Working in Mumbai, vacation to Ooty, COMING BACK TO THE US!!!

First off, let me formally announce my first trip back to the US after disappearing into the dark continent:

New York City: Feb 21 - 24

Chicago/Milwaukee: Feb 24 - March 8 (Maybe a trip to LA somewhere in there)


Anyway...What's going on? Sorry about the lack of posts this month, I've been traveling a lot and to tell you the truth, other than work I haven't been doing too much.

Work Stuff in Bombay:

So I was in Mumbai (Bombay) for about 5 days running some media relations and a press conference for the Wharton Alumni Forum. IndiaIT has a partnership with Wharton and they give a few awards away each year, nothing too groundbreaking. It was great for me, however, because I was able to meet some incredible members of the business community, not just in Asia but also in the US, as well as many Wharton alumni, students and faculty...including Dean Patrick Harker. Yeah, Dean of the Wharton School. He told me I should go there. We'll see what happens. I also hung out a lot with Esther Dyson, Director of CNET and one of the leading authorities on emerging technology around the world (she was on the jury for the award). Here are a few more pics of business stylin' Nate.

Stresin' Nate

My first press conference

From L-R: Srini (head of IndiaIT Marketing and my boss); Dr. Harbir Singh, Director of the Mack Center for Technological Innovation at Wharton School; NRN Murthy, Chairman of IndiaIT; Patrick Harker, Dean of Wharton School; Esther Dyson, Director of CNET; CEO of Ohmy News (Korea); CEO of Cyworld (Korea); Kiran Mazumbdar- Shaw, CEO of Biocon and richest woman in India

There were only supposed to be 5 people at the table, but Dean Harker and Dr. Singh asked to be involved 5 minutes before the conference started. Can't really say no to these people.

Press mobbing my spokespeople.

Esther Dyson speaking with the Chairman of IndiaIT in front of cameras(also my boss)

Vacation in Ooty:

We got a few days off last week so Winnie, Peter and I went on a weekend hike to Ooty, which is in the Nilgiri Mountains in South India. We drove about 6 hours to get there in an air conditioned bus and then spent a few nights at Jungle Retreat where they had GREAT food, good drink and a beautiful view of the mountains and an unbeatable sky at night. Reminded me a lot of Colorado in the summer.

On the way to our hotel in the back of George's jeep

This was view from our rooms...very Brokeback Mountain


Starting our long hike

The peak of the first, out of two, mountains

Crazy view

Tea plantations at the end of our trek

Me, George (safari driver), Sidhan (our guide for the trek), Pete

Winnie was also on the trip, as a photographer. Thanks, Winnie for giving Pete and I a hand.

It should be noted that we saw a family of elephants as well as some deer hanging out with monkeys, but maybe the monkeys were just there to watch the deer... who were screwing in the jungle!!! One of the funnier things I've seen, but, alas, no picture to prove the event took place.

You know this is the first time I've been up to date on my blog? Talk to you guys soon and get in touch with me if you're gonna be around when I'm back 'Stateside.

It’s been a while, but here's my New Year's in India

The last few weeks have been absolutely nuts. I don’t think I’ve slept in my bed for more than two nights in a row in quite a while. My schedule over the last few weeks has been as follows:

December 29^th – January 3^rd in Goa – Celebrating the new year by chillin on the beach, ringing in the new year

January 5^th – January 8^th in Bombay – I was there for the Wharton Alumni Forum, where I was running an event for IndiaIT but also had plenty of time to network

Dealing with the media after running my first press conference (older guy next to me is the Chairman of IndiaIT)

January 9^th - ??? in Mysore - Traveling with a photographer from Fortune magazine who is taking pictures for a feature on IndiaIT that will appear in the next month or so. This journalist, by the way, was posted in Iraq for a while and was kidnapped by insurgents. (that entry comes later. It's just too much to talk about today.)

IndiaIT campus in Mysore, India...pretty incredible place, the Epcot Globe like thing is a multiplex theater, there's a bowling alley in the building to the right. The photographer had a lot to take pictures of.

I’m totally burnt out and my writing may be a bit sloppy and unimaginative, so I’m gonna focus more on pictures to tell the story. For the sake of time and energy, I’ll divide up the last few weeks into blog entries bout the cities I’ve seen and the experiences I’ve had. And with no further ado, here was my time in Goa:

Goa is a different kind of vacation. It’s not a place where you make reservations at a nice hotel or travel around in a nice rented car. Goa is a place where you find a cheap guest house upon arrival and rent a moped as your mode of transportation. After all, the roads are barely wide enough to fit two cars, so you’re often better off with the moped anyway. And most importantly, you under no circumstances come to Goa with an itinerary. You just have to arrive and fly by the seat of your pants to have a good time. You’ll drive yourself nuts doing it any other way.

Our really crappy room where 11 people slept for 3 nights

Our balcony view of a decrepit building that was never finished

We arrived on the 29^th and then had to travel the hour and a half to Anjuna Beach, where we were staying with some friends. That night we just decided to find a party, but instead we found a lounge by the beach where we had a few beers, looked at the stars and played with the various wildlife that came our way.

First night in Goa

Couple hours later

One of the more beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life is the Goan sunset. Imagine sitting on a beach where there is nothing but a few shacks build of sticks, rope and a reed roof with a cold drink and fresh fish, so fresh that it was caught a few hours before, on the beach where you sit. I could really only say, “My life is absolutely ridiculous!” I find myself saying that quite a bit, but you have to understand that it’s not always a good thing like it was this day.

Pretty nice

Sticking a chillum in my ear

Laura and I out at a rave/bar like thing where some guy on acid danced in front of a speaker stack for 3 hours...making the exact same movement

New Year’s eve was maybe the most memorable of my life. We heard of some really intense parties happening elsewhere in Goa, but we decided to stay on the beach where we had been all day and making our own party with some friends of ours from Bangalore who also happened to be in town. I ended up having an incredible time with about 12 of my friends around a small fire on the beach.

Most of the crew

Yeah, Goa is cool...

January 1st, 2006 approx 1:00 PM

We spent the night of the first looking for a rave that we never found. By the time we realized we didn’t find it it was about 2:00 AM and there was no possible way to get back to our guest house. There was no other option than to stay at our African beach shack run by a bunch of guys from Sudan and drink cheap beer till about 9:00 AM when we finally caught a cab home. Needless to say we slept till about 6:00 PM.

Sunset at the beginning of our endless evening

Neverending evening at the African beach shack around 5:00 AM

So Goa was an incredible time and I’ll go there with anyone who will visit me here in India. Just ask Aaron, who is traveling India for the next few months and decided to drop in for New Year’s. It was one of the best weeks I’ve had here in India, and that’s saying quite a bit. Man, my life is completely ridiculous!!!