Alas, P5 is here...

Period-5/5 begins today! The last of our 5 periods here at this wonderful institute. Feels weird in that it doesn’t feel special or different…yet.

Yesterday, when I boarded my flight to head back to the calm comfort of campus life in the picturesque town of Fontainebleau, it felt like just another trip. I have to admit…I didn’t let it just flow. I tried hard to feel something…for this moment that without doubt marks the beginning of the end. The end of what has been, at least for me, a wonderful year.

Perhaps I didn’t feel the moment because so much still needs to be done. For one, I need to get a job. I can’t close this chapter without that…all right, I’ve said it. It does matter. But more importantly, friendships built over the last 8+ months need to be consolidated, relationships cemented, stories re-shared and eventual goodbyes voiced without regret and with earnest hope that these will indeed not be permanent.

Eventual job locations will matter for most of us of course. As one of my close friends destined to spend her immediate future in Milan mentioned recently, with very few Italian speakers in our intake, there won’t be a rush for her city and that may render her without much company from the batch. London’s good though, with many of us destined to end up there. Paris, Singapore, Dubai work as well. It won’t be the same though and I think everyone knows that.

Anyway, we’ll deal with that when the time comes. For now, I have 8 resplendent weeks ahead of me. We all hope to make the most of it…

Wireless at its productive, convenient best!

Heathrow is officially the busiest airport in the world today. As I was made to calculate in a recent interview with a top Strategy Consulting firm, the capacity of the airport in terms of number of passengers flying out per year is nearly 55 million! 5-5 M-I-L-L-I-O-N!!!

To put that into perspective, the population of the UK is a shade above 60 million. Pretty astounding. With a significant portion of these being business travellers, someone calculated the number of man-hours spent each year in commuting to the airport. Imagine the lost productivity. Its a problem...and an opportunity as well!

Picking up on this, T-Mobile has announced an ingenious undertaking by deploying Wi-Fi hotspots along the Heathrow Express. From a technology standpoint, this also includes a first in terms of wireless access through the WiMax technology on the underground train service.

I dont know what the productivity increase will be. Frankly, I dont care. I just enjoyed the thought of someone using technology to come up with a creative solution to a known pain point. Interesting, inspirational stuff...