Belgrade Days

Being the son of a diplomat, I spent my childhood in a lot of schools, in various different countries across the world. In Belgrade, I was in ISB in Grade 5 and Grade 6, from 1983 to 1985. Without a moment's hesitation, I can easily say that those two years were the happiest years of my school years. Back then, ISB was a very small school, going up to Grade 8 and with a total strength of just 165 students. It has subsequently grown quite a bit, but from what I hear, the values that made ISB what it was are still intact.


My happiest memories of ISB include the truly international community with students from all over the world; a strong culture where there was no semblance of bias or prejudice against any community; extremely friendly and effective faculty that took personal interest in the students; a focus on not just academics but also extra curricular activities like sports, music, an annual Spelling Bee competition and an annual Book Writing competition; a unique sport called Four Square which was a craze back then and a sport that I have not come across anywhere else.

I would like to make special mention of Principal Miller and his wife, and teachers like Mr Donesky, Mrs Jovovic, Mrs Miletic and Mrs Obradovic who made ISB very memorable for me. I have also managed to stay in touch with a few friends I made all those years ago (thanks in no small measure to Facebook!). I was lucky enough to get a chance to visit ISB again in 2009, after a gap of 24 years. It was a wonderful experience, and Mrs Andjelkovic was kind enough to take me around the school. A special word of thanks to her!

My First Blog

Hi!



Blogging for the first time ever, so let's start with a brief introduction.



Name's Akshay Hiremath, born in Delhi on 15th February, 1973. Son of an IFS Officer, grew up in different countries where my father served as the Indian Ambassador - Bulgaria from 1975 to 1977, Bhutan from 1977 to 1980, Yugoslavia from 1983 to 1985 and Austria from 1985 to 1989. Father retired in 1989, and India has been home since then.

Finished schooling from Modern School, Delhi, then did my Maths Honours from Hindu College, Delhi. An MBA followed from XLRI, Jamshedpur. After that, a 10 year stint with Britannia in Sales and Marketing, and then joined Nokia in 2006. Currently Heading the Marketing Planning function at Nokia, out of the Gurgaon office.

The years of living abroad instilled a passion for exploring the world, which is something that I have been doing regularly for many year now, through my various world travels. For sure my biggest passion in life. But it's not just any travel..I'm quite focussed about what I like to see - there's nothing like the thrill of exploring a big city, with all that it offers (museums, palaces, churches, castles, shopping streets, restaurants etc etc). Favourite holiday destination - that would be Europe, though the US comes pretty close!

Other interests in life include:

• Tennis - Can't play to save my life, but boy do I follow it closely, and regularly track Grand Slam results and world rankings
• Chess - Do play from time to time (it was an obsession in college) and do follow events in the world of chess
• Music - Mainly western rock music. Have this quirk of following the US and UK music charts regularly, and have volumes and volumes on the history of the music charts from the 1950s onwards. Have a pretty decent music collection too.
• Movies - Both English and Hindi. Amitabh Bachchan was an early favourite (with movies like Amar Akbar Anthony, Sholay etc). Do enjoy Shahrukh Khan movies a lot. Nothing like a romantic comedy, but action movies are also welcome.

My family consists of my parents (my father has retired years back from the Foreign Service, my mother runs a hand embroidered garments outfiit called Kasida, specializing in women's kurtas), my elder sister Ankila (who is an environmental scientist) and my "younger elder" sister Aloka (who lives with her husband Madhavan in Uttarakhand, where he works up in the mountains with an NGO; they have their little daughter, Adya, pretty much the centre of attention of the Hiremath clan!).
A bachelor at 35, I've had a pretty good life, enjoying my world travels. Have a big circle of friends. Live a little in my own world, but hey, it's not a bad place! More soon!
Akshay