Postcards From J

It has been a very busy few weeks at work thanks to a mega sporting event in London that concluded on Sunday (in the wee hours of Monday for us actually!). And I was feeling awful about missing all the monsoon sales that so many retail stores were offering. So, I took an off on the first occasion that I could and spent a good six (!) hours at the spanking new Phoenix Market City in Kurla. Yes, Kurla - that drab and totally unsexy suburb in central Mumbai. More about that later.  I wanted to pick a few things for myself and also make the most of the discounts by picking up future gifts at a steal * . And after those six hours, I returned home happy and sad. Happy because I found some great bargains and sad because the wallet was considerably lighter.  Le sigh.  My tweet captures it all: Charles & Keith, Body Shop, Accessorize, AND, Pantaloons and Debenhams are all a little richer today because of me. # RetailTherapy — vodkaholic (@vodkaholic) August 13,...

For those who didn't know, work took me to Dhaka, Bangladesh just in time to kick off the 2011 Cricket World Cup! Here are some (backdated) notes from that 4-day whirlwind trip... (16-20 Feb 2011)   Koffee with me! My first day in Dhaka was spent mostly on absorbing the chaos of this city and then meeting the team I had put together. We met at Coffee World, and once there it felt just like a coffee shop back home. In the midst of introductions, pleasantries and finally work-related briefing, I ordered for a cappuccino. Not bad. But I told the guy to make it a strong one as I intended to get back to my hotel and work for some time. As it turns out, here I am... replying to a barrage of emails and having multiple conversations on IM. To make matters worse, I had managed only 2.5 hours of sleep before leaving home. And now, I'm wide awake because of that #$%&;*@! coffee. Good luck to me! Back at the hotel, the staff kindly brought me some dinner even though it was we...