Like all the other cities of Europe, Pari was different and stunning. Everybody knew it the moment they entered the trance. Each of these European cities apart from their lavish beauties and histories are known more importantly for how beautifully their history and culture is preserved. Though our India is good with the history part, not so good with the protecting part.
Parc Asterix was a great set up. It actually feels like you are in a different land.
Though we couldn’t get to interact much with the local environment, that day apart from “Hello sir! Do you speak English?” and running around for change for as much as 100Euros, I met a friendly group in the train to Paris. Also, took a stroll down the Paris lanes sipping cold drinks with a camera in one hand and an exotic dinner of crepes and pizza in broad evening light! I only wished if all this happened without the all panicky Sardars around! You know, the group changes everything; even pure crap can be fun! ;p
Even the junctions stretches to acres of land though the streets barely fit a bus and a car at once in a parallel row! Aah! What else! Perfumes! Fragrance! Fragonard.
Tour Montparnasse; the 59-floor skyscraper is one gothic black building above the rest of landscapes but offers some of the most spectacular views of the city of lights, love, romance, beauty, fashion & education (which we missed, of course, since it wasn’t getting darker any sooner).
‘View from the top is the most beautiful in Paris, since it is the only place from which one cannot see the tower.’
-Guy de Maupassant who loathed the Eiffel Tower and ate lunch there daily.
As we got down the bus to visit the Grand Louvre, this is what I could comprehend from what I heard from the tour manager.
“Welcome to one of the world’s largest museums. As you enter this most visited monument and continue to stare for a few minutes at each of these masterpieces it would take a minimum of your remaining lifetime. You have an hour and a five-minute buffer, please hurry up and if you miss the bus you know where to find us (which is generally followed by some unrealistic obsolete names of places and hotels; never mind). I then, ran through centuries of story telling art created by the greatest of artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da vinci; the Napoleon apartments to the Egyptian ruins. It was beyond anything. By the time I returned thinking to have missed my bus, panting and holding my crumpled map I saw most of them back enjoying their coffee. I wish they didn’t miss the Monalisa at least, not that it was as great as it was meant to be; at least you get to tell you saw it to folks back home ☺ I wish I bought the duplicate Monalisa for 3 euros as a souvenir! So many times it was stolen and so many great eyes it stole in return.
The other things that were more shocking were the free education policy, how incredible no. of museums are constructed for encouraging tolerance among the young, how the old were taken care off, why no one begs though some rare people choose to live like that and how blandly she showed one of the finest places in Paris around the Arc Of Triumph and why they considered it unfit for residence. In her words, “ For us, there is no quality of life if there is not enough silence, peace, freedom and enjoyment in living.” That struck me.
That day as I lay in bed with my eyes closed, all I could see were no dreams but the great rich London, the canals, tulips and lush green lands of Netherlands without a patch of bareness, the beautiful city of Brussels with all its palaces and streets warned for pickpockets and Paris with its great stretches of Rapeseed fields for bio diesel, old ancient architecture on the same stunning level as modern while the narrow streets being modified to suit the present day needs; so organized and well managed.
Napoleon’s loot was indeed a great one.
“Hail Napoleon!”
P.s Where are the electric wires?!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
A dam in the river Amstel. Euro Trip- Day 2
The people of Amsterdam are relaxed. Easy going. Chilled. They are spiritually inclined and they smoke weed.
- Michelle, The tour manager.
The world's legal capital, popular sex capital stormed with sex shops, vodka palaces, sex and cannabis museums; Amsterdam apart from all the hoax is in fact a charming place to lay the eyes upon.
The voyage on the cruise ship from London to Netherlands was brilliant, especially the variety of seafood, just the variety. Not the taste. I hardly felt the cruise liner move the entire night. The rare times it shook, all I had to remember was to stay calm and remind myself that it was an acceleration or a turn and not, not an earthquake.
I could hardy catch any sleep. I could hardly eat what I imagined to be the most delicious food as I boarded the flight in India. Although it tasted different and sometimes convincingly yummy, it was raw and mostly sugarless. The fish scales and fins were conspicuous and the name plated had no use except to help with the name of the species it belongs to. I chewed, swallowed and closed my eyes to recollect the taste. Lame.
I was spell bound as we entered Netherlands. It was very different from London and I hardly could believe that people actually live in a place (I didn’t spot many, either) with such green grass, colorful flowers, quacking ducks and houses far apart adjacent to lovely lakes and canals.
Where is the noise? At least, don’t the boats have engines? Actually, they don’t. They are electric. Don’t the vehicles have horns? Well. They don’t use them, either. Where, where is the pollution? Yeah, as many as 465,000 bicycles exist and as many as 54,000 bicycles get stolen in a year. Think B!KE.
It’s unbelievable, I know.
It may be used, as a synonym for heaven except it’s hard to imagine what would happen to such a low- lying land if Global Warming took a toll.
The trip to Keukenhof Tulip Gardens was spectacular too. The same descriptions of flower apply to all of them or maybe better. It’s the result of the finest deal between every possible color shade on a painter’s palette and the most intriguing genetic principles known to man. Indigestible.
The ferry will take you across many narrow leaning wooden houses, houseboats decorated aesthetically and large adorned windows that welcome the warm sunlight is a thought beyond geographical choices.
P.s. Of course, we spotted the same windmills, both, old and new.
- Michelle, The tour manager.
The world's legal capital, popular sex capital stormed with sex shops, vodka palaces, sex and cannabis museums; Amsterdam apart from all the hoax is in fact a charming place to lay the eyes upon.
The voyage on the cruise ship from London to Netherlands was brilliant, especially the variety of seafood, just the variety. Not the taste. I hardly felt the cruise liner move the entire night. The rare times it shook, all I had to remember was to stay calm and remind myself that it was an acceleration or a turn and not, not an earthquake.
I could hardy catch any sleep. I could hardly eat what I imagined to be the most delicious food as I boarded the flight in India. Although it tasted different and sometimes convincingly yummy, it was raw and mostly sugarless. The fish scales and fins were conspicuous and the name plated had no use except to help with the name of the species it belongs to. I chewed, swallowed and closed my eyes to recollect the taste. Lame.
I was spell bound as we entered Netherlands. It was very different from London and I hardly could believe that people actually live in a place (I didn’t spot many, either) with such green grass, colorful flowers, quacking ducks and houses far apart adjacent to lovely lakes and canals.
Where is the noise? At least, don’t the boats have engines? Actually, they don’t. They are electric. Don’t the vehicles have horns? Well. They don’t use them, either. Where, where is the pollution? Yeah, as many as 465,000 bicycles exist and as many as 54,000 bicycles get stolen in a year. Think B!KE.
It’s unbelievable, I know.
It may be used, as a synonym for heaven except it’s hard to imagine what would happen to such a low- lying land if Global Warming took a toll.
The trip to Keukenhof Tulip Gardens was spectacular too. The same descriptions of flower apply to all of them or maybe better. It’s the result of the finest deal between every possible color shade on a painter’s palette and the most intriguing genetic principles known to man. Indigestible.
The ferry will take you across many narrow leaning wooden houses, houseboats decorated aesthetically and large adorned windows that welcome the warm sunlight is a thought beyond geographical choices.
P.s. Of course, we spotted the same windmills, both, old and new.
Great London. Euro Trip- Day 1.
“Poor people. Pooar people. What is this?! They rule half world and now, look, look; they pick up dog poop on roads, tap water drinking and coffee no milk, and, by the way, look! Soo old cars and they riding cycles! Waht is this!
- Somebody in the bus, after the stop at the gas station.
“
Patchy shades of green from the skies,
so is the land near by.
Small streets yet so smooth,
rich palaces and economical bikes.
The cars, very different.
Smart, black and sometimes color on sides.
The queen is old and their families, older.
The whole world’s looted treasures slammed into one small yet gigantic land.
“
As the bus passed by this highly populous metropolitan area, I couldn’t help noticing, how much people enjoyed having a smoke, strolling in those big parks, jogging and exercising, anywhere and everywhere. The blue sky had numerous dissipating white contrails. The stunning architectural beauty and how seemingly more beautiful they appear on the silver screen is something really annoying. Men here have very long working hours, visibly seen where all the sweat in the cold is going into.
“A great part of the world might have been exploited by the Great Britain, I agree.
But it wasn’t anything more than that of the people of Britain itself. “
-Mark, our London tour operator.
Then, all of a sudden you find yourself in a moment of madness when you are clicking the camera button not any less than a child enjoying the click, each time as the first time.
Each time you discover something, something different in color, tradition and culture and it strikes you with speechlessness and you wonder, is it even possible?
Very visibly, the people here pay great importance to mannerisms. Thank you, sorry, excuse me are chanted in and out. Nobody needs to tell another to stay in queues or let alone say anything for that matter. It just moves very smooth, a smoothness undisturbed by squeaking horns. Fines are heavy too but I guess, you wouldn’t want to litter a perfectly spick and span green garden not even with your dog’s poop. Or would you?
P.s. I am thirsty. I am starving. Man, they eat raw!
- Somebody in the bus, after the stop at the gas station.
“
Patchy shades of green from the skies,
so is the land near by.
Small streets yet so smooth,
rich palaces and economical bikes.
The cars, very different.
Smart, black and sometimes color on sides.
The queen is old and their families, older.
The whole world’s looted treasures slammed into one small yet gigantic land.
“
As the bus passed by this highly populous metropolitan area, I couldn’t help noticing, how much people enjoyed having a smoke, strolling in those big parks, jogging and exercising, anywhere and everywhere. The blue sky had numerous dissipating white contrails. The stunning architectural beauty and how seemingly more beautiful they appear on the silver screen is something really annoying. Men here have very long working hours, visibly seen where all the sweat in the cold is going into.
“A great part of the world might have been exploited by the Great Britain, I agree.
But it wasn’t anything more than that of the people of Britain itself. “
-Mark, our London tour operator.
Then, all of a sudden you find yourself in a moment of madness when you are clicking the camera button not any less than a child enjoying the click, each time as the first time.
Each time you discover something, something different in color, tradition and culture and it strikes you with speechlessness and you wonder, is it even possible?
Very visibly, the people here pay great importance to mannerisms. Thank you, sorry, excuse me are chanted in and out. Nobody needs to tell another to stay in queues or let alone say anything for that matter. It just moves very smooth, a smoothness undisturbed by squeaking horns. Fines are heavy too but I guess, you wouldn’t want to litter a perfectly spick and span green garden not even with your dog’s poop. Or would you?
P.s. I am thirsty. I am starving. Man, they eat raw!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thoughts for food!
The Indian pan chewers are confused modern wall artists.
They are not even sure whether to spit out or swallow what they have just eaten!
Coincidence is the closest word to 'no reason'.
People who coin bad and slang words are men, who employ, great imagination and creativity in the wrong place.
Why do none donate their swimming costumes for the flood relief, isn't it what the people there essentially need?! [issued in public interest]
Everything always existed, only made noticeable.
I can't eat too much cheese.
When the nose is blocked; life turns upside down, literally!
Parasitology- The study of the distance between the butt(buttocks) and mouth and how nature chose the long deviated mazes, giving purpose to countless organisms.
Self called tall men are intellectual dwarfs.
In the language of Medicine, the naked is no porn.
All great philosophers, including me, are the ones who are greatly troubled within themselves.
- Me
Not talking _ _ _ is talkin _ _ _; said Pandit shree shree shree. . .naah, nobody, I am jus' makin' that up! ;p
Are your dreams color or black&white?
They are not even sure whether to spit out or swallow what they have just eaten!
Coincidence is the closest word to 'no reason'.
People who coin bad and slang words are men, who employ, great imagination and creativity in the wrong place.
Why do none donate their swimming costumes for the flood relief, isn't it what the people there essentially need?! [issued in public interest]
Everything always existed, only made noticeable.
I can't eat too much cheese.
When the nose is blocked; life turns upside down, literally!
Parasitology- The study of the distance between the butt(buttocks) and mouth and how nature chose the long deviated mazes, giving purpose to countless organisms.
Self called tall men are intellectual dwarfs.
In the language of Medicine, the naked is no porn.
All great philosophers, including me, are the ones who are greatly troubled within themselves.
- Me
Not talking _ _ _ is talkin _ _ _; said Pandit shree shree shree. . .naah, nobody, I am jus' makin' that up! ;p
Are your dreams color or black&white?
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Crush.
It was a noisy class of seventy-four, I remember. The Math teacher entered the class with her invisible dominant aura of strict unmeasured silence that could fathom the class, but not for more than a second or two. She carried the class six final examination papers. The noise rose. She pulled back her glasses, into her hair, and shouted: “Silence!”; and attached to it, one brief but long lasting look with her narrowed eyes.
She pulled out the first paper. “Prafulla!” she shouted. A lean figure rose from the corner of the class. He felt shy.
He could have made no mistake, everybody thought.
The teacher smiled, and there were whispers all around.
“99/100.” Everybody gasped.
To my right, sat the girl with her big brown eyes, which innocently showed every expression that ran through her mind. She leaned forward, took out her diary, carefully opened a page and started to draw lines with a short plastic foldable ruler. She made columns for each of the toppers in the class including a small one for her. I continued to stare in jealousy.
She shook, all of a sudden. The teacher had called out her name. With her, I shook.
“98/100.” She returned to her place, not so happy.
“Raviteja, 100/100!” I stood in shock.
To this, she pulled out her ruler again and drew a small line, making just enough space for another column. She wrote my name on the top of it. I was high. I had never had a column for myself and, now, a column in her diary was entirely for me! Ever since I experienced the high, I never left the column for someone else.
It’s funny how childhood crushes are; when you lay in bed, one day before Rakshabandhan, and wonder what would happen. She actually ties the band around your wrist the next day, and you still come home happy!
It’s funny how college crushes are. Much like an ICMR research proposal; it’s always better to put forth your proposal and give it a chance. It is easier to break-up than to wait till your girl has a break-up!
It’s more than funny that I’m speaking of crushes!
p.s.
Crush.
noun, A brief but intense infatuation for someone, esp. someone unattainable or inappropriate.
With this, I have a documented special column and more than a blog.
My thanks Sneha!
She pulled out the first paper. “Prafulla!” she shouted. A lean figure rose from the corner of the class. He felt shy.
He could have made no mistake, everybody thought.
The teacher smiled, and there were whispers all around.
“99/100.” Everybody gasped.
To my right, sat the girl with her big brown eyes, which innocently showed every expression that ran through her mind. She leaned forward, took out her diary, carefully opened a page and started to draw lines with a short plastic foldable ruler. She made columns for each of the toppers in the class including a small one for her. I continued to stare in jealousy.
She shook, all of a sudden. The teacher had called out her name. With her, I shook.
“98/100.” She returned to her place, not so happy.
“Raviteja, 100/100!” I stood in shock.
To this, she pulled out her ruler again and drew a small line, making just enough space for another column. She wrote my name on the top of it. I was high. I had never had a column for myself and, now, a column in her diary was entirely for me! Ever since I experienced the high, I never left the column for someone else.
It’s funny how childhood crushes are; when you lay in bed, one day before Rakshabandhan, and wonder what would happen. She actually ties the band around your wrist the next day, and you still come home happy!
It’s funny how college crushes are. Much like an ICMR research proposal; it’s always better to put forth your proposal and give it a chance. It is easier to break-up than to wait till your girl has a break-up!
It’s more than funny that I’m speaking of crushes!
p.s.
Crush.
noun, A brief but intense infatuation for someone, esp. someone unattainable or inappropriate.
With this, I have a documented special column and more than a blog.
My thanks Sneha!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
For no reason. . .
“Mamma, how am I here?” The little girl asked, her eyes sparkling with innocence.
“Sweety,” said the mom, “when a man and a woman are very deep in love, a piece of the blue sky falls to the Earth and there you are!”
The most beautiful things in the world are for no reason, either because we failed to find a reason or perhaps there is no reason at all. Oh wait; or may be we don’t care enough to find one as it’s so beautiful the way it is, out of purity; unconditional- ‘no reason’!
Very often, it is said, learn from a kid. The way he shoots up his tiny lil’ hand in the class for anything and everything. The way he dusts off his shorts, each time he falls to get back on his toes in no time, running.
As an adult, even the wisest hesitate when asked. We dig into our failures deeper that we fail to realize that all that matters is to pull oneself together, again. On an average, 90% of thoughts that occur to us in a day are the same of yesterdays’. We live not, now and here. We search for a reason.
At variance, mankind would not have gotten this far with out great minds sacrifice in search of reasons. We prolonged life span, stretched dimensions of luxury but are we losing the happiness of our basic existence all along with reason coming? Was the early caveman a happier person?
I have no answer.
Only in the later years the lil’ girl found out the truth. There is neither a sky nor its shades of blue. Its just when a man and a woman have sex; as a result of a drunken evening, or a contraceptive failure and some fancy; she was born.
Tell me, which answer sounds beautiful; the much imagined blue skies or the reasoning contraception?
“Sweety,” said the mom, “when a man and a woman are very deep in love, a piece of the blue sky falls to the Earth and there you are!”
The most beautiful things in the world are for no reason, either because we failed to find a reason or perhaps there is no reason at all. Oh wait; or may be we don’t care enough to find one as it’s so beautiful the way it is, out of purity; unconditional- ‘no reason’!
Very often, it is said, learn from a kid. The way he shoots up his tiny lil’ hand in the class for anything and everything. The way he dusts off his shorts, each time he falls to get back on his toes in no time, running.
As an adult, even the wisest hesitate when asked. We dig into our failures deeper that we fail to realize that all that matters is to pull oneself together, again. On an average, 90% of thoughts that occur to us in a day are the same of yesterdays’. We live not, now and here. We search for a reason.
At variance, mankind would not have gotten this far with out great minds sacrifice in search of reasons. We prolonged life span, stretched dimensions of luxury but are we losing the happiness of our basic existence all along with reason coming? Was the early caveman a happier person?
I have no answer.
Only in the later years the lil’ girl found out the truth. There is neither a sky nor its shades of blue. Its just when a man and a woman have sex; as a result of a drunken evening, or a contraceptive failure and some fancy; she was born.
Tell me, which answer sounds beautiful; the much imagined blue skies or the reasoning contraception?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The 5th Semester
Except for ‘no company’ for dinner, it was a fine evening. Finding no identifiable faces at the food court, I sat on a ‘just-till-now’ empty table. Soon, I had my senior citizens all around me. As I couldn’t jus’ stay silent till the last morsel and leave dumb, I asked the most ‘frequently asked question’ a junior asks a senior- “Sir, how is 5th semester??”
First; he giggled and stopped abruptly. Then; gave that let-the-cat-in the bag- out- look to all around. Finally, raised his eyebrows and spoke-
“Are you interested in the railways?”
That was strangest ‘reply in question form’ I ever heard.
“Well, I …yes, I guess.” I said hesitantly.
He bent forward and as if repeating a rhyme and rhymed-
“Mangala
Ernakulam-Nizamuddin- 10:30pm and 2:00am
Trivandrum- Kurla 1:25am and 5:10am. . . ”
and continuing the unfinished giggle continued “Oh! Don’t you worry kiddo, you’ll figure that out, very soon.”
Exams get us crazy, each one of us, at some point or the other. Well, I admit; they drive me crazy at more than jus’ some point; in fact many.
In the 3rd semester; a year ago, as it seems, I went out for a jog in the rain jus’ before the Pathology exam to let out some steam.
It was so cold that I had goose bumps, flattened by falling drops. Cold stares from fellow mates added to the cold. Undecipherable stares from strangers under the umbrella and the ones enjoying the hot tea with no Pathology exam the next day, added further.
In the 4th semester, I bicycled off a few miles in the lightened dark headed towards Parkala road; not able to withstand the joy of the downhill ride, after the pathology exam.
Each of the times, I jumped off my study chair and put on my sneakers with my innocent roomy watching with his eyes wide open, to pump blood to the already pounding grey-white matter. While my good meticulous mates persevered on understanding- how and why a guy’s life can get so fucked up when his 9 and 22 chromosomes throw their long arms around each other, I took off a few minutes to breathe heavily and bathe in sweat all over. Sometimes, to think of nothing, I just think of what I was doing.
I moved my body from one foot to another, transiently suspending myself into the dense air, feeling it momentarily, with ear phones plugged into my ears to distract me from my own thumping heart, synchronously beating with another in the head. My hands were swinging along but opposite. My cramping legs still moved for my naked head to feel the chill in the still air I was pushing through.
In the 5th semester, I stayed home and continued to read, unbothered of my growing lard.
They are over. Today, I traveled a 100km to reach one of the most hyped Sunset view points of the Western ghats at the 14th hair-pin bend Manipal-Agumbe terrain, in an another attempt to discover myself considering the PET [Post Exam Trauma].
I sat there enthralled, rejuvenating myself.
I could see the perfect ball, I bet, made with one single perfect stroke, on the most diversified shades.
Now I know the obvious reasons why Lord Hanuman mistook it for an Orange.
Photo & company courtesy- Tejaswi
Masel(piece of good luck in German) for the upcoming.
p.s. Rock, we will.
#There is a reciprocal translocation of the part of the long arms of chromosome 22 to the long arms of chromosome 9 in the Philadelphia chromosome. It is associated with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).
#I did figure it out. The rhyme was the Udupi Railway Schedule. The signor must have heard the same rumbling snore of the night trains, time and again, that, curiousness took him further to know their names which pass by. Good for him, he did really burn the midnight fluorescent bulb. Good for me, I always had my 6 hour slumber ;D
First; he giggled and stopped abruptly. Then; gave that let-the-cat-in the bag- out- look to all around. Finally, raised his eyebrows and spoke-
“Are you interested in the railways?”
That was strangest ‘reply in question form’ I ever heard.
“Well, I …yes, I guess.” I said hesitantly.
He bent forward and as if repeating a rhyme and rhymed-
“Mangala
Ernakulam-Nizamuddin- 10:30pm and 2:00am
Trivandrum- Kurla 1:25am and 5:10am. . . ”
and continuing the unfinished giggle continued “Oh! Don’t you worry kiddo, you’ll figure that out, very soon.”
Exams get us crazy, each one of us, at some point or the other. Well, I admit; they drive me crazy at more than jus’ some point; in fact many.
In the 3rd semester; a year ago, as it seems, I went out for a jog in the rain jus’ before the Pathology exam to let out some steam.
It was so cold that I had goose bumps, flattened by falling drops. Cold stares from fellow mates added to the cold. Undecipherable stares from strangers under the umbrella and the ones enjoying the hot tea with no Pathology exam the next day, added further.
In the 4th semester, I bicycled off a few miles in the lightened dark headed towards Parkala road; not able to withstand the joy of the downhill ride, after the pathology exam.
Each of the times, I jumped off my study chair and put on my sneakers with my innocent roomy watching with his eyes wide open, to pump blood to the already pounding grey-white matter. While my good meticulous mates persevered on understanding- how and why a guy’s life can get so fucked up when his 9 and 22 chromosomes throw their long arms around each other, I took off a few minutes to breathe heavily and bathe in sweat all over. Sometimes, to think of nothing, I just think of what I was doing.
I moved my body from one foot to another, transiently suspending myself into the dense air, feeling it momentarily, with ear phones plugged into my ears to distract me from my own thumping heart, synchronously beating with another in the head. My hands were swinging along but opposite. My cramping legs still moved for my naked head to feel the chill in the still air I was pushing through.
In the 5th semester, I stayed home and continued to read, unbothered of my growing lard.
They are over. Today, I traveled a 100km to reach one of the most hyped Sunset view points of the Western ghats at the 14th hair-pin bend Manipal-Agumbe terrain, in an another attempt to discover myself considering the PET [Post Exam Trauma].
I sat there enthralled, rejuvenating myself.
I could see the perfect ball, I bet, made with one single perfect stroke, on the most diversified shades.
Now I know the obvious reasons why Lord Hanuman mistook it for an Orange.
Photo & company courtesy- Tejaswi
Masel(piece of good luck in German) for the upcoming.
p.s. Rock, we will.
#There is a reciprocal translocation of the part of the long arms of chromosome 22 to the long arms of chromosome 9 in the Philadelphia chromosome. It is associated with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML).
#I did figure it out. The rhyme was the Udupi Railway Schedule. The signor must have heard the same rumbling snore of the night trains, time and again, that, curiousness took him further to know their names which pass by. Good for him, he did really burn the midnight fluorescent bulb. Good for me, I always had my 6 hour slumber ;D
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