Turkish Delight

Its been a while, am back in this space again!

If you feel passionately about the need for positive change in the development space in India and are excited about the potential for technology as an enabler for bringing about some of these changes, then we might have an interesting opportunity for you.

The QUEST alliance is a network of partners working to better the state of education and find models for rural employability by using technology as an integral part of these solutions. We seek to bring possibility and hope into our schools and into the lives of the millions of unemployed but talented youth in this country today. The basis on which Quest is formed and seeks to keep itself alive is the strength of partnerships and the notion that we can bring about systemic change only through harnessing separate efforts and find common interests and grounds for different partners to work together. We currently work with 10 partners and are actively looking to engage with more organizations working in these areas of development.

We are looking for a young and energetic person to work at our India office on a one-year assignment. The role would involve understanding projects and experiments deeply, documenting best practices and success stories from across projects and researching interesting experiments using technology in India and across the world. If you are around , have some experience in project management and are willing to learn new skills, and most importantly, feel passionately about the need to bring about a difference and are curious about the possibility of change using technology and partnerships, we would like to talk to you. The position will be based out of Bangalore and might require you to travel to program locations.

You might come from any background, but we definitely would prefer someone with good writing skills and a passion for technology in education and development. To know more about our work visit http://quest.eeaonline.org . Please write to a.sethi(@)iyfnet.org if you are interested.

If you feel passionately about the need for positive change in the development space in India and are excited about the potential for technology as an enabler for bringing about some of these changes, then we might have an interesting opportunity for you.

The QUEST alliance is a network of partners working to better the state of education and find models for rural employability by using technology as an integral part of these solutions. We seek to bring possibility and hope into our schools and into the lives of the millions of unemployed but talented youth in this country today. The basis on which Quest is formed and seeks to keep itself alive is the strength of partnerships and the notion that we can bring about systemic change only through harnessing separate efforts and find common interests and grounds for different partners to work together. We currently work with 10 partners and are actively looking to engage with more organizations working in these areas of development.

We are looking for a young and energetic person to work at our India office on a one-year assignment. The role would involve understanding projects and experiments deeply, documenting best practices and success stories from across projects and researching interesting experiments using technology in India and across the world. If you are around , have some experience in project management and are willing to learn new skills, and most importantly, feel passionately about the need to bring about a difference and are curious about the possibility of change using technology and partnerships, we would like to talk to you. The position will be based out of Bangalore and might require you to travel to program locations.

To know more about our work visit http://quest.eeaonline.org . Please write to a.sethi@iyfnet.org if you are interested.

If you feel passionately about the need for positive change in the development space in India and are excited about the potential for technology as an enabler for bringing about some of these changes, then we might have an interesting opportunity for you.

The QUEST alliance is a network of partners working to better the state of education and find models for rural employability by using technology as an integral part of these solutions. We seek to bring possibility and hope into our schools and into the lives of the millions of unemployed but talented youth in this country today. The basis on which Quest is formed and seeks to keep itself alive is the strength of partnerships and the notion that we can bring about systemic change only through harnessing separate efforts and find common interests and grounds for different partners to work together. We currently work with 10 partners and are actively looking to engage with more organizations working in these areas of development.

We are looking for a young and energetic person to work at our India office on a one-year assignment. The role would involve understanding projects and experiments deeply, documenting best practices and success stories from across projects and researching interesting experiments using technology in India and across the world. If you are around , have some experience in project management and are willing to learn new skills, and most importantly, feel passionately about the need to bring about a difference and are curious about the possibility of change using technology and partnerships, we would like to talk to you. The position will be based out of Bangalore and might require you to travel to program locations.

To know more about our work visit http://quest.eeaonline.org . Please write to a.sethi(@)iyfnet.org if you are interested.

Its been a very long time, everything in the last 6 months has so consumed me that I have not wanted to stop look back and reflect. Its going to be difficult to try and write about everything that has happened since I moved back from Istanbul. Its been 6 long months in Bangalore and i am throughly enjoying my journey. I have got a place of my own in Koramangala with a great view, my seesha, turkish coffee and the works are all in action here. I somehow still keep thinking about my time in Turkey, its a feeling difficult to express in words. I am well settled in my job now, you can read more about it here

One thing I can vouch for is that Bangalore is one of the most liveable cities in India. I am figuring out this flickr thing again, once that is done you will have more pics to see.

So for the ill informed, I have left Turkey and moved to Bangalore to work on a public private partnership for improving quality of education of rural schools in India. The work has been very exciting and hectic. The most exciting part about work is spending a lot of time in the rural areas to get a feel of what educational systems in look like, to meet the administrators and resource persons on the ground, to understand the political dynamics at the grass root level and ofcourse seeing the glow on the face of achild when he/she touches the computer for the first time. I will write more about my experiences in the field later, for now I need to find a home and some basic furniture, meet my folks in Ahmedabad in the coming week. Currently I have been a little cut off from the city, but thanks to my man I have enjoyed it so far and hope to be in the middle of action, once I am a little more mobile.

After many months here, I can safely say I am :

I live next to the bosphorus, pass by besiktas every day, gozleme and kumpir is my staple diet, I cant live without aayran and ezogelin corba, I cant help but discuss the result of a fotball derby the next morning, have 7 cups of chai everyday, I go for fine dining and order Karu fasuliye and aas pilav, Sampiyon Kokorec, midye, dolma is my favourite 4 am snack on a saturday night after 7 glasses of Efes and I can challenge any turk to a game of tavla.

my fav.quote is kafam tasak gibe ! (you have to ask the turks what it means)

Damn I am going to miss this place ! 5 more days to go and I am not counting

Landing on the 21st Feb in NYC
22nd-24th Baltimore & DC
25th-26th NYC for the weekend.

First time on the American continent. Should be fun.

27th - Istanbul
4th March - Delhi
5th March - Ahmedabad
6th March - Bangalore, start my new job.

More on that soon.

This picture really captures the spirit of where I stay, my room mates and the diversity I enjoy, the other day I was looking at the world map and suddenly I started seeing faces of people and not boundaries of countires, that is a phenomenal feeling. Istanbul trainees....Rock on !

Check out Nikki's post on what we did last summer...Amazing truly amazing, if you ever need ideas for summer holidays and have the money, south-west Turkey is the place to be :)

1. Went to Alexandria and the IYF conference on Alliances, Education & Employability
2. Lived by the Nile in Cairo
3. Went to Tornado's with this guy
4. Saw the sound and light show at the Pyramids
5. Shopped at Khan el-Khalili

"Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill."

I have just arrived at Cairo International airport and writing this from the car that is driving me to Alexandria.

I have always maintained that Istanbul is the queen of all cities. The sheer mystic and feel of the place takes your breath away. Just before the plane landed at Cairo, the view from the window was such that for a moment I thought here is a place that offers close competition to Istanbul, which of course I will know as I spend more days here.

As i get on the aero bridge, for a moment I feel I am in Mumbai, the same feel, blue carpets, security men chilling at the entrance gate staring at the opposite wall and not bothered about what they are there for...'security'& a couple of duty free shops. As I walk further and before the immigration there is someone standing with my name card in his hand. 'AAKASH SETHI' I am quite surprised and hesitantly walk upto him and say "that’s me" He asks me if I have a visa stamped on my passport, I was like sure, he takes it from me almost thinking that its his. We then stand at the immigration counter, and suddenly a few fat & important men pass...wonder why the two always go together. My turn comes to go to the immigration officer, I say nothing, the guy with me shows my passport and the immigration officer is talking to him about something important and its not about my passport at all. They continue chatting for 4-5 minutes as the queue starts building up. My main man tells me I can go and stand ahead and after another 2 minutes of waiting I get out of immigration. Now I am very curious as to who the person with me is, I politely ask him, where are you from, he says I work for the United nations, I come here regularly to pick up guests.

AS I got to the customs, the officer starts talking to my man again and after they exchange a few lines they let me go. As I step out of the airport there is another man standing with my name...by then it was getting too much for me, I have never had this happen to me...two different people coming to pick me up !! The guy snatches the trolley from my hands...I am getting used to the snatching by now and we go to the Misr Bank to exchange money. I take out a 100 dollar bill and give it to the person at the counter, he stares at it for about 30 seconds and passes it on to his senior who is dead in his seat, he sees it for a minute and they give it back to me, and explain to my man that they cannot exchange it for me. God only knows why, the only word I understand in their conversation was mushkil = problem. Now my man parks his trolley by the side, asks me to stand by it and snatches the $ 100 from my hand, now this was getting a bit too much, but i know he meant to help, he walks around talking to people at the airport as to where I can go to exchange money since the only bank open at 1.30 am outside the airport wasn’t giving me any money. The only solution seems to re-enter the airport, which I do with a lot of ease, I walk by the security...who is co-incidentally also staring into nothingness, flash my passport he asks no questions and lets me in, next is the customs, I tell him I need to exchange money and that those strikers outside are for some reason not giving me any Egyptian pounds, his gesture is like almost welcoming me back to the airport, next stop is the immigration, there is a half dead security guy who looks at my immigration stamp and lets me in.

Okay, so now I am back to where I started off from, I go to the bank of Alexandria that has 3 people seated inside, one of them gets up and I hesitantly give him my 100 dollar bill again. He looks at it for at least a minute and passes it on to the other two people in the room to examine, after a 7 minute conference and molesting the note completely they decide to give me 575 Egyptian pounds. I count the money, and whiz pass immigration, no one bothers to look at me, leave alone my passport and then the customs guys are also too busy to look at me and so I out again in the open.


The person who came to pick me up was extra nice, immediately took my trolley and warmly shook my hand and welcome to Egypt he said! It makes such a difference to be greeted by someone in a new country warmly; I could have got such a welcome only in India and now in Egypt. Suddenly this place seems like closer to home.


It is 2.48 am right now, I am currently at the Alexandria desert road, driving at a speed of 120/kmph and I am told it will take another 2 hours to reach Alexandria! Quite a first couple of hours it has been.

First time in Egypt, there from the 30th Nov-8th December. Alexandria for two days and then Cairo for 6, the pyramids, the mummies, the nile, the sheesha...and more, cant wait!
Going to speak at a conference on Youth Education and the role of business
Representing Microsoft at a major conference for the first time, excited & a few butterflies, hopefully all should be smooth!

Finished a year in Turkey yesterday which ofcourse requires a separate post, but as a side note, I was cooked a surprise dinner by a bunch of sweet portuguese girls !

A few highlights from previous months

• Did a small strategic planning workshop with Bosphorus university to start up a CSR NGO in Turkey
• A buddy zealot/nomad and family visited me :)
• Lunch in a boat on the Bosphorus

Some interests that have I been pursuing of late

• Sufism: Reflecting, reading and understanding the sufi way of life, it has been rewarding to experience the meaning of the whirling dervishes and go closer to the life of Rumi. I will have to dedicate a seperate post for my insights on that!
• Technology & Development: Working closely on various projects in the middle east and africa on ICT4D, I have begun to understand the role technology has in development and how it is going to be a key enabler to achieve the millenium development goals. It helps to be working in an area that is of genunie interest, keeps me going everyday

Few things I am going to do over the coming weeks

• Go to Konya, the place where Rumi the sufi poet settled down when he was 25, his death aniversary is celebrated by the gathering of sufi musicians from all around the world. Should be fun
• Going for the Global Alliance summit in Alexandria, Egypt organized by the International Youth Foundation, for those who are interested in what it is, check it out here
• Shop at the Grand Bazaar !

Looking forward to the last lap !

Go Kaka...!!

It was a great feeling to be back home for 2 weeks in July. Of the many things I got back to, it was simply awesome to be back on a motorbike again :) This Beast is a 2001 model Machismo, 350 CC, when you drive it on the roads of Ahmedabad, its a majestic cruise. If anyone is curious or excited by what I mean, look me up when you are there next and ill show you!

When, I first heard the concept 'Life is empty and meaningless', I exclaimed: "Is that really so?" This must be the conclusion of somebody who has never romanced life—had no joy, thrill or excitement.
Destiny, however, kept repeatedly thrusting the same concept in my face. Until I wondered, God, how can this be? Then, understanding dawned.
The concept says: "Life is" not "My life is". My life is definitely full of meaning, purpose, ambition, goals, freedom, responsibilities, family, society and what not. But what's the difference between "Life is" and "My life is"?

Any Ideas?

I have always been a dreamer, perhaps its a piecean trait or whatever, but in doing so i have been in a continious state of prepration, not stopping by to enjoy what I am doing, 3 years back my dream was to do what I am doing now, I am quite convinced that dreams necessarily take you into the future and that is not the way to be happy. Brenda's post on sustaining dreams reinforces that belief as well. Yes, live the moment right now because this moment is not going to last. Concentrate on what you are doing now and in achieving sublime concentration in whatever u do, you will find bliss !

I just realized the other day that its been close to 7 months since I have been in Istanbul, people around me are also realizing this and some incidents are proof enough. I was walkin on the street at Dikilitas approaching the bus stop and a car suddenly stops next to me to ask me for directions, I try and guide them in my broken turkish, this is not just a one off incident but happens quite regularly. The otherday a few of us trainees went by the water to have fresh fish, the waiter starts talking to 2 of them in English and starts explaining to me in turkish and gives details. I understand 80% of what he says and translate it for the others. I was wondering why was this the case, when I came in for the first few months people could make out I am a 'yabanci' = foreigner, but now it seems that I am one of them. I guess its the body languge, the way you walk around, your sense of direction comes through in the way you carry yourself. Of course I am told I look a little Turkish/Kurdish and go to a local hair dresser which could also be a good reason. It has been quite facinating to observe this change and its a sign that I have blended into the people and life here. I have decided for whatever more time I am here, I am going to make more of an effort to learn turkish. The other day I was convincing the stall owner next to our dorm that I frequent to cook me some Tandoori chicken. We managed to communicate and the deal is that I am going to marinate the 'tavuk' = chicken with some Tandoori masala from home and he is going to roast it for me. Cant wait to have Tandoori chicken by the Bosphorus with some beer! Inshallah!

Its probably just one of those times when you have to look forward to life with determination and perserverance and follow what you have always believed, I cant stop reading these lines at the moment
Sorry for those who cant understand, cant really translate this without losing essence.

Lehron se darkar nauka par nahin hoti,koshish karne walon ki haar nahin hoti,
Nanhi cheenti jab daana lekar chalti hai,chadhti deewaron par, sau bar phisalti hai.
Man ka vishwas ragon mein saahas bharta hai,chadhkar girna, girkar chadhna na akharta hai.
Akhir uski mehnat bekar nahin hoti,koshish karne walon ki haar nahin hoti.

Dubkiyan sindhu mein gotakhor lagata hai,ja ja kar khali haath lautkar aata hai.Milte nahi sahaj hi moti gehre paani mein,badhta dugna utsah isi hairani mein.
Muthi uski khali har bar nahin hoti,Koshish karne walon ki haar nahi hoti.
Asaflta ek chunauti hai, ise sweekar karo,kya kami reh gayi, dekho aur sudhar karo.

Jab tak na safal ho, neend chain ki tyago tum,Sangharsh ka maidan chhodkar mat bhago tum.Kuch kiye bina hi jai jaikar nahin hoti,koshish karne walon ki haar nahin hoti.

-Harivansh Rai Bachan

A few weeks back Dad and My uncle stopped over in Istanbul on their way back from Germany. The weekend turned out to be a great learning experience. Normally when someone visits me, I take them around the usual 'To-Dos' in Istanbul and thought ill do pretty much the same with them. But apart from doing the 'To-Dos' they decided to experiment. We went to a mystic sufi music concert. The whirling dervishes beautifully explained the evolution and philosophy of Islam. I am truly amazed at the evolution and spread of islam and am taking some time off to study it further. I couldnt have asked to be in a better place right now, Constantinople - You beauty !

Coming back to the time at Employee Involvement session at the conference. Some of us were dancing, painting, I ofcourse chose to play basket ball with the kids. Was very cool to get back to the court after such a long time (5 months i think) What was even better when one of my collegues from the Israel office came up to me and said 'So you are a basket ball player eh ? ' That felt so good to hear, havent really been on court for a long time, but when someone who doesnt really know you comes up to you and says that, IT MAKES YOUR DAY !!

Here's to a lot more times on court in Istanbul!

I was at a few conferences last week, two of them Microsoft and one AIESEC conference. During one of the conferences some of the Microsoft Delegates decided to spend sometime at an orphanage. We chilled out playing, dancing, painting, drawing with 300 odd turkish children. Although most of us couldnt speak turkish, the kind of energy the kids brought to the group was amazing to experience. It was probably the most refreshing time of the entire last week. Was good to see Microsoft assisting its employees in seeing the human side of things. My biggest challenge was to try and draw pictures in the minds of young kids with the limited turkish i know !

I have come across various arguements about Corporate Social Responsibility and how it cannot work in India, TATA is one company that has CSR embeded in its philosophy, and look at what they have achieved. They are responsible for creating a life around a steel plant, for those who have been to Jamshedpur and met people from Tata Steel (I can see Abhi smiling) will vouch for the fact that its a wonder by itslef !!

I am walking down Kabatas (nearby neighbourhood) and I find this old uncle walking with this bag. We burst out laughing and had to share it with all of you !!

For those of you wondering where I have disappeared, there is more coming your way soon :)

Yes i have joined the nomads, my blog has moved to http://aakash.nomadlife.org

More there!

I thought its time I wrote about work, since I seem to have covered everything from food to sports, and general musings about life. The primary reason I am here is to get an insider’s view on the role of a multinational in society. Of course sitting on the 16th floor of a 600 storey company can give you only a limited view to things, but it does give you a fair idea of what is going on and leave the rest to your imagination, observation etc. Coming to what the hell I am doing:

History: Microsoft has believed in philanthropy for a long time, but it decided to focus most of their efforts on the issue of Digital inclusion, an interesting bit of trivia, did you know that Manhattan has more internet connections than the whole of Africa. So this is something Microsoft wants to work on, educating and empowering more people with the use of technology with a focus on the disadvantaged. Their mission is to educate 10 million people in Africa apart from the other millions in other parts of the world, on the use of Information Technology, setup easy access centers in rural areas and see how technology can be innovatively used in daily life of people. They call it the Unlimited Potential .

So what the hell am I dong here? Well they started this program around 1 and a half years back and it is at a nascent stage of development. Initially they would find partners, develop a project and execute. They had neither target nor any impact indicators that they kept in mind. After having beta tested this for the last 1.5 years, learning from mistakes and developed best case practices, they have decided to create a long term plan for the region. It is this process of long term planning that I am working on.

So my work is going to involve translating Microsoft’s Regional vision into various subsidiaries, assist in creating planning templates that will help the subsidiaries plan more objectively keeping in mind their strengths and weaknesses and the socio-economic impact that they can create, giving some direction to the way they plan ( I need some direction on my life plan too) facilitating workshops at regional meetings etc. Of course the 'jhadu pota' comes along with it, the PowerPoint’s, Excel sheets and Word documents. But hey what the hell, that’s what I learnt in AIESEC for 4 years and now, putting in to good use. At a later stage I am told I will also be involved in creating a long term plan for the Region on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

I am excited about traveling to the World bank knowledge forum in Ankara on 'Private sectors engagement with NGOs' and would be interesting to understand the perspective doing the rounds in this part of the world. All in all I think this place is giving me a very good idea of the real time challenges of a multinational in aligning and implementing its vision of social responsibility into reality.

Looking forward to my job as the excitement develops!

Okay I know its been a while since I last wrote but have been horribly caught up in a lot of other things including work, reflection and laziness. But as promised in my previous post I have to give the cooking update. After curry house I had made up mind to cook some Indian food. Atleast give it a good shot. I think cooking has always been one of my hidden passions that I havent done full justice to. Being away from home and india is giving me a good platform to do so, also with no crystal(my favourite ghar ka kahan place on chowpatty) on the corner the motivation is even more.



I wont ramble too much about the cooking but let the pictures do the talking :) The food was consumed ek dum desi style with hands!


Doing it the Indian way (cristiano from portugal)

The south american drug lord!

Have you heard of a Pakistani-Indian? Well thats the caption of one of the few Indian eating places

That is the name of the Indian restaurant in Ishteklal, we decided to pay it a visit in our quest of doing something exciting. I put on my Fab India shirt and we were ready to go. On our way to the restaurant, I was explaning the diversity of Indian cusine (with my limited knowledge ofcourse) to everyone :) We were finally there. It appeared to be a nice and cozy place. Now to the ordering, we ordered good ol' butter chicken, Kadhai gosht, Daal Tadka, chapati. The food in my opinion was really bad, nothing short of dissapointing. The quantity was pathetic, 8 small pieces of chicken for about Rs 450. All in all a good change from the usual Kebabs and soup.
This has definetly given me the motivation to cook Indian food here. The masala's and the spices are in, and the first Indian feast cooked :) More on that soon!

Clockwise Bassilio, Nikki, Me, Seaun, Eva and Ashfaque

I just seem to be in that sort of a mood right now that forces me to put down the following quotes:-

Reasonable men adapt themselves to their environment; un-resonable men try to adapt their environment to themselves. Thus all progress is the result of the efforts of unreasonable men.

No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or 'get rich' in business by being a conformist

At the end of the day, in our materialistic world it is easy to foget that creativity is a spirutal event. The emergence of something new goes beyond sight, touch and cost benefit analysis. It is the passion and your ability to believe in yourself that matters more than anything else!

So Random you might say, what will follow will offer context soon.

Cheers!

"
They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused.

Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!
"

I have been thinking of blogging for quite a while, its been on my to-do list for the past 3 weeks. I am quite elated today as I have just recieved a parcel from home :)

Contents:-
Biryani, Garam and Rajma Masalas, Vatelu Jeeru for chaas :) A Copy of Success Vs Joy and a lot more ! Thank you Mom . My next mission is to Cook Chicken Biryani, Boondi Raita and round it of with strawberys and cream for all the trainees.
Sitting in office today I just realized what a wonderful experience I have been going through over the last couple of months and decided to write. Ofcourse it has had its highs and lows but never the less I feel lucky to be part of this experience. I am living with a set of wonderful people from all parts of the world and learning every minute about life from them. I am working in one of the top companies in the world and absorbing a lot from the people around and their goals and aspirations in life. It's invaluable learning, thank you AIESEC :)

I witnessed my first live football match yesterday. I must confess that I am no football freak. Back in Ahmedabad I used to watch all school games as a 13 year old and supported my school team quite passionately. But yesterdays experience was quite amazing. The top team in Turkey Fenerbache were in action. It was their home game and a stadium packed with about 30,000 supporters were cheering their team. I was ofcourse in the cheapest parts of the stands but it was also the most enjoyable :) The drumbeats, the dances, the chants. The cricket fans back in India could definetly take a leaf or two out of their books on cheering.

I was taken back to my playing days and the shiver went down my spine again. I think the fire in the belly is getting back. Man I so want to play again :) I am working towards my fitness again, the first baby steps are to see what I eat, healthy good food, avoid sweets and fatty food, olive oil etc. Next step will be to start jogging and then start playing, watch out u Turks I am hitting the court pretty soon!

We are soon shifting to a brand new dorm, its right next to the hookah hotspot in Istanbul and overlooking the bosophorus sea, I will have a view of Asian continent sleeping in Europe, Ah what fun!!

More to come soon!

Thats me in my corner :) 

View to the Asian side of the Istanbul from Belerdesi Palace

Snapshot from the Sunday game, Fenerbache Vs Rizespor

I started reading Geet chachu's book again. It is a book you can keep reading and reflecting on. The first lines that struck me from the book

'Success is in winning the hand of the princess
Joy is in fighting the spirit of the dragon'

Anyone of you who has done something you have truly loved, you will understand the essence of those lines!

If you are confused between following your heart and the mind, This book is a must read!

View of one of the 30,000 mosque's in Istanbul

More pictures from the AIESEC office

Thats a picture from the amazing AIESEC office in Istanbul :)

A group of us Yabanjees (Foreigners) did a small show on the main streets- Ishteklal, here is an amazing photograph taken by yours truly :)

I simply love the simplicity yet effective message this poem conveys, anyone looking for inspiration, here it is !


Lehron se darkar nauka par nahin hoti,koshish karne walon ki haar nahin hoti,
Nanhi cheenti jab daana lekar chalti hai, chadhti deewaron par, sau bar phisalti hai. Man ka vishwas ragon mein saahas bharta hai, chadhkar girna, girkar chadhna na akharta hai.
Akhir uski mehnat bekar nahin hoti, koshish karne walon ki haar nahin hoti.Dubkiyan sindhu mein gotakhor lagata hai,ja ja kar khali haath lautkar aata hai.Milte nahi sahaj hi moti gehre paani mein,badhta dugna utsah isi hairani mein.
Muthi uski khali har bar nahin hoti,Koshish karne walon ki haar nahi hoti.
Asaflta ek chunauti hai, ise sweekar karo, kya kami reh gayi, dekho aur sudhar karo. Jab tak na safal ho, neend chain ki tyago tum, Sangharsh ka maidan chhodkar mat bhago tum.
Kuch kiye bina hi jai jaikar nahin hoti, koshish karne walon ki haar nahin hoti.

-Sorry, dont know the name of the poet

The Countries I have been to, Still to go West
Click to enlarge map !

Some of us on Xmas eve, we had a quiet Xmas, a round of drinks, a nice dinner and then walked down French street (the only christmas(y) street we could find :)
Ppl in picture: Sean from Australia, Me, Martina from Italy, Nikki from USA, Bekir from Turkey, Monica from Canada

Thats the room in the dorm when it gets messy

Some of us trainees at Nate's(one with the french beard) farewell party

Ande the Craziest Ukrainian I have ever met till today

Greg (Al Padrino) and ME at Nate's farewell

Thats everyone at Montreal a popular pub at Istiklal 

I arrived in Istanbul Ataturk International Airport to work with Microsoft MEA (Middle East and Africa) as an AIESEC Trainee on the 28th of November 2004 for atleast a 10 month stint. Today is the 6th of December and I am putting down my first impressions of my week here.

The Dorm

I am staying at the Bilgi University Dorm, it is one of the well known private universities here. I share my room with 5 other people from Poland, Venezuela, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA. Its quite a nice place with all amenities i could ask for, a washing machine, a kitchen, a TV room, internet connection in the rooms and lots of nice people, mainly undergraduate students from Turkey and abroad. All AIESEC trainees are given free accomodation here. It doesnt always allow a lot of privacy but provides great company in some crazy, funny and nice people from all around the world. There are a total of 17 trainees right now from all continents.

Istanbul

Istanbul is very beautiful, much more than I had imagined. Its a fusion between a medivial asian city and a fast paced European city. One half of it is in asia and the other in europe. The European side is the commercial capital of Istanbul and the Asian side has a lot of palaces, mueseums and historical places. On my arrival I was lucky to get a city tour with all the other trainees that the AIESECers had organized. There are over 3500 mosques in this city and one right behind the dorm that gives you a morning alarm at 5 in the morning and wakes you up from your beauty sleep. I live about 10 mins away from one of the most posh streets of Istanbul, its similar to the Champ-s-eleyse in Paris that has all the top brands and the night clubs as well as street side restaurants. I am surprised that the McDonalds and Pizza Huts of the world havent really taken over this place. Turkish people fancy their kebabs to the McDonald burgers and KFC chicken. An ideal evening here would be to go to an open air Tea place that overlooks the sea and serves Nargile (Hookahs), sip tea and Nargile, have a Tavuc shish (chiken tikka roll) at one of the kebab places and then go to madrid a popular pub here. All in all the place affords a lot of diversity in the kind of life you would like to lead.

Attitudes
The people here are quite scared to challenge the status quo, historically they had been living under a dictator for a long time and that is still evident from their way of life right now. The newspaper has very mild views about politicians and will not question anything that the government is upto. Its more of a joke book than anything else, it talks more about entertainment, advertisements and other tamashas in the city, quite like the Times of India nowadays.

Work place

I am based at the Head Quarters of Microsofts Middle East Asia and Africa office. The work place is quite casual, I am told people come in shorts during summers. I can surely make out that I am working in an IT company, most people have 2 computers on their desks trying to work on both of them at the same time. As you can imagine its a high security zone, sometimes it gets to you, for eg. you have a code to even enter the loo, imagine if you want to so badly go to the loo and you are trying to remember the code. My boss is quite a passionate and energetic middle aged egyptian lady. Slowly getting to know more about the work and what it will involve, largely will be to do with making a business plan for Microsofts partner NGOs in the Middle East Asia and Africa region, and making a csr plan for Microsoft in the MEA region. Looks promising but lets see how it goes.

AIESEC

The AIESECers in this city are quite passionate and ambitious set of people, quite similar to the kind you would find in India. They are much more in number though, you would find atleast 50 active AIESECers here at any point of time. I too have a trainee buddy feels a little wierd after being one for numerous trainees back in Ahmedabad. But as a good friend put it, what goes around comes around :)

The Food

Getting used to the food, they largely consume a lot of beef which I am not too fond of. But the kebabs are nice and you have Turkish dhabbas that serve nice shorbas and rice dishes. And ofcourse there are a lot of people from all parts of the world that cook at the dorm so I get to taste food from all corners of the world. If you have the right people along with you turkish food can be quite appetizing. One good thing that I have found here is good old chaas. They call it Ayran and its more like salted lassi but I don’t complain, something is better than nothing !

All in all I am living in a vibrant and exci