Uptil now I was not acquainted with the night life excitement for which Philippines is known for.My life was waiting for the fun ‘n ‘pleasure.Yes, My life did changed forever right after the puerata galera visit more precisely from the month of November,2003.It did took some time after landing in manila to get a taste of the nightlife in hotspots in Philippines. Oh! What a nightlife I had in Manila for almost 18 months once I discovered the pleasure in this country ( I shall tell the readers about it later)after puerta galera which was my first maiden single journey cum tour in Philippines or in any abroad country.
On 30 th September, 2003 I took print out of something important right from the internet e-mail system regarding some transaction related certificates. ( This thing turned out to be fake as I had expected )
October was the festival time in AIM. Especially for the Indian students as it was the time for many Indian festivals like Dussehra, Durga puja , Diwali and more.
Our batch was responsible for hosting the Dussehra /Diwali in a spirited way inside the AIM premishes.
During the diwali festival there was large decoration of sets, candle stick lighting and lots of contests , nautanki, and khana peena.
During the festival , there was a special Ramayana play which was enacted by our batch( especially fillipinos ) in which Ravan ,sita and Ram were all played by the Filipinos . The big guy Anthony played the character of Ravanna , the role of sita was played by Cathy ponce.
It was a interesting site to see local Filipinos playing and enacting the epic Ramayana. Then there was contests like Ram -lakhan- as best friends, Best male friendship pair
Ram and Sita, Kumbhakaran etc etc.
Incidently and surprisingly I won the best friends awards with Himanshu kher.
Who was my three years junior my former place of education named IIT Kgp.
In fact I was also in the runner up position with another AIM student Who happens to be my room mate named Sachin bajaj.
Unfortunately we got nothing special in prize after winning the constest just only
The titles. I do not know who was instrumental in having the "best friends" title named as Ram Lakhan when in the mythology they were brothers.
As I have said the October month were filled with festivals and parties with the gaities unbound.
I personally paid someone in this world some dollars for things related to transaction the details of which I cannot provide here. It was 27 th October ,2003 When I paid someone in Africa thru western union money transfer
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
Enjoying at puerta galera !!!!
I stayed there for two nights at a rent of 800 pesos for each night.I asked myself that whether I was paying too much or not? It seemed that the rent was quite high.
I had no other options in hand and I agreed to stay in the small cottage type of rooms for two after talking with the hotel manager lady.That night I ate at the restaurant owned by the same hotel authorities. I found the night life of the puerta galera beach quite interesting as it was dotted with the plenty of beer bars arranged on the corner of the beach with some exciting boy dancers who performed dances to the tune of western music in order to create attention and traffic for their bars.
I moved from one place to another in the beach to see if there is anything special.Puerta galera is a tourist paradise for beach and trekking activities.The Mindoro island is covered with dense forest in the interior side as compared to lush and sandy beaches near the shores
Next day was important as I had contaced one local guide for the trekking in the hills which were beside the shore.The local guide name was aptly named BOY.
And boy! Was not he an excellent trekker cum guide !!! . Next day I got ready for the trekking into the hills of the Mindoro island with Boy and he assisted me to trek thru dense forest routes where there was absolutely no one. He took me up the hill where there were good quality houses built by many foreigners like Germans, Swiss, Italian, Americans and some Aussies. It seemed to me that Puerta Galera is the haven for the foreign people for making their second home.There were plenty of lands available on the hill slopes to build houses at affordable rates. I also wished to have built a bunglow in those beautiful surroundings. We had walked on the hill slopes both upwards and downwards in three hours time .In between the trekking we came across quite a few streams, water falls and some tribal people.
After three hours we were back to our origin ie the cottage rented rooms where I was staying.
No need to add I was a bit exhausted after the journey and slept well from 2 00 pm till 4 pm that day.
In the evening I went to all the shoppe and little malls to collect the souvenirs of any value according to my wallet capacity.
I bought two T-shirts , conch shells and more .I had a little scuffle with a T - shirt seller about which I still regret and apologise.( About this incident I shall tell the readers later on )
In the evening I went out for local shoppes , restaurants and more for the last minute Shopping and the island hopping.
Next day in the noon time I started my journey back to my dorm in AIM. That was 29th sepetember, 2003. At about 12:30 pm I boarded off to a steamer which was going towards batangas port in the Luzon island.
As usual I reached the batangas port. From there I boarded off a bus to reach buendia bus stop. I reached my hostel at about 5 pm and in this way I successfully ventured into a tourist place far away from the Makati location( My first tourist activity in Philippines).
It was a fulfilling experience for me.
I had no other options in hand and I agreed to stay in the small cottage type of rooms for two after talking with the hotel manager lady.That night I ate at the restaurant owned by the same hotel authorities. I found the night life of the puerta galera beach quite interesting as it was dotted with the plenty of beer bars arranged on the corner of the beach with some exciting boy dancers who performed dances to the tune of western music in order to create attention and traffic for their bars.
I moved from one place to another in the beach to see if there is anything special.Puerta galera is a tourist paradise for beach and trekking activities.The Mindoro island is covered with dense forest in the interior side as compared to lush and sandy beaches near the shores
Next day was important as I had contaced one local guide for the trekking in the hills which were beside the shore.The local guide name was aptly named BOY.
And boy! Was not he an excellent trekker cum guide !!! . Next day I got ready for the trekking into the hills of the Mindoro island with Boy and he assisted me to trek thru dense forest routes where there was absolutely no one. He took me up the hill where there were good quality houses built by many foreigners like Germans, Swiss, Italian, Americans and some Aussies. It seemed to me that Puerta Galera is the haven for the foreign people for making their second home.There were plenty of lands available on the hill slopes to build houses at affordable rates. I also wished to have built a bunglow in those beautiful surroundings. We had walked on the hill slopes both upwards and downwards in three hours time .In between the trekking we came across quite a few streams, water falls and some tribal people.
After three hours we were back to our origin ie the cottage rented rooms where I was staying.
No need to add I was a bit exhausted after the journey and slept well from 2 00 pm till 4 pm that day.
In the evening I went to all the shoppe and little malls to collect the souvenirs of any value according to my wallet capacity.
I bought two T-shirts , conch shells and more .I had a little scuffle with a T - shirt seller about which I still regret and apologise.( About this incident I shall tell the readers later on )
In the evening I went out for local shoppes , restaurants and more for the last minute Shopping and the island hopping.
Next day in the noon time I started my journey back to my dorm in AIM. That was 29th sepetember, 2003. At about 12:30 pm I boarded off to a steamer which was going towards batangas port in the Luzon island.
As usual I reached the batangas port. From there I boarded off a bus to reach buendia bus stop. I reached my hostel at about 5 pm and in this way I successfully ventured into a tourist place far away from the Makati location( My first tourist activity in Philippines).
It was a fulfilling experience for me.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Fresher's party ( cub's night) and visit to fabulous puerta galera
In AIM , the freshers are officially welcomed to the AIM by a party mainly called Cub's night( As you know- Cub is the name of the tiger kid ).
In the cub's night party which is hosted by the institute especially the senior batch.In such night ,There are certain interesting contests which are held every year like MISS AIM, Miss AIM sexy and Mr AIM. During our time, Miss Aim was won by a diminutive Filipino lady named Tinni Espritu and the prestigious Miss Sexy AIM was won by
An Indian Femme fatale named Sakshi chopra.Well to tell about her she is a Punjabi kudi from delhi whose skin is as fair as that of a typical Chinese girl and five foot six inches in height.
The party was fabulous and it ended with an Song and dance sequence from the music selected from the Indian ,Filipino and the English numbers.
In the month of September, 2003 we had hectic time in order to finish the course subjects before the mid - semester break from 25 -1 october,2003.
It was during this break I took the first step towards the tourism in manila.It was for the first time in my stay in AIM ,Philippines that I had decided to go out of the manila city to be more precise out of the Luzon island to a small island famous among the tourist - Mindoro island - the destination was Puerta Galera.It was famous for beaches and other beach related activities.My puerat galera visit was preceded by the visit to the taal volcano- which is considered to be the smallest active volcano in the world.
The trip to taal volcano was arranged by our Filipino batchmates in group of ten people .In this short trip we were taken to the ayala highlands - the home to rich and famous , churches and other holy places and many more.It was a good experience.
Now on 27 th September, I started my journey towards puerta galera in mindoro island.
In the morning of 27th sepetember, 2003 I went to Buendia bus depot by the air conditioned taxi available near the Aim building.In buendia I board off the bus which was going to Batangas port. As expected I reached Batangas port from where I reached puerta galera by steamer boat with in an hour’s time. It was four O’clock when I reached the shores of the puerta galera. As I landed on the shore of puerta galera I was approached by some people who were asking me if Iam interested in the hotel or lodging facilities.
After talking with one of them for sometime I agreed to proceed to a certain hotel.
In the cub's night party which is hosted by the institute especially the senior batch.In such night ,There are certain interesting contests which are held every year like MISS AIM, Miss AIM sexy and Mr AIM. During our time, Miss Aim was won by a diminutive Filipino lady named Tinni Espritu and the prestigious Miss Sexy AIM was won by
An Indian Femme fatale named Sakshi chopra.Well to tell about her she is a Punjabi kudi from delhi whose skin is as fair as that of a typical Chinese girl and five foot six inches in height.
The party was fabulous and it ended with an Song and dance sequence from the music selected from the Indian ,Filipino and the English numbers.
In the month of September, 2003 we had hectic time in order to finish the course subjects before the mid - semester break from 25 -1 october,2003.
It was during this break I took the first step towards the tourism in manila.It was for the first time in my stay in AIM ,Philippines that I had decided to go out of the manila city to be more precise out of the Luzon island to a small island famous among the tourist - Mindoro island - the destination was Puerta Galera.It was famous for beaches and other beach related activities.My puerat galera visit was preceded by the visit to the taal volcano- which is considered to be the smallest active volcano in the world.
The trip to taal volcano was arranged by our Filipino batchmates in group of ten people .In this short trip we were taken to the ayala highlands - the home to rich and famous , churches and other holy places and many more.It was a good experience.
Now on 27 th September, I started my journey towards puerta galera in mindoro island.
In the morning of 27th sepetember, 2003 I went to Buendia bus depot by the air conditioned taxi available near the Aim building.In buendia I board off the bus which was going to Batangas port. As expected I reached Batangas port from where I reached puerta galera by steamer boat with in an hour’s time. It was four O’clock when I reached the shores of the puerta galera. As I landed on the shore of puerta galera I was approached by some people who were asking me if Iam interested in the hotel or lodging facilities.
After talking with one of them for sometime I agreed to proceed to a certain hotel.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Getting used to the life in AIM
The classes resumed from the 29 th july, 2003 and it was back to normal.
So we had one typical experience of staying in Philippines. The Indian students were not accustomed to this as I have written earlier.
On august 12 at the Management Communication classes , we students had to deliver the extempore of five minutes in the Management communication class in the topic which will be provided half an hour before. I was given the topic of an Indian business man who has just came from a visit from the Chinese cities and I was supposed to tell my experience of my visit in china about the new things I found etc etc.As true to my confidence I spoke well and my speech was dotted with a lot of quotations, facts and statistics and it was satisfying experience for me.However I did not get a high grade of my desire.
On august18, 2003 we were taken to a tannery factory in Valenzuela which was owned by Chinese Filipinos. The tour was part of the operations managament course.We had a good view of how leather tannery works.
Well to tell you about my batchmates !the MBA class was filled with Filipino students who were 53 % of the class followed by Indian students who were 29 in number, followed by Vietnamese (4), Myanmar, indonesian, Nepalese and Singaporean.In short almost 90% of the batch were made up of Filipino and the Indian students.
The class consisted of few sexy beauties (mostly Filipinos) who were providing us the glamour quotient not withstanding they had the brains The names of these students are- jariaza yulo, Asset tinio , Lizel Milan , April lim , Tin tin Abu ,Conchi Clemente and Sakshi chopra etc.
I still do track some of them via the internet. In this Class there were a lot of scholarship holders –most of them were Indians.Trung duc trun and Thuy Nguyen
Were ADB (fully funded from Asian Development Bank ) scholars from Vietnam. Sophieap Chea was Cambodian who was also an ADB scholar.The AIM scholars were
Sudipto Basak (myself), Himanshu kher ( From IIT KGP background), Alpesh Ashar,
Sriram krisnamachari and Sanjib Sahu. All of these students were either on fully
100% or 50% AIM tuition fee refunded scholarships. I was told that my scholarship will be retained by me in the second year if my academic standing in the class is amongst the top 40%( which I later found out that it was tough for me to do so )
Now, The Filipinos were very extra careful of cleaniness and personal hygiene. At some point I was teased by some batchmates whether I do take bath or not.
Initially the classes were less boring and more interesting but as the time passed the MBA study took its toll in the first semester and second semester.
Slowly and slowly I was trying to adjust in the AIM system.
I was getting used to the life in AIM with a lot of partying at the night along the poolside after going through the hard case studies about various companies.
So we had one typical experience of staying in Philippines. The Indian students were not accustomed to this as I have written earlier.
On august 12 at the Management Communication classes , we students had to deliver the extempore of five minutes in the Management communication class in the topic which will be provided half an hour before. I was given the topic of an Indian business man who has just came from a visit from the Chinese cities and I was supposed to tell my experience of my visit in china about the new things I found etc etc.As true to my confidence I spoke well and my speech was dotted with a lot of quotations, facts and statistics and it was satisfying experience for me.However I did not get a high grade of my desire.
On august18, 2003 we were taken to a tannery factory in Valenzuela which was owned by Chinese Filipinos. The tour was part of the operations managament course.We had a good view of how leather tannery works.
Well to tell you about my batchmates !the MBA class was filled with Filipino students who were 53 % of the class followed by Indian students who were 29 in number, followed by Vietnamese (4), Myanmar, indonesian, Nepalese and Singaporean.In short almost 90% of the batch were made up of Filipino and the Indian students.
The class consisted of few sexy beauties (mostly Filipinos) who were providing us the glamour quotient not withstanding they had the brains The names of these students are- jariaza yulo, Asset tinio , Lizel Milan , April lim , Tin tin Abu ,Conchi Clemente and Sakshi chopra etc.
I still do track some of them via the internet. In this Class there were a lot of scholarship holders –most of them were Indians.Trung duc trun and Thuy Nguyen
Were ADB (fully funded from Asian Development Bank ) scholars from Vietnam. Sophieap Chea was Cambodian who was also an ADB scholar.The AIM scholars were
Sudipto Basak (myself), Himanshu kher ( From IIT KGP background), Alpesh Ashar,
Sriram krisnamachari and Sanjib Sahu. All of these students were either on fully
100% or 50% AIM tuition fee refunded scholarships. I was told that my scholarship will be retained by me in the second year if my academic standing in the class is amongst the top 40%( which I later found out that it was tough for me to do so )
Now, The Filipinos were very extra careful of cleaniness and personal hygiene. At some point I was teased by some batchmates whether I do take bath or not.
Initially the classes were less boring and more interesting but as the time passed the MBA study took its toll in the first semester and second semester.
Slowly and slowly I was trying to adjust in the AIM system.
I was getting used to the life in AIM with a lot of partying at the night along the poolside after going through the hard case studies about various companies.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The coup attempts and our rescue plan....Manila in troubled times...
I really had quite tough time to have communication with him
He was speaking strange kind of Cambodian English. I felt quite pity for some of the Indian students who had to pay such huge fees for doing MBA in AIM Manila.
After the lunch we waited till afternoon when I was taken by My Indian batchmates for a round of cricket in the park quite some distance away from the institute.
My tryst with the AIM MBA started with the classes which begin on 21 st july,2003 when I entered the classroom named Meralco ( an electric power company in manila) and god did I find it anything funny !!! yes!!
I had to get a chair named after me and it happened to be right in front of the professor in the first row. I found the class initially quite interesting and funny because of the kind of system prevalent during the MBA classes. Class participation was call of the day - and every student had to( preferably) participate in the class by saying something about the case to the professors .Sometimes it ended up in funny show where students had to say something and ultimately it all ended up in the comedy show as it appeared to me in the first seven days and I must say ! I had really good laugh in the first three days in the class and I personally could not contribute anything in the class. I was told by my batchmates that I need to participate any how as I came late and keep participating as most of the subject grades are based on the dreaded class participation parameter. To me it looked like a cruel joke(?) played on the students by professors and as if every one is pressing one other for saying anything of value in the class in the name of class participation.
It was one of the dangerous way of evaluation in my view in the first year.The funny show was added by the typical Vietnamese English spoken by some students which were not understood by me ( And many other students in the class) and I found it to be funny and agonizing. Still I had good time in the class as I started participating in the classes from the next week ( from 26 th july)
And then something happened which played a terror on our mind (for most overseas students) It was the sign of times for we have landed in Philippines - famous for the coups and military overthrow of the government as it happens in the Latin America. On 27 the july ,2003
( Sunday) we were suddenly told by the institute janitors that some military people(revolt group) have overtaken a hotel building nearby in makati glorieta mall and they are threatening to blow up the whole building unless their demands were not met. It seemed that some section of the Philippine army had revolted against the government on some alleged injustices done to them( It was not the coup attempt as it was previously thought ). It really seemed to be a dangerous ploy lead by the brilliant man named Antoines trillanes of PMA. The danger was imminent as most of the buildings near the hotel Oak wood ridge was evacuated ,but unfortunately AIM was in the blast vibration zone ( danger zone) and
god !!!Did the students panicked !!! they were a bit terrorized on Sunday!! We had been put into emergency plan as all the students were put into group of ten and were planned to leave and stay in some other place in manila (say malate) away from the Oakwood ridge hotel( if the crisis did not get averted by night). We panicked as we were about to leave for the designated place.All the shops,malls, and convenience stores were closed and the whole place was put into curfview. We had tough time looking for the food outside as the most of the cafeteria employee were absent because of the revolt. The incident continued till ten o" clock in night when the good news was broadcasted that there was a successful negotiation between the revolt group and the government lead by president of Philippines viz Gloria Macapagal arroyo.( In Philippines this sort of things are quite common and people there were accustomed to it , even though we in India are not accustomed to this type of things )The negotiation put an end to the crisis and a major disaster was averted. This incident played a psychological effect on me as to the extent of uncertainity in living in Philippines as it happened in the past when a military dictator named General Ferdinand marcos ruled this improvished nation for twenty years after overthrowing a democratic govt. in a military coup.
Most of the students were trying to normalize their emotional and physical well being after this incident on 28th july which was a declared holiday in AIM. The most important thing about this incident was that it occurred on my birthday ie 27 th july ( My 28th one )and it really blew up the chances of celebrating on 27 th along with my friends.
He was speaking strange kind of Cambodian English. I felt quite pity for some of the Indian students who had to pay such huge fees for doing MBA in AIM Manila.
After the lunch we waited till afternoon when I was taken by My Indian batchmates for a round of cricket in the park quite some distance away from the institute.
My tryst with the AIM MBA started with the classes which begin on 21 st july,2003 when I entered the classroom named Meralco ( an electric power company in manila) and god did I find it anything funny !!! yes!!
I had to get a chair named after me and it happened to be right in front of the professor in the first row. I found the class initially quite interesting and funny because of the kind of system prevalent during the MBA classes. Class participation was call of the day - and every student had to( preferably) participate in the class by saying something about the case to the professors .Sometimes it ended up in funny show where students had to say something and ultimately it all ended up in the comedy show as it appeared to me in the first seven days and I must say ! I had really good laugh in the first three days in the class and I personally could not contribute anything in the class. I was told by my batchmates that I need to participate any how as I came late and keep participating as most of the subject grades are based on the dreaded class participation parameter. To me it looked like a cruel joke(?) played on the students by professors and as if every one is pressing one other for saying anything of value in the class in the name of class participation.
It was one of the dangerous way of evaluation in my view in the first year.The funny show was added by the typical Vietnamese English spoken by some students which were not understood by me ( And many other students in the class) and I found it to be funny and agonizing. Still I had good time in the class as I started participating in the classes from the next week ( from 26 th july)
And then something happened which played a terror on our mind (for most overseas students) It was the sign of times for we have landed in Philippines - famous for the coups and military overthrow of the government as it happens in the Latin America. On 27 the july ,2003
( Sunday) we were suddenly told by the institute janitors that some military people(revolt group) have overtaken a hotel building nearby in makati glorieta mall and they are threatening to blow up the whole building unless their demands were not met. It seemed that some section of the Philippine army had revolted against the government on some alleged injustices done to them( It was not the coup attempt as it was previously thought ). It really seemed to be a dangerous ploy lead by the brilliant man named Antoines trillanes of PMA. The danger was imminent as most of the buildings near the hotel Oak wood ridge was evacuated ,but unfortunately AIM was in the blast vibration zone ( danger zone) and
god !!!Did the students panicked !!! they were a bit terrorized on Sunday!! We had been put into emergency plan as all the students were put into group of ten and were planned to leave and stay in some other place in manila (say malate) away from the Oakwood ridge hotel( if the crisis did not get averted by night). We panicked as we were about to leave for the designated place.All the shops,malls, and convenience stores were closed and the whole place was put into curfview. We had tough time looking for the food outside as the most of the cafeteria employee were absent because of the revolt. The incident continued till ten o" clock in night when the good news was broadcasted that there was a successful negotiation between the revolt group and the government lead by president of Philippines viz Gloria Macapagal arroyo.( In Philippines this sort of things are quite common and people there were accustomed to it , even though we in India are not accustomed to this type of things )The negotiation put an end to the crisis and a major disaster was averted. This incident played a psychological effect on me as to the extent of uncertainity in living in Philippines as it happened in the past when a military dictator named General Ferdinand marcos ruled this improvished nation for twenty years after overthrowing a democratic govt. in a military coup.
Most of the students were trying to normalize their emotional and physical well being after this incident on 28th july which was a declared holiday in AIM. The most important thing about this incident was that it occurred on my birthday ie 27 th july ( My 28th one )and it really blew up the chances of celebrating on 27 th along with my friends.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The famous nights of Manila
NIGHTS OF MANILA
As I landed in the Manila airport on 18 th July(2003) night by Royal Brunei airlines, I was asked a lot of questions( by the Taxi driver) about my country of origin , My intention of coming to this island nation, about the president of Philippines ( Gloria Macapagal arroyo), and other things. In short this was my first visit to Philippines ( and in any country in Eastern Asia) and I was amazed to see the airport and response from the Taxi drivers.(Manila is the chief city and the capital of the archipelago nation of Philippines ) I must say I was a bit amazed to see the airconditioned taxis in the airport in which I boarded.I have not seen anything like this in India.
Manila has everything, and is the heart of the Philippines. It is the "National Capital Region", consisting not only of the city of Manila, per se, but the contiguous cities around it. Manila is a very big, exciting city, hard for some to deal with and not reflective of the Philippines as whole. If you have only been in Manila you have not been to the Philippines. There are many places to live, save with amenities. Check the links.Some are very inexpensive, remarkably so. On a $1,000 a month in some places you will feel like a millionaire and be treated as one, a strange experience for some, certainly for me.
At ten past nine ‘clock I reached AIM (Asian Institute Of Management) for the first time when my taxi reached the entrance of the Institute
(on 18 the july,2003).I forced upon the gate to face upon the janitor who was sitting near to the front gate.I enquired about the dorm room for the first year MBA 2005 students to which she said something which I found Greek and somehow I proceeded towards the right direction. I was accompanied by two janitors ,who helped me to get to the right route towards the dorm rooms by escorting me in the lift which was going upwards.
Now when I was talking with a janitor there was someone ( my batchmate ) whom I later identified as Venky Booba , remarked "yeh ek din ke liye aaya hai"
I still don't know why he uttered a statement like this after looking at me.
Probably he thought that I have come for short time visit to manila as a tourist.
Nevertheless I was accompanied by two janitors who took me to the room no. 606 where the kolkatta based students where staying with a Cambodian one.
The janitors enquired whether there is a scope for me to accommodate in the room .She found a negative response.Then I was taken to room no. 505 and there I was allowed to stay. My room mates in room number 505 were Sachin bajaj, Sunil bansali, and Vedant dube.To be more precise I was staying in the cubicle shared by Sachin Bajaj.
All of them were seniors and they got acquainted with me and asked my flight journey and the city. I was told to be careful about smoking as the room was having firealarm. After some time ,I took out food from the luggage and ate something , it was eleven thirty at night. The city of manila was looking bright at night from the window pane and then suddenly my kolkatta batchmate named Manish came to my room and told me to present downstairs for the birth day party (at 12 O’clock night) of Rahul singh.
I said that Iam too exhausted for the party and I said sorry for not able to make myself available for the birthday party bash. I had nice sleep on the good quality bed present in the room and woke up quite late the next day ie 19 th july,2003 which was Saturday.
I ate my breakfast food taken out from the luggage and went to room no. 606 to meet Manish Goyal and Kaushik De to ask about something, but I was too late. They were leaving for the markets situated near the institute.After that I met a Cambodian named Sophie chia who took me to the cafeteria for the lunch and we had some rather good eating time. He was the ADB(Asian Development Bank ) scholar from Cambodia and was the lone representative from that country.
As I landed in the Manila airport on 18 th July(2003) night by Royal Brunei airlines, I was asked a lot of questions( by the Taxi driver) about my country of origin , My intention of coming to this island nation, about the president of Philippines ( Gloria Macapagal arroyo), and other things. In short this was my first visit to Philippines ( and in any country in Eastern Asia) and I was amazed to see the airport and response from the Taxi drivers.(Manila is the chief city and the capital of the archipelago nation of Philippines ) I must say I was a bit amazed to see the airconditioned taxis in the airport in which I boarded.I have not seen anything like this in India.
Manila has everything, and is the heart of the Philippines. It is the "National Capital Region", consisting not only of the city of Manila, per se, but the contiguous cities around it. Manila is a very big, exciting city, hard for some to deal with and not reflective of the Philippines as whole. If you have only been in Manila you have not been to the Philippines. There are many places to live, save with amenities. Check the links.Some are very inexpensive, remarkably so. On a $1,000 a month in some places you will feel like a millionaire and be treated as one, a strange experience for some, certainly for me.
At ten past nine ‘clock I reached AIM (Asian Institute Of Management) for the first time when my taxi reached the entrance of the Institute
(on 18 the july,2003).I forced upon the gate to face upon the janitor who was sitting near to the front gate.I enquired about the dorm room for the first year MBA 2005 students to which she said something which I found Greek and somehow I proceeded towards the right direction. I was accompanied by two janitors ,who helped me to get to the right route towards the dorm rooms by escorting me in the lift which was going upwards.
Now when I was talking with a janitor there was someone ( my batchmate ) whom I later identified as Venky Booba , remarked "yeh ek din ke liye aaya hai"
I still don't know why he uttered a statement like this after looking at me.
Probably he thought that I have come for short time visit to manila as a tourist.
Nevertheless I was accompanied by two janitors who took me to the room no. 606 where the kolkatta based students where staying with a Cambodian one.
The janitors enquired whether there is a scope for me to accommodate in the room .She found a negative response.Then I was taken to room no. 505 and there I was allowed to stay. My room mates in room number 505 were Sachin bajaj, Sunil bansali, and Vedant dube.To be more precise I was staying in the cubicle shared by Sachin Bajaj.
All of them were seniors and they got acquainted with me and asked my flight journey and the city. I was told to be careful about smoking as the room was having firealarm. After some time ,I took out food from the luggage and ate something , it was eleven thirty at night. The city of manila was looking bright at night from the window pane and then suddenly my kolkatta batchmate named Manish came to my room and told me to present downstairs for the birth day party (at 12 O’clock night) of Rahul singh.
I said that Iam too exhausted for the party and I said sorry for not able to make myself available for the birthday party bash. I had nice sleep on the good quality bed present in the room and woke up quite late the next day ie 19 th july,2003 which was Saturday.
I ate my breakfast food taken out from the luggage and went to room no. 606 to meet Manish Goyal and Kaushik De to ask about something, but I was too late. They were leaving for the markets situated near the institute.After that I met a Cambodian named Sophie chia who took me to the cafeteria for the lunch and we had some rather good eating time. He was the ADB(Asian Development Bank ) scholar from Cambodia and was the lone representative from that country.
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