A visit to DAKC

People who know me well, know that I idolize Dhirubhai Ambani as a businessman. In fact, it wouldn't be wrong to say that I worship him! Whenever I read or think about him, I always get an inspiration to become an entrepreneur - after all, I am also a 'Gujju Vaniya' like him.

When my boss gave me an opportunity to go to Reliance Infrastructure for some technical consulting required by Reliance, I jumped at the offer. I was really excited to go and work there for a week. My excitement could be compared to that of a small kid's who is taken to a 10 storey candy store and is asked to buy whatever he wants to.

I worked at a couple of Reliance offices meeting the technical managers at each office location. However, my most memorable visit was to Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge Center (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai. It has a sprawling campus of 140 acres with aesthetic glass buildings, fountains, sprinklers, lush greenery, colorful cafeterias, lots of other amenities and golf cabs to take you from one place to another.

The day I visited DAKC, there were light showers - no heavy rains, no drizzles - just perfect! The tranquility, greenery, rains and colors of nature around took me to a completely different world contrasted from the hot, humid, noisy, polluted Mumbai suburbs.

I have tried to capture some pics of the campus on my mobile with a 2 MP camera and 5x zoom. Because of a not so 'well endowed' camera, the pics haven't come out that great.. but still they are worth a dekko.


View from the Gate 1 Entrance.


The golf cabs waiting to drive you around the 140 acres campus.


A walk way to one of the blocks


View1 of the main building of Gate 1. The building bears Dhirubhai's famous motto - 'Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly'.


View 2 of the main building of Gate 1.


All roads in the campus are flanked by trees on both sides. The rains make the campus look even more beautiful.


One of the blocks in the campus. I guess this is the cafeteria.


A random cross road in the campus.


View from one of the windows in a meeting room. It was hard to concentrate while giving the presentation. The view outside was just breathtaking!


The whole campus has inspirational thoughts from Dhirubhai hosted on sign boards or light posts.

Ending with one of Dhirubhai's quotes:
"Growth has no limit. I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream it you can do it."

When did I grow up!?!?

Being the youngest in a family of 13 cousins was always a lot of fun. You get all the attention, you get the biggest piece of cake, elder bros and sisters shield you from your mother's beatings, you are the favorite of your grandparents, you get to enjoy in all your cousins' weddings and get away by not performing responsibilities since they are meant for the elders and the list continues...

So even when you are in your early 20s, you still feel like you are the youngest and you can get away from all responsibilities. You get a sudden wake-up call when you see some elder siblings tying the knot, some getting engaged and some stepping into parenthood! When your brother's son starts calling you 'Mihir kaka' and demands that you get him Mentos and M&M whenever you visit him, you are like wohhhooo.. " is he the son of my bro who used to buy me ice-creams and chocolates when I used to visit him during summer holidays as a kid. " Now doing the same for his son makes you wonder - "when did I grow up??!!"

When you take your sister's kid for the first time in your hand, you stop and wonder - "is she the kid of your very same sis with whom you fought vehemently as kids. Is she the same one against whom you ganged up with other cousins and made her cry!" Gosh! The emotions just gush through and you get a feeling of tranquility when the little one holds ur finger and stares at you with a smiling face. At moments like these you feel - "Yes, I have grown up!"

So, after a lot of self-denial, I came to terms with the fact that yes, I am no longer the youngest in the household. There are new entrants in the family who have added so much colour and vigor in our lives. I always look forward to being around my nephews and nieces. It's a beautiful feeling.

I am dedicating this post to welcome the new generation in my family. Attaching here are a few pics of the little ones!


Starting with the eldest,

Shlok - Milan bhai's son. He calls me Mihir Kaka.
Milan bhai and Shlok.

Aarav - Aarti's son. He can barely speak. But he'd call me Mihir mamu.
Aarav and Aarti.

Kyra - Komal's daughter. She's too young to call me anything yet, but I guess it's gonna be 'Mihma'
Kyra and Komal.

A new entrant to family is Krishna's daughter - Krisha!







Krishna and Krisha.

And finally, Kruti bhabhi delivered a beautiful baby girl - Kaea on 20th May. Here is a pic of Milan bhai and Kruti Bhabhi's 2 beautiful kids:
Kaea and Shlok

Thank you to all my brothers, sisters and their better halves for making me mamu / kaku. The family gatherings have just got livelier now!

Welcome dearest nephews and nieces! I love you all!

An evening on the race course ...

I frequently jog at the Pune Race Course ground to lose that extra flab ;) Today evening too I went to the race course. But, I was too lazy to jog today, so decided to stroll instead. The weather was just perfect - not too cold, not too hot, a pleasant breeze, a bit cloudy... To complement the setting, my iPod was loaded with soulful Rahman melodies, enchanting Rahul Sharma instrumentals and stirring Bryan Adams compositions. With the wind in my hair, sand under my feet, soul stirring music in my ears and a lot of unanswered questions in my head, I was all set to spend a Saturday evening on the Race Course.

I walked past a pretty plump girl strolling with her poodle, a teen couple muttering sweet nothings in each other's ears, a bunch of school kids playing foot ball, a toddler playfully running behind his dad to catch him, an old couple sitting on the bench, a hot girl jogging in her black spandex suit...

At the time of sunset, I stood at one side to marvel at nature's beauty when I saw the sky changing its hues. I have captured the pics below in my Nokia XpressMusic Phone with a 2.0 MP camera (so please excuse me for not-so-good quality pics)



















While walking along the race course, one cannot miss the beautiful St Patrick's cathedral :















The entire stretch of Race Course is about 2.4 kms.. it is roughly a circular ground. The outermost ring is for the horse races and there are two inner rings... the middle ring is an undulating ground suitable for walking and the innermost ring is covered with black sand and is suitable for jogging..




















While walking along the long, circular roads, the following thoughts came to my mind -
"Seems like I've been here before, can't remember when,
I get this funny feeling, we'll be together again!
No straight lines make up my life, all my roads have bends;
No clearcut beginnings; but thankfully, so far, no dead ends!"
















Well, I think, today evening, I just had a perfect date with myself!