2003--- Quizzing and other activities
2003 was significant for me in various ways----- a
revival in my quizzing activity, more trips abroad and a change in my office
location
In January 2003, I undertook a trip to Seoul, Taipei and
Singapore.I flew Malaysian Airlines via KL to Seoul. When the plane was
approaching Seoul, the stewardess announced that the temperature was 2 DegC.
However, I saw bright sunshine and assumed that it wouldn’t be so cold. As soon
as I came out of the airport, an icy blast hit me and my nose turned blue in an
instant. I had only my jacket with me and one of the first things I did was to
buy a pair of gloves.
I spent a couple of days in Seoul and roamed around at
will in the subways.I also visited Gangnam which is actually a suburb of Seoul
but became world famous later for “Gangnam Style”. I looked up for Indian
restaurants and found that “Ganga” Restaurant which I had discovered in Busan
the previous year had a branch in Seoul also. It was a 45 minute ride by taxi,
but was worth the money I spent.
I also had carried plenty of MTR food packets. I remember
opening one Bisibele bath packet in my hotel room after soaking it in hot water
for 5 minutes in the hotel sink. The karavensoppu ( curry leaves) aroma that I
got on opening the packet still stays with me.
From Seoul, I travelled to Taipei via Hong Kong. This was
my first visit to Taipei and I took some time off to explore the city. The Metro
has been well developed in Taipei and I was surprised to see almost an
underground city with plenty of shops below ground.
February 2003 saw me travelling to Singapore for a couple
of days. As soon as I came back, my colleague Ramkumar Shankar and I
represented Sanmar in the Chennai Regional Round of the AIMA Quiz. This was the
first time we had teamed up. Ramkumar was already a veteran in the Chennai
quizzing circuit and was catching up with his quizzing friends as soon as we
reached the venue.
To our great
surprise, we won the Chennai Regional Round and were soon on our way to Kolkata
to take part in the All- India Finals on 14th Mar. Arun Lal, the
cricketer , was the Chief Guest. We came third in the All- India finals and it
was a proud moment for us.
Our seniors in Sanmar were very happy and promptly agreed
to sponsor us in the many corporate quizzes that were being held---- Brand
Equity, Tata Crucible,LIBA Quiz and many more. With all the prizes that we were
winning, I had accumulated about 6 watches, around 4 pairs of Titan Fastrack
eyewear, Rs.500 vouchers for everything from deos to a car ( just kidding!!).
Meanwhile, Sachin had got through his CAT. He first got
admission to IIM, Kozhikode and we also remitted the fee of Rs.40000. He
subsequently got admission to IIM,Indore and chose the latter. Sudha
accompanied Sachin to Indore in June 2003.Her friend Kuckoo was living in
Indore and , in any case, Sudha had grown up there, so it was familiar
territory.
Sudha and I were
now experiencing the empty-nest syndrome. Sachin had gone to Indore and Sandeep
was now into his second year in XIME, Bangalore. Sudha and I were both proud of
the fact that both our sons were doing MBA. Sandeep had by now shifted to a
room with two of his friends in Electronics City since he was finding the daily
commute quite exhausting.
In July 2003, I made a trip to Bangladesh.I was given the
name and address of a potential agent in Dhaka. When I visited their Office, I
was surprised to see Rajesh ( Akhila’s brother-in-law).Rajesh was living in
Dhaka and was working out of the Office of the person whom I had come to meet.
I visited Rajesh’s house for dinner and also met his wife Aarya. I remember
that we also went to Khana Khazana, which was a restaurant opened by Sanjeev
Kapoor, the celebrity chef. I also went to Chittagong for a couple of days
before returning to Chennai. This was followed up by another visit to
Bangladesh in Aug 2003.
A major event occurred in Sep 2003. Our office got
shifted from Karapakkam ( a 15 km commute each way) to Cathedral Road which was
in the heart of the city and hardly 4-5 km from my house. Earlier, I used to
leave home by 7.30 AM in a pool car and Sudha had to get up early to make my
breakfast and also pack my lunch. Now, I could leave by 8.15 AM and , since I
was using my own car, a couple of minutes here and there didn’t matter. This
was a big relief for both of us and did much to improve our quality of life.
While I was busy quizzing in Chennai, Sandeep was active
in the quizzing circuit in Bangalore. He had teamed up with his class mate Sai
Venkat and they were winning quiz competitions left and right. Like me, he had
also built up a good collection of watches, eyewear and 1 Philips DVD player
which he had won at the TAPMI, Manipal quiz competition.
I visited Sachin once in Indore during an official visit
and also managed to meet up with Sandeep at XIME on his birthday in Oct.
So that’s how 2003 ended--- an empty nest, Sudha and I
busy with our respective careers and the boys on the threshold of completing
their studies.
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