There's really nothing much I can say about this trip. It was 4 days of nearly the same routine, beginning with an adventure I don't need to write about coz I will never forget it, and because I may not really want ppl reading about the things that happened..
The rest of the 3 days were about starting the day with booze, siting by the beach and eating till the sun went down, house party till late night, and then clubs till the morning!
On the 3rd night, when Noel was leaving, we even stayed up till the sun came up! That was insane! So after that, we only avoided the club portion on the 4th night as it was just overkill by then.
So barring this routine, it was a beautiful place we stayed in (Andaman Beach Suites Hotel) coz it was 2 rooms next to each other connected internally. Both with big balconies giving us a view if the beach.
I definitely felt it was pricey given the cheaper options we had, but it indeed was a neat place to be in.
For food we tried all of the usual crab, lobster, shrimp, and even squid for Bala and chicken for Noel, in red sauce, green sauce, butter garlic (not recommended at all in SEA) a new find of tamarind sauce which went brilliantly with shrimp that we had at The Beach restaurant that was recommended to us by a cabbie I asked on the street, and finally the chilly paste that I always wanted to have with crab in SEA, which we finally got at a classy restaurant we stepped into for a while and had the spiciest and tastiest chilly crab ever!
Among drinks, Alabama Slammer and Slam Dunk that Noel and I got at HRC on the first day we landed, which was made using a base drink called Southern Comfort, was seriously amazing!
Apart from these, we spoke and spoke so much that at some points I was almost getting a headache with the jabbering, but I guess that's the trip you make with these boys.
One of the conversations we had were the qualities we like and dislike among the rest, and I had to capture this one down:
Noel
+ charming, chill, fun
- Dumb, full of himself, never serious
Duma
+ introspection, people organisation
- Too tensed, esp money. Don't know myself, just do for others
Muni
+ clarity, passionate
- Boring, doesn't relate to others
Bala
+ well read, thought process
- Callous disregard for himself, bad to hang out with when drunk
We randomly rated Noel although he wasn't around during this discussion given it happened on the last day, that's why he has 3 parameters while rest of us have only 2.
Then at one point on the way back when Bala found bottled Jack and Coke, we came up with some of the dandiest things HR and Senior Management come up with:
* Cross Functional Learning - we hired too many people in the wrong roles, and now need to move them around to balance the demand supply imbalance
* Meaty Roles - we want you to do the job of 2 ppl as we can't afford to pay that much
* Building Capability - we have no clue what we are doing right now
* Job Empowerment - pls feel free to take your decisions, since as senior leadership, we cannot be bothered by it
* Stakeholder Engagement - we have been operating in mute till now, and realised there are ppl that we need to speak to now
Some of the legendary dialogues spoken were:
* Duma: Muni, I know there is something really smart you are going to say to make me feel stupid, but I just don't want to hear it right now so pls shut up
Muni: Dude, you're phone is getting wet in the rain
* Bala: Noel orders girls and food the same way. You, you, you, on the table!
Some of the things we figured about each other:
Bala: Really worried about hurting ppl nowadays, and very upset about having screed up with Shilpa
Muni: Has made some amazing travels - Maglev, Aurora Borealis, Terracotta Warriors, and South America shortly, but remains a boring story teller to it
Noel: Continues to play with fire, while freezing at the most crucial times
Me: Have the lowest heart rate that we checked on Bala's phone, and being the only one in the group whose life seems to have gotten worse from the last time we all met.
So that was about it on the trip. I kept myself entertained with the movies during the to and fro journey on Thai Air, watching Pompeii, Divergent, Chef and Bad Neighbours, and enough entertainment with the boys when we were there.
So we have done Kodai in 2004 and Pondy in 2008, and now Phuket in 2014. Wonder whether we will get to do another one at all, given even this went back and forth so many times and nearly never happened, and given what lives will have in store for us as we go ahead. But for now, absolutely great trip comes to a close. And really really special meeting with the best boys I like hanging together with.
