Prologue

The alarm was ringing again. It was a soft melodious tune, but it sank my heart, as usual. Thursday early morning - time for another research meeting. Markets were roaring again after having collapsed the previous month, the daily battle of greedy bulls and fearful bears had turned decisively in favour of bulls, atleast in the last three weeks. We had correctly anticipated the bounce from oversold levels, but my idea of buying interest rate sensitives had been shot down as too risky. Now markets were up, the fund was not, some one had to be responsible and this was going to be yet another "I said and you said" verbal match, usually to be won by the person with highest authority!

I was starting to feel agitated just anticipating that when the fog started lifting. It wasn't Thursday! It was Wednesday and the alarm I had set up was to wake me up for the start of a series of journeys I had planned for this year - hopefully a year of transformation and discovery. A year of travelling, seeing the unseen, soaking one self in different experiences, connecting with different cultures, finding the balance, taking care of mind and body and not worrying about the bank balance! The thought of research meeting and market calls quickly dissipated and I rushed to collect all the electronic devices I had put up for charging - the iPad, the kindle, the extra phone (which I eventually left charging anyway) with out which no vacation could be dreamt off. I had already packed most stuff in my bagpack the night before. When you decide to take only one bagpack, managing space becomes quite tough and you have to narrow down to the most essential items. I had decided against taking my crocs as too space consuming, but i realized last minute that was going to need one pair of slippers. Since I don't have one, I flicked Sujata's embarrassingly pink ones - not really attention grabbing technique (who would want attention in a pink slipper anyway?) but more with "I couldn't care less" attitude.

Taxi was waiting downstairs. Every body in the family was still sleeping. I kissed Rohan and Rahul on the forehead as i always do before leaving them behind. They really are the two best little boys in the whole world (well, mostly they are!). The tough part of travelling while working was always to leave the family behind, but this time what made it harder was that it was a conscious choice. Few things I had to do alone before we start family vacations together. And we had a big one coming up in summer in US anyway. Sujata had had a fidgety night so didn't want to wake her up. The taxi driver called. It was time to go.

The taxi ride was uneventful. Singapore air had just sent me a letter that I didn't qualify for the Pps membership this year - the privileges of corporate life were slipping away slowly- so I was thankful that the check in line in economy wasn't long. It turned out that my membership was still valid for this month, so I could still get in the business lounge. Thanks to Atim's tip(he always knows where the good deals are) and HSBC visa infinite, I was still going to be able to use these lounges on my travels, which was a big plus point. As usual, no announcement for the destination was made, but I was on my way to Koh Samui as the first stop of my year of travel...