On 26th December 2010 I went to see the Polish Ski Jumping Championship in Zakopane. At Wielka Krokiew (the ski jump hill) I had the good fortune of being able to visit the jumping area at the top. I took this picture seconds before Adam Małysz (the pride of Poland) took his first jump. He went on to become the Polish Champion an hour later.
Adam Małysz is a Polish ski jumper born and still living in the town of Wisła in southern Poland. Małysz is considered to be one of the best and most successful ski jumpers of all time, winning 38 World Cup competitions. Małysz is the only ski jumper ever to win the World Cup 4 times (equalling the result of Matti Nykänen) and 3 times in a row. He has also won the most titles in the history of the individual World Championships.
The Sports Slurping website made for 7-Eleven Australia picked up a Bronze ADMA (Australian Direct Marketing Award) for Best Website / Microsite in Australia.
The ADMA Awards are all about work that works. No frills. Just recognising and showcasing the best in Australian Direct Marketing – great campaigns produced in especially trying times.
The Consulate General of Poland in India brought Zakopower a well known Band from Poland, to perform at their 3 day Anniversary Celebration in Mumbai. Zakopower performed at the NCPA, Oberoi Hotel and Blue Frog and I had the pleasure of going back stage and interacting with the band members on all three occasions.
Zakopower is a band led by Sebastian Karpiel who is recognized as the best violin player of the young generation of Podhale.
So far, the band have presented themselves by performing traditional music from Podhale. They have also been acknowledged by folk music experts (first prize at folk festivals in Kazimierz, Zywiec and Nowy Targ). Zakopower have won the jury prize at the 'Premiery' concert at the 42nd Song Festival Opole 2005 and attained the first prize at the Top Trendy festival 2008. They have also been nominated at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2005.
The folk sound and lyrics sung in southern mountain dialect, combined with modern techniques, make Zakopower fascinating and captivating from the very first notes. Zakopower's music is hard to label; it is a mixture of 'World Music' inspired by Polish mountaineer music, pop and club music.
In 1997 I went to Buenos Aires, Argentina as part of a Rotary International Youth Exchange Program. At that point of time Enrique Iglesias was not known in Asia. But he had a huge fan following in the Latin countries. During my 1 year stay in Argentina I had missed his sold out concert.
Since the past 2+ years his song Hero has been my favorite Karaoke number in Mumbai. Due to this my friends started calling me Enrique Iglesias Junior. After 7 years, at his LIVE concert for his 7th album, I finally got to see him LIVE in my home city Mumbai.
It was Sunday, 11th April 2004, and as luck would have it I for the first time, was able to get to the front row of a live concert! During the concert Enrique asked the crowd if anyone spoke Spanish. The crowd went silent and then he looked at me directly. I took this opportunity and screamed out in Spanish "Arriba la raza" and immediately after that he invited me on stage in front of 20,000 people.
It was like a dream. I sat on stage with Enrique Iglesias! We had beer and chatted. Most importantly I had the best seats in the concert for four full songs! I was in shock for 2 days after that as I could not believe that this had actually happened.
Life after the meeting with Enrique has been quite eventful. Here are more details...
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Pre concert photos available for purchase at IndiaTodayImages.com. To view the same click on Image 1 and Image 2.
The web site on the book "Business Communication Today" by Sushil Bahl, got reviews in various Mumbai dailies...
Digital Age
1st July, 2000
'business-comm.com' is a brainchild of an 22-year-old, upcoming Internet professional, Sunil Bahl…Barely out of college the young man intends to make a career in web designing and development while re-living the big Indian dream-reality of Sabeer Bhatia.
Sunil Bahl is the gentleman in question. Well, hardly surprising one might say, considering the fact that there are hardly any third generation communications professionals one has heard of, and Sunil is on the way to becoming one such individual. His grandfather was a media professional we all looked up to with awe. His father, Sushil is still setting exacting professional standards and looks like we have a hat trick coming up. Way to go kid.
