Brasil August 2008

Ola !

Ive been in Sao Paolo, Brasil since wednesday and will be here till this wednesday. To be fair its been mostly work so far - in the suburbs of Porto Alegre (a 2 hr flight from SP) in the lush green, river valleys of the great state of Rio Grande Do Sul and then in the surprisingly sunny Goiania (another 2 hr flight the other way)

So not much time trying to try being a paulista :) - but today - i went on a date with this lovely lady (well, and her husband and her cute little daschund - in tow) who took me to Parque do Ibirapuera - a sprawling, lush 2 sq.km park in the middle of Sao Paulo full of jogging paulistas, babies, sweethearts, old guys & ladies and folks walking an assortment of dogs - brasil is like mecca for these tiny toy dogs - poodles, all kinds of terriers, pomeranians, skinny hounds and these really stupid dashunds - i had a pleasant time strolling around watching ducks, herons, geese and of course, our regular kind of birds - the ones in spandex , sneakers, totting ipods, with cat-sized dogs in tow and most of them, are like SO good to look at.

Surprisingly most brazilians living along the metros on the East coast are European in Origin - consequently most girls in Sao Paulo look like italian girls - fresh faced, earthy and with smiley faces - i guess it comes with the climate, the food and the culture - i expected a strong representation from girls looking like,um, eva longoria - if u get what im getting at - the latino kind - um, they're pretty rare to spot.

*sigh* on to other boring subjects

One brazilian Real is like 25 Indian bucks (1 USD = 1.65 R$) - BUT - in my estimate Sao Paulo is as expensive as, say, Italy - my Hotel costs in excess of a 100 dollars a night - and EVERYTHING is extra - Taxis start at a 3.5 R$ for like 3 kilometers after which the meter starts ticking extremely fast - a 20 km trip in Saopaulo costs about 110R$ - in smaller places (like the ones i went near Goiania - it costs a lot lesser though) - i guess it figures - if some1 does an estimation of Indian PPP levels based on Mumbai costs - he's sure to list India in the Top 5 most expensive places on the planet - up there with Monaco or Montecarlo :)

I was accompanied on my trips out of Sao Paulo by F or K - depending on the customer. Now, F and K are special girls - i know them very well i talk to them almost on a daily basis and they give me the most business amongst their colleagues - both are in their early 40s, have little kids - like 11 yr old, 7 yr old - and are divorced - they are very chatty, friendly and ask me all of things about India & personal things like theyre my big sisters :)

I am reading Alan Greenspan's - The Age of Turbulence - from the Airport - the first few sections ive been through make an interesting read - but like he says - Developing nations have a much higher savings / spending ratio than developed ones - because of past experiences, poor social security etc. BUT rapid urbanization is causing pockets of consumer culture growing explosively in many parts of the world - like China, Brazil - i guess in places like Mumbai. I specifically asked K & F - they earn a lot of money - like - 10,000 R$ a month - they're building houses, or paying apartment mortgages etc. but not saving much - as they told me.

Another interesting thing i always wanted to watch out for : Gas prices. Gasolina (the petrol) costs about 2 R$ - Diesel about 1.5 R$ - AND they have something called 'alcool' (Ethanol) which sells for 1.4 R$ and most petrol cars in Brazil have dual functionality - they run on Ethanol AND petrol - cool, huh ?

The other big thing - it struck me on the face, especially when we were driving out - like 100 kilometers from Porto Alegre, to a place called Sao Jeromino - there was this HUGE river - about a kilometer wide - and FULL of clean water - the whole roadside - just 10 km off Porto Alegre - was lush with agriculture, cattle ranches - upto what the eye can see - making brasil (atleast the state of Rio grande Do Sul-from the looks of it) very very rich in natural resources.

English is not as wide spread as i'd expected - all kids study english - but i guess its a bit like Hindi in Chennai - Taxi drivers, Doormen, Bell boys happily gesticulate & chatter away in rapid portuguese inspite of u clearly telling them that u dont know the lingo :) - Mucho Obrigado - Ola - un, dues, Tres, Quat, Buena dias is all i can say - but its ok - its easy - traffic is traffico - mucho complicado - saida (exit), santitario, alimento - they're all easy to pick up

I have managed to get an adapter and get my camera, laptop etc. charged and get my life back on track.

Photos will be up here

Hey hey - i almost forgot - She will be loved (Maroon 5) is almost as popular as Ricky martin's Maria -in sao paolo - it seems :) - i hear this song on taxi radios, K's ringtone, in the hotel lobby ...

Will update soon with other things & more photos if possible.

*kiss on the cheek* ciao ciao

(Brazilian style ;))

I am going to try and sit up the entire night and make - like - 4 Dossier formats finalized for printouts & Packaging tomorrow - to take with me tomorrow night - And *yawn* i already am goddamn sleepy.

WHY do i save these simple things for the absolutely last moment ? WHY

Goodnight world ! *sigh*

One of those months where theres so much pending work that you either keep doing the work non stop or just switch off and go for a walk.

Today, for example, is worth a mention. I got into the flat at 8 pm ystrdy and i did not leave the flat until 8:30 pm today - that too because i was too hungry and there wasnt corn flakes and milk left in the fridge. 24.5 hours straight - indoors - 70% of the time staring at the computer to get through all pending work - Only to be told that my trip gets delayed because of a passport hitch - so i get to travel on a 5 hour + 17 hour flight combo about 3/4th across the world on a goddamn weekday.

So what news this month:

India has more than one olympic medal - Micheal Phelps has,what, 17 or so ? - Usain bolt has been making news - Man Utd looking shaky, chelsea looking as if they'll fucken sign every 5 star player in the world - Nagging drizzly rains in chennai - stocks dropping across the board and an overall boring existence

Heck, even Hari mama isnt blogging, for chrissake.

*sigh* lucky guy - must av better things to do :)

[ Enna hari ;) ]

Today, I had, like, a 2 hour long meeting with an old leather guy - whos been participating every bit of the way since the late 70s - He has known my father since like my father was 25 - a pretty busy guy he is - and is probably the leading nationwide distributor of the leading MNC in the Leather business.

He spent the better part of an hour telling me stuff about my dad from a perspective that even i havent been aware of all along - and the kind of contributions, ethics and trade practices hes always stood for. He spoke on my cell with my dad back home for a few minutes saying hello - then on the way out - patted me on the head, told me to be in touch if i wanted any information or help and told me (something i kinda know all along -) that i have large shoes to fill :)

Buhaa haa

Turned out to be a pretty eventful weekend after all - i spent about 4 hours at the bookstore reading the Lonely planet guide to Sao Paolo - then brought back 3 books.

Ive nailed 'Sign of the cross: By Chris Kuzneski' already. A review can be found here - the reviewer's comments like totally mirror my own opinion - No brainer - and it killed about 4-5 hours on Sunday.

I also picked up 'Nikos Kazantazkis' : Zorba the Greek' - am about 10 pages into it - More book info here. The funny thing about this book is that it appears to have no tangible story line, no plot - yet it is reasonably engaging -

I also bought Aswath Damodaran's: Investment Fables - a book ive been browsing often but did not purchase it. I always have been a big fan of Prof. Damodaran's basic DCM based valuation tutorials - although i cant claim to have put all the information gained to good commercial use :) - We all try, dont we ?

Jeepers creepers - its a weekend !

Loneliness is an emotional state in which a person experiences a powerful feeling of emptiness and isolation, of being cut off, disconnected from, and alienated towards other people. The lonely person may find it difficult or even impossible to have any form of meaningful human contact - A nicely worded description of my current frame of mind.

It is the time of the year where theres a lot of travelling, scheming and *gasp* Brochures and *bigger gasp* yearly technical literature renewals - which - take it from me - is the most boring, thankless, glorified secretarial job (very essential nonetheless) that one gets dumped with - others - senior colleagues, so called 'commercial men' (as if iam a bloody PhD in the science of all the numerous products that we peddle) pass on the responsibility to bakras with science degrees like myself.

I am buying this later today - because ive read a lot about this philosophy and ive already made it the 'theme of the year' of the shanghai/Latin america/ Pharma brochures for this year.

I would LOVE to see 'The Dark Knight' tonight or tomorrow - But iam not calling C or N - ones newly married and the other lost his job , is still looking for one, consequently is a nervous, volatile, depressed wreck. I'l watch the goddamn movie - il take the old uncle who lives next door if it comes down to that !

S - a friend from work and another S - a friend from college are apparently going to the US this week for 1/2 yr MBAs - and one of them actually is having a party in Bangalore for which hes been inviting me - but i dont have the energy to make the trip.

I personally cannot imagine why the first S (from work) wants to leave for studies (Hes joining some weird small college for a 1 year diploma in some business studies) - hes like a bit older - he already has an MBA degree from a local college - i dunno maybe he wanted to switch jobs and he isnt really pressed for the money!

I think today highlights a classic problem im facing with my work - i seriously lack & miss the interaction with peers of a similar age group, skill set levels - i miss out on the social aspects, the fun aspect and im sure, as some shrink will say, my psyche will retain permanent effects of having spent my early years of working life in such environments.

*Sigh* Have a nice weekend, world!