City Post Card- Sao Paulo,Brazil

From the city sunbathing, relaxing and basking in all of nature's glory to the world's third largest city boasting of high rises, non-stop traffic, the biggest names and the riches. We were in Sao Paulo and already nostalgic about the beaches in Rio!

I would say its unfair to compare the two cities because they represent two different social, cultural and business dimensions. In all developing countries if you look closely at the cities you can sense their aspiration to grow into the 'Chicago's' and 'Beijing's of the world! And many a times in their pursuit to grow big, they become immensely chaotic. Sao Paulo was big but it looked sublime and beautiful as the roots still looked intact. The occasional regal Portuguese building reminded of the history, the ancient clock towers, the graffiti on the walls conspicuous and uninhibited, the local shops and shopping complex. It wasn't a sold out city copying the west, it held its own.

I would say unless you take a public transport and go around the city by your own, you haven't really experienced the city. By this parameter I'll marginally make the cut, as I took the subway once. Raising the bar higher, I would say unless you get lost and have to ask around to find your way back you haven't really seen the city. Unfortunately I cannot get past this caveat, and so I can make an honest admission that I don't feel I experienced the city to its fullest.

We went around a little in the business circles in Sao Paulo, did the customary visit to the stock exchange(MBA students!), went for a tree planting exercise at IPE (forest-wildlife research center). Had social events every single night of our stay there, which is again a good way to get to know people in an informal setting. So we visited the most fancy bar, and sat there dry mouthed after the first few wows! The last night bar-crawl was crazy fun. Sitting in my hometown nestled in the hills, I would have never imagined myself to walk in that crowd but then there I was. Somehow the idea of enjoying life is slightly restricted in our Indian society when compared to western society. I am sure this statement is bound to raise eyebrows, but you have to experience the intoxication of 'the freedom to do things as you want'- to sing, to dance, to talk, to laugh without caring of any judgement. Its 'another side of happiness'. Temporal happiness is not immoral- there has to be a good vibe to it! 'Good vibe' is essential, trees need that even more than the technical skill of planting- we learnt this lesson while planting trees in the reserve. Nature wired us in such a way that we can unmistakably perceive the good old vibe!

Time for a little detour and from Sao Paulo, we visited the city of Belo Horizonte for our client presentation. It was wonderful to have a dialogue instead of a formal presentation. We were sitting and talking, I absolutely loved the frank openness and the hospitality. The city again had its own flavor, it could transfigure to host the business circles, it had hills and waters to lure the free spirited adventure lovers, it had beautiful old style buildings for history lovers and it was poised to host the biggest sporting extravaganza come 2014!

There was the soccer museum in Sao Paulo, the Havaianas shopping, the Arabica bean coffee, a lot of things that I remember and love about the city. But then its time to move again and as I wheeled along my stroller for baggage check in, a funny thought came to my mind. I thought of the one thing that has been a constant in my life, traveled continents with me and has been with me so far..yes its my black stroller!
Cheers to all the journey's so far and to the journey's ahead :)

City Post Card- Rio,Brazil

A country is like a big canvass with different colors sometimes splashed pompously on the foreground or playing gently in the background. Its an intricate gossamer of people, traditions, food, language, religion, culture. A traveler catches fleetingly the different hues to paint a picture of his own. Or rather in the digital world, aim his camera to shoot the moment and with a satisfied grin admire his 'good shot'- a picture of his own. Each picture is an individual version of images captured, experiences and anecdotes, traditions and customs observed. We humans are masters of generalizations and we try to distill the observations, pick out the similarities and come up with a ‘general perception’, a ‘general character’! Whether these general perceptions reflect the true ‘identity’ in someway is debatable. I bring with me different impressions of Brazil after spending a week there, and here I have my own story of Brazil- the one i saw, i heard, i experienced! Not a general impression of the cities I visited but a personal account of them :)

The strongest impression will have to be Brazil's striking resemblance with India. As we drove in from Rio De Janeiro airport to our Hotel, the sights, the roads, the houses, the small shops, the two wheelers, the 4 wheelers shared a kinship with sights in Indian cities. One of my fellow Indian friends could see striking similarities with Vizag. I haven't been to Vizag, but then I myself was misty eyed when we hovered over the hills of Rio before landing, they reminded me of the hills of my hometown. The city had its own way to establish a familiarity, yet again it had its own distinct flavor. The hotel was just 5 minutes walk from Ipanema beach and as I stepped down from the bus, I flinched at the strong smell of the ocean and fishes. Surprisingly it was just these first five minutes, for the remaining three days that we were in the city, I wasn't conscious of it at all. I had succumbed to the city, the sights, the smell. I wasn't an alien there for long. Food was next on the agenda and I knew this was going to be tough, given my vegetarianism. I had to make my peace with salad and margarita cheese pizza for the rest of the stay. Fortunately there were beans without meat at some places. My non-veggie friends were in for a treat for a week, relishing all the delicacies. I am pretty sure some of my friends back in India would have happily traded places with me for nothing else but to experience the food!

I want to avoid using the word, 'strong' as I have already used it twice in the above paragraph but I am afraid anything else would just sound weak, when I am talking about the 'joie de vivre' of Brazilian people. Right from the hospitality of the person serving your table to the person surf boarding on the rough waters, there is an energy that is hard to miss. You can establish an instant comradeship because you can sense a frank openness and a certain warmth. I feel such a comradeship comes only when there is an underlying feeling of trust and equality. I am afraid i'm contradicting my own rant against 'generalizations' but every country has a perceptible culture of its own. In US i have sensed a culture of professionalism and personal integrity, in Brazil it was a comfortable informality in the society and an energetic vibrancy in people. The people looked so comfortable on the beaches playing, relaxing, swimming, surfboarding. One glance around and you could understand 'comfortable informality' & 'energetic vibrancy', the rough Atlantic waters provide the perfect backdrop to put things into perspective. 

We did the touristy things of visiting the 'Christ the redeemer' and the 'Sugar Loaf mountain'. It was good to feel the green mountains around. They work as charm for me, and feeling them around makes me strong and connected. We visited the Favela's ( slums in Brazil). A city always lives with its contrasts and the Favela's represent the alternative reality of Brazil. Meandering through the narrow lanes of the Favela an Indian and a Pakistani can find a common topic to talk . But then a 'favela' is just an incidental similarity when there is so much else that is common culturally. 

One of the social activity was to visit a very famous bar in Rio, it was a magical world all together. A small place from outside which was huge inside, with three floors filled with people, music, food, drinks,dancing, random bric-a-brak. There was a vibe around which was distinctly 'Rio' relaxed and comfortable soaking in life with all the music and dancing around, & some drunk dancing too! 

The fun things now would take a back seat for a while as we go about the business circles, with presentations and lectures. The business atmosphere in Rio also had the same relaxed informality and we in our business suits stood apart as jarring outsiders. This was a financial services company that we visited and they had their own company songs for morale boosting. The offices were small with people sitting together in close proximity, perhaps that's how things work there people really enjoy working in close company :) (reminded me of certain awkward sitting arrangements back in Deloitte). They had there own team songs as well!!! (again recalling- pyar baat te chalo). This incidentally means that I have experienced certain amount of Brazil in the people around me even before coming to this country :)

I will have to talk about Sao Paulo in the next blog. Its a different city with a different feel to it. For now its-

I love Rio!

Words of Wisdom

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”- Winnie the Pooh.

I am sometimes surprised with how much I remember of the pooh. For all his innocent simplicity, he sometimes comes to my mind in the sagest ways! And sometimes I remember him simply for how he spoke certain words in his own laid back style. There was a play I was acting in school, one of my dialogue started as ‘Oh dear!’ and I tried to copy the pooh style, dee--arr, to rhyme with tig—eer. My English teacher thought that I was trying to bring in a British accent, I just played along, whatever makes people happy!

Going back to the sage pooh, I wanted to talk of random wisdom that comes your way from unexpected quarters. You feel truly humbled when someone goes out of his way to help you out. This was one such moment and I thanked him to go wait for my bus and he ran to catch his passing bus, then almost prophetically he said something exactly what my father always tells me.’ Keep faith in the power above, he’ll watch over!’  I stood in the interview suit and this somewhat old person just walked in and shaking hands with me wished me luck. Then as he closed the door, cheerfully quipped, ‘Whatever you do, have fun!’

The wisdom of these words is most profound because it wasn’t intended to be, they were just honest words and perhaps honesty is more powerful than all the wisdom of the world. Perhaps simplicity is more powerful than the pretentious charade of big thought leaders. Perhaps you have to hit the bottom most pit so as to feel uplifted once again.

From worldly wisdom to love, Pooh again is the sagest of all,

“If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.” He knows his math well. “If there ever comes a day when we can't be together; keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever”.  He’s no ordinary pooh to imagine 100 as the biggest number, he can think as far as infinity. His statements are just as eloquent as Pablo 

                                            

Love Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were a salt rose, or topaz
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
So I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"”-Winnie the Pooh, time I get my lunch :)