The walk was nice. I managed to find a map. And I decided to walk around.. take in the awesome weather with the cool air and a touch of sunlight. It was a pretty curious place. There were these quaint 19th century buildings. and there were these little “potti kadais” (roadside shop) tucked inside. Sometimes there were even supermarkets hiding inside those buildings. And there were these occasional teenagers who would hand you a flyer and say something in Polish. You would stare amused at the letters on the paper, play a short game of “find the vowels”, give up and throw it into the nearest dustbin.

I have been getting bogged down a by problems lately. Getting stuck. Complaining. Looking for a way out instead of forcing my way out. I am becoming myopic. I feel myself devoid of the freedom I used to be proud of.

And it is amazing how quickly things move when your mental make-up changes from the caged nature of “Oh no, there are so many problems - this cant be happening to me!” to the freedom of “Assume the worst - solve the problem - move forward.”

I reached Zurich in the morning on the 2nd after witnessing the beauty of the Alps from above. I had 3 hours left my connecting flight, so I decided to step out and inhale the cool Zurich air with Alps providing a tranquil backdrop as I set foot for the first time on European soil. I roamed around for a while, checked out the airport mall, ogled at the German signs and the prices in Swiss Francs, realized I didn’t have Swiss Francs, and finally ended up back in the airport. The departure area was a single long corridor dotted with plenty of chairs and door on either side taking you down to the respective gates. I sat on one of the chairs next to my door (this was 40 mins before departure) and saw just 5 other people. But by the time I had grinned at the lady near the door who checked my ticket and said “poittu vaanga”, 50 passengers had appeared out of nowhere. And so I sat in the 4-seats-row-flight, chatted for a while (yes, I had wifi inside the aeroplane :D), and had the vegetarian sandwich offered after take off.

I just returned from my first ever trip outside Asia – an all expenses paid outing to Warsaw, Poland for a week. It was, as you would expect, a really amazing experience and I felt it deserved a nice long account for 3 reasons.

1. To consolidate all that I learnt and experienced in the trip so I can chuckle over it on my 35th birthday.

2. To have a readymade link that I can point people to when they ask “Hey, how was the trip”?

‘Bitter-sweet’ strategy: Remember the story of how the wise master stopped his apprentice from complaining?

Tired of constant complaints, one morning, the wise master sent his apprentice some salt and asked him to mix it with a glass of water and drink it.

‘How is it?’ the master asked.

‘Bitter,’ spat the apprentice.

He then took him to a lake, poured the same amount of salt in it and asked him to taste the water.

I am sitting in my room Warsaw (or Warszawa (spelt warshawa) as the people here call it) for the final round of the Imagine Cup 2010.
Tomorrow, we present.. There is plenty of work to be done…
I have been going around the city - quaint would be the perfect word to describe it. The place still has stone carriageways in many places and 1900s style buildings. There are trams as well, and the occasional malls. Plenty of cars.. quite a few cyclists. A huge tower stands in the city center - a gift from the Russians (that the citizens not to blow apart). The city was 80% destroyed by the Nazis and it is indeed amazing how they have rebuilt it.
As I enjoy a Microsoft sponsored week in luxury, I think the following “imagine"d conversation sums up the Imagine Cup part of things..

And keep smiling :)

If you want to be happy, be. :)

“Keep adding value to people till they take you for granted. If they don’t, try harder. As these are the people who matter.” - Eric Blumson

It is when we all play safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity. - Dag Hammarskjold (from Rohan’s blog)

Trivia:
Dag Hammarskjold (Swedish) was the second secretary general of the UN. He died when he was in office in a place crash when he was flying to negotiate a ceasefire in Africa.

Number 7 awaits you!