Croatia, clarity and careers

We were walking through the beautiful Vintgar gorge marveling at the clear, characteristic turquoise blue waters. We had been gazing at these clear blue waters for almost a week now, but we just couldn’t get over them.

Rahul: Look at the clarity of the water. (For the nine hundred and eighty fifth time)

Sailee: Hmm

Anubhav: Yeah, it definitely has more clarity than our career goals. 

An evening in Krakow

The right time to stop eating is when you think you can have a bite more. Similarly I guess the right time to leave a place is probably when you think you would have liked to spend a few hours more. You leave the place wanting to come back some other time. That's exactly what happened with Krakow. 

We had just one evening to spend in Krakow. There wasn't much to do there apparently. No famous palace or museum. I too had decided to go to Krakow because it was the most comvenient place from where one could visit Auschwitz. We landed at the Krakow railway station about 4 and decided to first walk to our hostel and drop our bags. The path we had to take was strewn with the sights and monuments of Krakow and we had seen half of what we eventually saw on our way to the hostel itself. We stopped at the main square for a bit to watch a group performing some hiphop street dance. The square is bound by the cloth market on one side, and two churches at two corners. All along the sides of the square are pretty looking cafes with outdoor seating. Along one side you can find a row of horse carriages. Most driven by smartly dressed young women.

As we walked down the narrow cobble stones streets, I saw this interesting uni-cycle. Unfortunately, I was only quick enough to get a back view.

And soon we had reached our abode for the night - The Little Havana Party Hostel.The hostel takes its name really seriously - partying hard. They even sent us a mail saying we should cancel the booking if we didn't like parties. But it was a lovely hostel. They gave 3 free beers which I didn't care much for but also 1 free burger which was not bad and quite welcome considering we had hardly eaten the whole day. 

This long hall is the cloth market. It is an old building that was historically inhabited by cloth merchants. Today it is still used as a market, but not specifically for cloth. You have an assortment of stalls ranging from amber jewelry to furs to small souvenirs.

Below is the cloth market from outside. Around the cloth market is the main square of Krakow. On different edges of the square are some churches, towers and other historical buildings. Seeing whether the building is aligned along the edge of the square or not is a good way to tell whether the building was built before or after the cloth market. 

Along the sides of the squares were also several pretty cafes, all with outdoor seating. 

As the sun set we just walked around the city with a map, identifying buildings as we walked past them. There were a lot of churches, and almost every church seemed to have some concert. It looked like the churches had concerts almost every day. It was a regular affair. We decided to see one. It was supposed to be classical and film music. I could identify only one song - the track from Schindler's List, nevertheless the concert was really nice. The setting of attending a concert in a church was new to me and seemed to add to the experience. 

Music in Krakow wasn't limited to concerts. There were musicians or singers on almost every street I walked on. This man was playing the violin on the street. He was playing so well that a couple of old couples started dancing on the footpath!

 We stood by the river for a while and then hurried to see the museum of the underground city. They have apparently preserved an underground city. Alas we reached too late and couldn't see it. Then we walked all around the city looking at appetizing restaurants and rejoicing about how much cheaper Poland was compared to Western Europe. Unfortunately, we spent  a tad too much time rejoicing and soon places began to shut down. Eventually we had dinner at the faithful old friend called a Doner shop. 

We ended the meal with a lody each. That's what ice creams are called in Poland - Lody. You get amazing flavours and they are much cheaper compared to Western Europe - sometimes even India. 1 scoop for 0.75 cents. I had tiramisu, mango and coffee over the three days I was in Poland and loved all of them! 

After the dinner we walked around the city for a while. Unlike some other cities, we'd been to earlier, Krakow didn't go quiet at 8. It was quite up and alive till midnight, when we finally went back to the hostel - with people in the street and street musicians keeping the atmosphere alive. I had a lovely evening in Krakow - and I know I owe it to the people as much as to the place, but Krakow was lovely and it's definitely on the list of places I want to go back to. Hopefully soon. 

What I would do different if I wasn't on a student budget

I am writing this list to my future self who may laugh at it and hopefully be rich enough and young enough to do things differently! 

• Not eaten from super markets in Norway. Eating bread and nutella for any and every meal is indeed sad. Not eaten pizza or noodles in Paris! 
• Cancelled the train and stayed in Stavanger after the body breaking trek that Kjerag turned out to be. 
• Not take Ryan air flights from godforsaken airports.
• Taken a river cruise or eaten at one of those boats that take you through the river in the evening in Paris 
• Eaten in those pretty looking cafes with outdoor seating in cobblestoned streets - in Salzburg, Werfen, Krakow, Koeln, Paris and i guess every European city I'll go to. 
• Seen a show and had that dinner worth 180 Euros in Moulin Rouge. 
• Taken the Thalys from Koeln to Paris. For the experience, convenience and time saved.
• Gone inside the castle/ palace at Salzburg having done the 20 minute climb to the gate and for the better view of the city it promised.
• Visited more museums in general. Every city I've been to has loads of museums and I haven't gone inside several thinking they are huge, I won't have time to see them properly and hence do justice to the exorbitant fee I would be paying to enter. If I wasn't on a budget, I'd probably think less. 

That said, I am thoroughly enjoying going around Europe on a student budget and some of these constraints are making for wonderful stories I'll remember for a long time.

Comment with things you'd like to add! 

Isn't it good? Norwegian wood

Norway is magnificent. I don't think I have  the literary genius to convey how beautiful the country is. So I am just going to share some glimpses of how Norway looked through the camera. Let me add, I don't have the photographic genius to capture what my eyes actually saw either. Treat this as an amateur's attempt and just take my word for what it's worth when I say that you must see Norway for yourself. It has changed my definition of beauty forever. I am scared nothing else may seem beautiful ever again.

It was raining all the way during our train ride to Myrdal, but even the view from the rain drenched window was so pretty!

~I hear the drizzle of the rain, like a memory it falls, soft and warm continuing, tapping on my roof and walls~

This picture somewhat captures our introduction to the fjords and is what will define that first cruise from Flam to Gudvangen. At every turn we saw yet another mountain and yet another shade of green. There was the fresh, light green of the meadows at the bottom and the deep, dark shade of the conifers on the top, that somehow gave a whole new meaning to Norwegian woods. Added to these were the dark grey shades of the rocky mountains, the white patches of snow on the peaks and the rays of golden sunlight poking their way through the clouds, which seemed to be the final stroke in this masterpiece of a painting.

I felt really overwhelmed by just the vastness of the geography. The mountains are tall. They are like tall walls that can keep the sun out. And the waters are vast. The tiny specks that Akshita and Avinash look like in this picture is the best I found to capture how tiny I felt. It's one of those sights that makes one think about how small and insignificant we humans actually are and how powerful the forces of nature can be. 

"If people sat outside and looked at the stars every night I bet they would live life differently"  - Calvin and Hobbes 

We talk about seeing things which look their straight out of fairytales, but this sight was straight out of my childhood drawing book. For years the most cliched scenery I drew was mountains in the background, a stream flowing, trees around it and a few dainty houses dotting the landscape. I drew it I think mostly because that's how I was taught to draw a scenery and I may have seen it as an illustration in a book. But I doubt I had seen such a close version of that for real.

This was on the way to Kjerag. We were on a narrow, winding road that seemed to reveal a new sight at every turn.

This was on the flat stretch at the very end of our trek to Kjerag Bolton. There were mountains stretching till as far as my eyes could see. And not like I've been on a lot of mountains, but I think I've seen my fair share, but I've never quite seen rocky ones like these. I had a similar overwhelming feeling as when I had earlier seen the fjords, but in this case I think it probably was just born of fear. One thought that I think continuously ran through my mind was what if I got lost in this maze of mountains.

So yeah, maybe they weren't the mountains of my dreams but I definitely had to keep telling myself to it wouldn't be as hard as it seemed.

~Standing on a hill, in the mountain of my dreams, telling myself it wasn't as hard, hard, hard as it seemed~

The trek was challenging and I was scared. But as scared as I was the sight of standing in between and seeing mountains on all four sides, extend till as far as my vision and the clouds would let me see was quite something. It's a pity the camera can't capture the cold wind blowing into my face and the shivers running down my back. 

Panaroma from the climb

I saw this glorious sunset from a ferry in the Fjords. The water body on either side stretched far and wide till it was finally contained by the steep and rocky mountains. The sun blazed through the clouds, letting its light reflect on the water as well as the rocks and the mountains, seas and skies seemed to be competing for creating a riot of colours. 

~The sea was red and the sky was grey, I wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today~

The riot was over. Games had been played. The colours had settled into a peaceful portrait. 

~Shaam bhi koi jaise hai nadi leher leherjaise beh rahi hai~

Norway was magnificent and majestic. And I don't think any of these pictures can capture what we saw and felt. Even while I was there, I felt overjoyed with the sights, which are like a never ending  feast to the eye, helpless knowing that these sights were going to be fleeting and hopeful that I would somehow find a way to keep everything I saw and felt with me long after I had left at the same time. So long, Norway! Hope I see you again! 

Before I sign off, cheers to the people with whom I shared these amazing sights. 

~Good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye, singing this'll be the day I die~

Hello, Oslo

I did some sort of a walking tour of Oslo in two parts – the first one being the day we started our Norway trip and the second the day we ended it. The rain played a little bit of spoiler both times – we all got wet and then really cold. And it wouldn’t let us take our cameras out at times. But Oslo, was basically the first European city I saw properly, after the fleeting glimpses of Koln the previous day and of Bruxelles that day while on our way to Charleroi. So notwithstanding the rain, or maybe cause of it (courtesy having lived most of my life in Mumbai or to be more precise, Thane) I quite liked Oslo.
The first thing that I fell in love with were the cobblestoned streets, and I couldn't stop Sound of Silence from playing in my head on a loop. 

Karl Johans Gate

~In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone~

The next thing I fell in love with was the bright colours of the building. I encountered those bright coloured buildings first in Oslo, and then kept seeing all through Norway and later in other European towns as well. I still haven’t gotten over the freshness of the colors. They are straight out of the set of 12 poster colors that I used as a kid – you could identify the poster red, cobalt blue, prussian et al.

                     

             
Oslo, like most towns and cities in Norway is a coastal city with a harbour worth watching. I've heard Oslo has a spectacular coastline, especially at night. Unfortunately, we couldn't catch that but we did visit the harbour.

The harbour

We saw all the touristy places such as the Royal palace, and the parliament. Honestly, I was rather disappointed in the Royal palace. The Main building at R was more imposing and beautiful than this. And maybe having seen so many palaces in Rajasthan, one just expects to see something really grand and rare.

Oslo, was pretty, rainy and cold. And if I am adding adjectives, how can I miss expensive? To plan your first trip to Norway is a bad bad idea. One would find all of Europe expensive compared to India, and Norway is expensive even by European standards! That first day in Oslo, was so difficult. We just couldn’t get ourselves to pay 3 euros for a coffee!

By the second time we came to Oslo, five days later, we had gotten used to Norway and bought ourselves a nice hot breakfast of waffles and coffee. 

Of course, that breakfast wasn't half filling and we couldn't stop ourselves from shamelessly staring at those delicious macaroons through the store window! 

Before I sign off, a big shout out to the people who I walked around Oslo with! Cheers! 

The 'cloth' man

As I read about Anshu Gupta being awarded the Magsaysay award, a memory from a few years ago flashed clearly before me. This was in my sophomore year. I used to be a part of the Entrepreneurship Cell then, and we did an annual festival that we called 'E-summit' where we invited inspiring entrepreneurs to come and talk to the students at IIT Roorkee in the hope of inspiring some entrepreneurs of our own. Anshu Gupta was one of our invited speakers. He didn't really speak about entrepreneurship. Actually, he didn't speak about entrepreneurship at all.  However, his talk was without doubt one of the most inspiring talks I have ever heard. He spoke with real examples. He gave a chilling example of how in the Delhi winters, the people who work at cemeteries often sleep clutching dead bodies as it gives warmth. That story shook me then and thinking of it shakes me now. He spoke about the culture of giving and the importance of giving something that the beneficiaries actually need. He spoke about how people are always eager to give what 'they don't need' rather than giving what the less privileged might actually need. He spoke from his heart and he touched a cord. There was something he believed needed to change and he was passionate about it. What great spirit and what a great man. I feel privileged I had the opportunity to hear him. 

Cutting a cake

Last week, as we walked back into the Public Policy class, post the break, there was a cake on the table much to our surprise. After some quick banter on being past the number of sessions when students can opt out of the course, one of us was asked to volunteer to cut the cake. One of the students volunteered. As he approached the cake and was ready to begin cutting it the instructors cautioned him that he must make sure to cut it into equal pieces. So then came about the question of how many pieces we needed to cut the cake into. One of the students said there were 25 students registered in the class, so 25 would be the number. Meanwhile a few students counted the number of people present in the room and they added up to 31, including the students, the instructors, teaching assistant and a couple interns. Then the instructors asked if there was anyone who didn’t want to have the cake. Two students said they didn’t want the cake cause it had egg and they didn’t eat egg and three others didn’t want to eat as they simply didn’t like cake.

Right based on membership

The instructors pointed out that we should keep in mind that the cake had been bought from the tuition fees that the students paid for the course. There thus ensued a discussion whether that would mean that only the students who had paid the fees to attend the course had a right to the cake. And the instructors, teaching assistant and interns attending the course should thus not be given the cake. We also realised that one of the students was not present and would thus miss out on the cake. However, if being a registered student who had paid the fees was what decided one’s right to the cake, then he too deserved the cake. Also, this was unfair to the students who didn’t like cake or eat egg.

Do only the ones who can pay have the right to use a resource?

Do only the ones who are members of a group have the right to use the resource?

Is it fair to the ones who didn’t eat cake that a part of their fees had been used to buy a cake that they couldn’t eat?

Right to vote on how the cake should be divided

The class discussed if there should be a vote to discuss on how the cake should be divided, and if yes then who should be eligible to take part in that vote. Would the non-registered students also be given a chance to vote?

Immigrant rights

Should immigrant have rights? Should immigrants have the right to vote?

While there was an almost unanimous agreement on the fact that immigrants should have access to resources like food and water there was some debate on whether immigrants should be allowed to vote. Many said that only the legal citizens of a state should have the right to vote. But there was a counter-argument that if one lived in a place and paid taxes then she/ he should have a say on how that money is used. While some countries have provisions of naturalisation by which immigrants can become citizens many countries don’t. Even countries that do have such provisions could prevent certain categories from becoming citizens as the process has elements of subjectivity.

Need

Another aspect we considered was ‘who needed the cake more’. The cake could also be looked at as mere food and hence someone who needed the cake more should probably be given more of the cake. Hence we discussed if more of the cake should be given to the ones who were hungrier. We then asked around as to who all hadn’t had lunch. We then also discussed their reasons for not having lunch and whether or not they were legitimate. Some reasons like having to read for class were considered in a way more legitimate than simply being lazy to go to the mess.

Should resources be allocated based on need?

Can deprivation be a measure to decide how a resource should be allocated? We realised that even if deprivation were considered to be a valid way to allocate a resource, society does not consider all deprivation to be equal. We judge the reason behind the deprivation and try to decide if the reason is not legitimate or not.

Contribution

We also had a discussion on whether the cake should be divided based on who had contributed more to the course. The contribution itself could be in the form of the fees that were used to buy the cake, the time and effort that the academic associate had spent in getting the cake or the instructor’s idea to get the cake in the first place. We could also consider contributions of thoughts and insights that everyone had made to the class.

Should resources be divided based on contribution of individuals? If yes, what kind of contribution should be considered while dividing the resource? For instance, in this case should we just consider monetary contributions for buying the cake or since the cake is being cut in class, the contributions that everyone has made to the class by means of their thoughts and arguments should also be considered?

Deservedness

If the cake is meant for everyone who was in the class, we also questioned if some deserved to be in this class more than others. For instance, may be someone who had bid a greater number of credits for the course had given up more to be here than someone else who had bid less and hence deserved to be here more than others.

Representation

We also discussed if the cake should be divided in such a way that ensured that different groups were represented well. So should the cake be divided into two halves and one half divided among all girls and the other among all boys when the number of girls and boys in the class was not equal?

Should there be quotas based on categories like gender or caste to ensure that all categories are represented equally? This could be in the context of educational institutions, jobs, elections etc.

Level playing field

The instructors then asked if it would be fair if they gave all of us similar forks and asked us to reach out and eat the cake with those forks. The class had several concerns – the ones who got the fork earlier would have a head start, the ones who were closer to the cake would have an advantage etc.

Is it fair to give equal opportunities?

All people don’t have the same starting point and hence equal opportunities may not actually be equal. For instance, an award for the best scholastic performance may not really be fair as different people have different starting points and hence have to make different leaps to reach to the same point.

We extended this discussion to talk about the process by which students are selected into institutions like ours. Even though we offer equal opportunities by means of a single, fair exam for all, the playing field is not really level. Looking at gender, the proportion of females in IIM A is much lower than the ~50% that we see in society. This at least in part can be attributed to the fact that in a large part of India girls are still discriminated against, not encouraged to study, not given the same quality of education as children and often forced to marry early.

Nature of the resource

Underlying all the above discussion was a fundamental question – what was the nature of the cake? Was it to celebrate something or was it merely food or something entirely different from the above two?

The right way to divide a resource is not universal but in fact depends on the nature of the resource – a resource which is a necessity may be treated in a different way from one which is not. A resource which is a necessity like water may be divided such that every person has equal right. The same can be said for primary education. However, we don’t treat high education in the same way. Higher education is often allocated based on deservedness and equal opportunities rather than being divided equally among all.

Why write?

I have been writing since I was in early school. I thought of poems in a spur and sometimes wrote them down. I don’t think there was any poetic genius there, but the random words were much encouraged by dear family to whose amusement I would often recite them. I did that for a while, but then stopped probably when I grew up enough to realise that that wasn’t really poetry after all. After that I mostly stuck to prose – stories, articles, book reviews, editorials - apart from a bout of poetry in my mother tongue that struck in high school. But I have always been an impatient writer. I am in a hurry to put my thoughts down and find repeated readings of the same few hundred words drab and painful. I’ve never given much thought to either my own writings or writing in general. However, much focus on writing over the last one year, here at A and during the last two months over the consulting intern has made me ponder over how I write and now over why I must write. As painful as WAC was, I am now convinced it had some merit and I’ve decided I must write more often – and hopefully this blog will be more prolific – and this post is dedicated to why I think we must write.

Forces you to think deeper – Thoughts often sound better in one’s own head. Putting them down in a sentence somehow forces us to see the gaps that exist and think further to refine those thoughts. Writing our thoughts down, and reading them is subjecting them to our own scrutiny if not anybody else’s.

Lends structure – I am going to be chastised for consulting jargon here, but as much as the word is probably overused ‘synthesis’ is important. It’s important and useful to be able to crystallise what one wants to say in a few crisp sentences, in a manner that makes it easier for the audience to digest what one is saying. Writing forces us to structure our thoughts, put them into buckets and consequently makes them easier to read and comprehend for others.

Understand and accept – One reason to write is to communicate, and the previous point about being more structured helps one do that more effectively. But one needn’t always write to communicate. Sometimes we write just to express what’s going on in our minds. It can even clear the tangle of thoughts that has conjured in our minds and help us make sense. People often write down the pros and cons while making a tough choice. Writing lends clarity and helps one better understand and accept ones owns thoughts. 

These are some of the reasons why I think one must write -not just literary geniuses, and these may not be reasons that inspire literary geniuses -  but each one of us.