Ever since NephroPlus went public in December last year, we in the management team had been planning an offsite where we could debate and discuss the plans for the coming year. Things kept getting delayed due to one reason or the other. Finally though, we decided to head out to Almaty, Kazakhstan for a 2-day offsite.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is one of the countries that was formed when the USSR broke up in the 1990s. The world's largest land-locked country, it is the 9th largest in area. With a population of about 20 million, it boasts of a per-capita income of about 5-6 times that of India. With abundant oil, gas and uranium reserves, Kazakhstan voluntary gave up the world's fourth largest stockpile of nuclear weapons to Russia in the early years of its formation.
The country is predominantly Muslim. However, a very moderate version of Islam is practised here because the Kazakh people were nomads who settled here and as such, had no ancestral links to the religion.
Almaty is the country's largest city and its principal economic and cultural centre. Astana, the capital is less than 2 hours away by flight.
Offsite
The first full day of our trip was full of intense brainstorming sessions. Rohit, our Group CEO, Prashant, the Group CFO, Sukaran, India CEO, Gowtham, Philippines Head and Narayanan, Uzbekistan Head and Vikram and I, the founders all had a brilliant day of discussions on various topics.
Horse riding, a spa and a valley
We had the second full day of our trip for some relaxing activities. Some of us went horse riding (Prashant and I solved the problems plaguing the world while the others rode!). We visited the Tau Spa which had a delightful mix of swimming pools at various temperatures, saunas at various temperatures, hammams to soak in and steam rooms that had cold showers as well! All in all, a wonderful afternoon.
We were to also visit the Big Almaty Lake and a Falcon farm but rain played spoilsport. We were not complaining though as we had a lot of fun otherwise.
Food
Kazakh food is mostly meat. However, we had a few vegetarian options at all restaurants. The highlight on the food front was the dinner we had at Le Petit Chef, a restaurant in the Ritz Carlton. This was a multi-course affair. What made the experience unique was the projectors they had above the plates. They projected animated videos onto the plate (see video below) and the table and had four chefs from different countries competing for our approval. Each chef would assemble the dish in the animated video followed by the waiters serving the same dish onto our plates. The food and the experience were amazing!
Dialysis
I got one nocturnal dialysis treatment in a clinic in Almaty. Our team knew the owners and they were most kind to arrange a nurse and a doctor to stay through the night and monitor the session even though they do not routinely offer nocturnal treatments. Thankfully, the session went off without any event. I feel grateful to be able to do my usual nocturnal sessions even while traveling. I just feel getting four-hour daytime sessions takes time away from a day that can otherwise be spent doing stuff. Also, that would mean I needed to watch my diet and fluid which I absolutely abhor. I have also made it a point to never stay more than one night without dialysis. This helps to avoid emergencies.
This was the fifteenth country I visited and the eleventh in which I got dialysis, not counting India. I am really fortunate to be blessed to be able to do a fair bit of traveling, despite being on dialysis. Like the late Bill Peckham, I have what Bill strikingly called, a 'wanderlust comorbidity'! Well, that is one comorbidity I am not worried about.
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