Red Bull Air Race World Series 2007

I'm hooked! If there's any of you that's reading this blog who is an F1 fan, this is an absolute must new sport to follow. I HATE flying - motion sickness and whatnot, but I have to say I really enjoyed this experience. It's all about speed, and how good these guys are. Found out about it by default - someone in the company had spare tickets so sent a group email around and I checked out the website http://www.redbullairrace.com/ and well, I had to go. It was fabulous, although the waiting between the quarter finals and semi's was really pakaoing and they only had 2 helicopters doing cool flips and flying backwards to keep you occupied, it was only for a bit of the time. The venue was O2 at Canary Wharf and it was spectacular. These guys are so good, they fly barely a few meters off the water, and unlike F1, they don't actually race together :-) (d-uh: safety reasons... it's in the air), but it's all about the times they turn in. They have a qualifying on Saturday and here the 12 fastest are pared down to the top 8. After that, the eleminations quick in and that's really nerve wracking, coz you could have a better time than someone else following you, but if the guy you're paired with is faster...... it's bye bye baby. Basically, the 8 pilots pair off and race against each other, the faster one winning and moving to the semis. We actually had one of the quarter finalists with a 2 second faster time, but he was beaten by his pair, so got knocked out at this stage. The semis were great, with the times getting tighter and tighter, and no accidents as they zipped through the pylons just meters above the Thames, and finally, after a Mexican wave that looked more like a tidal wave across the banks of the Thames (both sides, in case you were wondering) start off, much to the dismay of the exceedingly partisan London crowd, Mike Mangold clipped the local hero Paul Bonhomme by 2 seconds plus change (as the American commentator was wont to say) - great stuff. Really spectacular, and fun as well, coz it's all to blaring music - really sexy stuff. The 3 place podium semis actually had the Bond theme going, so it was just too cool for words. London was the 6th of the series for this year, and they've already done exotic locales like Abu Dhabi, Rio de Janerio, Turkey and Interlaken and just the venues make this quite an addictive sport. Now that I've added air racing to my list of motorsports to follow, I'm hoping that one of these days, I'll get to watch it in Rio. Maybe this would be a good time to start the SEND APARA TO RIO FUND :).

Phew. Up and running again after ages. Feels like I’ve been away for sooo long. But with my new and improved go with the flow philosophy, I haven’t really missed it at all. Strange are the ways of the world and the human mind. It’s now been a month since I’ve been back and it’s been fantastic. The weather has been crap, unbelievable rain and enough floods all over the country to give Bangladesh an inferiority complex. Still, it doesn't seem to be bothering me in the least - au contraire, now I have the ammo to combat tall stories about flooding in Mumbai. Just got back after a HUMOUNGOUS lunch at Chennai Dosa where we demolished a couple of thalis, idlis, vadas, masala dosa, rawa dosa, mysore masala and paper dosas before rounding it off nicely with malai and pista kulfis. YUMMMM!! Feeling quite sick now, and don't think I want to have any close encounters with South India anytime in the near future. Well, not until September anyway :).

Back in the office after a few hours at home and the sun is slanting in through the windown hitting my phone and screen. And the corner of my eye. Finally, after a whole day of gloomy damp. Some summer this has been. Back from Canada now for a little over two weeks and it's been a strange experience. While I was there, I had decided to go back to Bombay, and it seemed to be an epiphany when one of my bacchas sent an email saying they were looking for someone to head up the C&W Client Solutions team in India and would I be interested, because he thought I was perfect. Came back, had a few discussions with C&W Asia about the job and even spoke to my boss - not about the possible job, but that I wanted to go back. He's been fantastic. First giving me the time off to go to Vancouver, and getting me paid for the entire time I was away to boot. He said he'd hate to lose me and several other nice things that make it so hard to leave, but then rounded off by saying he understood and that I needed to do what was best for me. Of course, I should think about it, and maybe do a list of pros and cons to help me decide.... told him I'd already decided, which was when he went to into full mode about how the company wouldn't want to lose me and if I wanted to go back should mega boss talk to CEO of Asia to get me a job. If not, he had a client who was looking to set up something for a year in HK, and I would be perfect. So many options... suddenly the choice becomes that much harder. When there's nothing to chose from, who cares. But the way they appreciate you here.... it's special.
But that's not just it. It's the combination of the great work place here, my boss, and the fact that while the India opportunity is great, the money sucks and more importantly, it'll be a 24/7 job even if I do have the flexibilty to work from home, etc, not to mention the petty politics that Asia thrives on. I don't want to go back to that. More to the point, since I've been back from Canada, despite the mostly dreadful weather, I've been happy to be back. Feel good about myself and being back and well, don't want to leave. There's still so many things I want to do - and sitting out most of the Saturday cowering behind a couple of umbrellas at Wimbledon is not the least of it. There's Silverstone and the Hungarian grand prix for next year, trips to Berlin, Portugal, Scandinavia and Croatia that I want to do, my yoga and pilates and well, the friends I've made. Most of all, I feel good about being here by myself. Things between Velu and me are great and I'm so much happier. Sarolta's back in Budapest and Somya's pushing off to India at least for a bit, but despite that, I want to stay. Work is going great, everyone loves me and I'm working on a special project with the CEO and head of HR, so there's lots happening.
It's funny, but when you think about the decision you have to make, it's so hard, but somehow, things just do seem to fall into place, and suddenly you're doing things that are contrary to the decision you've made. It happens instinctively, and there's no 'is this the right thing to do'. So, I'm off flat hunting - a 12 month lease with an option to break at 6. Spoke to the MD for CS Asia to tell him that I was leaning towards staying and that he should get someone else, no matter how right he thought I was and what a wonderful opportunity it is, blah, blah, told mega boss that I was having a change of heart. And get this, he asked if it was because of the pitch that we'd just won. That we've been working on for a while now, for which I came back to London, for my client. And when I said no, he said good. Because if I'd said yes, he'd have thought I was crazy. Don't make a decision based on work. Get your personal life straight, and the rest will sort itself out. Good guys here. Not staying for work, but it's not how the Indian's think. So for now, I guess I'm staying.
Oh. Forgot to mention. Got my navel pierced. My very own mid life crisis, but it looks great ;-o