine that is used to cut through stones.

What happens there is that chunks of rocks are put into a machine which cuts through the stone and then dried and polished and is sent to the client's place. This machine was huge and as we got closer to the machine, it felt for a moment that we were standing inside the engines of a gigantic chip like the Titanic. Big wheels, turning over and over again, and blades moving into the solid rock trying to cut it through.

Wow! It was a first ever visit to a factory this huge. With a little they can do for the environment, they ensure that the water generated is recycled and used again and a part of it also goes in the landscaping gardens that border the factory site.

Truly an international experience! :)

9 Kms Road hanging in the sky

A trip to Hosur yesterday was an interesting trip after a long time. Infrastructure fascinates me. The site I saw was quite a fascinating one too. 

After completing all the chores at the office, my brother with the team left to Hosur for a client visit. We knew it would be a loooong drive (1 and half hours) from our office to the site. I got comfortable with a book and was reading through the pages and enjoying the journey.

Music played its role and so did the heat of the mid day. We had to route ourselves from Koramangala and move on ahead from there. We crossed the busy streets of Koramangala, the fly over at Byapanahhali and entered the road that leads to the Electronic City. Now this was getting interesting a drive, as I could spot a lot of new swanky buildings that have cropped up on this road.

Surprisingly I saw a construction site ahead, all of a sudden and realized there was a flyover getting constructed. Thinking it is a flyover and will end soon, we were moving on. But wait... this flyover never seemed to end. Pillar after pillar, it continued.

I just happened to see the signage of the project, since it really did not look like a Bangalore company. The signage was that of the Highway Authorities of India. Further down, managed to peak into the Project Information placed at one of the signal posts, which said Elevated Highway Project. So this long stretch of road was an Elevated Highway.

The pillars went to moving by the window of my car till we realized there were around 250 pillas erected on a single strecth of road. The pillars had almost everywhere roads above them, except for some places where the work is still going on.

On our return , we calculated the distance from the start to the end and we realized this would be one of the longest 'Elevated Highways' measuring 9 Kms.

Thats Long!