Stanford E - Week - The Rubber Band !

Just came across this Video and Links while browsing through various blogs online on Entrepreneurship. Stanford Unviersity hosted its Entrepreneurship week and the winning idea of creating unique value using rubber bands was by this group in the below video. The Funds that they gather goes to a breast cancer charity. Damn Interesting...

Should view all other videos and articles at www.eweek.stanford.edu

Cheers

Nikunj

China Tales Vol III

China Tales – Vol III – The FAST Track!! – Work | Masti | Racing and Dandiya!!

Nihao to all of you from a Windy/Wet/Stormy/More Wet/ Potentially Typhoonic Shanghai ☺

First and Foremost – Today is 8/10/2007 exactly a month after I reached Shanghai. If someone said somewhere that Time Flies… I would tell him that Its like a spacejet!, It dosent fly, it zooms!!!....

PS – I wrote the above and the below few lines on 8th!, but I am finishing it today!, With a lot of updates and changes!!

Thank you so much to whoever replied to my E-Mails!, Loved my Immaturish Writing ☺, Saw all my pics (am sure the girls saw the guys in my pics and vice versa for the boys!), and people who commented/wrote on my wall on Facebook ☺ ( my first finding here!, discovered yet another networking site!, and it is good, better than our loved orkut!)

So, for the ones who are lousy and don’t want to read this Exciting | Full of Adventure | Thoughtful | and Loooooong Email, here are some quick Links which will give you a sneak peak into whats happening with my life here! –

General Pics – Shanghai -
Trip to Hangzhou !! –
F o r m u l a O n e –
Videos –


Alright, so sit back, take your cup of coffee, stop looking outside the mirror, take a break from your CAT Studies, CA Audits, Boring WorkPlaces!, and enjoy the following updates from yours truly! –

So, continued from ChinaTales II (wow… this goes like a series!), I have settled down perfectly here. With Work, Food, Friends!, Adventures!, Fun… everything… I know this is still an initial phase, but its really important for anyone and everyone who goes to a new environment, a new place to find the right kind of people and places around you. I am lucky atleast I have found the right kind of people!....

Lets talk about Shanghai and China on a whole now… No doubt its one of the most vibrant places you would ever come across, full of energy, people, enthusiasm, life, party, etc etc. You can make the mistake of comparing it to Mumbai for some reason but its way beyond any place in India. The amount of money that the Chinese people and government have put into building this place is not even funny. One of the examples of it is the new Financial Center – Which would be by all means the second tallest building in the world (Tallest in China), one can argue that China is such a huge country, with so much space, so why should a city go on building huge buildings and skyscrapers ( for ppl who don’t know, Shanghai has the most skyscrapers in the world). Well, you may call it a concrete jungle, but that’s the way it is. It’s the Chinese way of saying that we are better than the best. Whatever you tell us, we will still keep growing, and slowly but surely overtake everyone of you outside!. For testimony just see the Pics I have taken from the Bund (River Side).

But, as with all BIG Cities, this is a concrete jungle of some sort. Sometimes it looks like a soulless city to me. People are just here to earn money, spend more money, earn more more money, spend more and more money.. and the cycle goes on… I agree all of us are aspiring to do that too, but we have our own ways of doing it. But Shanghai and China as a whole are progressing blindly at times. Every where you see there is some construction or the other, you can make out from the faces of people how stressed and unhappy they are with lives. You go to a metro at 830 in the morning and there are tons and thousands of people, you come back at 9 in the nite and there are the same number!... well they do work hard, but question is…do they live enough!. I would try and find that out for sure!.

Conclusion – Shanghai is a dream city, but it obviously has the flaws that a commercial capital has!

Something about the Chinese People! – There is a general impression about Chinese that they are really serious and indirect. And I think that’s true. By the limited interactions I have had with them, I do believe they are very serious (atleast the ones I have met), BUT they have a lot of fun among themselves, they kindof stick together and are hesitant in mixing up with foreigners, maybe because of language issues and a lot of cultural differences. I was told that nowadays they do put a lot of pressure on their kids to perform in studies, as they see it as the only way to combat the pressure and competition, which is so much like India. We were having a discussion among ourselves at a lunch and their was only One Chinese Guy among us explaining the Education system and Business Scenario of China, and how the Kids are made ‘bookworms’ since almost childhood! Reminds a lot of us of our childhood isn’t it?

Moving on from the serious stuff now!!.. ☺

Its amazing the kind of friends I have made here!. Picture this, in one week they gave me a nick name ! ( Nikruuuuuuuuuuu), we have been for more dinners/Shisha outings / Chillouts than I would have gone with friends back home (because everyone is new here.. well almost.. hehe), and its not that I am ‘always’ sticking to my Indian friends here, we are 6 of us living in one house and atleast me, bence (Hungarian) and Sam(Half British, Half Iranian) are the best buddies!, Talking about Life, Girls, Parties back home, business, pulling each others legs all the time. For the first time I went for a Youth Music Concert with a lot of ROCK Music (Faithless was the main attraction for people who know them), so in the middle of Shanghai, in a park there were more than 5000 Youth, enjoying, dancing, singing, drinking ☺, it was an amazing evening !...


Switch to Sunday – Race Day!, I have been wanting to write about this experience since a long time now!. We were a little sceptical if we should go or not, because we were 1000 % sure we wont get tickets, and even if we get they will be too highly priced!. But we took a chance, and then went there 4 hrs before the race to ensure we can get tickets. After a lot of negotiations with the black marketers (everything will remind you of going for a cricket match outside an Indian stadium), we finally got the lowest cost tickets for the worst places for 150 RMB ( Appx – 825 Rs), and they were not even tickets!. We found a guy who gave us some special passes which we hung around our neck, we got in and he took it back!, so we were almost without any proof of how we got in there!. so the place was a grass place, no seats, you can stand and watch the race, hardly see any cars etc.
Just a day before we met some Swedish – American people at a downtown supermarket and just exchanged numbers as even they were going for the race (its amazing how foreigners ‘network’) with each other. So we just call them up after getting there, and they called us outside the grandstand (it’s similar to clubhouse in cricket), so that we can meet and sit together somewhere. Even they had the same cheap tickets. There was an old guy in the group and he was like, just follow me and we might get into the grandstand. Initially we were scared. What if the police catches us or something!, But luckily (and I cant even say how lucky we were !), we just walked smartly from a gate which had no police to check tickets!!!! (how bizarre is that!), there were ppl checking tickets on the left and right gate but not here!). So we walk in, go up 6 floors, go inside and take a seat!, and no one even asks us anything!(maybe because we were lead by a white American wearing his country flag).

Trust me it’s a once in a life time experience watching a formula one race from the Grandstands!. The noise of the cars zooooooooming across is deafening! But the excitement is amazing, we all wanted Hamilton to win, but that wasn’t to happen, but the atmosphere, people, and the whole kick of watching a race from a place for 150 bucks (the price of grandstand tickets is more than 4000 RMB)!!! Was so amazing!.

Its not even funny how fast the weekends pass here, lazily get up, go for some food, come back, watch movies, series, talk a lot with flatmates, go for parties, and sleep at 3!, weekends are the best times for sure!.

I started watching Prison Break finally !, and am soon finishing season 1. Its so gripping man!, I have made a LOT of goals for myself for this 1 Year, and one of them is to watch as many movies and tv series as I can!.

Moving on with the ‘party’ scene!, DHL threw a Oktoberfest party last week. Its so nice to be a customer of a company like DHL!. They invite you to their events and lets you have alcohol for free!. But more than that, it’s the networking opportunity that these events provide. I met the Vice Presidents and the Key Account Managers of DHL for IKEA, Electrolux, Wal Mart, Special Olympics team etc and it was so amazing talking to them. The Key account manager for Electrolux in DHL had promised us to invite us to the Beijing Olympics (he works out of Beijing), and will host us there ☺

And finally I went to the Dandiya Night organised by the Indian Association. It was so nice to see 150 Indians together after a long long time!. I danced till I was dead!. Trust me, for almost 4 hours non-stop I was dancing to garba tunes, I had my dandiya partner as chandni(she was the only girl in my group who knew a little bit of dandiya)!, so had a ball of a time there!.

What else?!!?

Have been a little tight on finances this month because of the fun!. But I am sure I will manage!. Work is so damn amazing !! – Last two weeks, my immediate boss went to her home in Russia for a holiday and our ultimate boss went for a business trip. So I had the whole responsibility to handle the operations of the Ocean Freight. It is a very challenging Job of managing shipments, making sure people do things on time, the formalities are met. The toughest part is to make a lot of Chinese people understand simple things (ya atleast ppl in the supply chain business in china speak English)!. I had my first conference call last week with suppliers from US, HK, factory buyers from US, and me and our boss. So the job is not at all a stupid internship where you have to do a lot of data analysis and look at the comp screen the whole day!. It has a lot of challenges, external communication, decision making, networking etc etc involved!. So so far its been satisfying!

I think its been enough for this mail!.

People must have closed the window by now, or have fallen asleep!. I bet on that!
For those who haven’t, let me have a test – write back the following to me :

‘ We love your mails Nikruuuuuuu ☺ ‘

Hehe, that was so selfish of me!

Anyways, its time for me to say good bye!. I am planning to write more about business in china, work culture here, the good and bad things about living here, and a lot of other things in part IV, so watch out!

Hope you all are studying hard, partying harder, working a lot!, best of luck to the CAT givers, hope the 98 percentile in the mocks are now flowing in!

So, Zhai Chien (bye bye!)


Urs, today and forever!

Niks☺

ChinaTales - Vol2

Nihao Everyone!!! - Good Morning on a Monday Morning :)

" The word Perfect is used by people, when Expected things happen Unexpectedly!!"

I really dont know if it makes sense, but it makes 'perfect' sense to me!! Its already been a week now, that i have been in Shanghai, and things have just been Perfect!!, Yes, i had some expectations, but a lot of things here are unexpected, and the expected things have come as a great surprise!!

So, this part of chinatales (i think i am making a brand of this story of mine.. hehe, with inspiration from da gr8 yousuf bhai and moiz bhai!!), is all about my first week in the ' New York of Asia", Shanghai!, my work, my colleagues, the parties!, food, laptops, bargains!!(trust me i will win a place in the guiness book for that) and other random things!!

For people, who dont have the patience to read the entire thing :(. here are links to my pics and videos!!

Pics - http://picasaweb.google.com/nikunj.parekh/ChinaTalesPics
Vids - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MwTL3Y8QCU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6AmpIOLfss


So, after that roller coaster first two days of meeting unknown people, missing home really badly!, settling down at house, it was time for the real thing!!, the work!!

So monday it was, and Nick and Bence (my flatmates from Taiwan and Hungary), kept telling me about how bad the morning ride in the metro is here, and i did experience it, trust me guys, all of u who have been to Mumbai Trains, this is far worse, the trains are small, like the Kol metro, and there are SO MANY PEOPLE!!!, at 8 in the morning (yea i get up early now), i mean, yea, china is the most populated country in the world and you can see that here, there are tooo many people, there are times where you are nose to nose with ppl!, but thats the experience!, staying in a city which is so energetic, and which is so futuristic!

I was shocked to see our office building!, it is a dream building!, when we go abroad to work, we always dream that we will be working in a Big building, of glass, in the center of the city, and its just that!!, the Center, with suited guards!( trust me, they look more decent then some of our managers in india!), and amazing elevators!,

Ok, the office is simply stunning!, lots and lots of people, very modern, and it gives you a feel instantly that you are working in a MultiNational Company!, the people, are so warm and welcome you so well!, i always thought chinese people will be cold, but they are not!, they are very receptive, but the deal is, i am in the Global logistics team, of 8 ppl, and there is only one Chinese in our team!, we are a truly multicultural team with One Indian ( :) ), Russian, Mexican, Columbian, Sweedish, Hungarian, Taiwanese ,Italian! ( 90% of them are previous AIESEC Trainees, and rest current ones!)

so thats what a perfect place to work is rite, working with people all over the world, and working on a job that involves coordination and managing of shipments and logistics all over the world, truly i am now being a part of the Global Village as somepeople call it!!,

Anyways, a quick info on my job now, its a really challenging one, and i am honored to do something like this at this young age!, I am in the Logistics Operations Analyst, and am a part of a special project that will change the way suppliers supply goods to electrolux, as in their supply change, logistics etc, dont wanna go to a lot of details, but the job involves making Internal Business Plans, communication with Suppliers from all over the world, shipping companies, i am solely responsible for a project with US factories of electrolux, so it will have a lot of coordination with US factories, then managing shipments, scheduling shipments, making sure everything is on time, documentation etc etc. .. so something that i always wanted to do, and i am sure if i would have stayed back in India for a job/,mba i would not have got this multicultural exposure, so thanks AIESEC !!

Now the people, its amazing how much can a person learn from so many diverse ppl, in a week i have learnt a lot abt Hungarian history, saw a hungarian movie, had food with all my office mates, and learn their diff working styles!, so a lot in store for me for the future!

Well the food is a small prob, but not that big one!, i have sandwiches, burgers, pizzas in the morning, and alternative nites go to this Indian Maharaj which is 20 Mins away from office by train and 50 Mins from home, Trust me he makes amazing indian food, just like home, better than home some times!!, its not a restaurant, its just his flat where he cooks food and indians who know him can have food there, its a big relief to have food at his house!.
--

Ok, now something on my short shopping experiences, i went for this latino nite, on Mexican Independence day with Some friends, and after which we were waiting for this friend to come out of the pub @ 2 Am, and this guy comes up with this Fake Rolex Watch, and quotes the price @ RMB 420 ( Rs 2520 Appx), And i just wanted to do some TP and didnt want to buy it, so i said i will buy it for 50 RMB !, he said a big noooooooooooooooooooooooo (just like the russel peters joke on india and china !), and then we said we dont want to buy, Bosmag( Fuck Off in Hungarian), and we just started avoiding him, and after 15 mins, i bought the watch from him for RMB 20 !!!! ( 120 Rs), guys china is the place to bargain!!, next day i bought a samsonite laptop bag for 600 RS (Quoted MRP was 2000), and shirts for 200 RS!

So its been a roller coaster ride so far, i know its tough to read such a long mail on a lazy monday morning, but i hope you read it, and reply back with your comments and suggestions!!......

Till Next time, with Another Topic

Sziasztok ( Bye Bye in Hungarian!)

PS - Next time will use more Chinese when i learn it!!

Cheers

ChinaTales - Vol1

ChinaTales - Nik@Shanghai


Nihao to whoever is reading this in whichever part of the world!! (Nihao = Hello!)

I had told Siddharth Kanoria (for those of you who don't know him, my classmate from SXC, now in DHL Singapore as an AIESEC Trainee), that I will write my updates about Shanghai before his mail comes for Singapore(he has been there for 2 weeks now), and here I am.... With my tales from the Dragon Land - china, from the city of the future - Shanghai!!

Caution - If you don't find my tales/writing interesting, please please email me back saying that you don't want to read it, and I will remove you from the list. What will follow is a small account of what I have done for the past few days, and will keep writing in the future as well!

Alrite, so here we go....

Have you ever thought about stepping into Sachin Tendulkar's shoes, going out there in the middle, opening the batting and facing fast bowlers, and having expectations of a century from a billion people.?

Well, I am in no way comparing myself with him, but that's what I felt yesterday, coming to an Alien Land, meeting people I have never met before, staying without family in a house, it was like batting on an Australian wicket without the helmet!!, you never knows whats coming up next!!

Ok, now a Detailed Account of what I have been Upto -

First and Foremost - Shanghai is an Amazing Amazing City, there is no comparison between Shanghai and Any City in India, trust me, its an exceptional mix of Development, Population, Skyscrapers, and futuristic infrastructure!!..

I got an amazing amazing small farewell from my friends back home, they all came to my house, swati, anuj, anu, prashant, divya, ankit, anurag, pooja, I had cut a cake, they made a PPT for me which almost made me cry and then all of us in one car to the airport singing songs, some funny, some senti, so a touchy moment for sure.

It was a long flight journey no doubt, no alcohol for me this time, as I have decied to cut down on my consumption totally, so started watching Shootout at Lokhandwala and slept midway!. Arrived in Shanghai on Time... carried 44KGs of luggage when 20 KG was allowed, and they didn't utter a word, so the start was perfect...

Arrived on time @ shanghai, dot on time, I wonder that will a flight ever be on time in India for domestic flights!!, anyways, but then the perfect times stopped a little, I could not find the person supposed to pick me up!!, exchanged money and gave him a call, and he was right there!!, reminded me so much of my AIESEC days, when I had gone for innumerable pickups, but now it was time to be on the other side!!

So, off we go, in a bus then a cab travelling across Shanghai!!, what a beauty this is...
Arrived at the house, and woooooooh, it's a huge complex!! 10 blds, all 15 floors high, and we live on the 14th and 15th floor, yea it's a duplex J

Bence, my flatmate, was there to receive me, I settled down in a medium to small sized room as all the big ones have been taken away before I reached, but I am damn happy with the house and the room!!...

So, so far so good.. went out with bence in the eve, and met up with some other trainees, and went to this 'veg' Chinese restaurant. Don't know why, but there, was the first time I felt terribly homesick!! It was all of a sudden, trust me, I felt like running away, catch the flight and go and meet everyone back home, I called mom, pooja, swati so many times, just to hear their voice!!, trust me it was damn tough!!, but after speaking to everyone I was fine..

Today Morning was a lazy one, got up late, and then was calming myself down, telling myself, this is what life is, full of challenges, and opportunities. If you want to gain something, you have to loose something, and right now i cant be homesick!, I have somuch to learn, so much to explore , the journey has just started!, prepared myself for al the challenges!

The First Challenge - Went to Peoples Square, an amazing place in the center of the city, with shopping malls, tall complex, etc. I was searching for a Citibank ATM - as I had to withdraw money desperately!!, I was out of cash... but woah, the card refused to work, maybe they have not activated it, so walked again for 2-3 KM to find a bank!, and then they said they cant change money without passport, which I wasn't carrying.. hmmmmm

So here I am, at an unknown city, with around 10-20 RMB(Chinese Currency , equivalent to 6RS/RMB). I had called up a friend, who I found on orkut - Soniya, an Indian living in Shanghai, and we were meeting up, she and her friends. So she said not to worry and she will lend me some money!. So for 2 hrs I was just walking here and there, @ shopping malls, lanes, etc. and finally we met. Soniya and her friend, chandini.

They were amazingly sweet ppl, very very helpful, no inhibitions, they took me to a movie, it was 4 girls and me(lucky huhJ), and then we went for dinner to an Indian restaurant!!, on the way I saw a bridge which was 6 floors high, the nangpu bridge!

Came back home late, but my fone wasn't working, and dad and mom had already got worried, have spoken to everyone, so all fine now!

Trust me its been an amazing start. I hope it remains the same. This AIESEC Experience of a traineeship simply can change a person and also ppl around u. Imagine, I am staying with 3 ppl, 1 from Taiwan, 1 from Hungary, 1 from Japan, there will be one coming from USA, 1 from Sweeden!!, so what a multicultural house it will be.

Cant wait to go to office tomorrow. So will write again with updates and pics!!

My Shanghai No - 0086-13917394344

Cheers till next timeJ

Did you Know? = Amazing Presentation!

Back to Square 1!

Its time to get back to Square 1... With a lot of things in life:

1. Start of a New Life in a Week: Yea, thats what i am the most excited about right now...Leaving for Shanghai on Friday, the visa is here, and so is the ticket!, Its definately going to be a life changing journey from now on, new people, new food ( god help me), new work, i am excited, yet apprehensive, lets hope everything works out well!

2. Blogging again - yes, something i was not doing at all from a last few months but want to restart, as the only medium of the outlet of my thoughts seems to be this!, and dont wanna be left behind in the web 2.0 age!

Anyways,

Till the net post

Cya

Niks

Apologies, BRB and Good News

First - The Apology - Sorry really sorry, could not update my blog as was in a middle of a lot of things actually!!....

BRB - I will still be unable to update, as i will still be in the middle of a lot of things!

Good news - I am off to Shanghai for a year, have got through Electrolux, so i think will start blogging full fledgedly once i reach there, and share my xp!!

till then

adios~~