laguna de quilotoa | A moment of bliss

When: year-end 2015
Where: Ecuador

A 2015 year-end sudden trip to Ecuador....Apart from Galapagos another bucket list item was the Avenue of the Volcanos; given the time I had, I decided to go for the 'avenida de los volcanes' (Ecuador doesn’t require a visa for Indian passport, hence made it easier).

On day 3 of my trip, i visited the Quilotola Lake (or Laguna de Quiltola) in the Cotopaxi region. It was an old volcano crater which got blasted into a caldera via a volcanic explosion and essentially the crater hole became the lake. From the lip of the crater it is a pretty steep hike down to the lake (vertical drop 300 m) which can be done either on foot or on horseback…I chose to go down on foot along with a travel friend and took almost 1 hr to get to the lake…

As I stood at the top itself the Quilotola lake vista was as stunning as it could get…in the middle of the Volcanic Andes, the blue-green volcanic walls of the crater and the emerald green water shimmering within it! We couldn’t wait to get down and hence when we reached the crater lake after the steep hike we couldn’t wait to get into the water. The water was too cold to swim and hence I chose the kayak way…

And there while I paddled away to the middle of the lake Quilotola - it struck me…I was experiencing one of those what I call 'A Moment of Bliss'…that moment when time stands still in suspended animation, the surrounding ceases to exist and when you seem to touch a moment of Nirvana within yourself.

There while just floating at the center…I paused to take a shot of the view right upfront over my outstretched legs in the kayak; I looked around, I thought back to the full year I had…moments of joy, sadness, anger…that is where I tried to forget the bad memories, relive the good ones, was thankful for all that I had in terms of family, friends and blessings and all that I am able to do….and let the rippling waters carry me gently towards the new year of our lives!

A wonderful destination - Ecuador. If you ever get a chance, do visit.

i owe at least another visit to this wonderful country of wonderful people that i have met to experience the  Galapagos...inshallah sometime soon.

That's my treasured Panama, bought from it's country of origin - Ecuador!

I did end up taking a horse ride back to the top...was too exhausted

The entire volcano caldera- now a lake

(some parts of this piece i had written for an India-based traveler-group blog, modifying it into a blog piece for my page)

Moments of Happiness | Night out at Palolem

When: Some time in the Summer of 2004
Where: Palolem Beach, Goa

As i chanced upon an old photograph from our GIM days, it dawned upon me that our 2 years at GIM holds countless such memories of 'Moments of Happiness'. While the passage of years might make it difficult to remember all of those, but once when an incident is recalled at some time- somehow magically all the characters and events fall into place chronologically in the mind.

Today while i was scanning through the photos i recovered from the now defunct Orkut album (which was our first foray into social media i believe) and now stored for posterity on a Facebook album - somehow this grainy, pre-Digicam, pre-High Resolution Phone cams, in-all-probability-taken by-a-film-cam photograph instantly evoked that feeling of happiness i normally associate to a good aged Single Malt going down my throat spreading it's warmth throughout...

Tonight,
We are young;
So let's set the world on fire,
we can burn brighter,
Than the sun

what better a pub than palolem beach
Left-to-Right: Manshu, Nishit, Shaiwal, Me, Pavan, Mugdha, Sumit-Tak, Anthu, Abhinav

Posted in Facebook over here

As memory serves, this was one of those randomly planned trips that we used to have - announce it in the hostels via IP-Mssngrs and loud hollers, gather the bikes, make a pillion-rider distribution and head for the beach.

i am sure if i search my GIM archives i would get my hands on more fotos from this trip which would tell a lot more tales - of events before and after this moment captured above (along with photos of the rest of our batch-mates all lying around this frame somewhere along the length of the beach); but the one great thing about this snap is that everyone looks so damn happy...even ol' Booboo Behari in his sleep!

The alcohol had been drunk (the empty bottles strewn around being testimony to that fact), but there was still more to go around it seems (from the bottles held by Pavan and I...and yeah, that's not water that Pavaan is holding)...Proff (Nishit) indulgently cradling Chacha (Shaiwal) and Bhatija (Manshu) in his lap, Pavan holding a crab pose while trying to balance himself and the mixture bottle in his hand, Mugz in all probability trying to wrest the bottle from my hand and I resisting it (or could hve been the other way round too)...Tak saab managing to hold a pose for the shutter before returning to his pillow of sand/ Booboo's body - and Anthu (maybe the only non-drunk one around within a radius of 2 miles) lulls ol' Behari to sleep! 
Don't miss the palm fronds being used as mats...and then later to be used as mattresses too!

...And as it so happens, some of these outings would result in an Anthem of the trip...for this one it was the parody of 'Ek din beet jayega' introduced to us by Rajat Mishra and absolutely seared into the memory during this trip. Any song which is peppered with obscenities - voiced by 40 odd drunk people - at the top of their voices - all night long - while sitting on the beach - is bound to stay imprinted!

That and the wonder of waking up on Palolem Beach in the morning...it is a sight to behold!

while i write this, some of us are planning to be at our 10 yr reunion at GIM this October...i really hope a lot of us can make it....even though life happened to us after these moments and tunred us into work-riddled middle-aged people, we can still gain succour from the reliving of these memories with those who were a part of it...those magic years of GIM...

Moments of Happiness | At the Phuket pool

{For the context behind this series of posts called 'Moments of Happiness' do read this one}

When: Aug 2012
Where: Phuket, Thailand

One of the days from our 1st Hangover Trip at Thailand….we were at Phuket and was put up at a little resort which was a gem of a discovery by our mate Chiki Sen - Prince Edouard resort.

All of us were a bit travel-lagged and we decided to take it easy for the day; and what better way to do it than lounge at the pool and keep downing the cold Singhas.

It is at one such moment that Chiki Sen captured of the 3 of us (Chatts, Gobs & I) while we lay submerged in the waters…

Photo Credit: Chiki Sen

When I looked back at this photo after our vacations were over and even multiple times after that, I seem to recall an amazing sense of happiness and peace that I felt at that moment…it was almost tangible.

There we were…quite a couple of beers already down and in all probability either recalling some past incident involving the buoys or taking a piss at any the other buoys…for the moment cut off from the worries of the world.

And what wasn’t there to be happy about -  our vacation was just beginning, some of us oldest mates were getting together for it in Thailand - half of us were there and the residual slated to meet us at Ko Samui within the next 2 days, we had an endless assembly line of beer bottles materializing beside us at the pool and the holiday sun just makes everything happier!

Life took a pause as we basked in it's moment.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Legend:

Chiki Sen a.k.a. Abhishek Sen…one of the Buoys

Chatts a.k.a. Arjun Chatterjee…one of the Buoys

Goba a.k.a. Abilin Mukherjee…one of the Buoys

The Buoys - The DBPC boys and all those non-DBPC ones who have come to be associated with them

Moments of Happiness - the idea behind it...

Unfortunately it is an oft occurring event, that in our strive to achieve happiness we often tend to either overlook, or forget to enjoy & celebrate and forget too easily those sudden moments of happiness which brings forth that elusive nirvana within yourself, even maybe for some moments.

As I often recall that quote from (for some reasons) a favorite movie of mine - The Beach - as Richard poignantly puts it:

"…And me? I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know it's not some place you can look for. Because it's not where you go. It's how you feel for a moment in your life when you're a part of something. And if you find that moment... It lasts forever…."

So as an ode to those sudden moments of joy, happiness and peace in our lives which we often ten to ignore, I thought of starting this 'Moments of Happiness' where I would try to recapture some moments from my life where I felt at peace with myself and the events which built up to it.

Will try to keep it short and as accurately as I remember it, just such that years later, these memories can still stay fresh I my mind and can be relived again…

Travel memory: Thailand | The leap of faith...

When: Aug 2012

Where: Somewhere in the vicinity of Ko Phra Ngan/ Ko Tao, Thailand

We looked down from the cliff…the water was at least 30 feet down. To us  - it looked almost 60 feet down!

(swallowing gulps…) "Guys are we doing it?"

"Only if the rest are doing it and they survive…"

(Silent nods of agreement)…and we step back to allow the rest to take the leap first!

[Cut to - 10 mins before the above conversation]

We were on a day excursion from Ko Samui across the islands of Ko Phra Ngan and Ko Tao. It was an absolute tropical paradise with blue crystal waters, coral reefs in the water and loads of marine life!

We made a lunch stop at Ko Tao and had just finished a superbly assembled Thai lunch with all the delicacies you can think of; and was just about to stretch our legs and rest for a bit when suddenly the guide bounded towards us in general with fingers pointed and issues the challenge in his unique style;

Thai Guide (pointing at various people including our group): You man? You man?

We: (interpreting it to be an invitation to some kind of challenge to prove our manhood, kinda looking at each other in a bit of confusion and trying to apprehend what's coming next)

Thai guide (more emphatic and almost with a finger on our collective chests): You man-o-not? If you man, come-wi'-me...

Being brow-beaten into accepting the challenge, 3 of us khudirams (a close English approximation of this would refer to those fools who tread where angels fear) - Messrs Chatterjee, GuhaThakurta and I, quietly stood up to follow the guide to whatever it was we had to prove our manhood with or by. We turn around to the rest for a bit of moral support expecting them to join the ranks too…& this is what we got:

Chiki: Aami chhobi tulchhi toder ja korte cholchhish kor, tora jaa (I will click the photos of whatever you guys will be doing, you go ahead)

Vag (as a quiet undertone): aamio chhobi tulchhi…tora jaa jaa (I am clicking snaps too…go on, go on)

Bodhi: Already aamake diye snorkeling koriyechhish, byass ei t(r)ip'e aar adventure dorkar nei (already you made me do snorkelling, that's enough adventure for this trip for me)

Goba (leaning back with legs crossed over each other & rubbing his belly): ei just kheye uthlam boss….(I just ate…)

Pantu: (purposeful deadpan expression which effectively stalls any further querying upon his participation)

Proj (to me & Chatts in a super confident voice) - Chol to sala…aamra kori…! (Leave them, let us go do it!)

…and that is what brought us to the cliff-top!

[Cut to - the present]

Proj again (a marked decrease of bravado in the voice): Damn…it's high man

The Guide (gives a running start) - this is what you doooooo…..(one running leap into nothing…and splash!!)

We quickly run to the ledge - the man is already swimming towards one of the boat.

We quietly make way for the rest - and before long the first gent has jumped in! we check on him from over the edge…and we see this man has survived too and swimming towards shore! And that kind of opened the floodgates of the brave jumpers…one after another the small group jumped and some even came back for their 2nd dive, while the 3 of us continued to check out the safety aspects a bit more! ;-)

Suddenly the voice of the guide cuts across the group and finds us - You! Jump or not? Be a man?

Acutely conscious of not taking any insult to the manhood in front of this motley crowd (and especially when we had quite a bit of audience inclusive of beautiful women watching the action with interest) we start taking strides towards the cliff edge…and then a quick internal consultation:

Who's going first?

(Proj) - come on you guys…one of u start!

(Me): But you were the one who was most enthu…you brought us here!

(Proj): That was before I saw the height of the jump from up here…Abhi thoda phat gaya na! (essentially: scared shit a bit!)

(Chatts, me - with nods of agreement) - Me too. Me too.

(Guide, voice from a bit afar): Be-man…

Suddenly a scene from The Beach came up in my mind….while Di Caprio and the other guy (Etienne) argued over who would jump down the waterfall first, the girl (Francois) had taken a running jump - bisected them - and had jumped off the cliff into the waterfall…

Far from as dramatic, and with confidence that i didn't feel at all I heard myself say - OK…I am going first

With the life-jacket tightened, one last look down into the water to gauge the distance I need to jump to avoid the cliff-face, a running start and geronimo! I find legs flailing in thin air and then soaring and then the plummeting descent - the water surface getting closer and closer, my legs breaking the surface and then surrounded by  blue as you're 6 feet under!...and I survived!

My leap of faith...

 With a new vigor in my voice - Come on guys…it's super!!

I look up to see Chatts come to the edge of the cliff and almost making a pose to dive head first (yeah yeah, the mouth was still open)…

Shouts from all direction - Take a running start…

Chatts takes 2 steps back and suddenly he too is flying off the ledge…and quite a splash! Seconds later his head bobs out, mouth opens again with a smile on it - all's good!

Chatt's leap follows...

Last man standing - Proj. Go for it man…

Proj jumps (quite close to the cliff if we must say and almost feared for a second whether he's gonna hit the wall) and a splash later his head bobs up & we knew we survived to tell the tale!

Proj completes the leap-cycle

Almost like heroes we swam towards the shore (conveniently ignoring the fact that some of the over-enthu guys were making multiple jumps) and got onto the shore rocks!

To the guide: We man?

Guide (smiling) : You man!!

High-Fives all around…. :)

Public Photo

-------------------------------------------------------

Legend to the Buoys:
Proj a.k.a. Prajato Guha Thakurta
Chatts a.k.a. Arjun Chatterjee
Chiki a.k.a. Abhishek Sen
Vag a.k.a. Agniva Mookherjee
Bodhi a.k.a. Bodhisattva Banerjee
Goba a.k.a. Abilin Mukherjee
Pantu a.k.a. Parantap Basu

Travel memory: Scotland | A serendipitous find - the Commando Memorial

When: May 2012
Where: Scotland

Circa May 2012, a few of us from the Geneva Bong-gang (namely Kranti, Pavel and I) decided upon a Scottish road-trip partially owing to the fact that our esteemed Dr Kar (an erstwhile Geneva resident) had then moved base to Glasgow and we decided to make good use of his station.

A high level route of our trip was along the lines of: Glasgow- Loch-Lomond - Oban - Fort William - Isle of Skye and back - Loch-Ness - Inverness - round the north shore to Aberdeen - Stonehaven - Dundee - Perth - Stirling - Glasgow.

While writing about our entire Scotland trip - even a synopsis - would take quite awhile, given the sights, sounds and whiskies of the land & I will try to do it justice sometime; one of the incidents that stand out is our discovery of the Commando Memorial near Lochaber in the Scottish highlands.

This incident took place while we were on our way upwards from Loch Lomond via Fort Williams towards Eileen Donan and then Isle of Skye.

From Fort Williams onwards we had started getting quite a bit of hill terrain where the roads were undulating with the sway of the hillocks and the glens…and before long we had Dr Kar (also sometimes referred to as Deepak) and Kranti complaining of nausea with threats of a pukish follow-through. We were on the A82 highway having just crossed the Spean river and couldn't make a stop without a proper shoulder as it was a 2-lane highway mostly. With assurances flowing thickly from Pavel and I that we would definitely stop at the  next opportunity that he gets while hoping fervently the other two manages to hold it in for sometime we raced towards the next rest-pit on the highway.

Anyways, pretty soon we figured a sort of flatland opening ahead on the left side of the highway with a couple of cars swinging onto it and a statue of some kind rising up from there. Figuring it must either be a pit-stop or a view-point and seriously testing the sickness-retention capacity of Kranti and Deepak we swung onto it…and even before we stepped out of the car we knew this would be one of the finds of our trip!!

(Did I forget to mention that in all of this antiperistatical excitement we had failed to register that we were driving almost against a backdrop of the Aonach Mor and Ben Nevis…? This is what we were amidst...)

Ben Nevis and the Aonach Mor range

After taking in the absolutely majestic surroundings where we landed up -Ben Nevis towering right up front with the Aonach Mor range skirting it, the glens on the other sides and the Commandos' statue in the midst of it all, we started reading upon the antecedents of the statue and the history behind it.

It  figured that we had stumbled upon one of the oldest commando training grounds in the war history with this facility being set up during World War II for the original British Commando Forces and the statue was a commemoration to it and has come to signify the spirit, bravery and valour of Commandos since. It was like the prequel to the present British Commando forces like the SAS and all the ones worldwide which had drawn from this mode of specialized soldiers.

Some of the gutsiest men that walked the earth....whose lives might have been the stuff movies were made of....

This link might help to get a snapshot upon the history : Commando_Memorial

"United We Conquer"

...also there was the 'Garden of Tributes'; where friends and families of fallen Commando soldiers would pay their tributes to the fallen brave...the love of the Country and God etched forever in the memory of those who knew and these poignant surroundings. 

In memory of those who made the maximum sacrifice in the line of duty

The tributes, the sentries and the mountains beyond...

A wonderful find and one that stands out as a memory from Scotland.

Creatively procrastinating...

the last post from me on this blog has been years back...and it is not for lack of attempts on my part that it hasn't been replenished with fresh posts, but more for the lack of success of those random attempts that failed to convert the myriad thoughts in my head to some composed text over here. on top when i spoke to some near ones about re-starting it -i almost got branded as a dinosaur for wanting to get back to a blog in the age of micro-isms like instagram, twitter, fb, pinterest, etc. :-)

but...i am at a point again where i think i really need to re-order stuff in my life (like often) and one of the things i would like to bring on track is to catch up on my reading and writing; it is easier said than done - believe me.

...and to think that the things which consume most of my leisure bandwidth are the internet and smartphone; and here i am partaking the internet's ability to post my thoughts which i hope to gather away from the net and the phone...(the image expresses my present feelings)

i was thinking of putting in smaller pieces instead of long-drawn ones, maybe that will enable a higher frequency of posts. 2 themes that were swimming in my head were: (i) stand-alone incidents from my travels, (ii) moments where i remember experiencing happiness and sort of bliss...

as i write this sipping on some Spanish red, i have all the motivation reqd in my head...hoping to translate some of that onto the pages even when the wine has passed...

11 things i did at NYC

It’s called the Melting Pot of the world…the Financial Capital. The home of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. The Big Apple. The City that Never Sleeps. Batman’s Gotham. A city I had grown up being fascinated about and had always wanted to visit and work out from the time my grandmom had visited it and told me stories about it. As it’s said in Urdu, ‘Shukr Alham Du Lillah’ (Thank You, God) that I got a chance to visit this magnificent city and was suitably awed by it from the 1st moment i stepped out of the PATH onto the streets of Manhattan. I find it apt to describe it as the ‘Centre of the Universe’! A snapshot below upon some of the things I managed to squeeze in during my time there…(in random order of preference)

1. On top of the ESB (Empire State Building): A friend said what’s in it…would you pay over $30 to look at buildings from the roof? And I thank God I thought it was worth to.
Choose a sunny day…and definitely a day visit over a night visit. It’s a study in perceptions…that you could be so high up and look down upon the ant-life below.
West-side – Right up you see the circular expanse of Madison Square Gardens…beyond which you get to see the entire expanse of New Jersey across the Hudson…from the posh Newport area with the GoldMan Sachs HQ on the south-eastern side to the expanse of rest of jersey city northwards heading off to rest of upstate NY too (maybe a shade of the Palisades Park).
East Side – Queens borough on the left side and Brooklyn on the right side. Before that you will see the UN HQ right on the river-edge and the Roosevelt island beyond it bang in the middle of the river. And loads of flights headed for JFK or La Guardia.
North Side – Unmissables: Chrysler building, PanAm building (now MetLife) and then – Central Park. The vast expanse of Central Park resplendent in the color of the season…green, deep jades, red or white. Jackie Onassis reservoir sparkles in between that. Further up you see the entire borough of the infamous Bronx – pretty safe from this distance.  On a good day, they say you could see upto Massachusetts from here.
South Side - …and my fave direction. Right in front you see the Flatiron district with it’s flagship building The Flatiron, the Credit Suisse clock-tower and the serene Madison Sq Park. Further on you see the bustling Union Sq Park region & the Village. Further down – the southern tip of Manhattan – the financial district with it’s glass & titanium sparkles in the sunlight and tapering into the peninsular-tip…the Brooklyn bridge rises on the south-east side and the tiny Statue of Liberty holds sway over the South-West side…

Whatever anyone says – don’t ever rob yourself of this view over the NY skyline…it’s worth it!

Round off the experience with a visit to the Rockerfeller Center and the Bryant Park skating rink.

2. Day at Central Park: Grab a camera and just go. Arrive such that you can get a share of bright sunlight and approaching dusk. Subjects abound - for you to click upon or to gaze upon.
I started from the famous 72nd street entrance made famous after the most-famous Beatles and his mindless assassination right outside it…walk through the ‘Strawberry Fields’ and the homage paid to Lennon year-in & year-out from fans around the world. You could get on the documentary channel of some foreign channel waxing eloquence abt Lennon & the Beatles. The you see the Calcutta-rickshaws (the cycle drawn one), the myriads of bridges, the water bodies, people lazing all around in various moods contrived by the human kinds…artists, health enthusiasts, tourists, vendors…and the views all around.


3. Brooklyn Bridge walk + Pizza @ Grimaldi’s: A Must-Do. From the southern part of Manhattan near City Hall across the City Hall Park get onto the bridge. It’s pedestrian-friendly and more bicycle-friendly so look out for those. You get a quarter up the way and the Lady Liberty becomes visible on your right…before that obviously you have a ringside view of the majestic skyline. Some parts of the bridge are covered in corrugated sheets and you feel thankful for them and the railings at times as the wind is so hard.
And if you do make this trip there is a tradition you just cant forgo – Pizza at Grimaldi’s on the Brooklyn side (http://www.grimaldis.com/). Stand in the queue for an hour if required – but pls don’t miss the pizza there. Yes, it’s literally un-missable. The taste and smell will linger for weeks and you will keep craving it at random times. I am doing so while I’m writing this.

4. Carnegie Deli - http://www.carnegiedeli.com/home.php
At 55th street and 7th Avenue. Thanks to Kakish & Reshmi for taking me to this gastronomic spot in the middle of Manhattan. Usual queue should not deter as it’s definitely worth the wait.
Close your eyes and go for the Woody Allen – a smorgasbordic creation of corned beef & pastrami, and the famous gherkin pickles! …And go for anything else if you have the tummy for it after that...the roast tongue comes highly recommended. Even if their cheesecake comes with high ratings, my vote goes for Mr. Allen out there. See if you can convince them to post your snap on their walls too 

5. Times Square!! : Any day in the evenings you feel like you got nothing to do – this is one f the best mood-lifters in town. The neon will dazzle you the 1st time…and every time after that. Its as if the universe comes together over here – everyone’s talking, walking, eating, dancing, looking, laughing, selling! Head to any pub and ure gonna strike a conversation with someone across the world in 10 mins flat…be choosy about who you wanna head back home with 
There are dozens of those stand-up comedy shows on offer…research any one and just go for it…you will hardly be disappointed. Better to buy the tickets at the venue rather than from the street-peddlers. Spend some time watching those super-athletic street dancers…they’re awesome! Get a portrait or a caricature done from the street artists. And no – you really don’t need to shell out dollars for the weirdo sitting with the sign ‘Need Dollars for Weed’!
What I missed: A broadway show. Need to tick it off next time.

6. Watch a Yankees game at the Yankees stadium: Courtesy – my mate Booboo Behari! Acquired tickets from his colleague…even treated me to the game. NY Yankees vs Boston Red Sox at the new Yankees stadium at the Bronx! 3 ppl – 2 Indians & a Brit – none of who has any idea of what baseball is all about -troop to the stadium in the Yankees wrist-bands & lending their support voice with the masses. Understanding the game, watching through series of balls & strikes, munching on hot-dog & beer, screaming at the home run and celebrating the Yankees win completes the experience. Oh – did I forget to mention returning from the Bronx at 1:30 AM at night?

7. Watch a game at the Madison Square Gardens: Another day – another American sport. Major difference being – venue is the famed Madison Square Gardens…home to some of the major sporting spectacles of the world including most of the major heavyweight boxing title defenses. Well…we didn’t go for a boxing match, but an equally violent sport as per my opinion – Ice-Hockey!
We watched the NY Rangers vs the St. Louis Blues…needless to say lent our voice of support for the Rangers. Was glad to view 2 of those famed ice-hockey free for alls apart from the numerous bone-shattering dashes against the fibre glass boundary wall! NY lost to St Louis…but we had our money’s worth!

8. Wall St & the Bull: I always had a fascination for the Bull. Guess being a Taurean had something to do with it. And that it lays reign over the Financial epicenter of the World (dunno for how long though)…
Go to Wall St….the NYSE building is really impressive. And then wait for your turn to hang from the Bull’s horn or rub the Bull’s balls (supposed to bring the investors luck) along with varied travelers of the world.

9. Liberty Island & Ellis Island: One of the must-dos. Take a ferry either from the NJ side or NY side and do the Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty stop. Ellis Island is where the immigrants first landed when they came to the Promised Land and kept in quarantine till they were cleared. Wonder how they must have felt at seeing the Lady Liberty when after so many years and viewing so many things – I was still pretty awed by it! If you wanna go up on the pedestal of the Lady, buy your tickets online or you gonna get stuck like me to circumbulate around the pedestal structure. Me & Kakish doing the Patel trip…afternoon well spent.

10. Travel interstate in a car: Got together with a bunch of mates and decide to drive from NY to Boston. Took us around 5 hrs or so after an early morning start from Edison, NJ where we had camped for the night. Did contain some pit-stops in between to refuel on coffee to counter the numbing cold outside. Colors of falls retreating into winter as you drive down NJ, NY and right across picturesque Connecticut into the erudite state of Massachusetts. All the more enjoyed when Bhangra booms from the car audio all the way through!

11. And for #11 & stuff…either I gotta be real drunk to write about it…or I need to be real old to write about it! Since I ain’t none yet – will hold onto these yet away from public consumption! But 1 thing I will say – tougher to get a friendlier place than NY…so party hard guys! 
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places i stopped by around- mebbe for a whistle-stop or mebbe for a li'l while...

visited 53 states (151.%)
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my first thoughts on Sydney and Australia

[written long back & shared with some mates via email...thought will post it here]
Landing into the Sydney airport is one of the most beautiful sights I hve come across….the runways seem like they merge into the sea….so when ure landing onto the runway, it's almost as if ure flying from the ocean and straight onto land…

The first thing that strikes you when u enter the land down under – is something which strikes you at most foreign places….the cleanliness of the place, the smoke-less air. There's a certain order in most processes, and the integral thing being - people are willing to follow some rules to bring by these ordered processes.

Aussie civilization is to do with the coastline…all the big cities AND the densely populated ones are around the coastline…from perth in the west, darwin in the north, cairns, Brisbane, Sydney along the east coastline & Adelaide in the south – the aussie love for the sea is very evident all around. The centre of the aussie mass-land can just boast of the ayer's rock, the alice springs desert and the extensive outback bushlands!

As with most modern Indian towns, Sydney too has a hub-n-spoke kind of city proliferation. There's the central throbbing Sydney CBD (central business district) which never sleeps- always pulsating with traffic, both human & automobile – the nightlife, the neon lights and the multi-national faces on the streets; and as you start moving out of 'sydney city', u start coming across the various suburbs – glebe, leichardt, parramatta, baulkham hills – the farther they are from the central district, the more sparse and farm-like they are. Most people prefer to stay in the suburbs, even if their work has to bring them into the city. This is due to both economic reasons (lesser rent charges, etc) as well as the sense of peace and calm that the suburb atmosphere brings them.

The Workplace
The best part of aussie work places is the multi-racial mix that you encounter there, which is but a rarity at most other places. From personal experience at my workplace in Sydney, the department I worked in had around 15 ppl which comprised of 3 Indians, 2 Chinese, 1 Iraqi (who at 1 time had served in Saddam's army), 1 Serbian, 1 Russian, 1 South African, 1 American & 1 Pakistani among the Aussies. The other departments too had their fair share of multi-national hues. This multi-racial workplace was a revelation in itself as you tend to learn so much about the world that you live in, about places you haven't been to, about lives you knew nothing about. You hear a first-hand account of how it was to live under the rule of Saddam in Iraq & not a jingoistic-American glossed version of it. You hear of some of the horrors of the serb-bosnian war and the hardships that they had to undergo to leave their homeland behind to carve a new life for themselves in this faraway foreign land. You get some rare glimpses into the lives within the Great Wall into Dragon land, and you realize sitting there – 1000 of miles away from home – that you're not really that different from that colleague of yours from Lahore.

About the work culture, the people are not as work automatons as the Americans or the Japanese – yes – they do work hard during their work hours, but they also like to take their frequent 'ciggie breaks' accompanied by their cuppas (coffee/ tea/ coke). Work starts pretty nearly at 9, and must definitely end by 1730…1800 at the most! Weekends are sacrosanct – they definitely don't want anything to do with work then. And most places have a 5 day week. Lunch is an hr and half of relaxation accompanies by lotsa food, but again ppl are bck at their desks by around 14-1430 for intense work for the remainder of the day. Fridays are a different time altogether…Friday lunches are commonly wet lunches ( something I would luv 2 have back in India), tad longer….and post lunch sessions on Fridays are just an extension of the weekends – it's just used to send out mails - the essence of which are – 'ya…it may be/ may not be a problem, will definitely be looked into on Monday…hve a nice weeknd'….and comps are switched off!! J

The People
One word that definitely comes into mind after spending some time with the indigenous aussies is 'bindaas'…the ppl are damn chilled out….they do their own thing – lets you do their own thing. Slightly haughty at the onset, they warm to you pretty fast if u don't rub them the wrong way. Crazy about sports, fitness and exercise of any and every form, greater percentage of aussies look and feel pretty fit and energetic. Most males do have an intimidating physique, and they flaunt it pretty much….and the females, though big-boned, do have a sculpted fitness aura about them. Often you will see them running on the streets with just an ipod for company…the swimming pools are filled with people doing their laps….the beaches – aahhh…wat do i say abt them…the beaches and the ppl (read ladies) on the beaches...swimming, surfing, snorkeling….running on the beaches, swimming and then lazing under the sun….perfect idea of a weekend!! Ppl just take a backpack stuffed with a towel, a sun-block, a book, an ipod….and dats it – they can just spend the entire day lazing at the beach….absolutely my kind of ppl!!
And one more thing abt sports – u defeat the aussies in the sport of their choice – and you hve got their respect for life!

The Food
The thing that I miss the most – the food and the beer!.food enerally consists of meat, meat & more meat!! J beef, pork, lamb, kangaroo, chicken, turkey…u name it - u got it. And then there's the sea-food! My diet generally consisted of meat and beer…and I had nothing to complain about it! Sometimes I did make an allowance for a little salad to enter my system, but generally stuck to meat and beer. Even McD's had a burger called the 'quarter-pounder' – a simple burger of a quarter-pound patty of beef, a cheese slice and a lettuce…dat's it! awesome in taste! A pity that none of the Indian McD's serves beef….a travesty of food justice. The beef was just too good for words….the porterhouse steak, the eye-fillet steak, the rump steak….u could almost smell the freshness of the meat! Apart from it, there are loads of fruits, sauces, veggies, cheese, milk products, asian foods….

And the best part – the beer!! I could go on and on…but the beer variety wont stop! Apart from the usual international names like Bud, Heineken, Guinness & Stella Artois– we had the Aussie favorites of Victoria Bitters, Toohey's, Crown, Coopers…each region having a different fave (like VB for Victorians, Coopers for the Adelaide mates)..and there is the japanese asahi…the german, ducth & belgian beers. And yeah – for all u guys out there – most aussies hvnt heard of Fosters'…and neither do u get foster's anywhere out here (u still do come across Kingfisher)…so much for 'australian for beer'!!

So…by and then…ppl will mostly have a nice time in Oz-land…the pp are tolerant….incidences of racism is pretty low and not that rampant. The rare incidents which do occur are mostly by the teenage crowd. The average aussie is pretty much against racism on the outside, not bothered about what they mite feel inside. There is an element of frankness across the people…they make away with formality pretty easily, and though it takes a little time to get a hang of their 'aussie lingo' – it somewhat grows on you…pretty soon you get to realize that what they mean by 'mite' & 'dite' is actually 'mate' and 'date'! most ppl I hve met there are proud of whatver they work at….every work of skill – whether it be masonry, plumber or a consultant, has an element of pride in it. No occupation is looked down upon, every work is accorded a place of respect and class. And ppl do their work passionately and with love. Every restaurant you go to – the waitresses will greet you with a smile and actually make u feel at home and as a wanted customer, and not just that – random ppl on the streets also pass by with a greeting whenever you cross each other.

you get to meet a lot of ppl….ppl from across the world….u realize that the Lebanese women are among the most beautiful women on earth, that authentic Chinese is a world different from the Chinese food you get in india, that a feeling of fitness and sports passion breeds better in an atmosphere of it and that a little bit of cleanliness ethics among the ppl makes a world of difference to the cleanliness of the people.

So that's a lot of things that you don't get in India…the lovely beaches, the awesome food, the cleanliness around, the multi-racial work culture….but at the end of the day – when u land back in india and get the familiar stink which greets you upon your arrival – you cant help but think – 'no worries mate...I'm back home!!

And we will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger - those who attempt to poison and destroy my countrymen!!!

November 26, '08 Mumbai around 2200 hrs IST

it's happened again...& in a manner that has left us speechless! in a way that hasn't happened before!

innocent ppl...innocent bystanders...innocent tourists...why? why?!

our defence-forces hve responded with force, tact and bravery...even as i type this, they hve nearly cleaned up the act...but at a price. there hve been martyrs among the elite forces, heaps of innocent casualties - both among the indian civilians & the foreign tourists...bystanders n hostages. prominent landmarks of the city damaged n scarred beyond anything, but negligible compared to the loss of HUMAN LIVES!

THIS IS UTTER DISREGARD FOR HUMAN LIVES....this cant go on!

u know...it provides me with a desire...with a initiative which i would like to see take shape! with such terror incidents becoming a sporadic part of our lives, as Prannoy Roy put it - we must sacrifice sumthing to make our lives more secure. the thought i had was - along the lines of Israel, a compulsory military conscription for all the citizens of india....age no bar till 40! a year or 2 dedicated to the nation...to make us more trained for emergencies, to act for the benefit of the nation, to make us -on a collective whole- a nation much more trained and equipped to handle and respond to such acts better!

our industries and corporate world must act as a support to this. employees who come away must be paid a small retainership fee to sustain/ support the person thru the year or 2 that he/ she dedicates to the nation!

as with myself, i see a lot of anger among reasonable ppl...and dat is never a good sign! u can go on prodding a sleeping dragon only til a certain point...but as a lot of the newspersons are saying..."we need to stop being just resilient, rather become responsive"...eliminate all and every risks to your lives, to the lives of innocent civilians and to the threat of freedom!

we must react...but we must keep our heads about us. we shud not fuel rumors, we shud not taint ppl of any faith/ community/ religion just becos of some individuals, we shud not indulge in mob mentality. even as others mite start losing their wits about u, we shud try n keep ours...really difficult (god forbid) if u see ur near and dear ones as a victim of any sort...may God gives us the strength!

my anger within me makes me feel that if i were granted a wish, i wud hve wished i was a part of the NSG or MARCOS or the Indian Army rite at this moment and be a part of the encounter operation...& that if ever i am in such a position, i may not think twice before squeezing the trigger...

prayers for the departed, salute to the defence & paramilitary forces and the martyrs and hope for my countrymen...

and cudnt help adding this line - wherever those bastards may be from, whoever they mite be - screw their happines and fcuk them to hell & back!!

Jai Hind.

I'm a Mo-Bro!

well...learnt 1 more great thing from the aussies, a custom which's gud enuff to carry back home with the other good 'uns!

it's Movember!!!

as the month of november was approaching, i cud hear my mates all around talkin off growing a moustache-donation for a shave-movember...goin on & goin forth! all i cud gather was u dont shave ur moustache in november (& assumed i misheard november as movember), and before knowing anything else of the rest - bang! i joined the bandwagon of not shaving my moustache!

and somedays prior...nrabouts mid-nov, i thot to me'self - dat i really dunno the reason i'm growing this bristle growth on my upper lip! and that's when i sought...and upon seeking did i discover!

wat a novelty thru an atypical aussie irreverant custom!

movember is the 'the month formerly known as november' in which u dont shave ur mo (aussie slang for ur moustache)! and why? b'cos u pledge not to shave til the end of month, and ur friends...oops - mates around u contribute money to your cause to sponsor ur moustache shaving at the end of the month! all the money dat is contributed against ur name, is donated to a cause for men's health research n prevention every year! this year - it's going to the prostate cancer reseacrh, prevention and cure society...

pls chk this link for further info http://www.movember.com.au/

i was surprsied to know dat there are well laid down rules and customs associated with it, unaware of which all i jumped headlong into it!

but as they say - it's never too late to make amends! so instead of just sporting a moustache jus' for the heck of it, now i'm a proper registered member of Movember 2008 of Australia, n am proud of muhself mate...so there!!

this here is the official badge of being a part of this movement and hve already been gifted a shaving set and a free ticket to the gran parté (the party which marks the end of movember) for having more than a certain mark of contributions made against my name!

needless to say it's itching as hell, and if not for this pledge - i wud hve shaved it away long back! but some colleagues around me hve provided the much needed enthu by their unshirking attitude in following up this custom. as knowing myself - am a sucker to try out most new things....and when i saw an opportunity to give back to the land a li'l in return for all the gud time that i'm havin here....why not mate?!

it's also a custom to splash ur 'Mo progress' snaps at regular intervals...so thereby i post mine most recent ones!

if any of you readers perchance read this before Nov 30, ure welcome to add to the cause by ur contributions. just click on this link: https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink&rego=2183971&country=au

else u can follow the instructions in this mo-card and do so too!

if it's beyond nov 30, look fwd to ur contribution nxt yr around mate...or mebbe u can participate urself!

one more good custom added to my kitty bag of 'things to carry back home'!

cheers,

there they go across europe!

they say the child imbibes from the parents'....the reverse can be so true!

for the last 2 yrs my folks hve been zigzagging all across the country....now that they r unburdened of the excess luggage of m'self n my sis (:-))....but then i guess the stories of my excursion provided them the boost for their next item on the agenda...the euro trip!!

if it had come by in a normal-seen everyday-guided tour kinda way....i had no issues whatsoever! but no...they banished the thought of the guided tour...bought themselves a lonely planet guide...got talkin to their friends who had been to europe better...charted their own 'flexible' itinerary....n got all ready to fly off!!!

imagine me....sitting 1000 of miles away...how wud i react when they say..."we cud go to berlin...or maybe go first to vienna...and then maybe take a nite train to berlin - if we get a reservation - or wil take a hotel in vienna"...jesus christ - this aint your backyard!! get a fixed itinerary!! but no...my parents after all...hve to stubbornly sustain that streak of adventurism!!

then started my trans-continental calls to all my friend-base/ acquaintance base in europe...calling ppl...trying to put those places in the folks' itinarary...tryin to make my mates meet them at various places...tryin to make them stay at their places...spking at my 2 Am-3 Am...spkin to them mine 12 pm/6 am...time zones of all the major cities of europe at my fingertips!
so at last they flew...got one of me mates to meet them at first base at frankfurt-heidelberg itself...still cant totally calm the nervous wreck that i had become and wont to remain so till they land back in Cal again!

just before i wrote this, i had placed a call to them to check on them...they were supposed to be at lucerne today. this is how the gist of the call went...mom took the call...

me: hello mom...how are ya? where are u guys?

mom: hellooo beta...we're all good. me and ur dad are on the top of mt. titlis rite now...

me: wat?! top of where?! u were supposed to be at lucerne lake today?!

mom: been there...seen that & left lucerne for mt. titlis...and now we're 10000 ffet high up on top of it...the temp is arnd -5/6 degrees i think..

me: (totally speechless n doubly concerned n literally shouting) negative temperature?!?!? u guys hve enuff warm clothes i hope...u not feeling cold or nething...hve some coffee...glug some brandy....

mom: aare relax beta...we're all cool...had some special swiss coffee as soon as we reached the top...and me & ur dad just finished a game of throwing snowballs at each other! dont worry...we're fine!

a smile broke across my face at hearing this. atta boy...thats my folks!

guess i dont need 2 b so concerned abt them...they are managing just fine! which doesnt mean at all that i'm not damn tensed rite now wondering whether they went down by the ski lift...or the cable car....or did they try something else...or....

jeez...stop it...stop it....let them enjoy themselves! they will be fine.let them go on travelling and having fun....and i will try and keep sending my mates as chaperones with them just like i had sent my mates in heidelberg...in zurich and are setting some up in belgium, paris, scotland n london!! :-)

hve a gr8 time folks....travel safe n come back soon...ppl back home are missin u already! :-)

the passage of nearly 365 that went by....

jeez....nearly a year that i scribbled down sumthing!

so much went past in da passage dat went by!

spent time in aus, came back to blore...settled to life in blore....usual weekday-weekends colleagues-friends cycle!

various hues passin by thru personal life too....unsurprisingly managed 2 run thru various ppl as is the wont...got to get rid of some unwanted baggage in life...new ppl - old ppl..ppl comin back...ppl movin far...

on the good side, last year provided complete formal closures to a lot of chapters, chapters...chapters which cud hve had other endings if only i had shown the inclination to...but guess i didnt, and dont incline to i guess for sumtime! but i guess after these closures, some good bro's of mine will stop hounding me for not doin what they thought i ought to hve done! watver happens, happens for the good!

wat else went by...mmm..home trips...random trips...trips here n there...a quick jaunt to the himalayas for GIM juniors' wedding...usual mumbai trips from where i dont really feel like comin back...the guys are there!! it re mains a sanctuary apart from home dat i like to run to!


got another tattoo done...took a friend to show the parlor, and got one done for myself too! lower back center...slightly upwarsd of the lower-back tattoo zone...solomon n nefertitit!! :-) <>

on work front? umm...nuthin much...client paid me to sit on my ass, just becos they wanted me and they cud not start then! wish my bosses were as realistic as my client ;-)!!

wat else...wat else? lost an extended family member...kaka...actually dad's kaka. strange character he was! may his soul rest in the musical peace which he spread so magically.

aus beckoned again. sandy slated to fly off to sgpore. indiranagar breaking up. especially dbpc @ bangalore...
as i sit here typing today....i hve already spent 4 months back here in sydney. experienced the full blast of the southern hemisphere winter, and didnt like it one bit! been to adelaide n back, crazy horse more memorable than last time...full fledged trip along coast of queensland to snorkellin in the outer great barrier reefs packed in already!

nearly that time in space of this year when last year i had landed in sydney for the 1st time!

dunno how long wil be here...but landing back in blore seems a dangerous predicamant now! did all the closed chapters and the half-closed, semi-opened and just-opening all hve to congregate over there?! crowd of any kind hastens the claustrophobia in me ;-)

i bow...to lord confusion!

hope to scribble in some more...soon!