Bon Jovi - The Legend - Amazing Experience in KiwiLand

It is the World circle tour 2010 for Bon Jovi and team and their show in Auckland,New Zealand for which i have grabbed the last ticket at a hefty price and was standing in the queue to entry for half an hour, and when the gates opened there was an uproar in the crowd and the excitement was so much that people were shelling out money for the merchandise offered at the venue. The Venue - Vector Arena, a huge indoor stadium with 12000 seating capacity situated in Auckland CBD, just a stones throw away from our apartment.

I have entered the venue and was amazed by the way they designed for each one of us to have a view of the person. The crowd started entering slowly and there was a band playing just to warm up. They played for half an hour, making our will to meet Bon even stronger. When the clock had struck 8:30 PM, the man arrived for a thundering applause and welcome .The introduction was a highlight with huge screen in the backdrop and playing the theme music deafening our ears and raising our spirits. He was on a rise, in the middle of the crowd in the first instance making them go wild.Then he reached the stage, a little pep talk and then he was straight to the job.

He is a magician who knows the pulse of the audience, can reach to them, be with them and above all can emotionally connect, truly making him a great person. He has started playing the guitar and his performance was sending the crowd in to raptures, his dance , his swings, every one loved each and every moment of the show.Everyone was lost in the music.

In the middle there was a song dedication to all the brave men who have lost their lives in the Pike River Mine explosion, and the small speech before that could bring a tear to the eye of any one. The song was truly touching and is a testimony of his heart which cares for others.

Then came the evergreen song of this Band, which made everyone swaying to his tune and beats, Its My Life....., justifying the spirit. We did not know how the song went by, it finished in a jiffy and came to an end with in no time. There were all the favorite songs of this band being played and we were asking for more..

The final touch was with the song " Livin on a prayer", a truly fantastic one, and when he said good night and when the lights turned off, we were silently wishing in our hearts, he would come back once more for entertaining us..

Bon Jovi, the true charmer - leaving the audience spell bound and asking for more!! Hail the Legend!

Discovery in the Kiwi Land III

It has been a pretty long time since I have written, the pain in the winter will definitely yield to joy in the summer, this is what I have believed and it certainly turned out to be so on all fronts. Life just goes on and on and people back home ask you eagerly when i will be coming back and you do not have a concrete answer to that and say an approximate date , on which anything can happen. This is the situation of most of the people who go abroad hoping to return back in a given time frame.

When every person who is working with you and who is from your country leaves, you get a feeling of being back home and when you are sick the intensity of the feeling goes up beyond words. Life is not a bed of roses and you need to get adjusted to lot of things. We keep subsiding this feeling when ever it surfaces looking ahead to the weekend , when we will pump some energy to add some spice to life by going to gatherings and events.

One such event is the Santa parade which is brought by a retail store known as Farmer’s; it is huge parade with the majority of the Brands participating in the store. It is an excellent marketing idea to combine the promotion of the products, the beginning of the Christmas sale, awareness and the fun and frolic truly bringing across the spirit of Christmas on a sunny Sunday afternoon where you can find the diversity of New Zealand in all its forms, the kiwi’s the immigrants, the young, the old, the bold and everyone under the sun, seen on the Queen street, the most happening place for this city where the “City Never Sleeps”.

As our elders say the hype and happiness before a festival or a holiday is much more than the occasion itself, so keep it abreast. We look forward for Christmas which is the season of spreading love, the season of giving and the season to look forward to the future with greater hope and a sense of optimism.

Discovery in the Kiwi Land - II

I am back with the updates and learning, the discoveries, the enlightenment and the way life goes on daily in this land in one corner of the world map. Every morning i see an island from my balcony (called dovenport) in the tenth floor of my apartment, opposite the Auckland port and remember of a hill temple in my hometown and i meditate by sitting before it every morning.

I was looking at a report on the net which says that Indians are the most conservative and are devoid of any risks and they prefer the life to be that. I was taken aback by the statistics and then i felt, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. However, this may apply to the majority and things are slowly changing and people are coming out of their comfort zones, breaking the stereotypes. It is not that we are risk averse, it is just that we are not provided an opportunity and we put the society before us and being brought up in a conservative style. The number of new business arenas explored, mentioned in the outlook magazine makes a mark . Either it be personal or professional life we can take risks. We can change career paths, start new business, explore a new country and do more.We can be good at sailing, para gliding, bungee jumping, scuba diving, sky jump who knows. As Rahul Gandhi said, " There are lot of obamas in the making" in our country who are willing to travel that extra mile and prove the world who they are..

The weekends are what we look forward to as the life is becoming mechanical, lacking spice and thrill and when it finally arrives it vanishes in a jiffy and that is why our elders used to say " Time Flies". We could see people getting frenzy over the weekend, the fire engines running helter skelter to avert a disaster and the patrol vehicles crisscrossing the city while people are intoxicated and having a nice time.


One of the days in the week, i have been to the University of Auckland B-School, which is one of the best in the world and is enlisted in the top 100, only when i stepped in to the campus, i realized why management education of global standards has been sought after and recognized throughout the globe and rewarded aptly. The people who make these future managers, their attitude, commitment, the exposure, the cases they study, the way they analyze, the integration of different platforms and the synergy , that is what brings in innovation, which is the key to growth of an organization and in a broader perspective the nation. As our beloved president Abdul Kalam stated, " Give me the child for 11 years and i will show you where he will be". When an open culture is created to work,to learn, to grow the development is manifold and they foster. And that would be the way to grow.

On the eleventh floor of a skyscraper, watching the city is breathtaking, the view is exhilarating, even when we getup in the morning, the weather is unpredictable and changes swiftly like our thoughts. It is fun to forget your jacket back home while leaving to office and shiver when it is sunny outside and people noting it.

12000 km away, eating dal rice which is served piping out and that too from a person from your hometown speaking the language you speak back home, serving you additional delicacies just to keep your taste buds alive and your platter full is something divine and a gods gift.
Money cannot buy everything, for everything else there is Master Card


The way the Retailing is done is pretty different, its completely different from what is seen back home, if the particular product is not available, the person himself guides where it would be available and would not push his product to the customer. If it is the closing time they say it in a polite way. They do not stretch the working hours for the customer. Can this be thought of back home?

Then comes the argument " Is customer the King?". If so they need to be at their service and mend themselves, If not - then the view is, that one person is just providing the other what he needs and is satisfying his wants and nothing more than that. This statement can have different dimensions when related to different industries and at the end of the day, even if it is a product or the service which is marketed, it is always the service which is sold. "Service Marketing" has already caught up. A Hindsight, most of the people who opt for marketing as a specialization while studying do not leave this leaf unturned.


To be continued - (your views most solicited)

Discovery in the Kiwi Land

Its the first instance of my life, where the majority of the software professionals in the Indian sub continent would dream off, the on-site visit to a distant foreign land to explore the opportunities and to grow and to lead a life of their dreams, to break free of the conservative life style which is a part of the urban Indian middle class families and to enjoy to the maximum extent possible. We come with dreams in our eyes and a passion in our heart to find greener pastures, only to find at the end of the day that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

One thing from the westerners that needs to be appreciated and taken back home is that their outlook towards life and that they keep personal matters away from the official ones. Everything is ready made and its the best example to justify why the human effort and dedication levels have been to an all time low. The flip side is that the time can be spent on more productive work.. If done:)

Crossing the seas and landing in a different land for transit has shown where the Indian sub continent has developed in terms of infrastructure.. No wonder, when i read the books of great travelers, they have rated the Indian airports to the bare minimum. The maintenance of the airport solely does not depend on the authorities alone,it also depends on the people for whom it is made.

In spite of the intense battle in the skies, the customer service in the flights left lot to be deserved. At the end of the day, you will be delivered what you have paid for. Going that extra mile in delivering that extra service is what according to me brings back the customer.

Cultures, traditions, color, taste, dressing, looks everything changes in a different land, but the basic human instinct and the needs theory of Masclow remain the same for the most part of the planet. The organization culture and the group dynamics remain the same despite the size of the organizations varying considerably across the supply chain..

On the personal front - The enthusiasm of discovering a foreign land soon fades away, the heart beats for the loved ones back home and at the same time wants the adrenalin rush here..

Just take a cue from the Smirnoff add "Life's Calling".......

The next part..... (To be continued)