Describe yourself

In one word - complicated. Longer version follows.

The quintessential malayalee, well read, well traveled. Secular by habit with a disdain for the overtly religious, though respect believers. Will take the ignorant who have learned (someone taught them that) to have a religious bias to task with little kindness. :)

Like to discuss politics without any pretensions as long as coffee is available. I can talk about who won the elections anywhere in the world and why. To add could convince someone enough they vote for another party next time round.

An avid movie watcher, who observes with disdain when people reel out movie reviews off the internet. Come on use your own brain and give your own opinion! It is 60 years past since we got our freedom of speech and no one going to cut your throat for saying what you feel.

Respects original thinking and have a liking to people who can write well. Myself being not much of a writer, my view in school was learning languages was a waste of my valuable time which only deserved to be spent on loftier subjects like science and mathematics. :|

As any malayalee would be, at home in just about any city in the world. Reminds me of a malayalee proverb which goes like if you go to a land where they eat snakes, ask for the middle portion. :P The time to being at home in the city would be the time to find a nice local map. Yes

google maps might work too. I could hack into a wifi in no time, except I hate carrying a laptop around, am no Ipad fan either. A map is simply more efficient.

Don't talk too much but can communicate well enough. I could start with a "hai" and find the nearest lodging including the way in a few words even if the language spoken is Flemish unless the good natured soul is a chatterbox.

Have a habit of reeling out sarcastic jokes that might make most poor souls cringe, though I mean no harm. :) We malayalees have an inborn ability to critique anybody on any topic. It would ever do everyone only good, though some are not bright enough to get the point.

Prefer living in Cochin, though that would be a blatant lie. I would say that is a utopian dream, a false paradise which removed from reality. Vacationing in God's own country, I perfectly agree
with that name, is very much to my liking, though. :)

For now that is enough. If you have not realized that yet, being humble is not my strong point either, I would still argue that I am a simple person who takes pleasure in simple things.

America, I am coming..

I had to do some paperwork in Buffalo, NY and to hell with even more procrastination,
and drove across the border. It was as simple as that. :)

Have decided to spend much of the holidays catching up with some old friends
in the US, in Ohio, Chicago and maybe more. Hmm, this is something to look forward to
as I have never been in the U.S before.

Wishing all a merry X'mas and happy holidays. :)

Yeh Dooriyaan

This song has been playing on and off, and many memories and incidents , are coming to my mind. Do shabd main itna kuch aisi aasaani se bol sakte hain kya?

I am not exactly someone who would shy away from a long journey. But time is and has always been never enough. Having a friends and family circle who also do their fair share of traveling, meeting someone can get tricky.

But then I did get to meet lot of my friends and family during a short time on my last vacation . But then was planning to meet a long time friend and it did not work out. Well both of us ended up in three different cities during the short time. Missed occasions, everyone enquiring why you are *never* there, it has become part of life now. Like I want to be home for onam, but is that going to happen?

But do distances affect our life in more ways that just that. I would not have said yes before, but now I might grudgingly accept. Distances do change things, don't they?

The Beginning

It was something that had to eventually happen. My friends would not be surprised. I was rooting that they give me a gift (it is a tradition) more than a year back, since I was not coming back to Chennai for a long long time. The plan was in the back of my mind, but no I was not working on that.

It has been a tough decision to make. But blame the practical part of my mind that can easily out thinks the emotional side, I am moving on to a Canadian company next month.

On the sad part, there goes most of my close ties with chennai and for the most part, all those rushing home and to Kerala for the silliest excuses. Huh,no more cribbing.

My friends have taken to calling me a Canook now. Should I be happy or sad about that ? :P For the most part, I am well, overjoyed. :)

Deja voooo!

The years have passed, and I am away from home longer and longer. From visiting
every month during college days, to once every few months while on the job, this time it
has almost an year and half.

As I pack stuff, this post is a reminder of things to do and not to do when I get there.
Away from my usual carefree life.

a) Being multilingual is good, but speaking anything other than your
mother tongue with someone you just met is inviting trouble. Well I have three, english, hindi and malayalam in that order. Couple of others I am still learning. :)
More so when you are putting your point across to a relative. And absolutely no swearing in any foreign language.
b) No credit card slips around. Explaining a 200$ phone bill to your mom is well.... avoidable. And seeing slips billed at three cities which are far apart and never ever mentioned is sure to cause high BP for everyone. I am good at avoiding
conflict. :)
c) Staying out after 11:30 pm is unsafe. Well when will they ever know nothing is as peaceful
as being on a lonely beach till 3:00am? :P
d) Driving long distance is dangerous, take a bus. No I have never made driven more than 800 kms at a time and I am really scared of driving up mountains. Bused have accidents too and topple over all the time and you don't get seat belts in them is my view though. :)
e) A lacoste polo or a tommy is not respectable clothing. Get some nice white or blue drab (yuck!) shirts when you get there, if you want to avoid stares from the oldies.
f) All software engineers work outside Kerala. So there is no concept of an underpaid, overworked software engineer, communism is only for farmers. Don't crib about your salary.The second most common question is your pay, either you avoid the question or try some arithmetic on your salary (I mean division) before you mention it, unless you want to see signs of heart trouble or an end of conversation.
g) Waking up after 9:00 is not good. Over here my roommates think I am addicted to waking up at 6:00 am, I love sleeping, but bugs start coming in my dreams and wake me up early. :(
h) This is a new one, Thou shall drive on the left side of the road. Though shall not believe a green signal gives thou right of way. :)
i) Replace the nouns on the phone with more respectable names. Some numbers are there only because I can choose not to answer them. If this breaks a reader's heart, ha ha I just got even now.


Some more are there, but there is still more packing to do, maybe I will add when I remember.

Summer is here... Yippieee....

There is nothing like the simple pleasure of wearing only a cotton shirt and a jeans, a pair of sunglasses and walking carefree on the streets. I was happily doing just that yesterday and am so excited that summer is nearing.

Well, nothing amusing about that huh? If I was in India, it would be something I would do everyday, but here the nice winter means that I have been waiting for months to just that. Well, you will get frozen and your sunglasses would get fogged up. ;)

Going out, even to a shop nearby to pick up even a small thing involves checking the weather, putting on a jerkin, many layers of clothing, eeks woollen socks and what not. And since my route to a "nearby" shop means taking a walk around to see what everyone is up to ;) , I did rather take my gloves and cap too. Having the cold wind blow into your ears can be painful.

Love the sun. And global warming too. I think I will spend lot of time on the beaches on my vacation back home. :)

Reflection

"Are you home?" When my friends ask me over phone etc, in the back of my mind, the question would which one do you mean? chennai, or maybe I could put another city in front. Rarely would I be really "home" at cochin, in fact I have spent so little time at my family home, in the past eight plus years or so.

My thoughts go back to the day when I got on the bus to chennai many years ago. It was my first job, with lot of hopes and dreams, It was comforting that two of my college mates were also joining the same company.

Still remember a funny incident during that trip. The bus was hopelessly old and somewhere near Madurai, it found it apt to go dead rite on a railway track near midnight. Pushing the bus was fun, It took at least half an hour or more of pushing (or rocking it up the tracks, after which it would come back right down) and all four of us were having a good laugh. We were too happy to care. Well it was a metre gauge track and there was no train until next morning, which I had confirmed. The fellow passengers were not finding this funny at all though, with the bus still on the tracks. The fact is only around 8 people can push a bus from behind,the paint is too slippery on the sides, and four were us guys, and we were more interested in discussing about who among us had a good arm. Finally the driver was able to start the thing. :)

We would arrive in Chennai by afternoon, a lot many hours late. The place struck me as strange, my first time I would staying in a big city, need to search for a place to stay, the crowds, the noise, dust and of course the heat was decidedly unfriendly. Never felt so out of place. Lot of questions were running in mind how I would cope, what to do to pass time and all.

After a few months we were almost at home. I would explore much of the city which seems to spread over such a large area. My favourite locations were always its beaches. There are so many to choose from. Those trips to pondicherry, mahabalipuram and all the crazy things we used to do.

I still remember, a close friend asking me, if I plan on going back to Cochin. Both of us agreed that was there would be no living in Cochin for a long while now, either it was going to be Chennai, maybe Bangalore or another metro, Of course we would joke about great many cities around the world too. Paris was a hot favourite, it still is, but those were mostly dreams. :) It is anybody's guess that both of us are now in North America.

It is easy to fall in love with Chennai, a city that calm and peaceful and quite rocking if you have right company, which I was luckily never short of. I have always found the people to be very friendly. Our two house owners were so friendly, in spite of our wayward nature. The city that has taught a lot of things. Like where ever in the world you go be yourself, make yourself at home, think about all else for later. ;) . My first experience was a sort of shock, never seen poverty at such levels, then later I would accept that as a fact of life. I am not exactly ignorant of the world around me and I have seen poverty close by, but in Chennai that was an awakening of sorts.

The first time I went out of country, there I was waiting at the immigration in Brussels, a young lady was at the counter. I was having a wrong visa, a business visa while I needed a worker visa. Her first question was what I was going to do there? I had the answer ready, I was in for a discussion with my customer who is in Antwerpen, it was not a lie, but mostly I would be doing something else. :) She was smiling by now, I used to look way younger than my 21 years, and was wearing a T-shirt that made it worse. Nothing looked convincing except for my confident answer. So she asked what I do, so I dropped a word about satellite communications. I noticed her jaw dropped kinda, and knew there was nothing to worry about. The office was in a sleepy village, and the taxi drivers used to hold us guys in awe, they even let us try their expensive mercs. It helped that the office was a bit small and there was this huge lawn on which were a large number satellite dishes of all shapes and sizes pointed towards the horizon. I loved the place, it looked straight out of X-Files. :)

Lot of things have changed, there are no strange places or strange countries for me now, it is all just a small world. The place where you are and where you are going is all just part of life. At least I am not in Kabul. The Canadian winter is not good, but then the Chennai summer is not so good either. I love Cochin though, getting wet in the monsoon rains is just fun, all those trips in the boats, the countless hours spent talking and looking at the harbour figuring out which direction the ships are going. Some of them so big and so slow that it is difficult to figure out. Huh I am looking forward to my vacation at my cochin home ;) in April.

I already have a list of places to visit, friends to meet so think the vacation is going to fly away fast.

A long trip

I love driving, my favourite past time to go for a long ride on the east coast road on my motorcycle. The east coast road extends from chennai to pondicherry and is a serene place where you can find speed limits like 100km/hr. I can take time off my usually hustle bustle and spend hours listening to the waves rush and collapse on the sand with the moon visible above on the beaches that the road hugs all through. Chennai's beaches are a favourite getaway. It helps that the flights that come down to the chennai airport take the path along the beach, and I can try to imagine all the sights in the beautiful cities they are flying in from. Lufthansa from Frankfurt, that one is from Dubai, one from Heathrow. frequent trips to pick my close friends at the airport and I always fly Lufthanse, so the usual arrival times are familiar to me. :)

I prefer driving mostly on the wrong side of the speed limit. :) After a couple of incidents (never had an accident in over three years), that gave me rubber legs, I decided it was time to throw away the bike and get a four-wheeler. The reason is not just that a four wheeler is safer, a car is simply not fast enough to get to the speeds I do on a powerful two wheeler. ( I would get myself a new bike later, that is resting at home without a rider with less than a month's riding, in over an year. LOL) . I would get a second hand fiat palio, my first real car, small and fast, suits me perfectly, Nope I don't consider the one my Pop paid for as mine.

I had promised a loved one studying in Kodaikanal, that I would come visit, after many broken promises, I decided it was time I kept my word. So I requested my roommate to come along
and the plan was to drive the 600 something km from chennai. Should take around 15 hours as the mapmyindia webpage calculated.

It would be fun. My roommate had some last minute plans to go home, leaving me alone. Now once I decide something there is no turning back. After getting the car cleaned, doing the usual checks, all fluids, brakes and the spare tire etc, (yes I can change a wheel in under 5 minutes) set off.

The plan was to avoid the direct route through trichy, which was under construction, useful info from a friend who goes home every other weekend, decided on the salem route which would go alongside the temple at palani and up the hills to kodaikanal.

In around three hours reached the sleepy town of Krishagiri, off the chennai bangalore highway, it is easy to drive fast here, usually do around 130 or more here. (That is faster than I manage here in Canada. :) ) It was already past midnight and after a week's work I was tired like hell. The thumbrule I follow on long drives is never drive more than an hour without break. I will stop occasionally for a coffee, a chat with some villagers, or dinner etc. Went looking for lodging for the night. Found lodging, woke up the security guard and asked him for a room he mentioned it was closed for the night, 100 bucks into his pocket and he had opened the gates and I got a room. It helped that he would be sleeping in front of my vehicle, so I could get sleep without a worry, no a thief in this sleepy place would not be smart enough to fool the car's locks. The room was easy on the pockets and quite neat too so I needn't get my sleeping bag after all. After telling the old guy to wake me up at 5:00 am and also get me some coffee in the morning, I went to bed. If you are surprised, I can get away with sleeping four hours on weekdays.

Morning sharp 6:00 am I was off, the next 100 kilometres the road was quite bad and I have take couple of detours. Driving on the unmarked state highways in Tamilnadu is fun, stretches and stretches of open road with few signs of people anywhere, the miles fly away so fast. With the windows up, with a/c on and some music on the cd changer, nothing can match the peace. I remember seeing a couple of cops out in the distance, slowed down abruptly to a respectable speed. They flagged me down anywayz, and asked if I was speeding. I denied speeding. They let me go without too many questions. When I got back and let the car cool down a bit, I could not help smile that the front grill of the car was peppered with dragon flies, not speeding, was I ? :)

It would be around 11:30 am when I reach Palani, and then disaster. It was something like 45 degrees outside, had the a/c turned on full and was speeding and the engine was overheating. After pulling over, I opened the bonnet to see what was going on. Then I made the mistake of opening the radiator cap and all the green liquids rushed out. It took around 20 minutes with the engine running for it to cool down and half of the coolant around the car in eeky green. In between lot of sympathetic villagers offered pushing the car, watering it to cool it and lot of things which I found funny and politely refuse. They are so helpful, one guy even offered to get me a mechanic from a few kilometers away if I wanted. Somethings just need patience to get right again, I explained in the broken tamil that I can manage. After filling the radiator back up with more green liquid I was off again through a few sleepy villages on a road barely one vehicle wide but without a person in sight. Soon I had reach Palani, I went into the temple, nope I was not going to climb to the temple on the top of the hill, just the temple at ground level.

You might think I get used to driving alone, not really usually I stop to get expert advice, it helps talking to guys around to know if a road is closed etc, and usually get a request for a lift, which if I find the person friendly I am only too happy. It is nice to hear their view of things. Like waiting an hour for the next bus. They are always surprised when I ask them to put the seat belts. :) Even more when how fast you can reach a place when I am driving. I am always fascinated by the simple life the villages lead.

Going up the Kodai road with the majestic view that follows you all along the hill climb is an enlightening experience. You have to do that to believe the view. I wanted to take some pics, but stopping or getting distracted on those climbing roads is not a good idea. The drive is not for the faint hearted though, if you are scared of taking on steep climbs on a stick shift or giving way to a bus with barely two feet between you car and the cliff that seems to extend to the bottom of the earth, don't even try.

It took around three hours to get to the top, a little more than twenty kilometres of uphill climb. Leaves me wondering why we don't get automatic cars here. Well going back down the hill would take a little less than an hours time. :)) It was in the after noon I reached kodai. Deepu you are a bad photographer aren't you, My cabinet in chennai has at least a dozen unwashed film rolls that I feel guilty looking at them. I still wonder why I never washed the rolls that included some excellent pics at even the neuschwanstein castle, garmisch in germany. Sorry, no pics to add on this post.

I borrowed a bike to see around the lake at kodaikanal, parking the car. Took some pics...it was a nice day with the usual hub-bub of tourists.

After calling my Sis to meet me, had dinner. It was late already. I went looking for a room. Next day would roam around kodai a bit with her, visit the college when she was studying and get some shopping done and in the evening the long drive back. Back at the hotel I traced down the route I had taken and got a smile that on the map which showd, I had taken the shortest route possible from salem to kodai, the road names were all in tamil, so no I don't remember them.

The only consolation about the drive back was there would be no climbing hills. :) The return journey would take around eight hours. Don't ask if I was speeding. Monday morning as I was leaving for office, our house owner was giving amused glances at the car, the grill had caught enough dragon flies that it looked like they were its dinners. Uggh back to the usual bustle of every day work.

Visiting Kodai

Kodai is best reached by train to kodai road station from where you can get a local bus up the hill. It is a hill station and so it can get a bit chilly, it is handy to have some warm clothing. If taking a vehcile, make sure you got fog lights, and you are comfortable driving in worse than normal conditions.

The serene environs are a photographer's delight and you can always find places that the tourists don't frequent to enjoy a peaceful and pleasant vacation. Some places may be out of bounds for safety reasons, so check out the boards before going into the forest etc. There is a sanctuary there, but no man eaters I think :)) , I have seen wild buffalo's and deer there but nothing worth my nikon.

I hope to capture a tiger on my Nikon sometime, when will I get that lucky I wonder. ;)

New Year's Eve

We decided to head for Niagara Falls to spend the New Years Eve. Living just an hour and a half drive away, and the place is our nearest weekend getaway. Given the weather of ten below freezing quite convenient also. After office, went home, took a few print outs from google maps, just in case. Had booked rooms for me and friends at the hostelling international a few days back.

Traveling for me is a last minute affair, never used to meticulous travel planning that everybody does. Grab a few clean clothes, toiletries and I would be ready to go anywhere. After coming here nothing much has changed, except checking the weather before going out. I prefer to have a few layers of clothing, so depending on how good or bad the weather is I can add or remove some.
Packing is simple, deciding on all the geeky stuff to take along and the assorted chargers for each of them. Since this was a short trip I decided on taking along my Nikon and a basic zoom lens, my small n handy canon that I use for all those casual snaps went into my coat pocket, a GPS without which I would get lost – I am used to driving from chennai to bangalore and back without a map but I still can’t figure out direction is north here, unless there is a really cold wind . Forget about asking for directions on the expressways, and even on the country roads, finding people is difficult in winter. And circles, i hate driving around circles that are in use to enter and exit the expressways coz they make me loose all sense of direction. :)

After doing a quick check of my car, we set off. Reached Niagara around 6:00 pm. The weather was good for this time of the year, minus ten and windy. We took a cab to the falls and had dinner on the way. Since my friends have never seen the falls, we walked along the falls for some time. The water falls is actually two falls, the majestic horseshoe falls that you see in the pictures on the Canadian side, and the smaller American falls. It is nice to watch them at night as they get illuminated in different colours and everything else is comparatively darker. We got there just in time as the fireworks started for the night. See pics above. Not long before they were complaining about the cold. :)

After acting as a tour guide for some time, we headed back to a casino to try our luck. The Fallsview Casino is very famous here, though I have never been there. I spent some time checking out some games and slot machines. You can always get a good laugh at some other players who have no idea how these things work. After noting that I should should learn to play poker, those people on the tables seem to be engrossed in. Coz it is something that intelligent people play. It also helps that the dealer is a gorgeous young lady. ;-) I head for a nearby pub to see what the crowd on New Years is like. We meet and chat with a few guys from across the border, while my younger friend is busy getting his photos clicked. It is his first time out of India. I learn they are college students from New York, who are here to have fun. I guess only reason they are here in Canada is one needs to be over 21 to get into a pub across the border. I am quite liberal in poking fun at them on this note. J After wishing them a great year ahead we head for the concert near the falls. Seems Justin hines is playing some all time favourites tonight. I ponder over how the guy can sing and play his guitar in the freezing temperature. It is around 11 pm when we think it is time to grab a beer and are back at the pub, I see the National Hockey League is on the screens and it is easy to figure there are quite a crowd across the border as the Americans seem to be winning.

There is lotta clicking glasses and hugs as the New Year approaches and we head back to our room, it is almost 2 am. I notice that I have been careless and my feet are frozen cold and wet after walking so long in the thick snow. When you are tired, there is nothing that feels as good a nice bed.


Visiting Niagara

To visit you need a Canadian or US visa, and easiest way to get there is to take a bus from Toronto or New York, the view from the Canadian side is better though. If you plan on renting a car, check that it comes with a good navigation system, so you don’t get lost on the expressways.

The best time to visit is summer, as most of the attractions are closed during Canada’s harsh winter months. Book your accommodation in advance before getting here, as there would be quite a crowd during holidays.

Tourists come here for a view of the majestic falls. A trip on the famous maid of the mist ride is a must. My tip, take a position near the bow of the ship, and you would be surprised. It rides straight into the falls, soon the sound of the ships engines get drowned out by the roar of the falls, and all around only thing you see would be the white water rushing down and the everpresent mist. It is breathtaking. Note some pics were taken last summer. J

Don’t miss the fireworks over the falls on Sundays and weekdays with the falls illuminated in different colours in the background, would be perfect for a romantic night out. J

See photo below.





The best thing about Niagara I like are the Casino’s and pubs are open all through the nite. The Fall’s view Casino is the place to be, if you want to have some fun and gamble away some dollars. The buses run till 2:00 am and you can always walk, it is a small place. No one drinks and drives here you see. ;-)

The place is known as a favorite spot for honeymooners, but for all I have seen most people bring their extended families along. The crowd is usually young and quite hip hop, god it reminds me of good old days I spent in Amsterdam.

anything to see the lion king.........

Yet another weekend....Let's go to Vandalur zoo... kise ne kaha....chalthe hain.....

First question, got enough friends to fill a mini zoo, so what things new do you get @ vandalur... he he...wait till they read this...


Eh sher to apne bistar par hi khush da... par fir bhi ....chale.

15 ppl....not bad...considering my friends are almost as lazy as me.....

Lucky the zoo was nearby ... reached in about half an hour....

Apna Nikon SLR hum nahin boolenge. got couple of rolls of film on the way to fix most of the good natured beings... in good poses ... and also.. the creatures outside the cages they should be in ....my buddies.... :)


The part is the lion safari...you end up inside the cages and the lions have a free for all..... hoping to get a good bite at you. But seems the day being a weekend they are too sleepy or maybe we din seem like a juicy titbit?




The zoo has a good collection of birds ...including hens and doves you can find in the villages :)..




Saw a jaguar and even kangaroo's thought going to australia was the only way to get my hands...ok my nikon on one of them,


It took the whole day....roaming around the place...quite big and in the evening our legs could take us no more...barely reached the parking lot.....



Now when will they get rid of stick-shifts and put cruise control on our cars? by the time we reached home, we were famished ..freshened up , had fill of food and slept like the sher....

The question, what do we do nxt weekend....