Saturday, June 28, 2008

A jaunt to MacRitchie

It was not an impulsive one and people amazingly showed up at the right time. Wanted to take a break from the monotonous life and finally made it..Got up early by 6 and started by 7. Its just half an hour from my place and met the other guys at 7.30 at MacRitchie and the 12 of us started for the trek.

This trek was more fun than the one in Malaysia. The place is filled with greenery( ya I know no point of trekking without that) and has a reservoir. Our first destination was the Tree Top Walk. Its a suspension bridge providing the birds view of the forest. Had a lot of expectations before going there but was let down ..reasons..It was a very narrow and very stiff without even swaying an inch which is a big no no if you wanna have real fun. Nevertheless, the elevation was good providing nice view of the forest.

Then reached to ranger station and had a break for a while. There was difference in the gait and accidentally we split into two groups. One the way my ears were smiling to the chirp of the birds and crickets. Rarely I get that combo.There was the reservoir where we saw cute bale of turtles. They were so cute that the moment they saw us, they tried to come near to us.

On the way back we saw a gigantic monitor lizard blocking the way and basking there. It was so creepy..Damn I hate these cold blooded reptiles. We tried it scare it away but in vain, dared and crossed it. Saw the golfers teeing off in the ground nearby and took some Kodak moments and were out finally...

On the whole we might have walked over 10km and had truck loads of fun. Surprisingly I didn't feel hungry pangs and was totally pooped, sweating like a pig...Happy to see that my weekend was filled with some fun...

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

??????

You never know what the hell is going to happen tomorrow..neither you know what's there on the cards for today....There was this particular incident last week, I never expected or wanted to come in my life..

I friend of mine buzzed me to get an advice. I knew I can't do anything in that matter but still I hated myself for being a dead duck with lively ears..I didn't know whether to be glad to be called in difficult times or feel gloomy for choosing me to help in what I call is the knottiest task I could ever imagine.

As they say every cloud has a silver lining, I hope it does some good and hopefully I may come into some help in future....

Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Art of Honking

The car in front of you is moving so slowly at the immigration checkpoint in Singapore. Impatient, you blare your horn. Bad mistake. That can get you a fine or even three months in jail. And if you are Malaysian, you can be barred from entering Singapore. Under the Road Traffic Act, those who blare their horns while their vehicles are stationary can be given a $70 compound fine or be charged in court and face up to $1,000 fine and three months' jail.(courtesy:http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,167776,00.html?)

Ha ha seems derisory to me, who learnt riding a bike without even taking the thumb off the horn. Continuous honking assures the novice that he is safe and no other vehicle is going to kiss his one. That the least one can do when you can expect vehicles coming in n directions. Its a catch 22 situation. You should honk in order to make your journey safe.

I guess, not even a single ride of mine was there without a honk, at least for a nano second. And when it comes to borrowing a vehicle, I never preferred a one which doesn't have a horn..ha ha..so choosy..Making things worse is the Blow Horn signs on the back of the vehicle making it a point to honk, honk and honk...


Sunday, June 15, 2008

//Happy Fathers Day\\

I remember when I was a kid people always tried to grill me by asking me whom you love the most..Mummy or Daddy..? Obviously I didn't want to spill the beans and always tried to give a diplomatic answer. When I think of those things now ,it really appears quite ludicrous. Even now I think I will fumble when I am asked the same question.I cannot take the sides because both has their own role to play and complement each other.

I really spent very few years of my life with my Dad. Most of my school days were without him. His visits were once in an year. Unlike my Mom, I was more interested in knowing about the gifts he is going to get. And the day I come to know that he will be coming shortly, I used to take a pen& paper and jot down my wish list.

And one particular wish list always remained special to me-a video game. This time I was let down because I was told that he couldn't find time for that.phew...my vision was blurred with the water in my eyes and I went outside furtively and let my eyes do the rest of the work,charily observing my surroundings so as to avoid embarrassment of being caught while crying for a silly thing. Ha ha later my dad had a surprise for me:)

My wishes were given the priority, as a result they sacrificed many. I regret for making them feel sad by some of my decisions. Always encouraged me, made me feel happy and never allowed anything to let me down. To me, he is the epitome of success and inspired me in many ways. Will always make you feel proud of your son. I am short of words to write about him..Love u lots dad...
Happy Pop's Day!!!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Incredible !ndia

When I was passing by the Dhoby ghaut MRT I happened to see the ad board showcasing India's cultural heritage and apparently promoting tourism. The sight of that brought a smile on my face. Seeing your country name on a foreign land by all odds should make you feel proud. But then this struck me..Why Incredible India.Did the Amazing Asia tag inspire them?Oxford has two meanings for Incredible.
1) Amazingly good 2) Impossible to believe.

Every Indian will be delighted when a Foreigner says the 1st one.Second one can be seen in different perspectives.Impossible to believe....Two days before, I read an article in IBN about a London minister saying throwing garbage out of the window was “normal behaviour” in India, to do so in Britain was “not acceptable behaviour”. I am sure many countries cannot even imagine throwing garbage out of the window which we Indians do or at least use to do..

I happened to meet a British tourist when I was touring in Malaysia. She is in Malaysia having visited India before coming over to there. I was very inquisitive to get a feedback from her. The very first word that came from her is " its good" then she continued, "but I don't know.. its not like England". Then I was telling to myself " How can India be England. If that is the case why should you take all the pain of travelling 4000 odd miles to see a a carbon copy on England ." She then followed with another terrible word " I was scared". That put me into embarrassment and wiped the smile off my face and I decided not to ask anything more than that.

On the flip side, a friend of mine ( Chinese) from NUS happened to visit India recently . He visited Kajuraho, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udiapur,Jaisalmar, Amritsar, Agra etc etc..I was really awe stuck when he said had visited all these places. Being an Indian I have never seen places outside Hyderabad except Goa and Delhi, thanks to my B.E. I was again put into embarrassment when he said " you might have seen all these places". We always long to see places outside India but are least bothered to visit the umpteen good places in India. I thought atleast this Guy has said that India is Amazingly good.. I am not sure how the narration of his tour differs in the absence of mine but at least he made me feel proud unlike the English woman...My country -
Incredible!ndia....

Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Ghosts of Silence..

Damn....Its already two weeks that I joined this company and I still didn't make any friends...I am not to be blamed..The place is like that..People here seldom speak and are very stolid. I don't know whether its the multiculturalism or the language barrier that's making it difficult to break the ice...I share the compartment with two Chinese (Mr Kwok ,Mrs Mo), a Vietnamese(Mr.Quoc),and a Japanese(Mr Tan). Ha ha at least I managed to master their names..

There is absolutely no gabfest making my whole day never ending. Probably I should understand that these people are doing the damn research and the work they do demands the so called silence. The only sound or rather I should say rattle that fills the room is the sound of the mouse clicks and keyboard presses. Often my vocal chords have the urge to vibrate but are subdued for the fear of limelight and aftermath they might create.

Next month we will be moving to a new location and I am not sure whether I will be lost in the bigger campus or will I get the chance to meet new people to make friends....Till then I have to hold the horse and hope for the better or prepare for the worse..Only time will tell..and btw here is the snapshot of phase A of the fusionopolis where we will be moving in approx 43 days 9hrs 17min 55 sec...

Monday, June 9, 2008

Tournoi de Roland-Garros

The City of Lights hosted yet another grand slam making it 107th time-The French Open..As usual Americans proved that they suck when it comes to clay courts.It was raining Serbs this time.There were no stupefies, with same old guys in the finals but with thumping wins..Man...The Bull once again proved that he is invincible on the clay courts.For him it was literally a walk in the park ...A total destruction, ruthlessly humiliating the world number 1.

The match lasted for just 108 min with a bagel( 6-0) and bread stick(6-1). The last time Fed baked a bagel was in 1999. Fed couldn't do any worse than he did yesterday. And after this I guess, Feddie would never think that defeating Nadal on clay court is no big shakes. It was a total lopsided game with Rafa vanquishing Fed..phew

The clay court magician controlled the match right from the beginning leaving Fed little hopes to win a grand slam which he never won. Gee, Poor Roger.. it was not really his day.. And when Fed thinks of Roland Garros the only man that comes in his way is Rafa... And the way Rafa is playing I am sure it will be very difficult for Fed to defend his Wimbledon title. I wish Fed repeats the game at the Wimbledon but with Rafa at the receiving end.

And Ana Ivanovic proved that she is the queen of Clay. She held her nerves forgetting the disaster final last time and trashed Safina. Her Physio, Bro, Advisor and Hitting partner have planned to do something outrageous and ended up running around the Arc de Triomphe wearing one of Ana's Adidas dresses. That's called the Joy of Triumph...



bonjour..adios..

Saturday, June 7, 2008

The Anniversary...

It has been 1 year exactly.Last year the same time I was not even in a position to have my own food and now here I am, lightheartedly having an apple and blogging..Its amazing how time brings out the changes in you...

I don't even want to think of the dreadful 10 days. The 10 days,which appeared to be the longest 10 days in my life. Incidentally these 10 days were preceded by the shortest 7 days of my life. The days of Delhi and Raniketh. I should say I never had a ball like this. Had a awesome time in Raniketh. The clime, the beauty of Mother Earth can't be put in words. And the alpenglow...makes you think the world should be freezed straight away..

People always crave to live in the metropolis & seldom visit places like this. Just go to this place and it does its job..Its makes your bum hum and you will force yourself to leave this place and get back to the crammed ones again...I think I am off track, started off with something and blogging something...The thought of the Raniketh makes me like this..If possible I will create a post on the trip..

Coming back to my pathetic story, never was I admitted in a hospital before and I always used to brag about that. But God has some other plans for me. A dreadful jaundice landed me in the hospital and I was reminded the Murphy's law..Damn I was really freezed on my bed.Hardly could I do anything at that time..This damn disease brought in some uninvited guests with it. Fever, rashes, liver enlargement ,nausea and what not...It forced me to be abstemious and exacerbated my health...I was fortunate to recuperate within a short time...All thanks to my uncle, Vivek, Aditi's parents, my family and friends...