An hour without power. "Earth Hour Saturday 28 March 2009, 8.30pm is that hour when cities and towns across the world will turn off their lights for one hour"
That's something I can certainly do... it will be like reliving one of the power outages that I was so used to while growing up. Mostly, the scheduled outages used to occur in prime summer months. A messenger from the electricity department will send a word around the community (colony as it was called) regarding the timing of the scheduled power outages. It used to last for about an hour. Sometimes they'd even try to squeeze in fifteen minutes before the scheduled begin and another fifteen after the scheduled end. My mom used to joke about the "reliability" of these power cuts, she used to say - call an electrician to fix a broken street light, they never show up... but, if the electricity department was punctual about something it had to be cutting power.
We used to dread the afternoon power cuts, that was the worst form of torture according to me! At nights, these outages were not so bad. The weather usually gets pleasant during late evenings, and with no TV, no lights, we guiltlessly took that time off and do nothing. We would light candles and sit out in the portico, get some fresh air, chat with our neighbors... it was the time for all of us to catch up! Except when I was studying for an exam or had homework to do, I used to sit with my books front of the candle and read / write in earnest.... until I looked up at the wall and saw my shadow... and then get distracted with the size and shape of my nose in the shadow, which reminded me of witch.
I think I will happily switch the lights off this Saturday and may be try to see if the shadow of my nose looks any different now.
26 March 2009
23 March 2009
Trip to Spain - Cordoba
Spain has excellent highways, with a speed limit of 120 Km/hr in most of the areas. We breezed through without much trouble to Cordoba. Driving in to Cordoba, I felt that it looked like any other city, there was nothing to ooh and aah about the place, but all that changed when we drove closer to our hotel… it definitely started looking like a place steeped in history. If Cordoba were in the United States, the exit we needed to take would’ve been called “Historic district” or “Historic Downtown”. Our hotel was smack in front of the mezquita cathedral – the main attraction of Cordoba, which was so damn cool. However, getting our car in to the street was bit of a challenge, as the road was blocked to regular traffic. So we had to call the hotel and they had to let us in.
We got beautiful rooms, one with the view of the Mezquita and the other looked down to the beautiful courtyard of the hotel.
Here’s a shot of the Mezquita entrance from our friend's room.
After the tour, we headed for lunch at a very cute restaurant. We had the best-est beef stew! I had a dish that was really artery clogging; it was a battered deep-fried sausage and I believe that was Cordoba’s specialty.
I leave you with this picture of our friends who I think looked really cute in this picture... and that's because I was handling the camera * thank you thank you *
We got beautiful rooms, one with the view of the Mezquita and the other looked down to the beautiful courtyard of the hotel.
Here’s a shot of the Mezquita entrance from our friend's room.
We went out for dinner to a home run restaurant near by and had some good wine and food and dessert liqueur.
We smile.....
... when we see booze!
The sumptuous dinner helped us regain some energy and strolled around the town. K captured these wonderful shots. We later found out that the walk we went on that night was marked as the “historical walk” of Cordoba and a suggested activity for tourists.
Our agenda for the morning after was to tour inside the Mezquita Cathedral and get back on the road. We got out of the hotel at about 10 that morning and headed straight to the Cathedral and found that it was closed until 1 p.m. With all the time on our hands, we decided to explore the town some more. I’ll let the pictures do the talking now ;)
We took some quintessential pictures.....
... and got lost on the way....
.... and then finally reached the synagogue, which was exploited by the Moorish invaders!
.... and then finally reached the synagogue, which was exploited by the Moorish invaders!
We got to the Mezquita a little earlier than 1; afraid we might run in to long lines. I had no idea what to expect when I walked in… and it proved to be one of the most intriguing and magnificent buildings that I have ever seen. One minute I felt I was in a Cathedral and I turn around to find myself in an ostentatious palace of a Muslim ruler. I’ve never seen such contrasts inside the same place! My words won’t do any justice in describing this place. These pictures might do a better job, but you have to see it to believe it!
The arches inside the Mezquita Cathedral
Contrasts!
Muslim or Christian?
V was turned off by the ostentatious-ness of the whole place, but all that changed when he saw the pictures. His words upon seeing the pictures were “WOW! This place looks beautiful!”
After the tour, we headed for lunch at a very cute restaurant. We had the best-est beef stew! I had a dish that was really artery clogging; it was a battered deep-fried sausage and I believe that was Cordoba’s specialty.
I leave you with this picture of our friends who I think looked really cute in this picture... and that's because I was handling the camera * thank you thank you *
Soon, we set off on our drive to Seville.
17 March 2009
Trip to Spain - Toledo on the way to Cordoba
Oh the joy of waking up in the morning and realizing that you don’t have to rush through anything, you don’t have to go to work, you don’t have household chores to attend to… Surprisingly it’s on such vacation days that I never feel the need for that extra 5 minutes of snooze time.
We grabbed a quick breakfast and the guys went their way to get the rental car, while P & me headed to a lounge-ish sort of room to chill out and catch up on all the gossip in the world. We realized that it was getting close to check out time, so we hurried to our rooms, packed our bags and got everything in order and checked out. Finally the guys arrived with the rental. It was a mini van called “Alhambra” and this mean blue machine came with a GPS that spoke Spanish! Since we were running an hour or two behind schedule, we decided to use the map and get on the highway and get the GPS to work on the way. K took the wheel and V was happy to navigate (nothing new).
Toledo happened to be an impromptu decision; it was barely a detour from our route to Cordoba and it was not setting us behind significantly. So there was a consensus to stop at Toledo for lunch and explore the old town a little.
All this while the adamant *bleep* of a GPS refused to speak anything but Spanish. At last, we figured out how to get her to speak in English... with an Irish accent! However, the written directions were still Spanish. And she had a fixation with gas stations… every time we were close to gas station, there’d be an announcement complete with the music - tadadatatadaannn…. ATTENCION * announcement in Spanish * and this happened through the WHOLE TRIP!
We never let go of our maps!
We reached Toledo without major hiccups and drove in to town and parked in a garage near the citadel and walked through the town. It felt like I was being transported to a different time, old buildings and the essential cobble stone roads. We waked quite a bit that afternoon and saw some pretty sights before we decided to stop for lunch. We stopped at a very cute restaurant. Looked like they were whipping up some good food, as it was jam-packed. We ordered our beers and waited for a seat. Anyway, we ate quite a bit, and I clearly remember a dish that was described as “Toledo’s famous…” something, and that my friends * sounding mccain like * was the best!
We grabbed a quick breakfast and the guys went their way to get the rental car, while P & me headed to a lounge-ish sort of room to chill out and catch up on all the gossip in the world. We realized that it was getting close to check out time, so we hurried to our rooms, packed our bags and got everything in order and checked out. Finally the guys arrived with the rental. It was a mini van called “Alhambra” and this mean blue machine came with a GPS that spoke Spanish! Since we were running an hour or two behind schedule, we decided to use the map and get on the highway and get the GPS to work on the way. K took the wheel and V was happy to navigate (nothing new).
Toledo happened to be an impromptu decision; it was barely a detour from our route to Cordoba and it was not setting us behind significantly. So there was a consensus to stop at Toledo for lunch and explore the old town a little.
All this while the adamant *bleep* of a GPS refused to speak anything but Spanish. At last, we figured out how to get her to speak in English... with an Irish accent! However, the written directions were still Spanish. And she had a fixation with gas stations… every time we were close to gas station, there’d be an announcement complete with the music - tadadatatadaannn…. ATTENCION * announcement in Spanish * and this happened through the WHOLE TRIP!
We never let go of our maps!
We reached Toledo without major hiccups and drove in to town and parked in a garage near the citadel and walked through the town. It felt like I was being transported to a different time, old buildings and the essential cobble stone roads. We waked quite a bit that afternoon and saw some pretty sights before we decided to stop for lunch. We stopped at a very cute restaurant. Looked like they were whipping up some good food, as it was jam-packed. We ordered our beers and waited for a seat. Anyway, we ate quite a bit, and I clearly remember a dish that was described as “Toledo’s famous…” something, and that my friends * sounding mccain like * was the best!
Streets of Toledo
Lunch Time
On the road again
With renewed energy we explored the city some more, saw the cathedral took pictures and it was time to say good-bye and head to Cordoba. We all agreed that we didn’t regret our pit stop at Toledo.
12 March 2009
Trip to Spain - Madrid
The time leading in to any trip is the most exciting part for me, even more than the actual trip. All that anticipation - trying to imagine how a place would look like, what would you do when you get there, reading about local joints, thinking about interacting with the locals, browsing the web and seeing more pictures, reading about other’s experiences - that to me, is fun. And I didn’t quite get to do any of that for Spain. I was working till the minute I boarded the plane. I was in a meeting while V was sitting in the cab, waiting downstairs, probably watching the clicking meter and the time running out on us. Our flight was leaving at 6:30 and here I was still working at 4:30. Luckily, there were no delays for the flight and us.
Our friends had sent us a detailed email of how to get from the airport to the hotel that we were staying at. So we just followed the instructions, word for word. We did have an interesting encounter with a pickpocket man on the subway; he was trying to feel V’s pockets. V confronted the guy and said he would call the authorities (like we knew how to call the authorities), that guy threw some F-bombs at us and got off at the next stop. After an eventful subway ride, we got off at our station (Callao or Gran Via on of the two, but I am pretty sure it was Callao) it was well past 2:30 in the afternoon. It was a very busy intersection and a 2-minute walk to the hotel. We saw our friend in the lobby, we caught up with him while we checked in. We got rooms on the same floor as our friends and we even got upgraded in to one of their pricier rooms!
Let me take a moment to sing praises of the hotel, Best Western Atlantico. It was amazing! Everything about the hotel was good. Wonderful staff, fantabulous rooms and bathrooms and a breathtakingly beautiful terrace. I can’t stop!
Anyway, we freshened up - a long shower plus a little nap for me – and we were ready to head out and get some grub. The street outside was bustling with activity. We didn’t have a specific agenda other than getting food. V was very keen on trying out “Tapas” (he had a mental image of that “perfect Tapa” that he will savor while in Spain). After walking around a bit, we saw a small joint that looked appealing. We started with some good smoked chorizo and Cruzcampo cerveza (beer). With that I officially kicked off my vacation!
After that decent snack, we wandered around the city for a bit. We walked to small vegetable shops, eager to try out our broken Spanish. Spending a considerable amount of time walking, our feet was beginning to hurt, so we hopped on a bus and rode on the bus until we saw a stop that was appealing. There was a huge plaza with plenty of restaurants and large amount of people enjoying drinks and food after their siesta. It definitely looked like the place we all had in mind – lot of people and out door seating. While we eagerly waited for our seats, we couldn’t help but notice that we were the only group of people looking “young”. Rest of the junta was definitely in the above 60 category. There was even an old grandmother more like a great grandmother, in her wheel chair and a beer in hand and coughing her lungs out! The food wasn’t all that great and the constant cough was no fun.
We saw a pastry shop and they had a decent display of goodies… and for some reason unknown to me, things start looking a little extra tasty when we are on vacation. The guys couldn’t just let the pastries go, so we all piled in to the shop and it turned out that the tart or the cake they got wasn’t as tasty as it looked. Anyway, we managed to get a recommendation for dinner from the pastry shop guy. We followed his directions, when we got there we found out that the place was closed! It was growing late and all of us were hungry again and the neighborhood we were at didn’t have too many options. So we hopped on to a bus homeward (or hotelward).
Our friends had sent us a detailed email of how to get from the airport to the hotel that we were staying at. So we just followed the instructions, word for word. We did have an interesting encounter with a pickpocket man on the subway; he was trying to feel V’s pockets. V confronted the guy and said he would call the authorities (like we knew how to call the authorities), that guy threw some F-bombs at us and got off at the next stop. After an eventful subway ride, we got off at our station (Callao or Gran Via on of the two, but I am pretty sure it was Callao) it was well past 2:30 in the afternoon. It was a very busy intersection and a 2-minute walk to the hotel. We saw our friend in the lobby, we caught up with him while we checked in. We got rooms on the same floor as our friends and we even got upgraded in to one of their pricier rooms!
Let me take a moment to sing praises of the hotel, Best Western Atlantico. It was amazing! Everything about the hotel was good. Wonderful staff, fantabulous rooms and bathrooms and a breathtakingly beautiful terrace. I can’t stop!
Anyway, we freshened up - a long shower plus a little nap for me – and we were ready to head out and get some grub. The street outside was bustling with activity. We didn’t have a specific agenda other than getting food. V was very keen on trying out “Tapas” (he had a mental image of that “perfect Tapa” that he will savor while in Spain). After walking around a bit, we saw a small joint that looked appealing. We started with some good smoked chorizo and Cruzcampo cerveza (beer). With that I officially kicked off my vacation!
After that decent snack, we wandered around the city for a bit. We walked to small vegetable shops, eager to try out our broken Spanish. Spending a considerable amount of time walking, our feet was beginning to hurt, so we hopped on a bus and rode on the bus until we saw a stop that was appealing. There was a huge plaza with plenty of restaurants and large amount of people enjoying drinks and food after their siesta. It definitely looked like the place we all had in mind – lot of people and out door seating. While we eagerly waited for our seats, we couldn’t help but notice that we were the only group of people looking “young”. Rest of the junta was definitely in the above 60 category. There was even an old grandmother more like a great grandmother, in her wheel chair and a beer in hand and coughing her lungs out! The food wasn’t all that great and the constant cough was no fun.
We saw a pastry shop and they had a decent display of goodies… and for some reason unknown to me, things start looking a little extra tasty when we are on vacation. The guys couldn’t just let the pastries go, so we all piled in to the shop and it turned out that the tart or the cake they got wasn’t as tasty as it looked. Anyway, we managed to get a recommendation for dinner from the pastry shop guy. We followed his directions, when we got there we found out that the place was closed! It was growing late and all of us were hungry again and the neighborhood we were at didn’t have too many options. So we hopped on to a bus homeward (or hotelward).
After walking around some more in on Gran Via and neighboring streets and not finding anything really up-to our expectations, we settled to have our dinner at a local chain restaurant called Café and Te.
Later, we chilled on the beautiful rooftop of our hotel for sometime and called it a night.
In just half a day I felt like I’ve been in Madrid for a week.
Wait for an exciting Road Trip ahead...
05 March 2009
Our Trip to Spain (Part 1)
I've been meaning to write this down for a long time. Now that I have a blog, I have no more excuse... so here goes. Presenting the first part of Our Trip to Spain.
Prologue
Spring 2007, we went on a vacation to Barbados and we’ll remember that trip for our lifetime. After spending 10 fantastic days with our friends, it wasn’t a surprise that we were looking forward to another vacation with them! It was just a matter of time…
To go or not to go
Summer of 2008, our friends were heading to the other side of the Atlantic for a brief assignment. Their plan was to go on an extended trip around Europe upon completion of the assignment; they suggested that we join them for a week at some destination of our choice (read: Spain). We were thoroughly excited, but just excitement wouldn’t help us. V’s parents were planning to visit us around the same time! Not just that, I had burnt a major chunk of my vacation days with our India trip in spring. As tempting as the thought of another vacation sounded, it was becoming increasingly difficult to work out the logistics.
Later in July, V’s parents’ visa process lost traction and summer was soon to be over… it was decided that they’d postpone their trip to 2009. One hurdle down, one more to go. I took a look at my remaining vacation days and found out that I had four days remaining. Combined with a long weekend that would be plenty.
Like they say, when the time is right, things just fall in place. All of a sudden we found ourselves busy planning a trip to Spain.
The Nitty Gritty
We were moving on a tight schedule. There was no time for thorough research, thanks to all our busy work schedules. Trip Advisor was our savior for this time. Here's how we worked,
1. Identify the place we are visiting
2. Identify heart of the town
3. Visit trip advisor.
4. Look at points of interests
5. How close the hotel is to our points of interest
6. Check for pictures.
7. Send out links to everyone.
8. Get comments and approval
9. Book the hotel.
Actually, most of the time it was my friend who did everything and we all came in to picture at #7 and then did 3,4,5,6, and then 8 as a review exercise only for the links that she sent across.
I should not forget the miracle; Vicky and Payal agreed about the places we wanted to visit – First shot. Identical itineraries. No back and forth. Boom! Madrid – Cordoba – Seville – Granada.
In about two to three weeks time, we had gone from, “Oh we are going to Spain, but we don’t really have a plan” to “Oh we are going to Spain, here’s our itinerary” including hotel accommodations, plane tickets, everything. It was some accomplishment!
Soon after we got our visas too. Ready set go.
To be continued....
Prologue
Spring 2007, we went on a vacation to Barbados and we’ll remember that trip for our lifetime. After spending 10 fantastic days with our friends, it wasn’t a surprise that we were looking forward to another vacation with them! It was just a matter of time…
To go or not to go
Summer of 2008, our friends were heading to the other side of the Atlantic for a brief assignment. Their plan was to go on an extended trip around Europe upon completion of the assignment; they suggested that we join them for a week at some destination of our choice (read: Spain). We were thoroughly excited, but just excitement wouldn’t help us. V’s parents were planning to visit us around the same time! Not just that, I had burnt a major chunk of my vacation days with our India trip in spring. As tempting as the thought of another vacation sounded, it was becoming increasingly difficult to work out the logistics.
Later in July, V’s parents’ visa process lost traction and summer was soon to be over… it was decided that they’d postpone their trip to 2009. One hurdle down, one more to go. I took a look at my remaining vacation days and found out that I had four days remaining. Combined with a long weekend that would be plenty.
Like they say, when the time is right, things just fall in place. All of a sudden we found ourselves busy planning a trip to Spain.
The Nitty Gritty
We were moving on a tight schedule. There was no time for thorough research, thanks to all our busy work schedules. Trip Advisor was our savior for this time. Here's how we worked,
1. Identify the place we are visiting
2. Identify heart of the town
3. Visit trip advisor.
4. Look at points of interests
5. How close the hotel is to our points of interest
6. Check for pictures.
7. Send out links to everyone.
8. Get comments and approval
9. Book the hotel.
Actually, most of the time it was my friend who did everything and we all came in to picture at #7 and then did 3,4,5,6, and then 8 as a review exercise only for the links that she sent across.
I should not forget the miracle; Vicky and Payal agreed about the places we wanted to visit – First shot. Identical itineraries. No back and forth. Boom! Madrid – Cordoba – Seville – Granada.
In about two to three weeks time, we had gone from, “Oh we are going to Spain, but we don’t really have a plan” to “Oh we are going to Spain, here’s our itinerary” including hotel accommodations, plane tickets, everything. It was some accomplishment!
Soon after we got our visas too. Ready set go.
To be continued....
03 March 2009
The Blame Game
UPDATE:
From WSJ online:
" Pakistani officials said that they have identified the gunmen who ambushed the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, and that two Pakistan-based militant groups were involved in the attack, in which eight people were killed.
Police said they have detained more than two dozen men in raids in different parts of Punjab...."
Well, well well.... whodunnit... now, what can I say? Ha! Ha! Ha!
End Update
'"It is a declaration of open war on Pakistan by India," said the minister'. How I wish!
Arey wah! They must have superb intelligence, that within a few hours they were able to determine, who did it and the reason behind it as well. They've not even given a chance for the group to own up.
What a bunch of losers!
PS: Before I have to chew on my own words... I am questioning myself if one of our Hindu activists group could've really pulled this off? I am not sure. We'll see how it develops in the next few days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)