Bring it on

"I will not be beaten. You have yet to see me shining, shining... I won't take this lying down."

- Kristian Leontiou

A solid day at work..

Even though I am extremely tired after the day I have had, I'm making sure it stays in my memory through this post. I might forget details by tomorrow. Today has been one of the longest work days I have encountered at IATA.

Location, International Air Transportation Association, Montreal

Department - Infrastructure Strategy

8.30am - Arrived at work.

8.45am - Meeting with Assistant Director (AD) to discuss format of technical papers to be submitted at the ICAO General Assembly.

9.15am - Started working on the papers. No time for coffee.

10am - Meeting with Senior Manager (SM) about data analysis for the iFLEX project, particularly the Atlanta-Johannesburg and Dubai-Sao Paulo routes.

10.10am - Working on assembly papers and flight plans for iFLEX.

10.30am - Conference call with Head of Department - Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois and graduate coordinator to discuss my future semesters.

10.50am - Finally, coffee time. Director (D) notifies me of a 1.30-3 meeting, which means that the papers must be ready by then.

11.00am - Started filing, categorizing the papers based on Assembly timetable, Agenda and Working Paper number.

11.15am - I was told by SM that the State Gate review is on Thurs. Lots of prep left.

11.30am - Started running additional flight plans alongside.

12.00pm - Conference call with 7 more executives in 7 different countries for iFLEX implementation.

1.30pm - No time for lunch. Got done with the call and headed over to the meeting with the D and AD.

3.00pm - Concluded and finalized the papers. Started reading two last-minute technical paper additions.

3.30pm - Got a snickers bar from the vending machine as lunch and some coffee. Went downstairs to post a document to India.

4.00pm - Met with D and AD to discuss last two papers. Decided they were useless.

4.30pm - Statistical analysis and construction of tables, graphs, which is easier than it sounds.

5.30pm - Started reviewing the iFLEX Guidance Material (GM) with the data, analysis, tables, graphs, etc for the State-Gate review on Thurs. I had to use two different versions and combine them into one after adding my inputs, which is not as easy as it sounds considering it is a 50 page document.

7.30pm - I was officially the last one on the floor working.

8.40pm - I decided to leave before I got burned out.

I would have continued working had I decided to have a cup of coffee. But I didn't want to overwork myself. The next day was going to be an important one too. Lots of final drafts of the GM to write. Overall, it was a very fulfilling, productive work-day.

I can relax on Thursday evening at the ICAO Assembly drinks and dinner party. I'm pretty lucky to be attending it considering the Assembly takes place only once in three years.

Up and Running

Ladies and Gentlemen...

Presenting ...

After months of learning how to work this out....

And uploading files, folders and data...

A portal for all of my stuff...

A portal for me, of me, by me..

A central executive for my research, blogs, publications, info about me....

http://www.ashwinjadhav.com/

Sigh of relief!! Maintaining it will be tougher than creating it... LOL. But it's all worth it!

Immortal Combat

There is this syndrome amongst all of us now-a-days to post everything we find on Blogger or Facebook or Twitter. It's a nice way of sharing information, attracting attention and telling people you're active. I never used Blogger to share anything Ive found online that has amused me or for something I want to share.

This picture reminds me of the time I used to make the draws for the Grand Slams for men and women by hand, and then update it according to who won or lost. I'm sure if I look in the right places at home, I'll find the 1999 Wimbledon draw amongst others.

First of all, a troll would destroy an elf, unless the elf had some random magical power. Just beating the troll in terms of "number of eyes on face" isn't enough. Also, how on earth (maybe it was middle earth!) did the elf reach the semi-finals, I'll never understand.

Secondly, I don't understand why a fairy would even contest. I think the gnome got a "walkover".

Thirdly, I don't know where the mermaid and the centaur fought, on water or on land, or somewhere in between the stratosphere.

Finally, a zombie-ghost final would be tough. It would be hard to bet on any one of them. But how the already-blind zombie beats the already-invisible ghost is an interesting conclusion to an eventful tournament.

We shall call this one "Immortal Combat"

Road to salvation

I've been reading Ankit's blog quite a bit recently and there is one post (called 911 vs 100) that really echoes my thoughts. It's the basic, simplest and minutest of differences between a developing nation (India) and a developed nation (USA). Say India is developed, it is not!

Infrastructure is the spine of a country. I had been to India recently and I know where we stand in terms of infrastructure. We will get there though, in a few years. I really don't know about the whole country, but the cities are developing. Rules and regulations are having some meaning. I'm not going to pretend to know too much. All I'm going to do is try and take a closer look at a developing India, through its developing cities.

Water and electricity, 2 of India's biggest problems have been banished from the cities. The BMC has very stringent rules on water these days and new constructions are encouraging rain water harvestation and/or bore wells.

Transportation is taking a new turn this decade. By 2020, the 4-5 metropolitan cities will have an excellent core network including monorails, metro systems. Roads and rails will be well maintained allowing better flow of traffic. Check out the various projects underway in Mumbai at the MMRDA website http://www.mmrdamumbai.org/ Here you can get details on all projects including skywalks, flyovers etc.

Politics, unfortunately, has not even managed to peek its head out the window to see the rising sun. Corruption, corruption and more corruption. I understand it completely, but with limits. If you are not corrupt in India, you will be killed by somebody one day for not being corrupt. But I'm happy to see the average age of the politician reducing. One thing I'm not happy about is the Shiv Sena thinking they have the biggest Maharashtrian brain possible.

We need a better educational system, something without the quota system. A place where students won't be ragged and a place where they won't hang themselves. It is improving, but at a snail's pace. We need more schools, colleges and universities. There are hardly any aviation schools and places to study astronomy, aerospace engineering. Not only that, I've heard that there are only 3 accredited institutes in the whole of India where one can learn marine biology.

Finally, more security. Something like 911. I don't think even 50% of the population knows about the 100 system. On most occasions, they feel that it is best not to dial that number. Myth or joke - India is a country where the pizza arrives faster than the police. I want to see the police deliver the pizza someday.