Little Moments of Joy

EuroTrip - Day 62

2009-11-17T00:12:00.002+05:30

To the MAN called ANTONI GAUDI

I am not an artist. I don't know the alpha, beta of art. Still let me tell you that Antoni Gaudi's work rocks. He is just too awesome. Yesterday, we had just got a glimpse of his style when we had chanced to see La Casa Batlló. Though we did not enter the place, even the view of the facade was sufficient to make us believe that ki Gaudi ka andaaj thoda hatke hai. Today, it was the time to prove our hypothesis. And what better place to do that than one of his best work - the Sagrada Família. This monumental church dedicated to the Holy Family is the finest example of his visionary genius, the worldwide symbol of Barcelona and the Cathedral of the third Millennium.

Did you say? "A cathedral!!"

Well yes, it is a cathedral. And before you say "not again," let me tell you that this is one place, you should visit even after seeing a thousand cathedrals all over the world. It is one of its kind and it will remain the same for centuries to come.

The work on this historic cathedral started in the last decade of 19th centuries and it continues even today. Gaudi visioned this place to be the symbol of faith. He incorporated his architectural knowledge with a complex system of symbolism. He was able to finish just one (out of four planned) facade in his lifetime. But he had more than done his job with his drawings and models for the rest of the cathedral. He had a huge influence from nature and geometry on his work and it took quite some time for other artists and designers to decipher his rules and style. But since then, the work on his cathedral is on a flow. With incorporation of the latest technologies in building materials and design, this building promises to be indeed the monument of the third millennium.

There are two distinct styles on the two facades that have been completed till now. While the Nativity facade has ornamental work with direct influence from nature, the Passion facade has a rather simple style. The audio-guide does a very good job explaining some of the details. One could write a book about the symbolism used and the way Gaudi has interpreted the various events in life of Christ. The museum has some of his drawings and models and tells us about the vision of the architect. I thoroughly enjoyed this place and would recommend it to everyone. Take my word, even the 11 euro entrance fee should not deter you from entering this place.

Our next stop was to be a temple of another kind - Camp Nou, the house of FC Barcelona. The main stadium in the big complex is the biggest in Europe and has hosted many crucial matches at international level and in UEFA league. But after seeing the Alliance Arena in Munich (what if it was just from the outside), it really was a disappointment. May be it looks good when in night, but when we went it was just ok. The entry to the museum is restricted and charged at 17 euros. And it is not even a guided tour. I guess FC Barca is too big a brand for me. See yea some other time guys!!

Now that we have come so far, it did not make any sense to go empty handed and we did what we could do the best - visit the FC Barca store and buy some merchandise. I am still trying to recall who amongst my friends is a Barca fan. If you are, do leave a comment. You will get an original FC Barca souvenir with love.

It was our chance to enjoy the Barcelona night life but the night had not yet arrived. So we took a long walk along the La Rambla. This street is famous for its street artists and the restaurants and pubs on the both sides. And true to its fame, it had an assortment of arts on display. The street is alive throughout the day but the real colors come out in evening. I am really happy that we decided to take the walk despite our tired legs.

I had been for over a day in Barca but still there were no signs of Jalan. Mr Busy was really trapped in his applications so I had given him the freedom to fix the plan. And finally he planned. We were to go clubbing with him. Those of you who know Jallu, he likes to party. So it was a safe bet. ;) We headed straight to beach side. It's difficult to get entry to free clubs if you are a gang of 7 guys. So we had to resort to an Irish pub. With some random live music in background, this was the best place we could afford to enter at that moment. For the record, I drank the most expensive sprite of my life here. A few random songs and then Jalan and I decided to call it a day. The applications were ringing bells in his head and I had no intention to stop him to cater to that. We had a long talk on a half maggie and a cup of chai (yes no tea, it was chai). Life could not have been more RVish.

It is 3:30 am, well past my bed time and Jalan is still left with lots of application work. So it's better that I hit the bed now and let him burn the midnight oil. I will have my own sets of such nights soon.

EuroTrip- Day 61

2009-11-16T21:13:00.004+05:30

GMBC in Europe

Before I start the day, let me recall the start of this trip. With Bansi and TARDi on their honeymoon trip to Switzerland, three of us 'singles' were left to plan this trip. Out of the available two options - Spain and Switzerland, we had to choose the safest one - Spain so as not to disturb the lovey dovey even by mistake. So what if they don't say it! We know, we have been kabab me haddi (in Europe they call it kebap me haddi) for so long. :D

So Spain it was. We planned to reach Barcelona somehow and then see what to do. Bora and A1 were to join us. But then you know all about these couples. :D

So three of us fixed the plan and made the bookings. A surprise was waiting for us. We were not the only one traveling to Barcelona that night. Ankur, Anit (Bhatinda) and Mallik had also booked the same train and had similar plans.

It was a nice coincidence. The GMBC in Europe (Me, Ankur and Bhatinda) had made plans in India itself to do some trips together. But somehow because of our hectic schedules, we just could not do it till now. And this trip, we ended up on the same train just by chance. If it was meant to be, it had to be. And here we had a bigger larger and livelier gang.

The night journey in Corail Lunea was mostly uneventful except the long chat with Ankur. The train was a little lateto reach Port Bou and we had missed the connecting train for Barcelona. With around 2 hours to spare, we had no other option but to explore the town. And what a morning it turned out to be!!

The beach is less than half a km from the railway station and is very beautiful. Morning sun was shining in full glow to give an amazing warm feeling. There is no better thing to do than eat a nice breakfast on beach front in such a weather. Bread-jam had never tasted so good. A couple of photoshoot rounds and we were ready to board the train. Did I tell you, this small town had its own tourist information office too.

The journey from Port Bou to Barcelona was going to be a long one as we had taken a regional train. It stops at every station and if you are lucky enough the station could be as big as just a platform. A couple of hours' sleep and then game of cards. Time just flies away. Bhatinda taught us a new game called Literature today. A little technical (as the name suggests), this game kept us engaged for a long time. I am sure we will see more of it in our return journey too.

2pm is not the best of time to reach any city. If it was any other city in Europe, it would have meant that you are left with just around 3 hours of sunlight and day fun. However Barcelona is different. This Catalunean capital boasts of an active night life that is outside the clubs and bars. So we had nothing to worry about.

Like a traveler in the mood to relax, we straight away checked in our hostel, freshened up and started the search for a place to treat ourselves with a lunch. Today, we needed more than a subway. We were not in the cold weather of Europe anymore and we could splurge to celebrate that. It took us no time to realize that in Barcelona, you can find a lot of places serving a good buffet menu at around 10 euros. We were hungry and surely it was time to 'raise the bar'. With salad, pasta, noodles and pizza, a drink to go with, ice-cream and fruits as deserts and coffee to end the meal - the menus were just too irresistible to let go. "Eat as much as you want. If the plate is empty, I get more. It's all vegetables. No meat. No tuna. Change your plates, if you want. But you can use a maximum of 102 plates" - talks like this did a good selling and we did what was expected of us. We treated ourselves with the grandest lunch we have had in Europe. For over an hour and half the gang lunched and made best use of the opportunity. RV ke din yaad aa gaye. I am pretty sure, the restaurant guy will never try to sell his buffet menu to any Indian anymore.

If you start lunching at around 3 and eat for an hour or so, you end up eating so much that the next thing on your agenda would be to just take a stroll and/or sit back and relax somewhere. Alas, we were back in tourist mode (as we had very less time - just 4 days - in Barcelona). So we chose to take a stroll around La Rambla and then move towards the cathedral. The souvenir shops in Barcelona seemed to offer lot of new things with lots of Gaudi artefacts. I am sure end of this trip, I will have lots of things to take home as memories.

The cathedral was just-another cathedral so did not take a lot of our time. The market square outside the cathedral did seem to be fun with lots of activities. The street artists in Europe have won my heart. They play really nice music, show amazing stunts and draw amazing portraits and paintings. They do it with a great passion and grace and bring life to these piazza/plazas/squares.

Walking further, we crossed the Gothic quarters. For a lover of architecture that I am, it was not much of a difference from what we had been seeing all the while. Thank God we have PooCh with us. When it comes to Christianity, Architecture and long phone calls, he has no match [PJ disclaimers attached]. So we appreciated the buildings on the way and kept walking. Our manjil for the day (or actually night by now) was to hit the beach. It did not take long, just a couple of detours to see a glimpse of L'Aquàrium de Barcelona (Barcelona Aquarium) and Musée d'Histoire de la Catalogne à Barcelone (Museum of the History of Catalonia). Two places ticked on the Barcelona itinerary.

The beachfront is flocked with nice restaurants and clubs. It's one of the most beautiful beach I have seen so far. Gangs of boys and girls were playing beach football, the restaurants were starting their business and there were couples roaming around with hand in hand. It's a perfect end to a day. The long journey had taken a toll on us so we decided to take a rest for tonight and then hit the city in full enthu tomorrow. The plan has already been changed and we are going to stay in Barcelona instead of traveling to any other city (Madrid or Seville) so we should be able to get a lot more of Barcelona in next couple of days.

ps: Today I showed a remarkable improvements in my cooking skills and made a really tasty pasta. If you have any doubts, you can ask anyone from the gang.

EuroTrip - Day 60

2009-11-16T17:16:00.003+05:30

2/3rd of the EuroTrip completed.
Something special in cooking.
Please wait...

EuroTrip - Day 59

2009-11-11T20:29:00.002+05:30

Tuesday in Paris

One more lazy day. No real event as such. No train travel either (unless of course I don't ignore the journey in Paris Metro).

My experiment to make a aloo sabji met with a cruel accident today. I just do not understand how to handle the butter in the pan. Whenever I put butter on the heated pan, the kitchen gets filled with smoke. Luckily there are no fire alarms in our home, else I would have troubled the poor caretaker atleast 5 times by now. Today, it was to be even more disastrous as I had also put dhaniya powder and lal mirch powder for the tadka. What a tadka it was!! Poori building ko pata chal gaya hoga. Thank god they did not call Police for suspected development of WMD in our kitchen. Anyways, if you can read this blog entry, that is a clear indication that the sabji came out edible. Let me assure that all my roommates are safe too.

Today's Big Management Fads class goes to the purple girl. Our professor has an uncanny sense of humor and keeps the class entertained throughout. I am really loving this class. His way of discussing management tools like TQM and Kaizen is quite similar to that taken by Saral Da. I never realized but I am actually missing my first year classes from IIMA. They were so much fun and insightful. Whenever I try to compare my experience of learning in ESCP with that in IIMA, I find myself favoring IIMA classes with very high odds. Our courses are much more focused and in depth. Their emphasis is on building the basics while here in ESCP the emphasis is mostly on the application and result side. I have been told that in ESCP best of the courses are not offered in English. That means tha we visiting students can take up only the second rung courses. I wonder if this indeed is the case. I really think that we, at IIMA, give a much better deal to the visiting students.

I watched Gladiator last night. It was a treat to watch. I really want to get back to my movie watching days. It's been long since I have updated myself at passionforcinema.com. From the mainstream cinema, I recently saw the trailer of Three Idiots. This picture seem to have all the ingredient to become a hit. Looking forward to see some good commercial bollywood cinema. It's getting released on 25th Dec. I can imagine how hectic my xmas vacation is going to be!

EuroTrip - Day 58

2009-11-11T20:28:00.001+05:30

Monday in Paris

I am clueless on what did I do today. I am trying hard to recall the events of the day. Let me try to make a list of things that I can remember:

1. I got up pretty late (for my standards). I think it was around 9am.

2. I went online and tried to update my blog, replied to mails (well I wanted to, but there were no mails that required my attention) and do some random reading.

3. I tried to finalize the plan for Spain. Went and booked some tickets.

4. Tried to arrange some other off-the-road trips. Spoke to a couple of friends regarding it. I think something will work out soon.

5. Oh yes!! Now I recall. I had a presentation to prepare for the course of Technology Transfer. Me and Pooch worked on it. Finalize the ppt and send to the group. We walked to the college to show the ppt to the prof. He saw it in 2 mins and wished us all the best. Gosh!! I have been waiting for so long to hear those golden words. No more Technology Transfer me for now. It's over. I just can not believe it.

6. Took a random route to return from college. Got lost. Saw a couple of majestic and beautiful gates on the way. The BNP Paribas building was beautiful too. I guess it was their head office for some division. Finally reached somewhere close to Gare Du Nord and then found the way.

7. Fixed up a dinner plan with a french friend who had been to India on an exchange program in last term. I am really looking forward to this dinner now. It will be my first real interaction with French life. I think meri cribs in last couple of posts have been answered by the GodJee. I hope he will pass me too.

Well, it was not such a waste day indeed. It's just that if we don't change a couple of trains in the day, the day remains totally uneventful. Such is our EuroTrip!!

EuroTrip - Day 57

2009-11-09T19:20:00.003+05:30

Mercédès Jellinek

I have received a couple of complaints in last couple of weeks. Here is list them:
1. I am not posting any photos along with the blog.
2. The blog is becoming repetitive and boring.
3. I should reduce the size of the blog as at times I am writing too much of crap.

Well, I accept them with a pinch of salt. I am realizing day by day that I am not a good writer. My vocabulary sucks and every now and then I mix up with my grammar and tenses. And to top that, my short term memory is not doing any good. I accept.

So what do I do now? Should I stop writing? I don't seem to find a way to change much about my writing style anyways. At least not while I am writing most of these blogs on my mobile phone during those long train journeys. I cannot become a writer overnight. I guess I will continue writing this same old crap. You might ask - for whom? The answer to that is - for myself. This EuroTrip is one of its kind chance. I will never get to do it again. I am trying my best to preserve it for myself. So as to look back some day and say - those were the days...

With regard to photo, I have uploaded them in my picassaweb album and tried to give sufficient descriptions. Thoda effort to aapko bhi marana padega, you see.

To get back to my EuroTrip, today It was my chance to visit the Detroit of Germany. Stuttgart - the house of Mercedes Benz and Porsche. This city holds the distinction, along with Mannheim, of being the forefront of development of Automotive Revolution. The four wheeler industry owns its existence to the efforts of people like Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach who spent sleepless nights inventing petrol and diesel powered automobiles in their small workshops to.

Mercedes Benz museum located close to the Mercedes Benz plant in Stuttgart is a tribute to the existence of this company in the small history of the world of automobiles. It showcases the developments in this industry from the point of view of Mercedes Benz as a firm. By capturing the social and technological aspects of the development process, it has done well to give the museum a global appeal. You could not be a Merc fan, still this place has a lot to offer to you. For novices like me, it was a chance to see the best of the best (Merc) cars at one place and get to know more about them. I really loved their take on the world history in last 100 years or so. The exhibits along the ramps have a very different take on the significant events in last century and their contribution to the developments in automobile industry.

They also have a F1 simulator where you can get a feel of what the Schumachers and the Alonzos of this world go through when they drive those cars on those unimaginable speeds. Let me tell you from my experience, Kimi Raikkonen's famous victory in Monaco Grand Prix was a remarkable achievement considering what he could see while sitting inside the car.

One more visit to Mannheim and some more of Boraism. The plan for Spain looks pretty much in place. I shall go and book tickets the next day. For now, I am too tired and these ICE seats are really comfortable to allow me to take a long nap.

ps: A couple of observations/discovery from the day:
1. I saw more Volksvagons, Audis and Citroen cars on Stuttgart roads than Merc or Porshce. I have statistically significant proofs to support my claims.
2. The name Mercedes came from the daughter of a champion salesman of cars made by Benz's company.
3. You can spend a full day in this museum, so plan your trip accordingly.

EuroTrip - Day 56

2009-11-09T19:17:00.003+05:30

Back to Munchen

Munchen is a wonderful city. Full of spirit. This was my third trip to this Bavarian Capital and it has succeeded in surprising me again. The day of Octoberfest, the night of long walk and now a day and night of history and culture - the offerings have been varied. However, they all resemble in one aspect - they are full of spirit. Spirit that originates from this city's Bavarian roots, spirit that come from it's rebirth post WW2.

Last time, I had left some conversation unfinished. Now that I was traveling at my own pace and peace, it was a perfect chance today to continue where we (DJ and Me) left the last time. We got so much involved in our bakar, that we did not realize the time at all. After DJ's marathon bath (yes, it was indeed a marathon taking close to an hour), the gang headed to the Dachau Memorial. DJ's roommates - Satya (Satish), Sushant (SPIRITed man) and Balaji(the married man) had readily agreed to spare their Saturday afternoon to join the gang. I was back amongst IT professional. It was good to be back, I must say.

Dachau was the first concentration camp built by the SS during the rise of Hitler in Germany. City of Munich had played a significant role in Hitler's rise as Germany's Chancellor. This probably contributed to some extent in selection of a Munich suburb as the model for what in future will be the biggest weapon of Hitler's agenda.

Today Dachau stands as a testimony of the misery and plight of thousands of victims of racial discriminatory policies. It is there today just to pass on a message to the coming generations - Never Again. The survivors of this concentration camp have made it a conscience attempt to not let the world forget anything that happened within the bounds of this dreaded place. The memorial has no entrance fee to encourage everyone to get a glimpse of some of the biggest sins committed by the man.

The entrance and visit to the memorial site is planned in such a way that the visitor traverses the path that was taken by every unfortunate inmate of this camp. Enter from Jourhouse (bridge) to reach Roll-call area ( every 'prisoner' was made to stand for hours everyday in the chilly winter) to Maintenance building (their workshops, kitchen and other common facilities) to bunker and barracks (their sleeping place - the 6x3 abode for every prisoner) to religious memorials (that were built after the liberation of this camp), the perimeter fence (the suicide trap) to the dreaded crematorium and Barrack X (where they had the gas chambers) - the path is full of stories of terror and hope. I find myself incapable to transfer the emotions that I went through after reading and listening about each of these places. One of the testimony of a survivor of the camp reads 'It was hard for me to imagine that I was in the same world that I had seen all my life. I am pretty sure it was part of some other world where humanity did not exist.' I can claim to have got similar feelings, but then I am just an observer. The reality is all out there to feel and imagine.

After spending a chilly afternoon in Dachau, I decided to go to Olympic Park while the group went home for their gharelu kaam kaaj (It's a weekend afterall, time to stock up). The BMW museum is just next to the station and was too tempting to resist. However, I just had two hours before it was to close and then I had plans to visit Merc Museum the next day. So I controlled myself and headed straight to the Olympic Park.

One can go up the Olympic Tower through a lift that zooms upwards at 7m/s to take you the platform at a height of 185m in just a couple of minutes. The view from their is unbelievable. It was dark by now and the city was dazzling in its night life. The panoramic view from this tower was remarkably different from the one I saw last time I was here in Munich. There were no churches but big swanky buildings hosting the top of their class offices. The Arena was glowing in a distant corner attracting everyone who saw in that direction. The Olympic Park complex below and the area surrounding is an altogether different world from the one you see in the Merienplatz/KarlzPlatz area. It's a new Munich for you.

This tower also hosts an unusual museum. One for Rock Music. Some rock enthusiast had shared his collection of memorabilia and gifts from fans here. It's a nice watch and can keep you entertained for atleast half n hour. There is an old style juke box too if you want to get nostalgic and listen to your favorite songs.

Alliance Arena - the red dish shaped structure that I saw from the Olympic Tower was to be my next stop. I had been planning to go to this place for so long. It's the home ground for Bayern Munich FC. Today, being a match day, I was really hoping to see something unique that I would not have seen on other days. My luck did not favor me a lot and the stadium was closed by the time I reached. They had also started to switch off the lights. The redness was vanishing in the fog that had engulfed the city of Munich by now. I just could see a glimpse of what this stadium really looks like when it is at its glowing best. I shall come back to this place. To see it once more and feel the spirit that is called the Bayern Munich FC. I have seen too much of those blue colored mufflers in this city today. Everyone is partying to celebrate their win in the morning. They all are high.

Day ended with a pubcrawl - where we visited some of the most popular discs in the town. Alas it was a really long queue at every place and we just did not have patience to wait in the cold outside. Irish club, on the other hand was warm enough to end the day on a nice note. A couple of bears and some nice talks with people around and we were ready to hit the bed. It was a real long day for me. A day when I did things my own way and enjoyed each one of those. I look forward to a great day tomorrow in Stuttgart. Good night for now.

EuroTrip - Day 55

2009-11-09T19:13:00.002+05:30

L.O.S.T.

I have lost a couple of KGs since the start of this trip. The reduced waistline should worry me a little as I had done a lot of shopping for clothes just a couple months back before the trip. But I am the least bothered about it. Ghar jaakar I can makeup for it. What is worrying me now is that I seem to have lost my purpose. I stayed at home for a couple of days (that is apart from the Tuesday and Wednesday when we have our classes) to take a stock of events in my life. It has been two months since I am away from home. It's been two crazy months filled with hectic travel (and some customary visits to college stuffed in between) in length and breath of Europe. I call it my EuroTrip. Filled with its lows and highs, this trip has indeed been a good experience. However, it seems to lose it charm now. I am finding it difficult to prepare myself for another journey following the mundane routine that I have been using so far.

The news from the campus is that the Summer process has been really impressive this year. It's a good sign. Our Laterals and Finals should show a similar trend, we are hoping. My preparation for this 'most important element' of my MBA course is absolutely off the track. I am scared now to think that the decision that I took to enjoy these three months in Europe instead of toiling back there to improve my resume (and ofcourse knowledge) might be a big blunder. I am missing crucial months of my life in IIMA. They could make or break it. If I see the expectations that people around me have placed on me, I really feel now that I should have stayed back there in India.

I have seen a couple of failures in last couple of weeks. In some cases it was a couple of decision went sour while in others it was my own wrongdoing. I have a clear idea about my mistakes now but somehow the corrections required seem to be elusive. There are certain basic changes required in the way I live my life. I am finding it difficult at this moment to think of ways to achieve that. I wonder if some more introspection could help.

I am on my way to Munich now. This time I am traveling alone. That's the best thing that can help me at this moment. I should get some time to retrospect too. There is no fixed path in search of Peace.

EuroTrip - Day 54

2009-11-09T19:12:00.002+05:30

Behind the Lens

And I am back in form. Same old form. A thousand shots and I am there in - well almost none. A total contrast to what others in my gang here would say. I am in search for those picture perfect moments. To convert them to postcards. Nature, history, arts, culture, people - there are so many things to capture. And then if I think of myself, I see only one role - that behind the camera.

Well, I did get a complaint or two that I could not be found on any of my EuroTrip photos. So people do expect to see me once in a while. How do I convince you that I am the same old stuff that you had to see in last 24-25 years of my existence and there is no change. At this moment, I might be sporting a fake looking french beard and wearing a headgear to look a bit more Italian - but then you can guess it well. It's all fake. My skin color is as brown as it was back home (my mom would say as Black as I was in India) and I am the same Indian who likes his chai with lot of milk and eats his meals with his hands and licks fingers sometimes.

As I was browsing through my photos from the start of the trip, I realized that I was doing lot of spy photography (candid sounds a better word though). I have captured so many local peoples in their natural pose. Their expressions are varied and very interesting. I wanted to do a collection on people when they are smoking. I wanted to capture them when they were talking on phone. But then, as time progressed, I realized it was not the right thing to do. Ethical and privacy concerns (there are so many so called private things are well in public here) made me stop doing it. I am still thinking if I should post the collection with the existing photos. Let us see.

My collection of buildings, cars, bikes, doors, windows, railway stations, street artists etc are seeing a good progress. So expect to see a glimpse of a different Europe soon on my picassaweb page.

For now, I have uploaded photos from most part of my EuroTrip. These are the best shots that should give a good idea about the places we have been to. As usual, you are welcome to comment on the photos. It is a really nice experience to read someone else's view on your take on something. Here is the link : http://picasaweb.google.com/8priteshj

FYI, recent updates include - Dachau, Back to Munich, Bruges, Luxembourg, Antwerp, Rome, Milan, Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Annecy, Aix Les Bain, Chambery, Diwali celebrations, Salzburg, Salzburg Ice Caves, Strassburg, Berline, Manheim etc etc...

EuroTrip - Day 53

2009-11-09T19:08:00.002+05:30

Kakke pass hone ke lale pad gaye hai...

That's exactly my situation right now. We had the mid term exam of the International Finance course and now I am praying to god to pass me this time. It's not that I had not prepared well for the exam - I had devoted half a night plus half a day just for the preparation. But then, in such a short duration you could not expect one to read a full text book (that too in a course in Finance). Half hearted measures you know! So now here I am, praying to godjee to save me from the misery. If I fail on the exchange term, that will be the biggest disgrace on my part.

There is one interesting thing that happened during today's exam. The exam was of two hours. But atleast 6-7 guys finished and submitted their paper within one hour. No need to guess the nationality of those quick gun murugans. The entire class was shocked when they saw that all the Indians have walked out as if it was their own parliament.

We are almost done with Tech Transfer Course. The global presentation that we prepared as our submission is supposedly going to be presented to Airbus in a meeting in the next month. So our professor made sure that we work some more on the presentation to make it look more insightful as well as beautiful. One more iteration that is. My affair with the world of Tech Transfer is not yet over.

It's time to take some rest now. I am about to start the process of cleaning up photos and uploading the best shots in my picassaweb album. It's a tedious process but worth the effort. If I don't do it now, I will never be able to do it. Next couple of days, we will spent in Paris itself. The batteries need to be charged, the maps reloaded and the clothes washed. Welcome to the world called homeliness.

EuroTrip - Day 52

2009-11-09T19:02:00.001+05:30

Chai Chai Chai

I miss chai. Rambhai ki adarak wali kadak chai. For the people here, coffee is everything. One cup of espresso on-the-go and they are ready for the day. For most practical purpose, it is their cigarette and not this coffee which refreshes them for the hectic day ahead.

Chai, or thé as they call it in French, here is something totally different. It's more like the way Englishman like it - very little milk and almost no sugar. If you want to imagine what I am talking about, do this. Take a cup of hot water. Put a tea bag and make black tea. Add a teaspoon milk and half a teaspoon sugar to it. Stir it well and enjoy. Now, for kitli-types like me, calling this chai is like an insult to the magic potion.

I am really missing those golden days in campus when Bangiii or Dhruv would come shouting if anyone was up for chai. The short walk to gate and then long discussions over chai at the kitli in front of the gate made it a special day everyday. Just a few days more and I am going back to this routine. Guys at GMBC, you still are doing those rounds right?

You might ask how come I recalled chai and decided to write about it. The answer to your question is that it was the lady that we met on our train journey from Strasbourg to Paris CDG who made me do this. Miraya (I am not sure about the spelling) or Mira as she is known as when in India, was on her way to catch a flight to Delhi. She came from nowhere and amazed us in the next two hours with her hindi and amazing knowledge of India.

Mira has traveled to India multiple times in last couple of years. She has traveled to -hold you breath- Mandu, Dwaraka, Puri, Gokarna (plan for this time) and places like this. Amazed right? No Goa, no Mumbai, no Delhi etc. For most of the foreigners, knowledge of India starts at Bangalore (The IT hub, city where most of their jobs are going) and ends at Goa (cheap daaru and dawai). They might also know about Mumbai. But that's it.

For the traveler kinds like Mira, it is something different though. She did her first trip back in 2003 with the help of Lonely Planet. But instead of going to some popular destination, she went to Mandu and stayed there for a couple of month to get a hang of India. In return she taught French to the owner of guest house where she stayed.

Her next trip was off the routes given in LP. Those places are too much touristy kinds, she complained. Incidently I had similar complaints for some European cities. So it was Dwarika, Puri and other such places. She found 'peace' and loved the beauty of Indian temples. Before you think, let me clarify - she is not a volunteer with any missionary. She went to these places out of her interest. To keep herself going, she took up teaching jobs and helped poor students with her english (A french lady teaching English in India!). She learnt Hindi to be able to communicate with those students.

Indian railways gave her comfort of cheap travel as well opportunities to see India from close. She learnt to travel like we Indians do. The sound of 'chai chai chai' and the 'chane jor garam' is what she missed the most from her train experience in India. We couldn't have agreed more. It is just too silent on these European trains.

And the next two hours, it was like going through a list of things that we have been missing and have been wanting to do as soon as we reach India. Idli sambar, Samosa, Chai, Mohan-thal and what not. She knew ilaichi and besan. We could not have asked for more. There was no way we could not get nostalgic. We really miss home now.

Now coming the most important part of the whole episode. Today a french lady came and told us about our culture. Will we be able to do a similar thing to some French person? I wonder if our answer can be in positive. We have not yet explored anything beyond the 'bonjour - long legs short skirt - always cigarette' culture in France. We better not dare to say this to anyone.

EuroTrip - Day 51

2009-11-08T03:09:00.003+05:30

Bruges Once More?

It was a long night. Italian, Swiss and German police do not leave anything for chance. So you go through passport checks at least three times in one night. If you are lucky you might get more of such encounters with the police (even if you had not asked for it).

Roma to Munchen is a busy train so our 9 euro reservation was worth every penny (or should it be cent?). We did have a place to sit this time. It's ironic that so far whenever we traveled without reservations, we got more than one seat per passenger and the journey was full of comfort. However, last night we just had to sit in a jam packed compartment (i.e. all the 6 people present).

There is nothing more interesting for me these days than to put on my ipod and write my blog while in train. Sleeping, of course, is favorite too but comes handy only when either me or my mobile is tired: Today, I was too tired to miss an opportunity of a long sleep. So I slept. A long, but not so peaceful sleep. It was a night filled of realizations. To know a lot of new things and to think about some of them. Reality check in my dreams? I don't know. What I know is that I am well on my way to change certain things. It's inevitable now.

Our bad luck with reservations on train to Paris continued and three of us (Me, PooCh and HotTiii) got stuck in Strasbourg. Instead of reaching at 2pm, we were now to reach only by 9pm. That too by changing a couple more trains. Nothing can beat luck and some hasty decisions. Suffering was inevitable.

With five hours to spare, we decided to do some random sightseeing in the town. The old town of Strasbourg has done well to preserve its heritage. Houses there are a testimony to the rich culture that this city inherits from the past. There are a couple of canals that flow through this side of the town. The beautiful reflections (of the buildings and the trees) that you see in the clear water of these canals should be a photographer's delight. It so much reminded me of Bruges. Calm and serene.

As typical with any city in Europe, there is one big cathedral in the center of the town. If you want to take a wild guess on the name of the cathedral, place all your bets on Notre Dame. You have very high chances of winning the bet. Inside, it is like any other cathedral. But with one difference. It gives a very good description of the paintings and art work. The emphasis is on linking those to the teaching of Jesus. Interestingly, this is the first cathedral, that I have seen in Europe, doing that. The cathedral has a giant astronomical clock too. There is a documentary on the same shown every day around 11am followed by an opportunity to see the clock in action at the noon time.

The time seemed to have slowed down a bit. We were still left with more than two hours before our train to Paris CDG. I saw a Virgin Megastore and remembered my SRM classes. Prof PK Sinha had done an amazing job teaching us that subject. This was the opportunity to see some of those learnings in action. Virgin Megastores are huge shops selling everything from Music CD/DVDs to computer accessories to Books to stationary. It's a whole world out there and you can spend hours browsing along those endless isles. Guess what did I find? They had K3G playing in one of those terminals for listening. SRK and Yash Chopra rocks, I must say. :-) With their scale and format, it was very difficult to soak up a lot about the retail aspect of their business in just an hour or so. So after putting some effort, I had to give up and resort to the window shopping mode. The new compilation 'This is it' on Michael Jackson's work is superb. Do give it a try if you are an MJ fan.

The journey back home was to be done in two phases - first a TGV to Paris CDG airport and then an RER from there. Thanks to our EuRail, we won't have to pay anything for the RER. We reach home in night. Hopefully warm homely food will be waiting for us at home (thanks to TARDi and Bansi).

Let us see if we are really that lucky?

EuroTrip - Day 50

2009-11-03T03:48:00.001+05:30

The Roman Story

I don't know why the day started on a low note. I had a really long and comfortable sleep and got up refreshed. Still the feelings were quite mixed up. I vaguely remember a dream from the last night and it might have the clue. I spent a lot of time wondering about it and ended up calling home. There are some days when I miss my family badly. Today was one such day. Talking home did help a bit but then I think I need something else. It's been a long trip to say the least and may be a break is the need of the time. Tomorrow we reach home. I am looking forward to it.

I have started predicting things about what we would do and why we would do it. I tested my skill once more today and it worked perfectly fine. With the kind of mood I have been today, I could not have done anything better. Rome is not the right place to be in such a mood. There is so much of history in Rome that if you hit any stone on the road it will start telling its Roman story.

My love for history does not go beyond last 100 years or so. So while in Berlin I loved the stories and really cherished it, here I got bored with Roman history very soon. It's too old and too complex for me. I had to find a better way to get myself going for the day. The respite came in the form of the sunny day with a beautiful blue sky. So while others saw history and architectural marvels, I cherished the colors in the sky. The interplay of sunlight and shadow with these buildings was a treat.

For record, we walked through the Roman Fora (Forum) and saw the Palentino. Just across the road we saw the Capitol. Later taking the same short route as last night, we reached the Pantheon. Once a pagen temple, this place later become a church. With the biggest un-enforced (totally no support except at the periphery) dome, this church is an architectural marvel. One would wish there were a little less tourists so as to have some peace at places like this. Sometime I think I am the only one looking for some peace.

HotTiii's guided tour continued covering the Fountain of the Four Rivers, the Presidential Palace and a couple more towers and historical churches. There are just too many of those big churches in this town. You take any road and you will see one big church there.

Now we are on our way to Munchen. We reach there in morning and then try our luck with the train reservations for Paris. Praying to god that we get some way. The exam on Wednesday requires preparation of more than a day. :-(

EuroTrip - Day 49

2009-11-03T03:47:00.004+05:30

Rome Was Not Built In A Day

The bad thing about gambling is that you are bound to win in the first chance. The beginner's luck is a very strong force. The second attempt is your own luck. It is the third game where you actually face the real odds.

We had never faced any issue of trains running full till now in our trip. So the new rule of the game was to just board the train. If the reservation is asked for, we get it done on-board (it's possible in most of the European trains). Or if the TT is generous, we do some saving.
Our just-take-it-easy-train program has worked for us every time with an exception of the last night.

What a night it was! The early sunset meant that we had less things to do in evening except taking a good long walk along the canals and then take some rest. The train-train game killed another two hours before the mid night train.

The real pain started in the night train for Roma. To our bad luck the second class seating was almost full so me and TARDi were left in the corridors to spend the night. It was long and chilly night. With people entering and leaving the train at every hour or so, there was no sleep. The broken door didn't help either and kept the so called 'air-conditioned' coach a lot more chilled than the usual. The six hours that we spent sitting and standing were the longest in the recent history (that night in Oslo was another such night). What a respite it was when the train reached Roma Tributina. We were the most happy people in the town then. :-)

Outside India no city wakes up at 6am (heard this from a christian Benedict today - 'why should I get up at 6:30 when the God himself has not bothered to switch on the lights!'). So we had to play one more round of train-train game. This time the trick failed. The train we boarded lacked all the amenities and that meant we had to get down from it at the first possible chance. We did it at some random station with a plan to take the return train. The free WC at the station came out as a boon and we spent more than the intended time at the station. End of it, we were all set to roam in Roman roads.

Roma Termini station, like any other station in Italy, does not have left luggage lockers so only affordable option is to carry your bag with you everywhere you go. We decided to check in the hostel that we had booked for night and leave our luggage there. The hostel looked good. Hopefully we would have a long relaxing sleep end of the day.

The first few things that will come to your mind when you think of Roma will be the Colosseum And the Vatican city. Our itinerary for the day included both.

The Colosseum is as beautiful as you have seen in the pictures. Grand and magnificent - this building was kind of an entertainment place for Roman kings and the public. A must visit destination if you come to Roma. However I really did not find worth the money (it costed a full 16.5 euros for the entry ticket and the audio-guide). The audio-guide is rather short on descriptions and the directions inside are confusing. You can never be sure if you are standing at the right place that is being described on the audio-guide. A good watch of the movie Gladiator should be a better way to know about this place. So my suggestion is to take a picture outside and proceed to next place on the list.

Vatican City as you know is a country in itself. However you don't need to go through any passport check to enter here. Just walk in. The handsome Swiss guards (damn!! they can any day model for any fashion brand) won't bother you unless you are really off the track. The historical St. Peter's Basilica in the center of this Roman Catholic world is free for anyone to enter and is a good visit. They have put descriptions for the paintings and the statues and they serve as a good guide to understand the significance of the artifacts. The Sistine Chapel, the Dome, the Vatican Museum and couple more churches - there are too many things to do in The Vatican. Did I mention it's all about 'him'. And we already had enough so the troupe marched for our next destination.

Thanks to PooCh's 'initiative' we were to visit a pizzeria called Pizzeria da Baffetto that he had read about in LP. From the first look itself, the place looked like an old-timer's love. People came and were rested by a proud owner in his 'friendly' way. The highly cramped pizzeria was center of activities for rebels during the war time. Now it's a mecca for pizza lover who swear by its super thin crust charred from side pizzas. Mind you this was our first chance to dine in a restaurant so we were quite apprehensive. The menu had decent choice for vegetarians at affordable prices. So we placed our orders and waited to be served. Like other popular destination food joints, people come here to belong here (or to say they come here just for that been-there-done-that feeling) and of course for their food. The pizzas arrived in more than hour. The wait was a little longer to my comfort (I had not slept the previous night) but then I had chance to do my favorite pastime - watching people. Families on their dine out Saturday with kids for whom it might be their first visit. They will come again and again in future. Or the couple on their first or second dates who had to share the tables with other elderly couples. The elderly couples were surely reliving their old days. And there were many more like them. Amongst them were we five Indians. One of us said 'let's play cards.' Other the Yes-man guessed the single and family pizza size won't be a lot different because their price differed by only 0.5 euro. The third one liked the place as soon as we entered and the forth one was busy reading something from his mobile. And the last man sitting - me. I was sitting silently. You might have guessed it long back. :-)

Unarguably one of the best pizzas we have had so far. LP's promise holds on one more time. And then there was the feeling of having been there. The queue that had lined up outside the restaurant boosted our ego. We were there. The return journey was bound to be pleasant.

There is one thing we all have learnt by now. When the map is in HotTiii's hand, all the monuments in the city tend to fall on the shortest possible route to our destination. Tonight it was turn to see the best of Roma. We saw the Capitol, the Pantheon, the Castel Sant'Angelo and numerous other churches and historical Roman buildings 'on the way'. Keep walking - that's the mantra when HotTiii is leading your way. We cannot complain here because with his map skills, sense of direction and his never ending enthusiasm to do guide-giri has been a boon to our EuroTrip. Give him a map and he is all set to rock. The trick here is that the map also keeps him busy to an extent so you can have some quite moments around.

The hostel room matched the image that we had formed in the morning. With 2 bunker beds and one normal one, it was like a gift from the heaven. I did not bother to wasting anytime and slept off immediately. It's going to be a bathing day tomorrow. :-) I am so much looking forward to it.

Roma has been a good experience. A lot of firsts - first dine out in a restaurant with service, a night stay in hostel, authentic pizzas and a chance to visit the center of a religion. I am looking forward to date with some more of Roma tomorrow.

EuroTrip - Day 48

2009-11-03T03:47:00.003+05:30

Venice ki galiyon mein

The most popular mode of public transport in Venizia (Venice) is boats. With so many canals passing through this island city's every part, it is bound to be so. As soon as you get out of the main railway station (Venizia St Lucia) you are greeted by one of the big canals. Crossover to the other side to see some different island (yes there were many island that formed Venice) or walk with the tourist flow to some place on the same island. The tourist information office does not bother to give free maps to the city. It is quite understood considering -
1. The city does not have a unique address mechanism.
2. The real fun of roaming in this city comes from walking in some random direction, getting lost and then finding the ways back (of course there are some popular tourist attractions such as churches, bridges etc too for the tourist types).

With our kind of traveling the only option in consideration was to do a long random walk to the city and soak some of its spirit. As usual Mr. HotTiii took the lead with the help of dummy map on the pizza box (it does not matter as long as it is something similar to a map).

Venice is made for tourists, or that is what it will make you believe if you travel through the popular tourist attractions. There are shops selling souvenirs, restaurants offering authentic cuisine and gondolas offering a royal trip through the canals. One interesting thing, pick up any visiting card from one of these places and turn it over. You will find a little map that will help you reach the place. That's the way addresses are written in Venice I guess.

Venice is famous for its masks and mural glass work. Do give a visit to some shops to explore these arts. I found them really interesting and creative. Wish I had a chance to go see them in making (there are some workshops in the tourist districts itself, but as usual finding them is a tough task). Do bargain if you want to buy any of those. You might get to hear some nice stories in return too.

The Rialto Bridge on the grand canal is the center of attraction. The number of couples in liplock near this place gives some hint to its romantic image. Don't be disappointed if you don't get any such vibe. Italy is a country where passion always runs high.

St. Mark's Basilica is a big crowd puller for this grand cathedral has a totally different style from the other big ones in Europe. The gold paint work gives a out of the world appearance to the building. It is different, to say the least.

The sea passes close to Piazza San Marco (St Mark's square) and you can see Lido and other popular places across in the water. We were too tired and hungry to go all the way there (did I tell you that even Venice does not have luggage lockers!) so we started our walk back. We were lost. But we did not complaint. That is what we jaded intended to do. A couple of attempts to get to the only McDonalds in town and we found it.

McDonalds are our pit-stops these days. A short break for rest and we were ready for our search for food. Billa came on the way so we paid our 'customary visit' there too. We had tried some nice authentic thin crust Margarita pizza in the morning. So the same place served our dinner too. By 5:30 the sun sets and it is cold in Venice. So we had to resort to a quick random walk towards the direction across the bridge and then come and take shelter in the waiting room (interestingly, they have a nice heated waiting room on the station). Our train for Roma leaves almost at midnight. So there is lot of time before we get some good sleep. Till then let me charge my phone somewhere.

EuroTrip - Day 47

2009-11-03T03:44:00.005+05:30

To Give Up Or Not To Give Up

Today was one of the most gibbup days of this trip. We landed in Milano to catch the train for Firenge (Florence). However the search for reservations took more than expected time and we missed the first train. With almost 2 hours for our disposal, we decided to take a tram tour of the city and boarded the tram going to the central part of the town. Last night, it was an horrible experience with atleast 4 passport and tickets checks at different hours of the night. Tired we were, we hardly looked outside the tram to get a preview of the city.

Only good thing happened when HotTiii informed us that we were pretty close to the famous cathedral so we decided to get off the tram. The cathedral was indeed across the corner. The big cathedral is like the one in Koln and Wien. With numerous conical pointed towers and highly ornamental design outside they are a total contrast to others in Europe. The large cathedral is surrounded by numerous other historic buildings. A quick look at them and we were off to catch our train for Firenge.

Another three hours in the train and we reached Firenge. Our destination was actually Pisa so we had to change one more train and spend another hour on train to reach there. Finally after reaching Pisa, we headed straight to the leaning tower. The long walk through the 'shortest possible route' took quite some time and by the time we reached the tower, the sun had started setting.

Here is my boring view on the leaning tower of Pisa. One should go to this place just to get himself photographed in front of the leaning tower. The gibbup tower is not giving up its wish to stand tall amidst the ruins. There is nothing great to this place otherwise. As I look back, it was never a place I should have come. Somehow the tour-planning did not leave us with any other way. So I here I crib about it.

Another hour in train and then a couple of hours of wait at the station. Before taking the local to a suburban station to wait there a couple more hours. Damn!!! It was a fucked up day filled with long waits and train journeys.

Guess what!!
For the record, we covered three cities in Italy - Milano, Firenge and Pisa.
While Milano had very little to offer (we are really tired of European cities by now), Firenge is a good place to explore some art. There are a couple of nice museums dedicated to art and history. There are a couple of nice scenic villages near Firenge so you can just go offroute and reach some good place. Alas we did not do anything like that!!

Hoping to see a better day tomorrow.

PS:
1. In my views, Pisa and Milano can be avoided and instead one could do some countryside tour in Italy. It will require a great amount of planning, though.

2. Italian girls are hot. Their fashion sense is amazing. I guess finally I have found the challenge for French and German girls. The boys here are handsome too. Their style is unmatchable and should be a good treat for anyone interested.

3. The train network in Italy is bit more confusing than anywhere else in Europe. One can never be sure about where the reservation is mandatory. Take your chances if you are not looking for the comfort.

EuroTrip - Day 46

2009-11-03T03:44:00.004+05:30

The Wall - Part 2

The German Reichstaggebaude (parliament building) is open to visitors. Anyone can visit this highest senate in the country and see its proceedings. The big dome at the center of the building is open to public and gives a splendid panoramic view. Most importantly it gives a glimpse of the proceedings of the parliament in the lower floor. One can see the central hall where the senators and other elected representatives from the entire nation sit and discuss various policies and issues. They say transparency is the ultimate goal of a democracy. The German parliament literally makes its working transparent to the entire world. Whenever the parliamentarians look up, they see the public watching them from the top (dome). It is a reminder to them that the Public is above everything. It's a really nice and informative visit that this parliament offers to the tourists. The long queue of the people waiting to enter the parliament is a testimony to the kind of experience one must expect inside. It's worth the wait if really can spare some time in the queue. Go there in early part of the day or very late to avoid the rush. For the record, this building has a long history as the center of German political system. Do read up the beautiful brochure that you get for free during your visit.

Post the parliament, it was time to go back to the Holocaust Memorial. The audioguided tour is really informative and shows you the life of the Jewish people who had to suffer for decades. A must visit for anyone who has read about or knows even a little about World War II.

The Stasi (East Germany Secret Police) somehow continued where the KGB limits would have ended in the post war Germany. Their fear was a means of keeping the public under control. There was no controls on this organization whose main objective was to fulfil the orders from the high command. Their motto was "Schild und Schwert der Partei" (Shield and Sword of the Party), showing its connections to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). There is a museum dedicated to their existence in Leipzig (which incidentally was its head quarter). Berlin is currently hosting a temporary exhibition cum museum to talk about them. I was really enthu about this place while others had other preferences. So the group split up and we all went our own ways. The Stasi museum had nice exhibits, most of them were only in Germans however. It left more to be explored than anything else. If I get a chance to go back to Leipzig, I am surely visiting the museum there.

I had left the exhibition at Check Point Charlie incomplete the other day. So I got some time to finish that too. At 7pm our train for Milano was to leave, so it was pretty much the end of our day in Berlin.

Everyone has told so many things about traveling in Italy - some good, some bad. I hope our trip ends up with lots of pleasant memories. With this, I sign off for the day and board the train. Kal ki subah ham Italy me bitayenge.

EuroTrip - Day 45

2009-11-03T03:42:00.002+05:30

The Wall - Part 1

So it was Berlin and not Praha that would give us more of World War and the Jewish history. Our journey to Leipzig was rather comfortable and that ensured that we were much better prepared for the long day ahead.

Josen and Rajdeesh were our hosts at Leipzig. God! What a grand mansion they have got as their hostel. Their room is as big as our entire house and it also has a very good view outside. One odd thing - the toilet does not have a door and a curtain does the honor of keeping one's honor saved. "We work on trust basis," said Rajdeesh about his experience in living in such a setup. Interesting it is!

Anyways, it was not difficult to extend the trust and take a nice refreshing bath (you will hardly find a mention of such a thing called 'bath' in our EuroTrip. It's a rare event that takes place depending on the availability of washroom facilities). Rajdeesh - the cook, treated us with a breakfast that we will not remember for years to come. Garma garam Aloo Gobhi with Bread. The taste - authentic punjabi. Rajdeesh is an expert cook, I must say. We heard that he has already impressed quite a number of people (you know what I mean) with his cooking.

When the day starts on such a high note, the rest of the day is bound to be pleasant. With this hope we boarded the ICE train for Berlin. We had plans to do the Free Walking Tour offered by New Berlin Tours (a branch of New Europe Tours) and then spend the remaining day just roaming around in the city.

Berlin HBF (main) is one of the most modern railway stations I have seen so far. With at least three above the ground levels to host platform, its design is very futuristic. Situated close to the Reichstaggebaude (Parliament Building), this is a good visit to get a glimpse of German prowess in engineering and architecture.

The Free Walking Tour starts from outside Starbucks on Pariser Platz and lasts around 4 hours. A young history and travel enthusiast takes you around the most significant monuments telling you stories related to their past.
Our man Jack had come to Berlin to be a musician but ended up doing this guide-giri. He started the tour with the history of Brandenburg Tor (Gate), showed us the American Embassy, DZ Bank and the world famous Hotel Adlon. A quick recap of German history and we were ready to see the most significant monument in Berlin - the Memorial to the Murdered European Jews (it used to be called Holocaust Memorial till recently). This memorial is dedicated to those 6 million jews that lost their lives in war era. It's meant a reminder to the mass (every common man that comes here)and the class (the businessmen who have offices across the road in those plush business districts, the politician who are on their way to the parliament and other dignitaries in the various embassies) of the things from the past that should never be repeated. There is an information center below the memorial that talks about the events and life for Jews in those tough years. It's a graphic presentation of the Jewish persecutions during the first half of this century. We would come back to this place to listen to its heart wrenching stories once our walking tour is over.

A quick walk around the place where once stood the bunker of none other than the man himself - Adolf Hitler (now there is a car parking at this place where once stood the most secure underground bunker, where he spent last few days of his life before committing suicide by shooting himself) and we were ready to see the Ministry of Ministries. This building hosted most of the important administrative functionaries pre and post the war time. Today it hosts the dreaded tax office.

Berlin wall is the high point of this walking tour. What you see as the remains of the historical wall does not tell you anything about the role it had played in life of millions of Germans. Today, it is just a thin wall, reminding everyone of the dreaded past. Most part of the wall were broken down in the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall. The remaining ones are protected, today, by iron meshes as the locals had started selling chipped out parts of the wall to tourists as a souvenir.

Walking along the wall (or actually the remains of it) we reached another milestone - Checkpoint Charlie. This was the third strategic link between East and West Berlin during the wall years. There is really informative photo exhibition placed along the pavements leading to this square. That should give a good glimpse of the years before and after the wall.

The walk continued through the more historic buildings - the Bebelplatz (book burning memorial), university, French as well as German cathedrals, Opera house, German history museum etc and ended up in front of Pergamon Museum on the Museum Island. As promised I won't bore you with this part of the history.

In the end, Jack told us an interesting story about the events of the day when the Wall actually fell. A really nice end to a superb tour. As usual, one was free to tip the guide as per his wish. We did the same and took leave from Jack. We might join some other gang of Free Walking Tour in some other city soon.

A long walk along the Unter den Linden showed us a fashionable avenue of the old Berlin. On the way we passed through the Car Mall which has showroom by Volkswagen and other biggies. I am not a big car freak but I must say that Buggati is a real beauty.

We had enough time for one more stop before taking our return train to Leipzig. The Memorial for the Murdered European Jews was the natural choice. Alas it was about to close and we just could see the first two rooms only. We plan to visit it once again tomorrow and get the best of it with the help of the audio-guide.

The journey back to Leipzig was a rather short one as all of us were just thinking about the Indian food that Josen and Rajdeesh had promised us for the night. We found the Punjabi Pizza place after a little effort (my sincere thanks to the guy who volunteered to guide us. He came from nowhere and asked 'Do you need some help?' while we were lost at one square). It took very little time in placing the order - paneer matar, malai kofta, punjabi chole and dal makhani. Not to forget the roties. It was going to be one hell of a dinner. Everybody jumped at the food as soon as it arrived and ate as if there was no tomorrow (Of course tomorrow we had to go back to same old bread-jam-subway diet). The food was yummi. And most importantly it was Indian food. We have been rather lucky with food on this trip. This was the third time we had Indian food. And to our good luck, it was really yummi every time.

A long trip-planning session followed the dinner. We aim to visit Italy tomorrow night so a little bit of research and booking efforts were required. A good planning meant that we could sleep well. A long day filled with world war history was waiting for us tomorrow in Berlin.

EuroTrip - Day 44

2009-11-03T03:40:00.002+05:30

In Search of Rest

Spoiler Warning: Nothing significant to talk about today.

It is a Monday (26th Oct) today. So it means that many places of tourist interests will be closed today. And it is the National Day in Austria. Which means that it is holiday time for all the Austrians. They will be out there on roads. Celebrating the spirit of their nation. They will crowd every monument that is even remotely close to their heart (read every damn place in the city). Finally the most important of it all - we are finally really tired in this leg of EuroTrip. It's been almost a week since I have slept properly or taken a bath. Continuous walking in the day, evening at the station waiting hall and night in the train schedule is taking it's toll on us. None of us spoke about it explicitly but this fact is not the easiest one to hide. Today, from the word go we all looked tired and were in search for some rest. So the first thing we did was to take some more rest in the waiting room as 6am is anyway a real really time to reach any town. The half-charged us got ready as the clock clicked 8am and we left to see the city that is called Vienna or Wien or Vien - the karmabhumi of Mozart and Beethovan.

The central part of the city hosts the Imperial Palace and the MuseumQuartier and it should be the starting point of any trip that intends to cover Vienna in one day. The tourist information (TI as HotTiii calls them now) center is located just opposite Albertina and gives the required assistance in a really friendly manner. Our walk started from right outside the TI and as around that corner the State Opera is located (By now, you must have realized that every city in Europe has a opera). It has regular shows and guided tours but we are not the Opera type people.

From the Ringstrasse (the central ring), we moved towards the St Stephen's Cathedral. The road has the who's who of luxury brands and local brands competing with each other. Some of the grand old buildings have been transformed into these luxury outlets while other still hosts some places of cultural interest like the Museum of Fine Arts.

St. Stephen's is another world renown cathedral. It's architecture is similar to the one we had seen in Koln. The narrow towers ending in a sharply angled conical top. The 130m high main tower overlooks the whole of central district. Inside, it's quite chaotic (I'm sorry to say but this was the most chaotic place I have been in Europe). The walls are decorated with hundreds of golden artifacts symbolizing some old stories. With the flood of tourists around you, it's really difficult to get a feel of this place. I did not find any peace inside so came out quickly. To my surprise, it was the same feeling for others too. Sometimes I feel we should let these places be themselves instead of being some major tourist attraction.

We crossed a couple more churches and other historic buildings (there are hundreds of them in every city) to reach the entrance of the Hofburg (the former Habsburg winter residence). This place also hosts the museum dedicated to life of Sissy (Empress Elisabeth).

As it was the Austrian National Day, their army was hosting a function for the aam aadmi. They showcased their skills and their life and let everyone get a feel of it. It was a time when a cycle riding guy gets to see inside the cockpit of the fighter helicopter, or a 5 year kid enters the fighter tanks. Most importantly, it was a time when the people whom these armies are guarding get to see how are they so much safe and protected. There was a small reality check when one of the officer told me 'It's a national holiday. Everybody takes rest. Nobody goes to work. Except us!!' The price you need to pay for wearing that uniform is really high.

A power nap in the garden in front of the palace was followed by the long walk to the railway station. Somehow, the Monday morning blues were not ready to leave us. A couple of museums that we would have loved to watch were closed so it was end-of-day-in-Vienna for us.

The plan was set that me and PooCh will take the 5pm train to Praha while the others will leave for Berlin. For me, there was too much of Praha left to be explored. The plans looked perfect but the execution failed. We missed the train because we could not understanding the connections between UBahn, SBahn and Trams. The next train would have left at 6pm but then it would have been very late by the time we would have reached Praha. So we had to change our plans and decided to join the rest of the gang on their train to Berlin.

The sun sets at 5pm and by 6pm the city nightlife starts blooming. All the buildings glow with a shine that is hard to miss. In Europe, they do it really well with lighting their major historical as well as modern buildings. It adds an altogether different beauty to those otherwise beautiful places. A long walk along the Ringstrasse and in the central district was over in no time as we chatted. For the first time, I seem to have got in some meaningful discussion. Too much of bakwas just switches off my fuse.

A couple hours of rest in the waiting room and we were on the train for the night. It's a long journey so hopefully we will get a longer sleep. The seats look really comfortable. I hope there are lesser number of ticket/passport check tonight.

See yea in Berlin tomorrow.

EuroTrip - Day 43

2009-11-03T03:39:00.001+05:30

The Three Point Plan to a Perfect Day in Praha

They say the most beautiful girls in this world are of Czech origins. It was time for us to validate this hypothesis. It was going to be a tough task as their Scandinavian counterparts had set a really high standard for us. Germans and French beauties did not lag behind much too. We all anticipated a very good day ahead. Mind you, A1 and Bansi were there with us, so be assured that we would be in our decent best behavior.

There are very few countries in Schegen treaty that don't use the Euro as their currency. Czech is one of those. Our dog sense told us that the best rates can never be obtained at the railway station and it turned out to be true too. One piece of free advice - get your money changed only at the exchange counters near the central district (where most of the places of tourist importance are) and do ask about the commission in advance. They might charge you exorbitant fee if you don't keep an eye.

We started our 'tourist day' in Praha (Prague) with a walk around the State Opera and the Powder Gate (it used to be the storage space for gunpowder once upon a time). There are a couple of big malls and some hostels in this area if anyone is interested. While waiting for the market to open, we sat near the Vltava river in one of those beautiful gardens that mark the riverside beauty. The sunny sky was a good respite after the chills of the early morning.

A quick breakfast (super market visit for Bansi and company) and we were almost set to walk longer distances. We are not yet used to walking long distances with our backpacks on. The left-luggage & lockers on the station come to our rescue at almost all the places. Today it required a visit to the Centrale station. Some waste of time, but the effort was worth considering that we were planning a walking tour to city.

On our way we saw a Synagogue and knew it from the first glimpse that it was going to be the first place we enter today. A Synagogue is a jewish worship place and acts as a community center for most of their activity. The one we visited is called Jerusalem Synagogue. This beautiful building also contains a permanent exhibition dedicated to the jews who contributed to build the society and state during and post world war. It is a great place to visit, a must if you have not seen any synagogue (In India, I know of one that is located in townside in Mumbai).

'Following the Patwa' we reached the Czech Natioal Museum and walked along the grand promenade in front of it. Outlets of some of the biggest brands share the space with some luxury hotels in the historical buildings along both sides of the road. It's a tourist mela here, so beware.

Our next stop was Starbucks Coffee near the The Old Town (Staré město). We had to join the gang for the Free Walking Tour by New Europe Tours. Isaac was to be our guide today. The tall Hungarian is a world traveler (he had traveled to most of the countries the group member belonged to), has picked up most of the languages and culture traits during his journeys and is a history enthusiast. Needless to say, he is a good storyteller and actor too. A deadly combination for a tour-guide. The next 3 hours or so in his company we went through the past, present and future of this small country and its capital in particular. He told us stories of the kings, the priests, the scientists and the beer makers. The stories were never ending and his way of narration made us want for more. For record, we visited most of the popular tourist destinations in town during the tour. The highlight was the visit to the JTown (the jewish town, he calls it the JTown). It has Josefov the Jewish Ghetto and other Jewish monuments. It is said that the design idea for the world famous Holocaust Memorial in Berlin came from the Jewish symmetry in this city. The tour ended near the Charles Bridge with the story about the war events in Praha and how it was surprisingly untouched amidst the ruins of all the other big towns in eastern Europe.

Our next destination was Beas - the Indian dhabha (http://www.beas-dhaba.cz/) located close to the cathedral. I intend to write a separate post about this restaurant soon. For records, let me tell you that it served us the best Indian food we have had in Europe (even better than what we cook at our home in Paris) that too at very affordable rates and most important of them all in a really caring and homely way. Get to know more about this place here soon.

The sun sets early in late October days and that meant we had to wrap up our day faster than we had expected. A walk near the Prague Castle and then along the Charles Bridge convinced us that we had not yet seen even half of the town. We had to come back here. With this plan, we reached the railway station. Praha Centrale station - this modern looking station lacks some of the most basic amenities such as a good waiting lounge. So keep that in mind while your planning to/from Praha.

Our date with Praha was not yet over. We would be back to Praha in a couple of days after covering Vienna.

PS: I was tempted on one more than occasion to write about the day in just three points:
1. Reach the central place, get money exchanged and then walk and soak up some sun near the river.
2. Take the Free Walking Tour with New Europe Tours. It starts at 1:45pm near the Starbucks Coffee.
3. Treat yourself with a lavish lunch cum dinner at Beas.
Trust me, it will be a perfect day. You can not ask for more if you plan to stay for just one day in Praha.

PS2: As I look back now, taking the train to Vienna was not such a wise decision. Praha offers a variety of affordable hostels and an amazing night life (pub crawls and ghost tours to say the least). Do get indulged if you are interested in those activities.

PS3: New Europe Tours runs Free Guided Walking tours in various cities. The guides are young travel enthusiasts and offer you much more than a normal sight seeing experience. They work on tip basis and you are free to decide your contribution. I would highly recommend them. I had an amazing tour of Praha with them. I look forward to do some more walks with them (next one being in Berlin ad per our plan). Do check out their website for more information.

PS4: oh did I forget about my task regarding the Czech girls?? No not at all. In just one day I could not gather sufficient evidence to prove the hypothesis. My (statistically insignificant) verdict is that they are nowhere close to German and French beauties. I think the next challenge is waiting for me in Italy. I am so eagerly looking forward to it.

EuroTrip - Day 42

2009-11-03T03:36:00.001+05:30

Almost India

The first thought that will strike you as soon as reach Budapest is that the Hungarian flag is very similar to our Indian Tiranga. The similarity between the two countries don't end there. You get down at the Budapest Keleti station and you will realize that it has India-ness all around. The white faces have turned a couple shade browner. There is a ticket checker waiting for you at the end of the platform. There is too much crowd everywhere and everything is chaotic. And the most important of them all - the station is not tourist friendly (A small cubicle as the tourist information desk and multiple money exchangers offering you insanely exorbitant rates -- the spread was 209-290, if you want a proof of what I mean -- agents soliciting for taxi and hotel rooms and the street-side money exchangers - Beware Beware Beware).

Here is a piece of advice for any one traveling to Budapest. Stay at the station for the minimum possible time. Don't even think of using the money changers (counters as well as street vendors) there. The exchange counters in the central district give really good rates (we got 264-268, that too without any commission). So hold on to that chai ki talab for sometime, walk towards the central district and then you can get the money exchanged in a safer and better place.

For vegetarians, here is another piece of advice - the city is filled with outlets of Burger King and Subway. You don't have to worry about your food. There are a couple of KFC too in this town, so my nonveg eating friends can splurge on those 'chicken wings' and 'ginger burgers' if they are feeling nostalgic. [End Of PritS's Food Guide to Budapest]

City of Budapest constitutes of two parts Buda (hilly house-filled town in the west) and Pest (commercial town in the east), situated on opposite banks of Denube (Duna).

Most of the famous monuments are situated close to the banks of the river. So we started the 'tourist day's with a walk along the Elizabeth Bridge. The Citadella situated on the top of Gallert hill gives a panoramic view of the city. The weather had been amazing on a sunny morning and walking up the hill was a good experience. Spend as much time as possible at the hill. You can also visit a museum based on World War.

There are multiple bridges across Denube and they are part of regular tourists itinerary. We crossed the Elizabeth bridge once more to walk towards the fashion street and then to the area around the Hungarian parliament. The walk along Danube gives you a glimpse of the best of architectural beauties in the town. The Fisherman's Bastion, the Royal Palace, the Hungarian National Gallery etc are just a couple of buildings that I could identify seeing the tourist guide. Our aim was to see the world famous Hungarian Parliament. This highest senate in Hungary is situated on the bank of the river. The view from the river side (which is the rear of the building) is as beautiful as the one from the front. It's a majestic building surrounded by a dozens of other historical buildings. I wonder how come there is so much of history stuffed in one place. A walk around this area is worth the effort. St. Stephen's Cathedral is recently renovated and is a good watch too.

The day was coming to an end and in reality we had not done any worthwhile 'sightseeing' in this town. The famous baths are a must go on any tourists planst. We were unlucky that we could not go there. We could not visit any of the war monuments too. I really think we are rushing through a lot of cities. These cities are so rich in history and culture that it will take more than one day to do justice as a traveler. For now I will add it to my wish-list for future. And move to the next destination - Praha. A new city awaits us with new stories.

PS: It was really sad to compare India with Hungary in this way. It's just that all of us got the exact same thought today. In the end let me reiterate again, Budapest is an amazingly beautiful place. Just like India. Don't miss it.

EuroTrip - Day 41

2009-11-03T03:27:00.002+05:30

Ice Ice Baby

We have almost reached halfway through our EuroTrip but still we have not yet seen the real charmer - a snow fall. We have been desperately waiting to see it. If I say this to any European, they will give me an expression like 'what's the big fucking deal with the snow fall !!' Who can explain them, for many Indians like me who come from the heart of the country, the only glimpse of snow fall is that shown on the tv or cinema screen (unless ofcourse you have had your honeymoon in Kashmir or if you count the ice in your freezer as snow).

It was a high time that we see some ice (if not snow) and that we do it at the best possible place. Salzburg in Austria came as the natural choice as it offers one of the biggest ice caves in world. Werfen situated at a distance of 30 minutes from Salzburg is the destination for these caves that are called Eisriesenwelt. You can reach here by taking the SBahn from Salzburg. The route is scenic and if you wish you can get down at any station on the way (with around 15 stations on the way, this train journey is more like a local train in Mumbai).

Werfen is also famous for its castle and the driving routes around the city (in the Alpes region). You get a real good view of castle during your bus journey to the starting point of the trek to the caves. A 20 minute walk, followed by a 3 minute cable car ride, followed by another 20 minute walk takes you to the entrance of the cave. We met one Indian family on the way and exchanged notes with them. Their local host had lots of stories to share, we overheard a couple of them and then left their company.

The view of the mountain ranges was improving as the sun rose in the sky. The colors changed from dark greyish cloudy to real sky blue. Snow capped mountain looked like a small stroke of white brush on this large landscape. The clouds sprayed a few puffs of newer shades and made it a memorable treat to watch. I can tell you here that I am really short of words to describe the scenery that we saw. May be a picture or two will give the real understanding of what I am trying to explain. It is unimaginable - take my words.

The mountains are also covered with some loose ice that has formed due to recent snow falls. They acted as ammunition for our snow fight. Fighting in snow is fun as long as you don't hit each other on face. We are kind of novice in this game. Switzerland should be the real testing ground for it, I guess. :-)

The ice-caves are natural formations of stalactite and stalagmite that have been getting constructed due to the natural process. Out of the known stretch of 42km long caves around one km long section is made accessible to visitors from May-Oct. The guided tour starts with a lively young chap giving you a brief info about what to expect (there are 700 steps to climb and then 700 to get down in the 70 minute long tour). He will also distribute carbon lamps as any other source of light is not permitted inside the caves. Photography is not allowed so don't expect to get a sneak preview without feeling the chill.

These caves were explored almost a century back and have been a big attraction for the travelers and scientists since then. Using methods which are similar to that of finding age of tree (for finding age of a tree they count the rings in the trunk; for ice caves it is the number of layers), some of the ice formations have been dated back some 4000 years. Many a ice monuments (the polar bear, elephant etc) have been built over decades and there is very little change that is observed from year to year. One more interesting piece of information about these caves is the way they are formed. There are a lot of thermodynamics funde involved here. But let me tell you these one is the coolest example of the theory of thermodynamics. The chilly winds that pass through the gate as soon as you enter the cave just gives you a hint at what is the magic behind these caves.

The 70 minute trip ends in no time as you are spell bound throughout by the amazing storytelling by the guide as well as the beauty of the place. And as soon as you come out, you find yourself back among the sky blue panoramic view of the region of snow covered mountains. The journey back is as entertaining as the way up. We met Bora and A1 on the way. It's a small world you see!

Castle would have been our next stop but by the time we reached the town, its entrance was about to be closed. So we had to give it a miss. One suggestion, the best way to cover both is to do the castle tour in the morning followed by the caves tour. The bright sunny afternoon view of the mountain range is an unbeatable experience.

Salzburg, the town of Mozart, is rich with culture and heritage. The old town market is a UNESCO world heritage site and boats of the best of architectural marvels in this region. Just take a walk through the narrow lanes and you will get a feel of the rich culture that flows through this town. The museum here is voted the best European museum of year 2009. Alas it also closes even before the sun sets (which, by the way, happens as early as 6pm in month of October).

The castle is situated on a small hill and it oversees the central part of the town. You can get a view of the castle from the streets in the old market. In evening, all the monuments are well lit making them more attractive and photo-worthy. The cathedral is one of the biggest of its kind in this region. This baroque style monument was destroyed in 1944 and renovated a decade later. The highly ornamental carved arches and domes make it a treat to watch (especially after watching so many of those Notre Dames). To our good luck, they were conducting some event to promote the idea of World Religion. There were different exhibits with life-size figures put showcasing different interpretation of life, death and religion. These were the interpretation that young students of this area had come up with for the theme of World Religion and a world church. There could not have been a better way to spend an otherwise chilly and rainy night. Till midnight the warmth of the church kept us going after the real long day.

We had changed our plans after discussion with Bora and A1 and now we were on our way to Budapest. The night long journey was going to be a test of our stamina as we had not had a good rest for over 4 days. I hope we survive this night. As there is a beautiful city that awaits us the next morning.

EuroTrip - Day 40

2009-11-03T03:19:00.002+05:30

B.L.A.C.K

It was a night spent struggling to figure out why the hell Airbus would want to transfer its technology to India? Born consultants, most of us could come up with some very sensible guesses. However, it was a real tough task to put them to a reality check in eyes of historical trends and current market dynamics.

It was a long night indeed. We tried our best to do some justice to the assignment by load sharing and taking turns to catch up some sleep (that is if we could call those half n hour 'power naps' a sleep!). Still, in the end, we had to give up. It was just too much for us - the novice consultants.

We were short of time. It was time to pack our bags and leave for the second big phase of the EuroTrip 2009. With a vacation just around the corner (in most part of Europe, it's one week off in the last week of October to celebrate some festivals), we can now afford to do the much awaited trip to Austria, Italy and Germany. It's going to be the ultimate mix of nature, history and culture in coming two weeks or so.

Frieberg in Black Forests was to be our first stop of the day. Black Forests - famous for their low range mountains covered with dark ravine jungles, lush green meadows, old style farm houses and most important of them the cuckoo clocks, are a treat if you are a nature lover type. The dense forests are covered with varied moss and fern flora and canopied by silver firs and spruces. Long hiking trails and biking routes through the mountains, rock climbing and other wilderness activities along the way- things that black forests offer its visitors.

We have been doing a lot of 'city' visits all this while. Sometime you have to take a detour and enter some not-so-known territories (you cannot ask for an uncharted territory as the tourism and camping activities in Europe has penetrated till the last mile. There is no place where someone has not reached). As usual PooCh 'took initiative' and found about Triberg, another smaller town in the area. So midway, we changed our plan and we were on our way to Triberg.

Triberg (the town surrounded by three mountains) has the highest waterfall in Germany. It's debatable if the height from which water falls in the highest or is it that the waterfall itself is situated at a record height. Whatever it is, you should visit this place for the splendid natural scenery. The water of the Gutach plunges over 160m in the seven cascades into the valley below. You can visit most part of it following the walking trails that have been designed beautifully. The 2.5 euro that you will have to pay for entry to this area is something unique to this place. 'Nature dekhne ke liye bhi koi paisa deta hai bhala!!' Vishal, an old friend from RV, would have said. We felt it too before we started our walk. However as we reached near the waterfall, the place started to unravel its beauty.

I must tell there is nothing great about the waterfall in itself, it's like any other 'big' waterfall that you see in your country. It's the way they have built an attraction around this place that is admirable. There are stories told through posters all along the way, multiple trails designed to cater to different tastes (nature, cultural and fun), and nice theme restaurants to satisfy your test buds with authentic Black Forest cuisine. By the way, do I need to mention anything about Black Forest Cakes?

So we walked (HotTiii 'hiked') through the jungle and listened to the song of the water. The silence of the jungle gives it a mysterious feel. I am a 'silence' man. Me and my camera can make it a good company on any good-weather day. I am thankful to God for that.

The streets of Triberg sing another song in your ears. The Cuckoo Clocks are everywhere. Their melodies are sweeter than the sweetest thing you have heard. Traditional craftsman (clockmakers) have been making these mostly wooden marvels for more than two centuries. Priced upwards 50 euros for a basic model, they can go in thousands of euros depending on the details and creative efforts. They are one memorable souvenir for anyone you care for. Most of the shops have a good collection on display and they are a good way to get a preview of the world of cuckoo clocks. The souvenir shops in Triberg are filled with wooden carving stuff. You can take the jungle with you. The silent and dark jungles of the Black Forests will anyway stay in your memory for a lifetime.

Our tyrst with discounters and super market continued here too. End of this trip, my gang will be more than capable to put a competitive study on the merchandisers in Europe. These days we carry so much food stuff with us that some time I wonder if we are doing a backpacking trip or a family picnic!! The smile that pops up on the faces of these people speak a volume about the joy these people get just at the sight of a LIDL outlet. Gosh! I am getting old for such things. I don't like the 'dude drinks' :-(

Our next stop was going to be Munchen. Finally I was going to meet DJ and the gang. DJ had promised us a long fun filled night and I was looking forward to it. Talking about DJ, this old man from Bangalore (I wonder if this respect comes due to his size or the fact that he actually was a senior-we-never-met in RV!) is one of very few people I met, who adjust their 'family' life with doing awaragardi with friends real well (Ravi might disagree here, though). His penchant for enjoying life is admirable. We did not hesitate to doubt his claim of night full of masti even though we were to reach only at 11:30 pm.

The chai time discussions about his EuroTrip experience so far continued during our walk along the Munchen roads. I am not an ice-cream guy. Especially in the winter, I try and stay away from those things. But today I could not refuse the Max Flurry at the McDonalds. The ice-cream is one of the best kitkat combination that I have eaten so far. The interesting conversations, soothing decor and presence of crazy people around us made it a taste that I am not going to forget for a long time.

A walk back home as we had missed the 3:20 ki last local. By now, we have become expert at missing last trains. The conversation is not yet complete as we had to keep some scope for another power nap in the comfy bed that DJ had arranged for us. I am going to come back to Munchen. To finish this conversation and to actually sip some more of the city's spirit.

EuroTrip - Day 39

2009-11-03T03:15:00.001+05:30

Ye ham technology transfer kyun karte hai?

'International Technology Transfer' is unarguably the most useless course I have taken so far in my MBA program. I just don't understand how it is going to help me in anything. The examples that we heard in the class are highly biased towards one particular industry (and it is very unlikely that any one of us will land up a job there anytime soon). No doubt our professor has treasure of an experience in this field which he is ready to share. His authority in this area is unquestionable. But somehow I don't seem to enjoy this course. Being the last class in the day, it is very difficult to keep myself awake, and then I get to face some very irritating people in the class. I am being too critical about it but I just want to get done with this course now. The assignments has just started. We searched our library and the internet but the required information is hard to collect. I wonder if we will also do a 'globe' job for the presentation.

The consumer behavior group assignment came out well. It was entertaining presentation for the class and the professor seemed to like our work too. Presentations here essentially require a fully-scripted rehearsal. This is something new for me. Nice experience it was. And it helped in timing as well pacing the presentation. Highly recommended for beginners. G3... are you ready for it?

Our plan for the next trip is almost ready. Reservations have been made and stay arrangements done. I am really looking forward to this trip.

We (PooCh and me) have an assignment to complete before we leave for this trip. So it's high time I take a break from blogging and get back to work. We have some 'technology transfer' to do (Damn! I can't even crack some good joke on this silly subject).

EuroTrip - Day 38

2009-11-03T03:08:00.003+05:30

The CleanUp Act

It is so hard to get up at 5am if you have slept at 4am after a really long day and if you have no clue about what to do after getting up so early. As my alarm performed its duty, I also did what was expected from me. I got up immediately, logged in the system and went to the chat room in Skype. We had not made any progress. The one hour power nap had not done any wonder for me, either. I was as blank as before sleeping. There was no way my staying up was going to change fortune of my group, so I slept again. Another hour of recharging in case it helps. Else God is always there. ;-)

The journey to college seemed to be a never ending one (later I got to know that there was a lot of interruptions in the local transportation system due to strike by the employees). All through the way, I kept looking for that tiny ray of hope that our assignment was ready to be submitted. I reached class just in time and was relieved to see my group-mates there. At least I won't be the lone martyr for the day.

My group-mate handed me a hard copy of our submission. God! It was the complete presentation. Those girls had done some magic in the last few hours and completed the work. My instant reaction would have been to hug them. But somehow it did not happen. I wish I had known them better. Still a pat on the back to banati hi thi. They too seem to be happy with my contribution. Thank God! I finally did it [GMBC.. Are you listening?].

Rest of the college day was uneventful until I was stopped by my another group-mate from another course. They were expecting a part of assignment to be completed and sent to them last night itself. They had send a mail too in this regard. My bad, that I did not respond to it. However the aggression shown by them was totally uncalled for and that totally pissed me off. I found it hard to understand why they were so much tensed about an assignment that was due the next week. The answer came in the class where we were informed that the presentations were indeed due that day only. In a deadly mix of mis-communication, RGgiri and negligence we were about to lose half the grade for the course. It's not that we really bother about grades. We are beyond that stage. However for students here, their grades are everything. The boring-to-death presentations did not do any great to reduce our worries. It was time for another magic, this time by the group-mates in the Tech Transfer course. They pataofied the Professor to allow us to permit in the next class. We were saved for the day. A quick meeting and we decided our strategy to handle the assignment in a better way. Time to head back to home. Our home was in dire need for a thorough cleanup. Neha was to come and stay with us for a couple of days. We all guessed that we would not get any better reason to do the dirty work.

It was amazing to see how our home got a face-lift in precisely one hour. Mind you, we also cooked our dinner in between. There was some firework show slotted to take place at 10pm and my roommates had 'grand plans' to enjoy it.

I stayed back to receive Neha. Currently on an exchange program in UK, she is an old friend from CAT prep time. She is doing her EuroTrip all alone. I really respect her courage and enthusiasm for doing it. I really can not imagine myself doing anything like this on my own. I am not a 'lone traveler' type, I think.

I have another presentation lined up for tomorrow. Another group assignment. The good part this time is that it is an assignment in consumer behavior and that it involves music. I have got the entire morning tomorrow for preparing for the presentations so I can afford to share stories with Neha.

I might get a good night's sleep in any case. See yea tomorrow.