Tree of Hope

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Three months ago I brought home a small plant which I called the tree of hope. It was my first Tulasi plant and I hinged a lot of wishful thinking on the well-being of the plant. Sadly, a 3-day trip out of town saw the demise of my little plant, a happening that left an indelible mark on me.
Today I want to write about the warmth of plants and not the lack of it!
Last year I went to Mumbai on one hectic recruitment drive from SAP. The only Mumbayya I encountered on that day were in a haze of driving past, traffic signals and our over enthusiastic cab driver. I had seen the tourist spots of the city of dreams on an earlier visit but it was around this time that I got to experience a slice of sights and sounds of the normal Bombay. Happy kids on the sidewalks getting wet cheerily in the non-stop rain (It had been raining since 7 days and continued to rain for another 5 after.). Girls confidently walking on roads in mini-skirts. People going, going and going. Roads teeming with people except at the tech park where our office was situated. The building Harshad Mehta built from the hawala money. The huge piece of real estate which was converted from slums to tech park material by buying every slum dwelling for a crore each (trivia provided by the cab driver) . The proudly candid driver from UP, who told us his life story in the 4 trips that we made in his car. The Udupi hotel we landed at for lunch on the quest to eat authentic Mumbai food (the food was super delicious and the waiters were speaking to each other in tulu/konkani).
While one does not identify Mumbai with green spread, the most ecstatic sight was that of plants. Every window in every residential building whether decrepit or exquisite had a spot of green hanging on it. Pots in every size, shape and colour hung from or balanced precariously on the window grills/sills with life coming forth. Bright flowers peeping out from behind clothes flapping in the breeze. There is nothing more soothing to the soul than an eyeful of fresh greenery and this seems to be rooted in the very heart of mumbai. The Mumbaikars are the busiest people we can see and yet they take out enough time to bring a sprig to life. They probably see glaring ups and downs in their lives given the pace of life and still they dont deny a glass of water to the little shrub outside their window. The tree of hope lights up the very depths of one's mind and heart. Plants have a meditative quality to them and help in calming frayed nerves. A dash of green helps bring positivity in one's mind.
It must have been my anguish or my self depracation at not having tended to my precious plant, whatever the reason, my buddies P & P presented me with another slender sapling complete with pot and pot-mix on the occasion of Tulasi Habba. My hope is back on track!

Indian on a Chinese tour bus around America - 3B

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T's Humour for the special occasion
Day 2 Las Vegas here we come! The day started with a lot of wishes and hugs to each other and from all our family for T and me. It was our second wedding anniversary. We made the day special by wearing new clothes. My brother made it even more special by gifting us a huuuge bar of chocolate. T is weird but I loove chocolate! We all then boarded a bus which would take us to Las vegas and Grand Canyon over the next three days. We made friends with a middle-aged couple from Zurich, I fondly refer to the husband as Asterix because of his moustache. Before reaching Vegas by around 5 PM we made a stopover for lunch and thats when I brought out my little surprise, a cake that I had baked for the occasion. T and me cut it rather shyly I must say! We reached the city of neon lights before they got switched on. It isnt as impressive in day light as it is by night. No bling! I expected to see mafia dons in long coats and hats with their entourage carrying suitcases of money. But I was a tad disappointed. All I saw was hollow faces all around me. Some who had lost money, some who were plain drunk. Once inside a casino though one is totally cut off from the outside world, the scent of money and smells of alcohol and ciggies of the casino overpower you.The first thing we saw was the MGM Grand where we just in time to see the Lion Show. Two slobby sleepy lions (they do sleep for around 18 hrs a day) were being prodded by a couple of trainers to show some interest in entertaining the folks who were standing all around the thick glass enclosure.
The trainers hand fed them and finally one of the lions got interested in playing "catch the ball" with the trainer. It was awesome to watch the burly creature cuddling up to the trainer or going after the ball like a little kitten! At one time he stood tall, on two legs, on our side of the glass to retrieve the ball and I can swear he must have been 12 feet high! The teeth could easily have been half a foot long!
We went to the hotel from there and after freshening up we ventured out into the sin city by night. The whole strip and downtown is well connected by buses which come by every five minutes, so getting around is no problem. You could do casino hopping by hopping in and out of the bus and not dispense with any of that precious energy you need at the roulette table. But we decided to walk. Venetian too my breath away. The whole Venice atmosphere is recreated inside with houses on water and front and Gondolas rowing along with romantic couples in them. But the couples themselves look embarassed because there are a whole lot of people taking their photos just to get the Gondola (no romatic seclusion this)! The whole evening sky is done with a canopy and lights.
	Some of the higher ceiling is painted and gilded in gold coveringand one gets the feeling of being in the Sistine Chapel. It never gets dark in there! We loitered through the Grand Canal Shoppes but did not blow away our money on the collectible items. We also got to peek at the entrance of the Tao Lounge, one most exclusive in the world.
We walked along the Mirage and Caesar's Palace which abounded with a look alike Fontana de Trevi and Colloseum.
	We entered the Bellagio and the opulence of the place hit us immediately. I wondered how much the interior decorators make in this casino and how insecure their jobs might be. We walked along a glass lotus leaf roof towards a huge hall which was adorned with the theme of Autumn!
Everything orange and green and red. The only complaint I had was of low light. It made taking photos extremely difficult. I think thats the idea, dont capture moments and flood the web, everyone should come and see for themselves.
On the way to see the famous dancing fountain of Bellagio we decided to try our luck at gambling on our anniversary. There is something about a casino that gives me an adrenaline rush, as though I know I might regret this later but I cannot stop myself from doing it. Excitement! We headed to a roulette table and began. First round, we won. Second, we lost. Third, we lost again. Our whole family was gathered around the table since we were the only ones playing at that table. You cannot imagine how morally difficult it is to gamble with your parents looking on. Never to be tried again! We pulled out after the third round and I consoled myself that we had atleast won the first round. The magnificent dancing fountains made me forget my despair. Astounding harmony of water and music. In sync. It was beaiutiful. I am falling short of words to describe it. We have something similar at the Brindavan Gardens in Mysore, Karnataka with colours giving it a more glorious feel along with dance and music. By this time we were all hungry and tired and decided to call it a day. It was an anniversary we will always cherish!
Day 3
	We saw the Vegas strip again the next night. This time we headed to the Paris casino first. The outside is adorned with the Eiffel Tower and the inside was similar to Venetian but a little jazzier and not so classy I thought.
The reason could be that the casino was also right there under the lit canopy in the Paris whereas it was separated at the Venetian.
We went past the Excalibur which looks more like Disney Land. I wonder what was behind the name.
	We entered the Luxor which has an Egyptian theme but there was nothing much to gape at apart from stiff bob-cut soldiers and good looking ladies in stone. There are very nice murals just like you would find in their palaces or pyramids maybe.
We got back to the hotel and T and me made a secret pact of going to the hotel Casino and trying our luck again. But as luck would have it, we did not have the inclination nor the charm to make us millionaires and we gave up. I had blogged a year back about wanting to see vegas. I have fulfilled one dream in my life. Like so many others :)

Indian on a Chinese bus tour around America - 3A

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This post is long due. Infact its a month overdue. I have been putting off writing about it for various reasons of laziness. Today in a burst of enthusiasm defying the rainy day greys I decided to finally bring our third tour to life. The packet of Lays Lightly Salted is also providing enough food for thought (ouch...cliched). We love money especially the kind which converts to 38 of our country's. We do not like blowing it away on extravagance but we reckoned that this could be a once in a lifetime chance to just eat the cake with the whole family (T's parents and mine along with my brother) and not bother about the piggy bank.We upped and went on a 6 day tour headed towards western Amerikya, that haloed tourist attraction area.
Day 1 We all flew down to la la land Los Angeles from whence our bus tour would commence! Poetry...wah. The first day was all about getting people together and since we reached in the afternoon (thanks to flying back in time), we had a whole afternoon and evening at our disposal. Unfortunately the hotel we were in was close to nowhere and we were holed up in the room without a car at our disposal. But fortunately there was one family friend who we were all eager to meet, since vice versa was true he came and took us all to explore the beach front of LA.
We went to the Venice beach as the sun was setting. It was a sight to behold the orange ball of fire on the fiery cold water. The Pacific Ocean was peaceful alright but it was freezing co-oh-ld.Two mins barefeet in the water and I got solid cramps.
	We walked near the water's edge for some time and then went to see the Main Street in the town. It had a very European feel to it with the no vehicle cobbled street lined with trees strung with serial lights and a concert happening under a canopy right in the middle of it. Somehow the street dint look like it belonged to the very american LA.
The next stop was our friend's house which was very neatly kept surprising because it was inhabited by bachelors. Nice guys! We also felt rather proud to see the Indian tricolour hung on the wall, even if the reason was some Cricket World Cup. The next stop before getting back to the hotel was dinner. When Indians meet other Indians where do you think they would go to eat? At an Indian restaurant ofcourse! We went to Annapurna where we feasted on delicious food and downed it with Masala Chai. By the time we returned to our hotel room my parents and brother had arrived and had already gone to bed. After bidding them good night we retired, with bounding excitement for the next day. It would be T's and my second anniversary!

Indian on a Chinese tour bus around America -2

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Niagara, the Taj Mahal of North America. At least with respect to popularity. Every Indian worth his/her salt needs to make this much cherished trip to THE FALLS. The first question any relative back home asks is “Did you see Niagara falls?”. And if your answer is “No, because we dint have time or money or a bat mobile or whatever” you will elicit a sympathetic cluck and a description of the falls so exact that you might think your relative was the “Indian” who architected the mighty fall. Oh and if you, continuing with the hypothetical conversation, answered “Yes” then you will be quizzed about every nook and cave of the winds that you might have perhaps experienced. It’s really big; the way Niagara Falls is adored. We, as industrious as we are, decided to do the Niagara pilgrimage on a Chinese tour bus. There were two options for the tour. One was via Thousand Islands and the other included the Corning Glass Museum tour. One of the main attractions at Niagara is to see the Illumination of the falls in the night. After a lot of power debating, we decided against Thousand Islands since that meant no night halt at the falls. We set forth on the auspicious day and reached the large Chinatown in New York City. We were one of the first to arrive at the boarding point and hence (and obviously) were at unease if this was really where they would pick us up from. As we stayed on a huge crowd conglomerated there. There were Chinese families, European boy friends and girl friends, American couples and Indian family-groups, all waiting for the bus which would take them forth and had to continue doing so for a good two hours since the bus was late! Once we boarded the bus, our tour guide, an apologetic looking Chinese guy, informed us that the first stop would be Thousand Islands. I was apoplectic and jabbed T so hard that it sent him straight out of the seat to find out what was going on with the tour. But the guide graciously comforted us and explained that “Some people for Thousand Islands many people for Corning Museum so we doing both. Stay night yes in Niagara”. Thus rest assured I fell into an AC cold-induced numbness for the long drive to the Thousand Islands. I did not even have the motivation to eat too many chips. And so T knew that I was really unwell. We arrived at Alexandria Bay which is upstate New York. The Thousand Islands is a pristine resort community surrounded by Lake Ontario, the Adirondack Mountains and the mighty St. Lawrence River.
It’s got a nice waterfront which is not overly touristy decked but still maintains store fronts attractive enough for tourists to stroll in for a look or make an occasional purchase. All we purchased in one such store with pirate masks in the front window was coffee. Vanilla coffee!! It’s nice if you also eat spicy chips along with it.
The next thing on our agenda was a cruise through St. Lawrence River and see some of the thousand and odd islands. On the way we found a nice apple tree and indulged in some farm antics of plucking fresh fruit stealthily and eating it.I kept myself busy by shooting evidence which could be used for some gamely blackmailing later on maybe? The river cruise was amazing. The main reason being the boat operator’s camaraderie with the people on board. It was so good that it felt like a personal guided tour through paradise. The single mansions on these islands looked no lesser than paradise to me.
	The blue waters with the sun glinting off it, the calmness all around, the warmth from the sun and chill from the winds and one’s own island (whoever said no man is an island could be disproved here). We could see some proud Richie Richs lounging about on their islands. How quaintly charming is that!
I don’t fully remember all the names of the owners but I do remember looking around in wonder. When we got off the boat T and me chatted up with the boat guy and also expressed our appreciation. He was very happy that someone cared enough to let him know.
The next stop was Niagara Falls which we reached by 11 in the night. We all trooped down to the falls to see the illumination. We lost our way in the darkness and strayed towards a main road, walked along the flowing river before it plunged as the Niagara.
	The illumination of the Niagara is like seeing a bride in white with strobe lights on. It’s beautiful. Although the view is great from the Canadian side, you can take great pictures up close from the American side, like the one we took right on top of the Bridal falls. The strobe lights are evidently on the Canadian side, and the rest of the Main Street on that side is also very visually appealing.
On the American side though there is a small park near the falls which is not of much consequence unless you have time enough to spend on the luscious greens. We were bang on time to see the illumination because apparently the lights are switched off at midnight. On the way back to the hotel through the darkened deserted streets we got hopelessly lost or so we thought. Although we were five minutes walk away from the hotel panic struck and we started walking around in circles. Eventually we did find the hotel and we did get our much deserved sweet sleep. I must make a special mention of the hotel room’s bathroom. It was a man-made wonder not as huge as the Niagara but close enough in a different category. The area was approximately 5ft * 3ft and we had all the minimalist stuff that make up a decent bathroom including the bathtub. I remember one hotel in Heidelberg, Germany which was of similar dimensions but they had effectively spaced out the interiors by having a shower cubicle instead of an out of sorts bathtub. I thought that was neat because who would come to a low budget hotel (if not tourists who are trying to fit in a lot on minute timescale and budget) and want to spend one luxurious hour or more sitting in a bathtub? Maybe a gangster type who was using it as a hideaway. I like it when I ask the question and know the answer to it even though it kills the imagination of the reader. Hee haw haw haw. Well, the next day we were in for a great shock. Although we hadn’t seen a single cloud the night before it was pouring the next day. And it was the irritating kind of rain which is not too fast and not too slow and comes down evenly as though through a giant sieve. Gloom descended in our shiny eyes. We weren’t very sure of enjoying the beauty of the place getting wet in the course. Yes, we had forgotten to bring umbrellas. We had no choice but to heave ho and see the cloudy grey sights. The first stop for the day was Goat Island. This is the place that separates the Bridal Falls (American Niagara as some would like to humor themselves) from the Horseshoe Falls (THE Niagara Falls). We got beautiful views of the top of the Horseshoe Falls.
The most amazing thing that we found on Goat Island was outside the tourist shop. Among the flowers that adorned the entrance of the shop were chilies! I have never ever seen that before. Maybe neither have you so here’s the picture
From Goat Island we were taken to ride the Maid of the Mist. While waiting in line to buy tickets for the rides we saw that many people had bought rain coats from the souvenir shops. After consultation amongst ourselves we came to the conclusion that we were so much soaked to the skin that the skin wouldn’t feel it any more and so there was no need for those. Once we bought the tickets we were taken to a landing from where we had to take a speedy lift which would take us twenty storeys down in two minutes, to board the boat. The landing was the best possible view point for the Horseshoe Falls. Many people were forsaking getting wet and damaging their camera lens to take that one perfect shot of the horseshoe. I have to tell you, it needs a lot of patience to photograph this world famous falls. The very simple reason being the mist that gets formed at the base of the falls due to the momentum of the water plunging some 160 feet below. This mist moves up and most of the times the middle portion of the horseshoe is hidden behind this. And if it is a cloudy day then its plain bad luck. It’s over misty. Hence, a trip to the Niagara is not complete without a ride in the Maid of the Mist because it takes you right where the action is. Before boarding the boat however everyone is given a poncho style long raincoat with a hood to prevent them from getting wet from the spray of the falls. In our case however it was kind of redundant. But we did struggle one pair of hands and legs and three pairs of helper hands to get into it. Once we were on board we rushed to grab a front seat errr railing. The rest of the boat journey was amazing. The boat takes us slowly very close to the falls.
	You see the giant looming up against the sky and the spray from it comes at you non stop. I even got my skin cut from the force (delicate as a flower me *batting eyelids*). After going a certain distance the boat is stopped and remains in one place for everyone to soak in the magic. But due to the bobbing and motion of the water underneath one doesn’t realize the boat has stopped at all.
We also saw what we had missed, from the boat, for lack of time. The cave of the winds. This is basically a series of steps which leads people right up to the bridal falls. Makes for excellent romantic photo-op and a little care so as to not slip. On the Canadian side there is a “Journey behind the falls” which is a tunnel leading right behind the falls. I had seen it on my last trip to Canada which was in March and was not season yet for the Maid of the Mist to operate. After the boat ride we were informed that we had to have lunch and reach the bus in a matter of 30 minutes. We went running around madly in the rain searching for Indian restaurants which abound the place but they were all slow starters. Not many serve anything to eat till 11:30. There was one particular joint in the Welcome center whose owner was so rude that he was putting India to shame. We did find a place where they served idli and dosa alongside channa batura etc. The most ill planned thing on these Chinese tours are the meal times and places. Plus he had not given us any option for breakfast that day. You have to be really well prepapred for their trips else you just starve. We were happy enough to get back on board the bus and away from all the wetness. The next stop after a long drive was the Corning Glass Museum. We decided not to take the tour of the museum which included being allowed to make glass by ourselves. This was because of the ridiculous 15 minutes that we were given to spend at the museum before getting back to the bus. The reason for that according to the guide was that we delayed the whole thing by overstaying our lunch time! Bah!
As we found out later all that people could do on it was sit through a boring video about how glass was made. We effectively used the time gazing in awe at the colorful glass magic on sale in the souvenir shop which was the entire ground floor and buying much needed hot coffee!
From Corning it was straight back to NY and home. We were greeted by a sea of red lights in NY. We got a taste of traffic in New York in which we were stuck for a good hour and half. By the time we reached home we were tired and warm, me a little more than the rest. But it was a trip which we thoroughly enjoyed and one that also made us realize the importance of a humble umbrella!

Indian on a Chinese tour bus around America -1

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That title reeks of globalization. You know what else it reeks of? Chinese opportunism and innovation. One of the most popular tour bus site for an America dekho is gotobus and this is manned totally by Chinese down to the pick up and drop spots. They are all centered around a China Town or a Chinese super market. They even stop at Chinese restaurants for lunch even if there is one Chinese lady tourist on the bus and the rest are all gullible Indians. The guides are bilingual (or so they like to believe). They speak Chinese and Chinglish and at least one of them says Pepsi instead of Cheese. Makes sense I say. I would prefer saying Paneer while posing for photos. The main reason why this tour company is so popular is because it fits into scanty leave and stingy wallet and still shows a lot. Who should know better than I who has taken two such trips and have another planned around the corner. The first trip was the Phily-DC-Balti trip as I like to call it. Somehow our tour guide was convinced that the only thing to see in Philadelphia was a huge un-ringable bell with a half inch crack running through its length. He might be right if he had said that’s the main thing to see.
It has a huge historic significance with respect to the American stands for independence, abolition of slavery and freedom. I was a little in awe when I actually saw how huge it was. I could also feel the emotions running high, among the American revolutionaries, to protect the symbol from falling into British hands.
Before we reached the bell museum, I got excited about spotting the offices of Rohm & Haas, a customer for one of the products we develop in my company. So while the family waited for a group photo, the photographer (me) had run away and was shooting this obscure building of a company they had never heard of.
	After seeing the bell there was a lot of excitement as, is common among happy tourists, upon spotting horse drawn carriages! So we took a lot of happy pictures with those handsome steeds and some prettily done up mares as our backgrounds. Being in them would have meant a cool fifty dollar hole in the pocket.
Walked around the city hall and thats when we saw a duck tour which is very popular and a practical way to "see" a city. A "Duck" is a vehicle which acts as a bus on land and a boat in water. How cool is that? So you just hop onto it and go around a city, hop off at any place that you want to spend time at, hop on the next one and go on. It’s a pretty neat way to see a city (touristy parts) if you are really short on time. Philadelphia is a very good looking city and the people seem to be very friendly. At least I think so because a lady told me she loved the kurti top I was wearing. Well she did say it after I appreciated the braided tail of the horse which was pulling her carriage but nevertheless. The next stop was Washington DC. The capital city. My first impression - ho hum. Well manicured flat city. The only thing you keep spotting between buildings and trees is a white obelisk called the Washington Monument built to immortalize the first president of the States. Our first stop was the Smithsonian Institutions. There were two on our agenda and the first one was the National Air and Space Museum. The funniest part of this was the "Moon Rock" touching. The "rock" which was really a pebble was placed right at the entrance much like the Dwarapalakas in any temple, you take their Darshan and then go towards the God. I even saw some people close their eyes and pray/wish while they touched the pebble. The guide did tell us that there was a Chinese saying that touching it brings good luck.
Once inside the air and space museum all you see and read is about airplanes and satellites. There are a lot of airplanes suspended from the roof. It is a little nerve wracking if one’s mind goes on a trip of the cords loosening up and the planes crashing down.
There is also a lot of information about space shuttles, their training and simulators. We only had enough time to take a deep breath and glance around once. In the planet section we noted that Pluto has been banished. We saw space suits and fighter pilot gear in another section. But the highlight for me was the Wright Brothers' room. I was excited to read all about how they started.
	One of the four bicycles they designed and built is displayed there. A model of the aircraft they built is also displayed. And can you imagine the pilot had to lie down on his stomach to pilot that one. Orville and Wilbur Wright, geniuses.
From the air and space museum we went on to the Natural History Museum.
The first pit stop was at the Hope Diamond. This gorgeous big blue diamond set in a necklace of smaller diamonds was originally from India! Natural blue diamonds are rare and expensive.
I was in shock when I heard from my dad that my grandmother has it in her nose ring and was nearly dizzy when my mom said she had a couple, that her mother gave her, in her earrings. That’s a page of expensive family history!Suddenly, the 3-diamonds’ ring that T gave me for our last wedding anniversary looked pale. T did not have a clue why he got a dirty look from me and went on pulling me away from the rest of the glitterati spread which wouldn’t let my jaws close shut. We went through the section of the quartz, crystal, gold, copper, opal and other natural materials that the earth throws up to us. We then went through the Dinosaur section which was so poorly lit that we couldn’t take any good pictures with our small digital cameras. I do remember squinting at the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Does light affect those old bones? We went through a section with a lot of animal models on display. My favorite was the lion perched near the roof, proud, very proud.I took my revenge on T by making him stand beside the giraffe and taking a picture. At the end of the hall we had a surprise awaiting us. There was a whole section dedicated to Sikh religion. Displays about the aspects of the religion including the five Ks that Sikh men always have to carry. Plus a beautiful model of the Golden Temple at Amritsar. But the star of the show is the huge mammoth in the entrance hall of the museum. I think he gets photographed the most! By the time we finished with museums sunset was approaching fast. Our guide, ever the enthusiast, made us believe that that was the best time to photograph some monuments around DC.So our next stop was the Capitol, the seat of the US government for the Congress. This is where they decide to wage wars on or withhold grants to some country. We got a beautiful view of this pristine building and its grounds, in the setting sun's rays, giving it a very luscious cream tint.
	Why I will always cherish this picture in my mind is because of the picture that we took in front of it, that looks like a lovely vintage eastman color photo.
Next stop was the White House. While it looked prim and propah it generally failed to impress me. It feels too small to be a presidential house, no? We got to see only the front view. Maybe its elongated? I have heard that the interior is more impressive but we did not know that we had to book a week in advance for an inside tour due to security reasons. The photo in front of the tall iron grill, which stood in between the White House and us, looks a little ugly too. Anyways the whole experience fell a little flat. What was more interesting was the protestors against war in front of democracy, way to go! And off we go to the Jefferson Memorial. By now the light was much faded and the monuments have such low lights that it became tough for us to take pictures. But the view from the memorial steps was breathtaking. The lake in front of the memorial glowing with the reflections of lights shining all around it was beautiful. Planes whizzing by, thanks to the nearby airport. Sitting there on the steps we spent some of the most relaxing moments on that trip. Cool breeze, breezy talk and wafting laughter. Precious! But, we had one eye always trained on the watch dial and it was soon to board the bus to take us to Lincoln memorial.
How majestic looks the statue of Abe Lincoln all in white against the low lit interiors of the memorial. We have all grown up hearing about his honesty stories and it was very humbling to even behold his larger than life statue. The view of the Washington Monument is best from the Lincoln memorial as it is right across.
We visited the Vietnam War Memorial. The names of all the American soldiers, who lost their lives for their country, are etched on a very long glass wall. The Korean War Memorial on the other hand has lifelike statues of soldiers in battle gear. A wall runs alongside with the photos of the soldiers who lost their lives in that war. With this our day also came to an end and we were taken on what would become a never ending search for a restaurant. Since it was late and all the restaurants were closed we were finally taken to an all-night convenience store where we couldn’t find anything apart from water and chips. Thankfully we were very resourceful in packing a lot of chapatis from home which lasted us through every meal of the journey. Chinese restaurant or Pizzeria it was no problem for us. Woo-hoo! After a good night's rest we faced a day of long drives. We were off to Baltimore from DC. On the way we arrived at Shenandoah Caverns. The caverns were formed when water trickled through tiny cracks in the stone, dissolving the lime, enlarging the cracks. The cracks became crevices, then channels, and finally, tunnels (this is straight from the website). There are lots of formations to see and many to imagine. Like the crystal cascade. That’s just limestone and a lot of color lights focused on it.
	Then there is the bacon formation which doesn’t make sense to us vegetarians. The highlight of the caverns is the Rainbow Lake. The formations are lit up with colorful lights and the reflection of this in the water, which always collects in that place, makes it amazing.
We had a lot of fun finding niches to take funky photographs in. Imagining a lot of the formations was also fun. From the caverns we drove to Baltimore and what awaited us there by 2 in the afternoon was a nice cutesy water front and a boat ride.The boat ride was pretty boring. It seemed like the announcer had had a bad day because he was so jaded in his speech that most of us did not register what he was saying or which piece of the surrounding he was referring to. It was extremely sunny nevertheless we enjoyed the breezy boat ride.
Most Indian couples were going for the Titanic pose pictures. What was I doing in the meanwhile? I was realizing that too many people on that boat wore clean stark white sports shoes! I think many of us also stared at the whizzing motor boats and their occupants with a tinge of jealousy.
I had imagined that we would be taken aboard a ship and would be allowed to look around. Hadn't bargained for this fare. Once we got off the boat we had to grab lunch and eat in a matter of one hour. The water front was full and by the time we got some subway sandwiches from the grumpy and arrogant girl at the counter it was nearly time to leave. Plus she wanted me to tell the name of the cheese I wanted. I would have but I got daunted with her attitude and told her that I would only point and not tell the name. Lame, I know. She also got her small revenge when she told me that the yoghurt that I wanted with the meal was over. Even now I think she had many in her fridge but was just too crazily angry to hand it over. So after gobbling down lunch we were back on the bus and drove the long way back to New Jersey. Catching up on sleep was the main agenda apart from waiting for coffee breaks and endless chips. It was a fantastic trip. For me it was double the excitement because my parents, brother and sister-in-law came with us (T, his parents and me).

Passage to a Vacation

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I stared at the the blank space on my new post space for a long time. And then began to fill it. There is so much to tell. Where am I going to start? I am on a vacation out of India right now but it was the toughest travel to achieve in all these years. First there was this whole process of getting a darned visa. Forms to fill, mistakes to correct and never knowing if everything was there in the right place. What would the visa officers at the hot (no pun intended puhleese) Chennai US Consulate ask me? I had no clue. I have travelled quite a bit on work and on vacation before but here I was with cold feet and moist hands waiting for my minutes of wham at the interview window. For all the hullaballoo all I get to stand in front of is a counter? No chair to sit, no coffee to sip. Just a long queue in front of a counter. The visa officer was an extremely chirpy person and had had a good morning I guess because she was being nice to everyone approaching her. She was extremely nice to me and said Aye to my visa request. So I said Yay. This was the easy part. The tough part was to get my passport back on time for my flight which was 3 working days away. Believe me, my life became a tale of two cities. I would wake up and go to sleep in Bangalore but the rest of the day I spent in Chennai! 4 days out of a week.
On one of the flights I came upon an irony. Captain Gopinath (MD of Air Deccan) was in the seat in front of me in a Paramount Airways flight to Chennai!! He was very intrigued about the fact that in a small airliner Paramount offered Business Class seats as well. I could hear (without over hearing) the conversation he was having with the gentleman who boarded with him, about it. They also kept repeatedly counting the number of seats they were offering in Business class and it amused them somehow that it was 16. All this intrigued me as well. As we, the other "normal" people on th flight would wonder later, after we got out of the plane and he was met and escorted by his Air Deccan henchmen, had he missed an AD flight or it had got delayed as usual or cancelled as is also the practice? I do remember laughing out loud. What an irony!
As luck would have it, I did not get it till the day I left. My flight to NJ was in the night and in the morning I called from Bangalore to confirm if my passport would reach at all that day. To my delight I found out that it would, and I took the next flight out to Chennai. I got my passport and got back to my city 2 hours before I took off for the phoren shores. A lot of last minute rush and a lot of airport waits later I was snoring in my seat on a plane with a pilot extra ordinaire. Kudos to Jet Airways for their staff selection and pilots! There was a point when I dozed off just before the plane taxied and when I woke up I was in the clouds and hadnt felt inertia at all!
But you know what? It was all worth the effort because on the other side of the ocean there was a beaming smile and a warm hug that was waiting for me. I felt like I had just found my favourite teddy bear that I had lost. Ok, it was notches above that feeling really :)
Here I am now in suburbia whiling away my time and not having an iota of guilt about it. I have lot of time on hand to think about my life and goals. I have come to realise life beyond the workplace and am glad about getting this break.
Life is also about making our dreams come true. They dont miraculously happen all the time.

Montreal : Loved Saturday

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Just in case people decide am a complaining wimp, I want to tell you all that I had a glorious time yesterday. Went out with a friend-couple and discovered a whole underground city in Montreal. Literally, one does not have to walk outside. You can go through the whole downtown area just using the Metro or walking through the connected underground. A whole host of food courts, shops etc line the inside of the underground city. A whole variety. And many big malls also have openings directly in the underground so you can just go through. I love the way this city has adapted to the extreme weather conditions.
Also thankful because it does not help to walk in these shoes on icy footpaths here unless you want to be crowned the sidewalk skating champion!

We walked a little bit outside and since it was raining it was warm enough for just a light jacket. Oh, it was fun! We had a nice huge chinese meal. I like their USP. What I mean is, if an Indian opens a restaurant in any of these western cities, the prices would be exhorbitant. 15$ for a palak paneer? Are you crazy? But the chinese stir fried vegetables would cost me 5$. They maintain this kind of price tags wherever they open shop. Be it europe or north america! And indeed they are popular. The quantities are big and prices and small. There were two things I forgot to do yesterday. One : open up my umbrella when it rained. Two : take photos to post on the blog. But there is a lot of time yet for both, so maybe next time. The weather is supposed to hold up this week but from friday onwards its supposedly going to minus deg celcius again. Atleast T will have a warm welcome when he arrives next week!

Montreal : Frustré à l'hôtel

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No, am not picking up french like how one picks up socks. I am just using Google translate. Chose it over Babelfish today. No idea why.
Today is Sunday. A glorious Sunday if you go by the weather channels (it's like a national hobby to know hour by hour weather condition) and my eyes. I see a nice and sunny day outside my hotel window. How can I be sure? Well, there is this building right below my window whose roof was completely covered with two feet of snow and most of it has melted from today morning onwards. There you go, I am SURE. Sorry, I am not being rude but am just so bored. Why am I frustrated? Because I have been seeing the great weather outside from the inside. The one thing I hate to do is to move around in an alien place alone like a zombie. Unless I have a goal in mind I don't do that even in Bangalore! Hence I have been lazing around in my hotel 10*10, snacking continuosly on sin food with an occasional smattering of healthy stuff like fruits but mostly Oreo.

A few minutes ago I made myself some tea. I made it the same way I make coffee, in a coffee brewer. Call it Innovation ;)
Me drinking tea now hence the pause in post.

The tea turned out awesome (a little too much of the sugar-free sugar but that doesn't hurt)! Am done drinking and wiping mouth on sleeve of tshirt. A little carefree (indulgence) never hurts when you are away from home and the special someone is not giving you a frown and stare.
In the afternoon I watched a movie called 'Serendipity', a very cute movie which I hadnt gotten around to watching till now.The hero John Cusack is so adorable.
I was half wishing either T or my parents had left their webcams on so that I could feel I was in Bangalore. Am crazy!
The hotel here has registered me as Mrs Yen. The first time I heard them calling me that I found it strange (N is my initial) but yesterday when I went to exchange a few USD to CAD a clerk actually gave a receipt in that name!!!
Its 6:10 PM but the sun thinks its 5:10 so its nice and bright and sunny outside. Am totally confused about DST. Who said it was day light saving? The sun decides that as I know it!

Hokay my brother called and I made a complete idiot of myself (again). Sigh! Why can't I sound more intelligent when I talk to him? Oh well, I will try and follow instructions atleast to the T (thats a funny pun if you know what T means in my blog *grin*). Today I got this great idea of posting a recipe in my food blog from one of the channels I was watching. It was in french. It was a great salad full of paneer and a little spice. The only problem was I couldn't fathom a few of the green leaves and oils and sauces. And these according to me make up all the taste of a good salad. My bro-in-law always has a deadly combo of these and he makes some yummy salads.
Now its 7 and like a nice Montreal person I should start making my dinner. I have this sudden craving for pulav. But will make do with a peanut butter sandwich, an apple and some orange juice. The all american Lunch he he he!
Goodbye folks and good luck :). Its time for Shalom in the Home (I am also addicted to a channel called TLC).

My connection to sanity, my blog (really? :)..)

Bonjour Montreal

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My first morning in Montreal saw me sitting in front of my laptop chatting with parents and T in India! I was up by 3 AM, a feat which one would never see in India. But today I am jet-lagged or so I would like everyone to believe. (I would love to use this as an excuse for the next two days to take it real easy at work!) I aint tired nor sleepy just wide awake. My bio-clock is not acting crazy but is in perfect shape. Why, you ask? Simple : I come wide awake in the afternoons even in India! And 3AM here is afternoon in India. So, really, my clock knows what its doing! What is also giving me trouble is the growling tummy. I forgot all about it being empty and slept off before I knew it and obviously its the tummy's birth right to protest as soon as my mind came to its senses. Dontcha worry tummy I have ordered room service breakfast for ya.
In the meantime I took some pictures from my room on the 19th floor of a giddily tall hotel. This was the view at 6 AM from my room whose window I cant open (which explains the lack of clarity)!
I just heard the weather report and its going to be minus 14 deg celcius!! I cant even imagine how cold it can be. I hope I dont freeze into a statue on the way to office. How many sweaters does one wear for this weather? Or does it matter-after a certain point our body can still feel colder?

This is the parking lot of the next building. The shapes in the snow are not cars but the area where cars were parked the night before when it snowed.

The building right opposite to my side of the view

Early birds on the road

A quick update at 7:07. Yes, am still up and the sun decided to say hello

I met a wannabe-Guinness-Book-Of-World-Records entrant!

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And I met him in a Sleeper coach compartment of a train!

Two days ago at 5:15 PM we, a group of eight people, got on the Ernakulam (Place in Kerala) express to go to Guruvayur (Place in Kerala known for its Krishna temple) to attend a close friend’s wedding. Already tired from the day’s running around (it was a week day) and tense about being awake to get out at 2:30 AM when the train would pull into our destination, we huddled around in our compartment hailing coffee/tea vendors and chatting away sleepily. There was one nice Malayalee (people from the Indian state of Kerala so called because they speak Malayalam) lady sitting with us and she started conversing with us as we ate our dinner. After dinner we were all thinking of retiring when a gentleman alighted from the top most berth. I hadn’t noticed him till that moment. He happened to be this lady’s husband. He smiled at all of us and started talking to T and me while he ate his dinner. We learned from him that he was in the Inspection department of RBI and retired as the Additional Divisional Manager. He spoke at length about his adventures on his trips all over India. He was a very widely traveled man thanks to his work profile. He knew every nook and corner of India from Cherapunjee (place with maximum rainfall in the world) to the Kolar Gold Fields (in Karnataka, now closed). He told about his VIP pass descent into the KGF mine some 2000 feet below the ground level in a bucket! He and his wife had to give a declaration stating that nobody was responsible if something untoward happened to them in the mine! By and by he started telling us that he had a lot of hobbies, one of which was collecting key chains! He has over 6000 key chains from all over the world. He stores them in air tight containers to keep moisture from reaching the metal of the chains. He showed us the collection he was taking home from Bangalore. Some fifty odd key chains right there in his suitcase! We were impressed. But what impressed us the most was when he, Mr. P.K.K. Nair told us that he wants to soon be in the Guinness Book of World Records for possessing a record collection of the very same key chains!

In the meanwhile one of us was looking out for a tea vendor. And this gave him another idea. He told us his other hobbies include Graphology and Palmistry etc. He has over 20 years of experience in Graphology alone! He decided to do on us what he called “T therapy”. He made all of us write the small letter “t” on a piece of paper and then individually told us a few points about our personality. What I liked most was that he put across all the points in such a positive way that one couldn’t help but gloat that one has such a great personality! While all of us felt that what he was telling us about ourselves were very true, he even made a couple of predictions for some of us! Now we have to see if that also comes true! Mr. Nair informed us that people from many places come to him for match making, palm readings etc and all he expects as return gift or dakshina from such people was key chains! This man is so passionate and sincere about his hobby that it comes out in the way he handles them even. Even his grandchild buys key chains for her grandpa because that’s what he likes most! Thus we spent around three hours in a crowded train getting know a great man. Great only by his sincerity and passion for a hobby! By 10 we all decided to retire for the night when he called T and me and told us that what happened that night was divine intervention. He never does this kind of graphology readings for strangers but he saw us and he wanted to! Wow! We all felt a little more blessed, the soft pale glow of the overhead compartment light lending more of a magical effect to the situation.

Now that the journey is over, all I can remember vividly is this chance encounter in the train rather than the wedding or the beach-fun we had at Guruvayur!

An anecdote in a 1000 words!!!

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There is an interesting anecdote (I wouldn't call it one since its developed into a short story as you will see shortly), that I want to narrate. This is not for the weak-minded. It’s quite big. Yeah it takes a lot of words to get the confusion, fury, embarassment and exhaustion of that experience all out of my system. I have written it as it happened and no fancy shmancy stuff in this post (not that you really expected it but am just telling you ;)..)

This was on my first trip abroad. Destination SFO. Well, that was on my onward flight. On my way back to India I had to change planes in Chicago. And that is how I landed in one of the busiest airports of the world O'Hare International Airport. There were two things that I learnt as soon as I got to a particular airline (don't want to name them) counter.
1) That one can't do a through check-in of baggage between flights which don't land and take off on the same day.
2) Most Indian travelers are perceived as travel-illiterate (unless you put a show of nonchalance, if you appear even a wee bit concerned it kills the impression you are making).

So there I was at the baggage section trying to spot my huuuge green samsonite and a small green VIP suitcase among the umpteen baggages piled up there. I could find the small one but the huge one was absconding. I reported this to the airline personnel who assured me that they would find it for me before I left and gave me a lot of fundas about how somehow baggages mysteriously pile up inside their office sometimes. And since they gave me nice smiles and also helped me with an overnight accommodation at the Radisson I was gleaned to accept their assurances and went on to the hotel where I slept peacefully through the night.
My flight the next day was at 1:30 PM. Good sense made me reach the airport by 9 AM. I reached the counters with all the radiance of the sun shining outside on Chicago. There I was told on enquiry that they had failed to trace my bag. But I was told that they would look. After waiting for an hour in the line-of-sight of the ground staff, I started asking them again.
It dint help my case that there was another Indian grandma checking in for the same flight with two bags that weighed twice more than maximum. Her son who was trying to send a whole lot of stuff to India was abusing the staff for their rude attitude. So the air was generally on fire. When even after repeated enquiry I couldn't solicit any concrete response from them as to where the bag went, I went ahead and wrote down the name of the lady who was talking to me. I told her that I would have to inform the airline authorities about her for not even trying to find out where my bag went with the pretext that there were "a lot of passengers traveling everyday who carry lot of bags and airline personnel can't personally track each of them". At this point her boss became a little apprehensive and started taking personal interest in the matter.
By this time it was 12:15 and I was getting panicky about missing my flight. Chicago is a huge airport. And there are sky trams which connect between terminals. That was another first for me. I needed at least 20 minutes to get to the departure terminal of my flight. The boss lady got busy firing away instructions to her junior. They all trooped inside the office and god knows what they did but finally they emerged triumphant only to tell me that instead of through checking-in to MAA(Madras, India) my bag was checked-in to MAD(Madrid, Spain) and that’s where it was headed! I was assured (yet again) that I would be united with it in London which was my stopover. I had no choice but to accept this piece of information and head over to the sky tram place because I could only think of that way to get to my terminal.
The place where i needed to get in was out of a science fiction movie for me. Doors kept opening and closing on either side of the enclosure and capsules would keep zipping by. I looked around to see for any mention of the terminal I was supposed to go to. I saw one board on the right which said Terminal X and had the downward pointing arrow mark beside it. For the high-tech-travel-illiterate me this dint make any sense. What is the downward arrow supposed to mean? Should I enter the right door or the left? I stood there and thought about it for a full five minutes. I was too embarrassed to ask anyone there but mustered up courage and asked this to a uniformed lady "Terminal X please?". In reply she just nodded her pointed vaguely and slowly said "Yeah...". And of course I did not understand that! So what I did next was the most hilarious thing. Since the board was hanging on the right side I decided to go into the right door. I arrived at Terminal Y and was left with a question mark. And then I saw another board which said "Terminal X" and the arrow beside it was pointing to the left side! I thanked the Lord for small mercies. Got into the left door and in a couple of minutes found myself exactly where I had first boarded the tram!! I had not realized that I was in Terminal X all the time I was frantically searching for it!!
Well then I ran from there till I found my gate. I was one of the last passengers to board the flight. I spent a tense ten hours to London in despair about my missing luggage. In London, upon enquiry I found that my luggage was indeed redirected and it would board the flight with me. My insistence that I wanted to physically see my bag before boarding feel on deaf ears. I spent another eight hours to Chennai wondering if I would really see my bag. Upon landing, after immigration I ran all the way to the baggage belt and lo behold there it was, my precious huge Green Samsonite bag!

What I like most abt working in Germany

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Is the walk I take to office from the hotel everyday.

Its through nice green patches of land.

It takes me about five minutes and there is absolutely no pollution! I dont have to look out for vehicles.

I can plug in my ipod and sing along loudly for there's no one around usually to care. Even if there are I dont care!

Babe's day out ;)

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So, it was that on a fine european November saturday morning Siri decided to have a day out. She went to Heidelberg and bought herself a ticket at the Reisezentrum to Stuttgart. And what did Siri babe decide to do in Stuttgart? Visit the zoo!She got on the tram which would take her to Wilhelma and padded along behind the others and got in. Inside the zoo babe got to see a whole range of plants and flowers many of which she dint
remember seeing before. There were camelias, chrysanthemums, venus flower and so many others. Once she got out of the glass house she came across another door which said 'Ausgang'(Exit). Here she was left wondering what she should do. How often do you exit from a door only to find another exit and not entry. Or was the door she exited from the entry? With all these confusions in her mind Siri entered the exit only to find herself in an aquarium! Oh what beautiful colours. The fishes were exotic looking. Some looked like meanies, some looked like serial lights, some looked like paper, some looked like after god created them a barber took
over. But their tanks were filled with such nice colours which contrasted them with the fishes that babe was wonderstruck!OOOOO the under water world was soooo breath taking. What was this in the next cage? A python? Snakes! Lots of them. All sleeping. None of them as much moved a millimeter. Then there were lizards of all kinds - chameleons, iguanas, green lizards. Babe dint really like them. So she moved on to see the great crocodile. And what does she find there? One croc sleeping and the other hiding under a bridge. From there babe padded off to see the big animals and on the way found a pond full of dolphins! On going closer she saw that they were only sea lions. Oh those creatures bray like donkeys she thought. But they were well
trained. They were given fishes and were told to do a jig or two and they complied. Things like getting off the ledge and stop begging for fish. Moving on babe came to the ape section. Lots of monkeys and of different types too. Some werent even in cages. They were just in the center of a pond. Are monkeys afraid of water wondered babe. There were gorillas, chimps, orang utans and a whole host of them. But apart from the smaller jumpy ones, all the others were lazing all the others were lazing around. It dint help either that the sun was beating down on all the glass fronts of their enclosures and it was tough to even see them inside. All the more better. What do these tourists think aye?! By this time babe was a little lost but she found a direction-giving board. She cantered off to see the bear and the el'fant. And who does she spot on the way there? Cats! Wild cats all of them. There was the cheetah, jaguar, leopard, tiger, lions and the civet. But all of them were half asleep. The lion kept indicating with a nod and half closed eyes that he shouldn't be bothered. Next to the cats were the deer variety show. The big horned ones, the white ones. All sitting and dreaming. Then babe found the polar bear. Yoohoo. He looked so forlorn. So unhappy. So still. Babe felt sorry for him for his isolation.
A few feet ahead and what does she find. Another polar bear. Oh so that's the story she thought. These two are having a fight again! In front of the bears there were deers and emu from australia. These were busy munching on grass. Atleast they were active and babe was happy. She saw the el'fants. All of them had turned their behinds for display, not wanting to be perturbed by the crowd. And boy did they smell! After all this babe had ran out of patience to visit the giraffe and the zebra. So babe said ta-ta to the animals and got out of the Wilhelma.
What a joke - Siri babe's day out turned out to be the animals' day off :)
You wanna see photos that babe took? Click here

When one went on an outbound with team

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The day began at a very nervous pace for when was the last time one woke up at 6? A push, dash and wash later one was yawny ready to begin the 3 day outbound that one was going on with my colleagues. An hour later than scheduled we were all neatly packed in the AC bus ready for a lullaby which would sound the dong for slumber. Sometime into the journey and there was an uprising among some of us to do better than dream which gave rise to some really dumb charades. A short break of fast later we fell into patterned rounds of card games in which some lost money some won and one other was left holding nearly two packs in his hands in a bid to bluff. We reached the sanctuary by mid afternoon. The sprawling place did not give us any hint of the jungle lurking outside. After a fine meal and some fine falls orchestrated at the hammock the guys found themselves in the pool. They were trying to play some kind of hand football or basketball or fight-for-the-ball. From a giant turtle wading through the waters ball in hand to catfishes fighting for a scrap of ball, it was a complete picture of team work. For some others siesta, shade and cycling beckoned.

One rode the bicycle after so many years and the fact that one could balance on it after a quaky start was enough to have made one's brother proud.

Awhile in the pool for the girls and we got out with the promise of making it more fun the next morning. In the dark night was our project's post mortem. Thankfully it wasn’t as grim as the setting and went on amazingly mature. The end result was such a criss-cross of lines and circles and scribbles on paper that one hopes the genius who created it will not go bonkers un-knotting it! Frantic search around the periphery of the dining hut yielded the place where one could "catch" signal on one's airtel phone. After a call to assure dear ones that one was missing them a lot it was back to having fun.

We went around the place with the fear and also hope that a snake would cross our paths.

When one discovered the futility of this we decided to retire for the night.
The next morning shone its shine with a lot of vigor for this was the first time one would get into a swimming pool. One felt extremely light headed and bodied in the water. Splashing about, playing "Monkey" in 4 ft of water and moon-walking across the pool was amazing. For the uninitiated "moon-walking" is what non-swimmers do in a pool. One of us swam, one of us discovered her fins, one of us grew a swim-wish and one kept cycling in water and felt like a mermaid.

The rest of the day went in training ourselves about something we haven’t quite figured out.

After dinner one group decided to not sleep. And found it very tough to come up with alternatives. Twenty questions was evoked but turned out that one can’t guess one's own trainer's name even using a hundred questions! Then we zeroed in on Pictionary. Now this can be a very gentlemanly game but not with our wild eye gestures and assertion qualities with pencil and some zooky movie names. One could even spot a straw coming out of an ear and going into the body of the sketch of man - and this was the realization of "I". Lateral thinking is all about Pictionary. Or wait is it the other way around? We had a giggly time just laughing at each other's sketches though. While some of them could simply make do with tick marks, some had dashes the size of the word. Hilarious, I say!

The next morning was a regular group photo/individual photo session coz we were returning.

One heard the guys had a blast playing polo in the pool early in the morning. One was fast asleep but one can easily imagine it would be like what was described earlier about the first day.
All in all it was a very nice, laugh out loud trip :)

You don’t need Kerala for rejuvenation therapies!

Hip hip hurrah!