Vibsville

“Masla toh ji Sarkar ka hain, logon mein to sirf pyaar hain”, summarized our Immigration officer at the Pakistani border as we inhaled our last few breaths of Pakistani air before taking the dozen odd steps to cross over back to Amritsar. We had the privilege of spending five days in Pakistan thanks to Nutshell Conferences and its CEO, Azfar Bhai who invited a delegation from the Harvard Business School Club of India to visit Pakistan – when I received the initial invite, I RSVPd instantly and instinctively – without bothering to check my calendar – both professional and personal commitments seemed to fade into insignificance when compared to the opportunity to visit this enigmatic nation (Big thank you to the HBS Clubs of India and Pakistan!). We took the Spice Jet flight to Amritsar from Bombay (the only direct flight) and spent the day there visiting family and family friends, attending the border ceremony (a 2 hour evening drama with soldiers, Bollywood music and lots of f

Africa – Kenya & Tanzania (July 29 th – August 7 th , 2012) Extraordinarily ‘Wild’ Time: First a big ‘Thank you’ to all those who assisted with itinerary planning – Shruti Mittal, Aiman Merchant, Gaurav Jain, Pooja Hada, Vasudha Mittal, Tushar Chandra, Nandini & Paresh Kapashi amongst others. Without your insights the trip would not have been so terrific! Pre-holiday- Lots of confusion about which places to visit in a week’s time. Main dilemma was whether we see Kenya only or combine 2 countries. Visiting Tanzania entailed 2 flights and a 4-5 hour road journey all packed into 1 day, making it a rather tedious. At the same time, combing a visit to a neighboring country and seeing something different is always tempting. Finally, after lots of deliberation and blog/website browsing we decided on both Kenya and Tanzania. We chose Masai Mara as our main safari destination given the density and variety of animals we could see. Also, 1 st August is when the

Feb  5-7 th , 2013. Kumbh Mela Allahabad. The Maha Maha Kumbh! Don’t know where it arose from – but all of a sudden I had an urge to visit what is known as the ‘world’s biggest spiritual gathering’, the Maha Kumbh that occurs once in every 12 years. I threw out the idea amongst my cousins and one of them said, “Hey, my mom-in-law is going in 2 weeks. She has family that lives in Allahabad and you could easily just stay with them.” I was set. Shaped by popular media and old Bollywood films, my impression of the Kumbh was that of a chaotic, over-populated and under-regulated stampede. Therefore the idea of staying with a local family appealed to me. I booked my flight to Lucknow, met the family at the airport and we embarked on a 5 hour journey to Allahabad by road. This was my first visit to UP, India’s most populous state. I marveled at the Lucknow airport, which was far superior to most airports in comparable cities in India (Jaipur, Calcutta etc.). There is a ‘ne