Xiao Bai & I

When i first landed in Beijing and used to go out to have lunch with my team members here, they always used to speak in Chinese. The Chinese law required me to have a Chinese name (and mine is Bai Ke Nan!!!). I used to hear one word quite often. Xiao Bai (pronouned Ciao Bai!!!) Xiao Bai... I used to wonder what is that... I knew it was something relating to me as it was being used too frequently... N my team would burst out laughing everytime they use that word... That made me realise that 100% it has to do something with me... So, i decided to ask them what it was... It took me all my persuasive skill and a lot of convincing to do before i got to know what it meant... Xiao Bai means Little Bai (from my Chinese name)... In other words, it was their way of calling me Little Kapil... Did i like that name?? I think i would say that i loved it... It has been a long time since they used that name... And i too completely forgot about it... Then one fine morning, i see that a couple of my team members have bought this small cute pink monkey, with whom i am posing in the snap, for me... I was completely moved... I felt completely happy when i took it from them... Now was the most difficult part, i had to give this sweet pink monkey of mine a name... So, i started to think as to what i should name it... It already has a name (Kapo is the official name!!!)... Eventhough, i like the name, i wanted to name it something different... I couldnt figure out a good name for it... Then i remembered what my team member told me, she said that they bought this doll cos they thought it looked just like me and had a similar name as mine... Then it stuck me... That is when i remembered that they used to call me Xiao Bai... I decided to name it Xiao Bai to repay the love and affection that my team has for me... And thus was born Xiao Bai... For the record, the birthday of Xiao Bai is 11th September 2006... And as of today its 5 days old... I intend to keep it with me for many years to come and not part with it... I am really happy to have it as my companion (you can guess it from the smile on my face in the photograph!!!) and feel very good about it... I hope all of you like my Xiao Bai and are jealous of me... he... he...

Cole - A Chelsea man... Finally...

The biggest transfer saga of this summer (actually, an extension from last summer) was over yesterday with Ashley Cole, the best left back in England, making his long awaited move to Chelsea... He now joins his England team mates Terry, Lampard and Joe Cole at Chelsea. The saga that started last year with Chelsea and Cole, both accused of breaching the laws by meeting unlawfully over a transfer deal with both Chelsea and Cole fined ended well for both the parties after Cole signed at the dotted line. Cole will continue to wear the Number 3 jersey that he wears for England and the number that he wore at Arsenal. Cole was the last but the most awaited signing for Chelsea before the close of transfer window. The signing was like everything from a Hollywood flick with the status of this agreement not being clear until the last moment. Ashley Cole was exchanged for William Gallas, who joined Arsenal, and 5 million pounds. Ashley Cole was one of the most sought after player by Jose Mourinho and now his signing gives Jose the option of having 2 people for each position so that he can carry on his work uninterrupted even if a few of his players are injured. Cole is expected to be unveiled early next week as he is away on duty for England against Andora and Macedonia over the weekend and midweek. He is expected to play his first match for the blues next weekend at home to Charlton. He is expected to make an immediate impact and settle into his role fairly quickly. Let us all hope that Cole does a good job at Chelsea to help us retain the premiership and also possibly help us win the Champions League. All the best Cole. Welcome to the best club in the world... :)

A full vegetarian dinner... At Last...

Hey Everybody, I am back. This time with another interesting episode of how all of us went to have some vegetarian food in Beijing. I took my team (yes, the same lovely team of mine...) to our weekly dinner (yes, we go out to have dinner as a team at least once a week...) We went to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant. What is so great about having dinner at a Chinese restaurant in China, you might ask. The most interesting part of this dinner was that it was at a vegetarian restaurant. Yes, a vegetarian restaurant at a meat loving country. All of us (actually, everybody in the team) were in the mood to try something different today. Also, there was this invitation to buy dinner for the team from our old good friend Deepu who was moving into a new role within Reuters in Bangalore. So, off we went to have some nice new variety of food. Eventhough, we normally finish our dinner by half past seven, we were delayed today as we had to do some grocery shopping and we didnt get to visit the restaurant until half past 8. When i got the menu, i was so amazed to see the different varieties and the number of options available in terms of vegetarian food. And also there were these mock meat items (basically items that look like meat but are made of vegetables) like mock fish, chicken etc. We ordered a lot of food as everyone was very hungry and ate till we were filled to our throats. If you thought this was fun, then the real fun started afterwards... We started pulling each other's legs... Started with Kevin, the sweetheart... He was unusually silent and so i decided that it was time for me to start with him... We talked about Indian beauties and how Kevin would enjoy in India... and moved across the table and didnt leave anyone out... We continued that for another half hour when i could teach them some more Hindi... All in all another wonderful dinner... It was lovely as always... :) More fun to come over the weekend... Hope that i am able to write in more then... For now... All of you enjoy this... n Bye...