Wednesday, September 29, 2004

The meeting with Mr. Kurien

EXAMS ARE OVER!!... THEY ARE OVER AT LONG LAST!!...lemme now do the traditional Mongolian Dance of Relief, before i resume typing. Exams got over the day before. Rushed to the room, packed up, had a quick lunch and rohith, joseph and myself took off to Bandra to catch a train to Anand in Gujurat. We had been planning this trip for a while, the sole reason being to get to see AMUL and how it works. Jo had been in touch with the PRO, Mr. Partha for a while. He was very helpful and along with him Jo had worked out the entire visit. Reached Anand around 11.00pm. Seeing the huge and neatly-constructed railway station, all 3 of us knew at once that this wasn't going to be just another small town we were expecting Anand to be (and we were right). Checked into our hotel room, switched on the TV and saw KKHH ( for the benefit of my international readers, KKHH is Kuch Kuch Hota Hain, a blockbuster hindi movie). 10.00 am next day we are sitting with Mr. Partha in his cabin at GCMMF (Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation...they market the Amul brand of products). He takes us through the schedule for the day and then a brief corporate presentation. We then move to the main Amul dairy plant. Here Mr. Sundaran, PRO takes us through the entire plant, explaining the various steps in procuring and processing milk. He also took us to the Amul Museum, where we saw the history of Amul and the 3 men behind the revolution (Mr. Tribhuvan Das, Dr. Verghese Kurien, and Mr. H.Daliah). Had lunch and then left for the Tribhuvan Das foundation, which is charitable set-up providing help to the village community by provding free healthcare, daycare for childeren,etc. We moved to Vidya diary which is a Diary Technology institute cum plant, where diary students are trained hands-on for a year. The assistant manager gave us an overview of this plant and then we were taken into the plant and the some of the operations regarding how Emantelle Cheese and ice-cream were made, were explained. We then were taken to IRMA ( Institute of Rural Management, Anand). We met up with the PRO who explained to us the spirit behind this institution and how this institute was set up under the leadership of Dr.Verghese Kurien. Then came the moment we were waiting for - a meeting with Dr. Verghese Kurien - the father of the white revolution. We had heard so much about this great person. About how he integrated the villages across gujurat to create the most successful co-operative India has seen till date - AMUL. He was responsible for the sucess of Operation Flood and for making India Self-sufficeint in Diary. This was a man who married professionalism, profitablility and most importantly socio-economic welfare. And at 5.00 pm yesterday we were shown into his office and there we saw the legend - in the flesh. We spent about half an hour talking to him. He related to us quite a few anecdotes from his life. He was quite old, yet he was very sharp and quite a humorous and jovial person ( "I've tried....and I dont think i've done badly" .... this he said about his career!!!) Took a snap with him before we took his leave. :) 



 Having wrapped our programme for the day, we headed back to the hotel by around 7.00pm. The train wasnt until 10.20 pm and so we killed time by watching Andaz Apna Apna ( amazing PJ's! ). Had dinner , caught our train. We were lucky enough to get seats in the GC. And today morning we were back in Mumbai and back to classes at NITIE. No trip I've ever been on comes remotely close to the satisfaction I've had during this trip. The story and the people behind AMUL and meeting the man who kickstarted this revolution....what can I say? It was AMAZING!

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Got this from our LAN.
Lyrics of this song called "Sunscreen" by Baz Luhrmann. Made it to the Billboard Top 40(1998-1999). Interesting read...

" Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '99.

Wear Sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idel Tuesday. Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year- olds I know still don't. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone. Mayber you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody's else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Dont' be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths. Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will Look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen. "

Sunday, September 19, 2004

There was time, not so long ago, when gmail invites were THE rage. You could get urself a Merc or even a girlfriend if you were among the lucky few to have gmail invites....some of the "not-so-fortunate" could sell their invites for as much as $400 on eBay...*sigh*

Even a month ago, I would have people doing my laundry for an invite...but now..*sighhhhhh* :(


anyways, got a few gmail invites...in case anyone's interested, leave me a message

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Happy Birthday to me!

25 years its been till today....started the midnight celebs getting by ass kicked (still hurts! ) ...and then having kisses smother me (still reeling!! )...Had yummy pineapple cake and of course, loads of Dew ( all that drooling abt dew to my friends finally paid off!).....Thanx a lot guys, you made my bday special :)


Saturday, September 11, 2004

This page is *finally* listed on google

keyword: alexj.blogspot

*duh*





That was the good news...


Bad news...exams start in less than 10 days. The 7 days of unadulterated terror and misery is on its way....

Must...S-t-u..-d..Y......

*static*Over*static*...and out *static**static**static*....