Today morning reached Mangalore from Trivandrum. After a year am back to the place, but it has changed a lot. Not the place, but the people around. It’s just 3 hours after I have reached and I am facing the stark reality of being lonely and also the fact that whatever I left a year back is not there anymore.
But this is life. Tomorrow I might be meeting some people who were there and others who are new and life will continue on its course.
What a hectic week. It all started with my journey back home and ended with me in Trivandrum (atleast now this is the case, not sure about future).
When I started from Detroit, my flight got delayed by 2 hours as there were some problem (good that they found out before it took off). Because of this I missed my connection flight from Amsterdam. At Amsterdam, I was re-routed through Dubai (with stay of 12 hours and that too in night L ) and then to Mumbai. So instead of reaching Monday morning, I reached Bhopal Tuesday morning and got calls from my offshore. Wednesday my Manager in Trivandrum called and asked me to join on Monday L. So here I am, for two weeks in Trivandrum. After this I will go to Mangalore for a week and then will again be taking leaves for two week and go to Bhopal (tentatively 11th Dec I may be in Bhopal till 25th Dec).
Just reached 3 hours back and came to office. Today will be working for sometime according to Eastern Time Zone :P
Worried about subject above? No thats not any new IT related term, but means Back to India :-) Yesh tonight I am flying from Detoit via Amsterdam to Mumbai. After reaching India I am on vacation for 2 weeks and will be in Bhopal till 28th Nov. I will complete exactly one year outside India somewhere over Europe :-)
I would like to inform regretfully that I am NOT getting married :P That is not the reason for my 2 weeks holiday :D (hehehe pple have been thinking a lot here when I told I am on 2 weeks vacation, so just wanted to clarify with you all before everyone starts bombarding me with questions).
So guys whoever is in Bhopal, do let me know your contact details.
Last weekend had been to Canada - Toronto and Niagara Falls. This time, no loooong mail on the trip :-).. Just see the beauty of Niagara and you will know why words will not describe those. Hannaford team went to Montreal also. Its also a beautiful city.. Planning to go there next time..
This week, my quest for Unknown took me to Portland, Maine (Hannaford account where I previously worked is located here). You might be thinking, what is this Unknown, actually I too am not sure what I am looking for or why do I travel so much :-), that's why Unknown. When my search is over, and I come to know abt the Unknown I will let you know abt it with my last mail on my travels :-)
Portland is a place far away from Mangalore but where you can enjoy as much as in Mangalore. Reason is very simple, there are people here who have worked together for years, used to have coffee breaks everyday (twice daily :P) and have gone for trips. We have spent lots of time together and so meeting everyone and spending time again was lot of fun.
This trip was to be sort of secret mission with only Sagar and Nithya knowing abt the plans (since I wanted someone to provide logistics support at the location :P). But the plan was out well ahead in advance. And Sagar got the surprise instead :P. Planning was done in secrecy so as to give Neeru surprise on her bdday which was on 14th May. But she was knowing. Well then also the tip was really a good one :-).
Stranded on Detroit airport's runway and not able to call and tell Sagar and Neeru that I will be late by an hour, allowed both them to see the beauty of parking lot :P. Portland is very nice place, which I saw from the sky. Flying over the Atlantic and with sun setting the beautify of land (with mountains and some lakes and so much greenery) increased manifold. Had reached from Pacific in west to Atlantic in east in just 2 weeks (pretty fast I suppose). Moving out of airport, met Sagar (and he was like just scolding me for not calling that he will be late and also was telling that he was dumbfounded when Neeru gave him news some days back that I was coming to Portland, to his surprise). Went to Sagar's apartment and there met Vikas. For dinner we went for Chinese buffet. Man lots of variety there. Vikas found nice way of getting drunk. He would make crab drink beer and afterwards eat the crab (if you don't believe me, just watch the first picture). We were last people in the restaurant and also got the privilege of seeing how Chinese people clean (it was somewhat scary with all types of sounds coming from inside kitchen). As sounds were getting louder and people coming more and more closer to us for cleaning we decided to move out as none of us except Neeru is karate expert. And we did not want her to destroy that beautiful restaurant :D.
With some more time to 12, we went back home. At around 11.45 we went to Neeru's place. Nithya and Mrudula brought ice cream cake and we forgot to keep it in fridge, so it had started melting. There was no way of "cutting the cake". Neeru's bdday was celebrated in special "spooning the cake" way :-). (Term is coined by me, so please do not start checking the dictionary :P) After cake ceremony, comes most important part of bday. Glowing face ceremony :D. With cold cream on the face skin starts glowing in 5 min and we did painted whole surface area of neeru's face. Mission was accomplished successfully - With threats coming from neeru about not painting her face, we had done a great job :).
Next day, we first went to Fort Williams which earlier used to be US Army's fort. As I had not told about my trip to many people, light house which was getting renovated was not complete (should have atleast told Portland Mayor abt my visit :D). From fort Williams we went to Old Orchard beach and then went home and took some rest. This time at home I saw telegu movie Arya (Songs and dance were great :) ). In evening Neeru told that we will be going to Lake Sabego. Dale also joined us. At the wheels was Neeru and myself - poor chap, sitting and praying in back of the car, but she drove pretty well. After moving around 4-5 cities, we finally reached Lake Sabego - as Dale finally made announcement "I officially announce that we have reached Lake Sabego". Previously we had heard some comments like "We are officially lost" from Dale. It is a beautiful place. Pass through the jungle (reminded me of Mangalore trips) and then reach lake shore. Its so quiet there. We spent some time there and clicked some nice snaps and while coming back we met Mr. (or might be Ms.) Deer. :).
For dinner, we went to Thai restaurant. My first experiment with Thai food. one recommendation - do not order "hot". Let spices be "medium". Hot is toooooooo much spicy. Next day we went for shopping in Maine mall and had wonderful lunch at Sagar's place which was prepared by Sagar (hey Vikas did you helped??) and Nithya and Mrudula.
After lunch time it was time to catch the flight. Well trip was really good. Met most of the HBR gang :-)
"Deekha eik khawaab to yeh silsile hue.... Door tak nigahoon main hain yeh gul khile hue....."
Remember the song from movie "silsila" where they have shown tulip gardens..
This weekend (7th May - Saturday) decided to go on trip to Holland (yeh.. holland.. as in H.. O.. L.. L... A.. N... D.. :-) ).. Whomsoever I mentioned this asked me one thing "What about Visa". So before you ask will tell you. Holland is a city in Michigan situated in Lake Michigan. This city is inhabited by Dutch people and thats why the name Holland. It is no different then any other actual Holland city.. Things are pretty much same.
It is 3 hours drive from Detroit and we started (after some initial delays.. as usual :D) in morning.. This time it is going to be one day trip only..
As Tulip time festival was also starting on same day (Tulip time festival is one of USA'a top festivals to be in. http://www.tuliptime.com/) This festival starts with start of Spring as this is time when Tulips starts blooming.. Its the best time to see tulips without going to well Holland or Canada (canada also has lots of tulips in some cities).....
As soon as we reached the city we started seieng tulips everywhere.. in front of houses on streets..
We first went to windmill islad. This place has an actual original working Windmill imported form Holland (before Holland nationalised windmills which prohibits takking them out of the country). This mill still runs and grind wheat to flour :-). It also was having lots and lots of tulips and lotsssss of varieties and diffreent colors of tulips.. atmospehere was all mela types as we have in india :-).. I tried all my photgraphy skills :P taking pictures of all tulips and all I can take. Besides windmill is a small farm where tehy have lanted tulips in a rows.. just as we seen in movies :-) It was soooooooooooooo beautifull.. Lots of tulips and lots of colors.. Just wanted to pluck some, but kya karoon US main apna indian ishtlye phool toodna nahin chalta hia :P... We spent lots of time in the graden and seeing around the place..
From windmill island we then went to holland downtown. In the city streets they have planted tulips everywhere.. ots around 6 mile routes where we can walk and see tulips all around :-) There was tulip tram service which takes around the place, but unfortunaley (or say fortunaletly) it was all booked.. So we walked around the strrets ourselves :-) There is one Cenntanial Park also where all tyoes of tulips they have planted. We missed the Dance performance there :'( but we were able to take snaps along with some performers :D
It was time to move on to next destination.. "Dutch Village". This place they have put up everything related to holland in small place. good place to experiance how thinkgs work out and how they live there.. how they do things.. here again we missed dance performance :( but were able to see how they make wooden shoes. yes in holland still 1 million people wear wood shoes. It all started some centuries back when they once had scarcity of leather and someone came up with idea of making shoes made out of wood :-). We also saw "making of was candles"... not normal candles which we have but artistic candles.. (last of the pics are of those - taken from mobile as battery of camera got drained out) they make these beautiful candles in just 15-20 mins (before the wax gets cold) and we saw its making from start till end.. they are really fast in making those.. and color combinations and all are really too good :-)..
As sun was setting we have to start our journey back home. But this journey also was excellent one and worth everything :-).... have missed out going to tulip farm (commercial farm - having millions of tulips)..., So will plan again another trip to this great place..
To celebrate occasion of completion of my quarter century on third rock from sun, i decided to go to west coast. This time state being california and place being santa clara (my college friends were here) and san jose (one of my collegue) and both these places being near to San Francisco, a very beautiful place which I will say to be in :-) This trip is important and memorable because I was visting and meeting a friend, a very very good friend, after a gap of almost three years.
Well start was not all that good. While going to parking before my flight to SFO, I missed exits twice and so was wandering and trying to figure out how to reach parking lot. After sometime I somehow reached parking lot and after parking car reached airport. This time at airport did not have any trouble and was through with security check in 10 min. Flight was from Detroit to Charlotte (which is in east coast) and from east coast to west coast. Both flights I slept well so as to cover up for lack of sleep before the trip begins.
I reached SFO at 10 PM (29th April) and Divya, Sachin and Nitika were there to receive me. I was meeting Divya after almost two and half years, sachin for the first time and nitika after two months (had met her in Chicago). From airport we reached Divya and Sachin's home. These people had prepared for my bdday :-). They have brought ice cream cake (hey its still there in the fridge... I forgot to finish it yaar). At 12, I cut the cake or better say ice cream :P and was very happy to not have my face painted. For those who are not aware of mangalore tradition (our tradition), at office during cake cutting there is face painting and at home along with face painting there used to be hair painting and also ear filling ceremonies. So this time it was all clean clean :-) And yeh forgot to mention that no one gave me bumps :-). After cake cutting and off course cake eating ceremonies we all chatted for some time and then slept. To start journey for next day which was going to be continued for two days.
Next day (30th April), Anup also joined us and we all started for the day. Divya's and Nitika's plan to take as many parties as possible was not getting successful. Will tell you as had some occasions where there plans failed :P. First was as we started we decided to go to eat ice cream and when we reached shop it was closed :) As there was still around 30 minutes before it was opening we decided to move on. I was saved at that point but to be later bakrofied next day when they all took ice cream party :P
Our first major sight seeing spot was Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz. Before that had seen, headquarters of many software companies. As name suggest it is very mysterious place and we drove through forests and beautiful mountaneous landscape before reaching this place. In mysterspot, gravitaional pull is bent.. that means it is not perpendicular to earth. but is bent at an angle... so one has to stand slated at an anle other wise you will fall.. We all tried some Matrix stunts :P and also Anup reached my height (only for the time we were in that place :P). Find out more abt the place from http://www.mysteryspot.com/.. Its a nice place to see something unusal and see how physics which we have always studies is not correct at some places of the world and which we are never taught.
After Mystery spot we went to 17 Mile Drive.. man what a place.. its road along Pacific and on the hills are posh houses.. overlooking pacific.. i want one of those. they are so beautiful.. also they have golf course just opposite pacific.. i think fishes willl also now be playing golf deep under water :-) That is so beautiful drive.. amazing.. there are so many beautiful places and spots in here :-)
From 17th Mile drive we went to another longgggg drive... That was on CA 1 (intra state California highway 1).. This highway runs along the pacific coast and gives wonderful view. it has become now my one of the best driving places :-)... Some day will drive the whole strech :-) One side are mountains.. green mountains and other side is pacific.. blue pacific.. it feels so good driving about there.. Drove there for hours and then decided to come back.. While coming back we took photos of "Happy Cows" also (ab jinhein nahin amaloom yeh kya hai uske liye : California ki Happy Coes ka yahan Ad aata hai :P ) heheNow was the movie plan and decided to watch "Kaal".. bus yehi pe maat khaa gaye... saali philum ghatiya nikali :( barbaad movie.. DO NOT WAtCH... Ajay devagan bhoot hai aur wohi sab ko maarta hai.. shaa. kya barbaad movie banayi hia.. in loogon ko aur acchi story mill sakti thi :P
Next day plan was to visit SFO downtown... So we staretd... Crossing various beautiful sities.. Pacifica, Salisuta.. all on teh coast and overlooking Pacific.. All having beautiful houses... All sch that you will feel like spending all yourlife there.. California is beautfiful plac eto live in :-)... First we went to Golden Gate bridge... its amazing.. between two mountains which forms border of Bay and Pacific.. driving over it was amazing.. Tried some stunts also as came out of moonroof to take some snaps.. We walked over the bridge and from there bay area and downtown have good view.. We can also see Alcatrez prison (The Rock fame :)).. there are some vista points on the hills from where we get better view of bridge.. When its foggy. its looks morfe beautiful and bridge will be hidden by fog and we can only see top points poking above fog, but Sunday was clear day..
From there we wnet to downtown SFO.. and to Fisherman's Wharf.. from here starts the Crises to Bay and also to Alcatrez.. Since Alcatrez cruises were sold out we wnet for Bay cruise.. In Bay area there are lot of people foing sailing and all.. Its always full with people doing water sports.. We again went till Golden gate, but this time under it and how magnificient it was.. What a human mind can think and what humans can acheive, these all magnificient peices of work reinforces the felings...Cruise also took us to Alcatrez, we just saw it from outside and did not get chance to explore it or do some Nicolas Cage like stunts :-)
After bay area cruise it was time to see downtown :-) And for that wee took tram journey :D.. its an open tram and indian ishtyle main latak sakte hian :) downtown is built like steps.. sleep hill then a step.. and then again steep hill and that tram took us up and down .. :-) toopk whole journey and back in tram, which was good :-) saw most part of downtown and this beautiful city of artists.. this place surely tells that it has artists in there.. because everything is so beautifull there is one crooked strret as name suggests its serpentine.,, aadhi teedhi.. and on both sisdes are gardens.. pics did not come out.. all are shaky :'(
It was time for my flight and so we came to airport..
it was such a wonderful trip.. wonderful in many ways.. which can't be put as words.. so ma not putting.
Now, before I close this trip details and tell u links for pictures.. here is smalll contest..Count number of times I have used the words "amazing", "woderful", "beautiful" and "wow". Send in your answers and you can win trio to San Francisco *
*Terms and Conditions:Will be discussed after contest finishes :P
Once again I am back with another details of trip which I went for. Well this trip is somewhat different from rest, this will be one of my best and dearest trip forever. Because meeting someone dear to one and that too after many months is very very very... hmm exciting... dunno what to say. This weekend (12-13 Feb), went for trip to Hartford and from there drove to Boston. Well in Hartford lives Piyush :-) and Neeru came from Maine to Boston. So this trip was re-union for three of us and that is why this is so dear to me :-)
This trip plan was instantaneous.. Booked my tickets only on Wed for Friday night and back on Sunday. Well reached Hartford (which is capital of Connecticut) at 11 in night and Piyush had come there along with his roommate Emil. I was meeting Piyush well after some 5-6 months. He has changed somewhat (when you meet you might also find out :-)). From there we drove to his place which is around 30-40 min drive. Friday it was nothing much. Just meeting and talking to him. After reaching called Neeru and troubled her :P. Had to sleep early cos we have to leave for Boston (2 hours drive) and Neeru would meet us at Boston's International Airport. We reached Boston at around 11.
From here actually started discovery of one of best city in US which I have visited (well haven't been to many places, but still I like Boston very much).We came out of Airport and somehow reached Harvard Square. There we parked our car, as plan was to travel whole city by T. After parking car stated our long walk for the day :-). It was very nice weather in Boston that day. Somewhat windy but not cold. We reached T station just to find that it was temporary closed. Oops many of you might be wondering what this T is, well in Boston they call their underground metro service by this name. So went on B ride.. :P no no in Boston they dont call bus service B service, just I call it :-)
We went to Museum of Science. Its a good place to see with different wings segregating models on different branches of science. Just roamed around seeing the exhibits and talking and all.. Manu exhibits we good specialy Evolution of computer section where saw old computers which we have read about some years back :-)
After seeing Museum we took B service till a T station and then we wnet for a ride to shopping mall. Idea was just to spend time and see, and to shop :-) Went first to Copley Plaza, one big mall and also very expensive.. Did lots of shopping... window shopping :P. After some time we got bored so went out from there to another market Quincy market. Now here I have a sugesstion "never go on by names". Since it was Quincy market, we took T from Plaza to station where we would get another T for Quincy Central/Quincy Adams. So we asked ticket guy which station to get down to and you know what he said.... Quincy market is not in these two places. It was at station which we just had passed :P so again a T and back to Quincy market..
It is good place. Lots of people walking. That market was also good.. Just roamed and did some window shopping.. Now it was time for Neeru's bus. So we all started back for bus stand. Went there dropped her and came back to Harvard Square. Now non of us was remembring where we have parked car (well the street name :P) so somehow reached parking lot :D. Journey back was boring because all of us were too tired...... Reached home and then just slept...
Next day was also best of all because we just slept :-) Woke late got ready and started for airport at 3 and by 3 I should have been at airport since flight was at 4.10 . Reached airport at 3.45. After getting boarding pass reached security gate to find a very long line... If I would have stood in that line definately would have taken 1 hour to clear.. Went to start of line and requested a guy to let me in between, thanks to that guy and others behind that I was in line. But here also I just had 15 min.. somehow cleared security check jaldi jladi and ran for my gate.. Reached successfully :-) That lady after cheking it asked me to tie my shoe laces :-) Chalo was in flight so nothing to worry.....
Flight was ok. lot of turbulences and acrobatic stunts (not the ones shown by fighter pilots) shown by our pilot.. And in 2 hours was back in Detroit.....
Well in this trip there is nothing much which I can share, words cannot explain all this trip and also many photos will be ours and not of building and sceneries...
Hoping to have another great trip like this in very very near future......
Again new weekend and again snaps and news from Detroit.... just remembered the song "New day has come".. it should have been.. "Another weekend hasssssss come... "..
All snaps which I have send till now, from this cold place, were in covered and heated places :) Well till now I was not having guts to go out and stand this cold.. Last weekend it was something different. Last weekend we planned to go to Motown Winter Blast (yeh yeh.. it doesn't mean that you will blast winter... I assume it meant winter will blast u :P)... In Detroit. next year they are going to have Super Bowl game (now don't ask me what is that.. I am still confused whether its rugby or baseball or kabaddi :P)... So they are promoting Detroit.. For this the city authorities have planned this event.. Now since city authorities have planned it, so they organized it on their property.. yeh you are right.. on the Roads of Detroit... In open.. its okay till the time its not windy... But to add to this cold, in this part of US we had Storm (snow of course).. which dumped 14 inches of snow in Detroit and more than 3 feet's (36 inches) in some places east.. so if Ramsay brother's decide to make hooror movie they will name it "do gaz baraf ke neeche"....
Saturday we all were at home.. spent whole day as roads were full of snow and the cars were skidding :-) And temperature was somewhere around -15 or -20 degree Celsius....
Sunday came.. sunny day.. but when u go out of home.. its toooo windy and chillyyyyyyy... But still we went out to get blasted by snow.. :D...
Amazing ice sculptures greeted us when we reached there (now reaching there is also a story but not as much interesting so am skipping it :)).... From the start there were beautiful figures crafted from snow... moving ahead some distance there was a loooooooongggggggg queue.. queue was for dog sledge and snow slide.. then we went inside "comfort zone".. actually since it was very cold outside companies (like GM, ford etc..) put up tents which were heated.. so that pple can warm themselves... after warming came out and went to see skating rink,... there even small children were skating perfectly...
saw some more sculpture and also went to a maze (which was such that even if u get lost u can come out :D)... then there was performance in skating rink.. it was tooooooooo good.. some three performance.. it was very good.. how we see in TV.....
by this time my body parts which were not covered.. like nose, cheeks :) all were frozen.. I think I saw some snow on my nose tip :P..... after being there out in cold for almost 5 hours (my longest stay in cold.. ) we came back.. and I was alllllll numb.. my fingers.. my toes.. came to conclusion that my leather shoes are not in position to stand to snow.. :D and that now I am becoming somewhat immune to cold weather.. dunno when I go back to India, I might not feel cold out there at all :D
so that's all from Detroit News channel. keep looking into your mailbox and I will be bringing you more live news from various events right here from Detroit..
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnchhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii (oops got cold it seems :) )...
Yesterday the first auto show of year 2005, the North American International Auto Show was inaugurated in Detroit. All automakers release their new cars and also showcase the cars which will be released afterwards ( a prototype of sort). Also there are "concept" cars on display also. "Concept" cars are basically cars of the "future" :-)
So today we (10 people from Kmart team) went to see that. believe me, I am here since 2 months but this was the first time had gone to Detroit (have been to other corner of US, but not to this corner of city :P).
Temperature was 15 F (u can convert it in Celsius with that formula :P) and it was windy.
Exhibition is at the COBO (yes just short of COBOL ;) ) Convention Hall. While traveling through highway we saw the message that parking in the Convention Centre is full. As we reached near the venue we got parking in the Renaissance Center (which is GM's Global headquaters). From there we took a tram (overhead tram) which connected all the offices and reached the exhibition venue.
It was full of cars and people :-). There we saw lots of cars, new cars which are being released, which will be released and on which companies are working. Saw some costliest cars, one was Merc costing around half a million USD, 465,000 USD to be precise.
Also there was "hummer", this one is also a vey costly military type vehicle. I probably will be buying this one, if I stay here for some 4-5 years or more.... (hmm yeh i know a nice dream :))
it is a big exhibition and you need lots of time and offcouse energy to see aorund all the places. We might have missed many cars (hope that none of good cars or to be seen cars were missed).
One more this which was quite impressive which was in GM area was the water work. Water was faaling from top and it was making design which said Jeep, and GM logos and other thing. That one was too good. But the processing gone to make that thing happen will be too much, the amount of water and all that.. mind boggling.......
yeh one more thing.... here in Detroit they have a International Speedway where they have races and all. So I am plaaning to go in for races when they start. Will report on that sports event as and when it happens.
today a big tragedy happenend :(... after dinner i was sitting browsing, had put all utensils in dishwasher... washing powder got over so i used the liquid detergent....
after browsing quietly for 10-20 min.. suddenly i hear shout from my roomie, i thought he is playing jokes.. but he called me... and when i went out to kitchen to my initial shock whole floor was having foam... actually that liquid detergent had made lot of foam and it spilled out of dishwasher and not it was all over kitchen floor....
after a min, me and both my roomies burst into laughter.... it was so funny... at 12 PM in night we were cleaning the kitchen (with no outlet for water.. we had to clean with tissues... ) after removing foam from dishwasher i again started to remove all water and all.. but again it oozed out foam.. haha that was sooo funny... all utensils which we had taken out, one of my roomie was wahing in bathroom under the shower :P and me and other roomie were cleaning the floor....
learned a lesson:
SO USE LIQUID SOAP IN DISHWASHER (as it cleans acche se :)) but DO NOT TAKE LOT OF IT FOR CLEANING :-)
now our utensils and also the kitchen floor are chakachak :-)
its 12:14 AM and the dishwasher is still under observation as we have to dry out the foam and soap water :)
