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- 10 Jan 09 Delhi, India (Home)
- 10 Jan 09 Singapore
- 10 Jan 09 Langkawi, Malaysia
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Delhi Dare Devils vs Deccan Chargers
(3 miles)
Anthony -
Fri 16 May 19.00
Clear
So... Cricket...
A sport not understood by many. Indians are absolutely crazy about it, not only because they are world champion in it. It has a long tradition in India deriving from its British heritage, and recently, they have formed a national professional cricket league.
For those in the (kind of) know, the league is actually a tournament, and is commonly referred to as 20-20, because each team gets 20 overs (for those not in the know, it would be difficult to explain the rules of cricket here, but basically, every team has 20 "go's" at scoring against the other one). The IPL 20-20 is actually a tournament, not too dissimilar from the Superbowl, I would say (correct me if I'm wrong).
While I don't yet claim that I understand cricket fully, I certainly have started to appreciate it. Conveniently, just while we were here in Delhi, the home team 'Delhi Dare Devils' (what a name!) were facing off against the 'Deccan Chargers'. Even more conveniently, our friend Sachin of www.nivio.com , who we came to visit, and are staying with, offered us to join him in their corporate box at the stadium.
That's what I call a unique Delhi experience! Thanks again, Sachin, and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The 20-20 is a very exciting format, and matches are much more dynamic and happening as the loooooong and lasting-over-several-days international test matches. A match might last only about 3-4h (time flies faster than you might think!), and all throughout, the crowd is cheering and is at its feet!
A strong US and commercial influence, with lightly dressed cheerleaders causing a lot of ... excitement ... amongst their male 'supporters', perfectly organised TV broadcasts, everything is sponsored and is full of adverts. 20-20 clearly has been created as a business first, and for cricket lovers second. A bit like the new UEFA Champions League - but I shouldn't get into too much of a rant here, I think...
Anthony -
Tue 22 April 10.00
First of all, there's a BarCamp in Delhi on the 10th which should be an interesting venue for us to go to.
Also, Sachin, a friend from Uni, is there, running SMX ( www.smxtech.net ) and Nivio ( www.nivio.com ). Should be interesting to catch up with him again, see their offices, etc.
Sachin has kindly offered us to stay in their guest house/corporate accommodation, what a legend!
Also, Delhi is the Capital of India, and how can I claim to be traveller without at least trying to see some of Delhi. Maybe if time permits, we'll pop over to the Taj as well, u know, just to say been there done that and got the picture.
Also, if Alicia is going to be in Delhi, it'll be good to meet up again!
Nick is going to Join me in Delhi to continue the journey together.
Anthony -
Wed 14 May 09.00
Leaving the Airport is not the most pleasant of experiences, the arrivals leads right into a massive hall with hundreds of people waiting to pick you up. Only problem is, that hundreds of people waiting in a hall at 30 degreesC gets a bit smelly...
So my first experience of Delhi is the stench of the friends and family members waiting to see a familiar face. Nice!
The next thing I noticed was the distinctly higher temperature. I arrived around 20h and it was dark, but boy was it hot! Pune is located on a plateau about 400m above sea level, while Delhi is ... just hot! Since I am stingy, I took the non A/C cab, and kind of wished I hadn't.
Another VERY noticeable difference between Delhi and places like Pune, Mumbai or Bangalore (haven't been to other places yet): Traffic. The traffic, while generally congested during peak hours, seems to be much more civilised. Pollution is hardly noticeable since all Rickshaws and Busses run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), as the CNG stickers and green coloured public vehicles indicate. That's what I call political will well implemented - Pune there's something to be learned here!
We are put up in GK2 - a posher residential area of Delhi. Houses and apartments are flanked by massive mansions and villas, parks and greenery add peace to the quiet streets.
I don't want to go on about the poor taxi driver again, who, of course, had NO CLUE where he was supposed to take me before he took me on board, but have I mentioned the concept of 'Random Information' before?
If not, I'm sure will blog about it some other time, but basically, Random Information is information that we get everyday, and which influences our decisionmaking, even though it shouldn't. Asking for directions is the best example, and in India, people never admit that they have no clue where places are, and just tell you some random piece of information. Following this, you would be wasting time and walking around in the heat unnecessarily, just because you let Random Information affect your decision making.
Nowadays, I always try to get something like three references before I follow any direction I receive here, more often than not, at least two are pointing in completely different directions...
Anyways, this is about Delhi, and not about my rant...
Anthony -
Tue 20 May 14.00
On the click of a button, you can add MS Excel to your subscription and start using it. Since all computation is made on Nivio servers, your computer doesn't have to be very fast.
What an awsome Idea, think about how this will help bridge the digital divide and how this will simplify IT infrastructure deployment and maintenance for companies!
The company is owned by Sachin Duggal, a friend from Uni.
Right, enough free adverts for Nivio here ;-)
Visiting their offices was one of the reasons for coming to Delhi. Seeing how so many multinationals have come to India and Delhi to set up shop in sleek, modern, glass-clad high-rise buildings, It was quite a pleasant change to see the Nivio office in a 'normal' down to earth office area.
Inside, the office reminds me of our Computing labs in EEE at Imperial, with round tables and a very open and communicative atmosphere. They have TT tables in the recreational area, and generally seems like a cool place to work!
Our office, should we ever furnish it (which I hope we will) will certainly also make use of the open round table set up from Imperial/Nivio, though we will probably save some electricity costs by turning the AC down to room temperature only, and not to arctic mode ;-) !
Thumbs up to Nivio!
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