First Euro Trip

With numerous options to explore various cultures, Europe would have been a great place to cover during my nomadic days (when I was traveling to a place to stay for at least a few months) – didn’t happen. But, as fate would have it, on my first business trip after taking up a new role, I ended up in....Rotterdam, Netherlands! A typical short business trip hardly gives any time to look around and explore, but luckily for me the schedules worked in such a way that I got a free weekend in Rotterdam – enough opening for me to make the trip memorable outside work as well!

Sight seeing in 4 cities in a week long work tip - not too shabby!

On a Saturday morning armed with a map of the city in hand, I landed in Amsterdam Central station. After taking a guided canal tour in a boat to get a feel for the place, I started my waking expedition to cover the city. Seven hours of picking target destinations on the map, following the road signs and map direction with absolute no help from technology, getting lost, finding my way again, aimlessly following the crowd, talking with random fellow tourists...made it more than a satisfactory excursionist day! Though a bit tired form all Amsterdam walk, Sunday was the day to explore Antwerp (Belgium)! As I tuned out I spend another 7-8 hours walking with a map in my hand exploring the beauty of the city. While returning back to Rotterdam with sore feet, looking back at the fantastic weekend, I realized that I did not really enter any museum during the entire weekend!! Achievement or failure?

Ommegang in Brussels

My return to NY was on a weekend morning from Brussels, in order to give me enough time to get to the airport I had booked a hotel in Brussels for the night before. Immediately after arriving at the hotel....I ventured out again – at the history square of the city, Grand Palace, I was greeted by hundreds of people huddling up trying to catch a glimpse of something. Enquiring around I understood that it was one of the nights of 'Ommegang', an annual historic parade, part of the Brussels oldest town-events. Witnessing 1400 performers helping you relive history was just the climax I needed to make the trip unforgettable!

The Indian Nexus                                                                                              

One of the best things about traveling for me has always been opportunity to meet different people and listen to their stories and experiences. How some people connect to my motherland, India, astonishes me every now and then.

On my first day at Rotterdam while having breakfast I was doing my usual routine of inquiring about vegetarian options, when the chef overheard the conversation and decided to help me personally. As I enjoyed the breakfast and a conversation with him, I learned that he had his descendance from....India! His great grandparents were among the many others who, hundreds of years ago, were moved to Suriname (currently an independent country in northern South America) -  at that time it was a colony of British Empire and was later captured by the Dutch. When the country gained independence for Kingdom of Netherlands in 1974, his family moved to Rotterdam. He gleefully reveled that though he has no know family ties, he still visits the country every year.

On one of my flights I met a Russian American. As we were talking, I noticed she kept shuffling some sort of flash cards in her hand. On closer look, I was amazed as I recognized that the cards actually had extracts from a Indian holy book. Apparently, she was returning after spending 6 months teaching yoga in India. She claimed that, she was a dancer who due to an accident was handicapped enough to be unable to pursue a career in dancing. To overcome the frustration she took over yoga a few years back and was so pleased with the results that she decided to become an instructor. Now she travels around the world – including India – teaching yoga to help people!

Bidding farewell to nomadic days

It was May 2010, my graduation month when I packed my bags and bid farewell to the city of St. Louis the city where I spent 2 great years of b-school life, the first city which began to feel like home away from home. Now for the first time since leaving St. Louis, as I sign a yearlong lease and look to settle down in a new home a bitter sweet feeling hits me – 

no more uncertainly of where I will be few months later; but also no more exhilaration of exploring a new culture...

...no more packing-moving-unpacking my whole caboodle over and over again (which if I count, I did 8-9 times over the last two years); but then no more globetrotting…

...no more grief of saying goodbye to friends; but will also lose the sheer delight of talking with and listing to stories of complete random people…

...no more anxiety of adjusting to a new place; but along with that no more fervor of discovering surprises in a new neighborhood…

***

Though my nomadic lifestyle lasted for just two years, looking back feel gratified with the plethora of unforgettable experiences and friends accumulated…sitting down trying to write something about them makes me wonder what has these two years taught me. A whole Friday night spent pondering makes me come up with a hypothesis and with the risk of making this post a bit too philosophical I share it here...

Two years ago a peep in my mind would have revealed a self talk which goes something like this…

“…If I accept certain aspects of my life which I don’t like, things about others that bother me, inefficiencies of the world that are not fair then somehow I wouldn’t be motivated to change them in a positive way. It will be like resigning to fate…things will remain the way they are…things will remain wrong…”

My premise was, history can vouch, weather it was an inventor or a leader, people who really made a big difference to the world were those who challenged the conventional wisdom.

But after living in two contrasting cultures – closed and cold Russia as well as warm and friendly Brazil – adjusting to the different schools of thought, languages, practices and belief, I conceive…

“…Acceptance is not resignation, failure, or agreement; it's simply telling the truth and allowing things to be as they are. When we accept ourselves, others, and life -- we can create a real sense of peace and let go of much of our suffering. And, from this place of peace and truth, we're more able to not only appreciate life, but also to manifest the kind of circumstances, relationships, and outcomes we truly want…”

I have come to realize that even though it can be scary and counter intuitive at times, acceptance is the first step in transformation and not a roadblock to change, a change for better!

***

After a conflux of emotion and memories metamorphosing my attempted entertaining story to an introspective essay, I will abide by the adage…a picture is worth a thousand words…

Tour to Rocinha: The largest favela (slum) in South America

In order to end my Brazil trip on a high, I saved my visit to Rio de Janeiro for my last weekend in Brazil. I would be stating the obvious here, but the beauty and spirit of the city is mesmerizing - spent most of the Saturday doing the touristy stuff visiting the picturesque landmarks of city and chilling out on the beach.

Coming from the city which has one of the largest slums in the world, with a curious mind and an uncanny sense of adventure, I had no hesitation in deciding that taking a dive to see the life in a favela (slum in Brazil) rather than taking a dive in the blue Atlantic on a Sunday morning. One phone call and we had a guide willing to pick us up and give us a tour of Rocinha - the largest favela of Latin America.

 

The view from the top of favela Rocinha

Build on steep hills, Rocinha is not only home to around 200k people, but also till a couple of months ago it was the nerve center of the Drug Lords in Rio. According to some estimates quoted by our tour guide, the gangs controlled movement of around US $1- 1.5 million of drugs per week from Rocinha.

Our tour began with driving up to the very top of the Favela and then taking around 3 hours to trek down to the foot of the hill. The top of the hill was obviously the best place to live in the favela. It was clean and gives a breathtaking view of the city. According to our guide the price of a small 2 bedroom - kitchen apartment can cost roughly R$ 70,000 (or $45,000) there.  Nem, the latest drug king and kind of the ruler of Rocinha, used to live there till he was captured 3 months ago. The guide mentioned that till recently, the favela tours were done in presence heavily armed security personnel. The gangs didn't mind tourists as long as they can be sure that they are not undercover police officers, reporters or other gang members.

 

Free electricity by hooking up wires to mains

As we began to walk down the favela we saw that they have everything within the favela from stores to hospital to schools even day care facilities for people to leave their kid when they go out to the other parts of the city to work. We found out that they even have a couple of samba school of their own - a bunch of young boys gave us a performance with their improvised musical instruments and unflagging spirit. As we continue to walk down the lane started getting more and more narrow and with filthy with the accumulation of garbage over the years. The municipal authorities don't clean and collect the garbage from favela, besides due to the steep slopes all the grime flows down from the top when it rains – hence the lower areas of the favela are generally the cheapest.

The guide explained to us that in the past few months especially after capturing Nem, the UPP program (Police Pacifying Unit) in Rocinha has gathered steam in an effort to prepare the city for the Soccer World Cup and Olympics. The UPP program involves measures such as intensive policing and improvements in social services to meet the needs of locals, while reclaiming territories from gangs of drug dealers. The people living in the favelas are generally happy with the UPP program - though UPP means they will have to pay for various services and taxes as other citizens (which they got illegally for free now). They feel they can now set a better example in front of their children. In the past with all the money and power; it was easy for drug lords to be a child's hero. The government is also building a cable car for them to go up and down the favela so that they don’t have to walk on the steep slopes.

A typical lane between houses in a the favela

 

As we reached the bottom of the favela - I realized that there was a lot of misconception about the life in favelas - living in a favela is a choice rather than desperation for many people there. They are rather happy with their lives there as they know everyone around and have fun together. Anthropological learning at it best! Of course make one appreciate value of small things in life which we often take for granted. 

Trip to the Heart of Brazil - Mato Grosso

Long drive on BR 163 with endless green farms

Driving at around 80 mph on an endless road with a myriad for huge lush green farms on either side – the natural beauty is mesmerizing. As the golden rays of sun hit the earth, at the distant horizon you see convergence of green earth and blue sky. At that moment you can’t but think of a happy tune …but suddenly instead of melodious sound of music, you hear the screeching sound of car breaks!! There is a huge truck that has appeared in front of your car; the scary bit, it is on your lane can coming towards you in high speed....of course it is trying to overtake a slower moving truck on its own lane! The distance between you and the truck before it gets back on its lane… less than 50 meters! Welcome to BR163, a two way - single lane highway. With over 2500 miles and counting as it connects the south with the north of this huge country – it definitely is the lifeline of Brazilian logistics.

 

I am on a 5 day trip to Mato Grosso to see how our business really works beyond the numbers. It is a hectic schedule we spend 4 nights is 4 different cities, drive almost 1000 miles during the trip, but I have great company – a Brazilian, an American and an Argentine!

A shot of the 7000 hectare soybean farm plot we visited

The first thing which strikes you in Mato Grosso is the scale of agriculture! The state produces over 20 million tons of soybean every year, highest in Brazil. To put the number in perspective consider this – the state alone produces twice the amount of soybean produced by the whole of India (and India is the 5^th largest producer of soybean in the world). During the trip we get the opportunity to meet and talk with a couple of farmers – one of them owned 30,000 hectares farm land and the other owned 40,000 hectares. Sitting across the table with them you realize they are frank, easy to talk with and extremely simple in appearance and yet probably richer than the CEOs of most Fortune 500 companies!

The beautiful landscape of Mato Grosso

As we spend days moving around surveying our company assets, meeting and talking with people – we probably spend 3 times the time in the car driving than in meetings/office. The upside, the captivating landscape throughout the drive – huge green flat stretches of plain land alternating between the great red-green Chapada Mountains. The worrying part – the realization that most of what we see was part of the forest reserves not so long ago. As part of Brazil’s Forestry Code – the farmers need to preserve 35% of the land in the region (Cerrado) as forest; this number increases to 80% as you go further north (Amazon rain forests). But clearly from what we see and hear the implementation and enforcement has been a challenge. It makes you wonder about all the deliberations regarding global warming.....! Counter that with an argument for world food security and economics (as most of the deforested area is now farm land) and you will be in middle of endless arguments and confusion!!!

After spending 4 days learning and seeing much more than we initially expected, it is time to go back to Sao Paulo – the beauty of the place and the wonderful people make saying good bye extremely difficult. Most of the Brazilians I meet prefer to spend time on the beach and have never traveled to the interiors – to me the interiors is their uncharted treasure. Definitely an experience to cherish for a very long time!