Visiting India after 15 months

I'm sure if Enchanted Mind (Balaji) sees my blog, he will exclaim "Ah! Usual Dramtic Sriki".

Well yeah, somehow, people who know me "quite good" know one thing. I use a lot of exclamations in my sentences and make it sound very "Dramatic". But the trip back to India, I need not make it any more dramatic. Anyone who has stayed away from their home/country for even 6 months, would cherish visiting their home/country.

My wife teases me, saying probably when we land in Mumbai, I will first bow down, kiss mother india and then proceed to Immigration. So, Balaji dont worry buddy! Its not only you, my wife also thinks I am very dramatic in thoughts and action.

It will be a short 2 weeks trip this time. Its a good 10 days still for our travel and I'm already so excited that I already have made up plans for 13 days out of the 15 days I stay in Bangalore.

So small duration, yet so many programmes. On Deepavali we land, and then My Parents' 60th B'day celeb (Shasti Poorti), my cousins' weddings, so many restaurants to visit, so many frnds to meet, so much shopping to do. I hope I find time for everything and I be able to squeeze in all my programmes into those 15 days!


Sorry CK! I dont think we will be able to make it to your wedding. Well, yes, we are keeping our options open to return. Keeping our fingers crossed that the airline agree to reschedule our flight with no/little extra charges.

Oh BTW; come meet my mom and tell me who is more dramatic. She or me!?

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಮೊದಲನೇ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್

ಬಹಳ ದಿನಗಳ ನಂತರ ಒಂದು Blog ಬರೆಯಬೇಕು ಅಂತ ಅನ್ನಿಸಿದ್ದು ಸಹಜ.
Blogspot ನಲ್ಲಿ Transliteration ಅನ್ನು enable ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡೆ. ಮುಂದೆ ನಾನು ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ Blog ಬರೆಯಲು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಮಾಡುತ್ತೇನೆ.

....Only SOME people come into our lives....

Sinked in Nostalgia today..

A saying that I was reminded today and in a good way..

Many people come into out lives and leave. But only SOME people come into our lives and leave footprints on our hearts and remain forever..

So guys! Whatever happens is for good. Live your moment now.
This might be one of those moments that you might think one day and cherish the most!!!

See Venice Before it sinks

Yeah! This is what my wife said when we had plans of visiting Venice.


We had planned for Rome for April and we were thinking of celebrating our 1st Wedding Anniversary in a special place where we could do nothing but just take rest. So, Venice it was decided. In short, in this blog, you will not read the rush of moving around to see places. It was nothing but jus taking rest in Venice.


We'd booked via Ryanair to Treviso Airport


It was another long weekend in Belgium when we planned for Venice. This time our plan was to stay in Venice for a couple of days and then back to Brussels to spend couple of days, so in that way we wont be stressed up. Paris, Frankfurt, Switzerland or Rome for that matter was very very hectic. Travel over the weekend and back to work with a night's rest or not even that.


Yeah! Given any city in the world, 1 or 2 days is not sufficient to finish sightseeing. But my wife and I have this rare record of rushing through things and we manage to cover atleast 60-70% of the city which we feel is good enough.


So Venice it was. We landed around 2100 hours and took the bus to reach the Venice Main Vaporetto Piazzale Roma. This is the gateway for visitors to enter Venice. From here, you are on Boats. ACTV is the transport operator in Venice with which you could buy a day pass to use their service.


We'd booked a room at a hotel in Lido island which is like 30 mins from P.le Roma by boat 51.


As I have mentioned in my Rome Blogs, my wife and I feel home when in Italy. The humidity was quite high that its sea side and Venice is mostly of buildings which are so close to each other with minimum trees. Only one part of the island where it hosts the University, the campus is very very green taking you into a totally different environment.


We were quite happy when we landed in Lido 'coz Lido is far more greener compared to Venice. Lido also has a free beach for all beach lovers.


Been in Europe for a yr or more now, we've got our expectations set that there will be very sparse or NIL population on streets during nights and weekends. But Rome and Venice were different. We even found restraurants open at midnight serving pizzas, pastas and gnoccis.


Next day, we set out sightseeing. I was prepared for the heat and thus dressed in a sleveless t-shirt and Bermuda.


We had this Cathedral to visit next to the palace. But the guard there did not like my dress and was denied entry. Then we decied no Churches or Cathedrals.


Main Spots of interest for us was the Rialto Bridge, San Polo, San Maria and honestly nothing else. Though Kusuma had made a note of some important places, we were very very reluctant to check out as we did not want to run around even here.


The 1st day as usual, very excited about being in Venice. we roamed around literally all the streets of Venice. We lost our way many many times. Finally we would end up at a Vaporetto and take a boat to get to a place we know. Again set out in the opposite direction. Roam around the streets, check the masks at different places, the ferrari shops etc.


We wanted to have an Indian lunch/dinner. We found Ganesh restaurant as usual on Kusuma's mobile. Looked out for it on GPS and when we finally got there, the restaurant was closed after business. So, decided we will come next day for lunch.


Pizzas and Pastas in wishlist. We satisfied our hunger in all Italian food and this time it was not even one Indian meal in the whole of the tour coz when we got to Ganesh restaurant the next day, it was their weekly holiday.


The 2nd day, we just wanted to lay lazy but not in the hotel. So, get to Rialto Bridge, get to parks, lay lazily there sitting or sleeping and just enjoy the summer and the environment there.
So, being in Venice was almost a dream come through. We were proper Europeans lazing around the city and we had all the time in the world for everything in Venice in nothing but just 2 days. Yes, we did not visit any of those so called "must visit" places in Venice, yet we had a very nice time and a better way to remember and savor our 1st wedding anniversary.

Ping me for the photos of Venice, coz my wife does not make it a public album on Picasa anymore :)

Cost:
Flight per person: You will envy the price. So you better check it out on Ryanair
2 nights Hotel for 2 people: 160€ (http://www.hotels.com/)
Food: As the saying goes, "Be a Roman when in Rome", eat Italian :)

Wish you all the best to "See Venice before it sinks"

Roman Colosseum

As promised, a separate blog for the Colosseum respecting its architecture and the importance attached with it.

Now, what is this Colosseum? This is a very very ancient amphitheatre which the Roman King Vespasian ad built to show how powerful a king he is.

Although, it was not completed when he was alive, his son completed it and let open the Colosseum for a 100 day game show.

Now, what were these games? Long back then in Rome, Gladiators fighting between themselves or with animals was very famous. You cannot imagine that it used to be a do or die fight and that the upper crust of the society used these games for their entertainment.

The king wanted to popularize these kind of games and hence, built this amphitheatre where the games can be hosted and the public can watch it.

This structure is really magnificent. You should watch the videos on youtube to understand how this was build. Back then, all the Romans knew were to build “Archs”. They used this technique to build many many magnificent structures. Its like you keep joining an arch and there, you build a tower, you build a Arena (Colosseum) and what not?

You can control the weight the arch can withstand in many ways. An extensive article about it is here.

You can imagine that the division in the society was very much existed that time. The arena audience area was divided by classes. For the Kingly class, the next, the next, the next and so on.

The Colosseum later lost its significance after a lot of series of fires and earthquakes e wodden upper levels and the structure that was built to protect the spectators from fire. A lot of rules who took over took some steps to rebuild parts of which was burnt/damaged. Later during the Medieval and Modern era, it was used as a quarry to supply raw materials like brick, marbles etc to the other buildings that were being built. However, in the later part of the Modern Era, the Vatican endorsed it as a sacred site where Christians were Martyred. The Colosseum is today one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions, receiving millions of visitors annually.

The cross sections that have been taken to analyse the construction methods and the materials used for it and so on, is very interesting when you take the audio guide along with the tickets at the counter.

One thing that I learn during my European tour to several cities/countries, you can do a lot of good to yourself and the place you are visiting by briefly just reading about the place before you venture on it.

Rome - Day 2

So, up in the morning again by 6, all of us took turns to get ready and we were all set to leave to the Vatican for the Pope’s address. Meanwhile, had some breakfast and today, the breakfast was infact well delivered and it tasted better. Maybe we were in awe of the presentation of it compared to the previous morning.

The Hotel guy, presented each of us with Home Made Red Wine. He wished us for Easter and gave us each a bottle. We had travelled without any checked in Baggage as we prefer light luggage. So, we were in no way able to carry it back to Brussels. So, we returned it to him citing our difficulty. But he was not the one to leave us like that. He was adamant that we were in Rome for Easter and we should compulsorily taste the Rome’s famous Home made Wine. Upon so much of compulsion, we all decided to taste it and it was really good!!

Off out of the Hotel and towards the Metro. In no time we were there at the Other end. Getting to Vatican was kind of thrilling. The crowd was huuuuuuuuuge. The streets leading to the Vatican from the metro was full of people and literally, the vehicles were deviated to allow the crowd to get to Vatican.

Seeing the huge queue to get inside, we were for a min skeptical if to get in or witness it from the street side. Walking just around the area, we observed that the queue was to get to the closer mass area and there was one more entrance to get to kind of an arena which is a little far but none the less inside the Vatican. We got in and witnessed the Pope’s address and then decided to return so that we could go to Collosseum during the day and maybe even get inside the Colossum arena.

On the way back, we did some shopping in the Vatican market for some souvenirs. Vinod, Arun and I started to feel hungrier by now. We decided to have lunch near the Vatican and started hunting for a proper Italian Restaurant. Eventually, we did find one which we thought was “authentic” by the looks and we got in.

We had amazing Italian Food from Gnocchi to Pasta to Spaghetti and some authentic Italian style Roasted Vegetables and how can we forget to have the Italian Desserts and Italian Cakes?

It was quite a heavy lunch and we then we got to the Colosseum and around that area. Got into the Arena. I will respect the Colosseum architecture and promise to blog separately about it in a couple of days.

Then off, we were to the Termini station and it was jus 4 PM. Our flight back was scheduled by 8 in the night and we decided to have some Indian Food as well again before catching the train back to the Airport.

This was a mistake we did. We were still savouring the taste at Guru and the Authentic Italian food and gave in for the temptation for Indian food. We went around the Termini station and found an OK OKish Indian restaurant. I would not wanna give out the name here, but the food was horrible. None of us four liked the food. The kulcha, curries and the biryani were all horribly prepared.

After food, returned to the hotel to take the train back to the airport. The fun was just about to begin again before we could call it the end for Rome.
We were feeling home (India) as I mentioned earlier. So, we wanted to experience even the driving on the streets or Rome. Well renting a car to drive just from Termini to Airport is obviously heights of foolishness. We decided to take a taxi instead.

We did not tell the taxi driver anything, but he gave a ride as good as a taxi driver can give us in India amidst the traffic with his “skilful” driving.

The train usually takes 40 mins from Airport to Termini or back each way. But this taxi guy, took us to the airport all in all jus 30 mins. The driving was terrific. He seemed to have no sense of traffic rules and we loved someone driving a car in Europe for the first ever time.

Yeah! At the airport, waiting gets fun and more fun if you have Ferrari store to hang out and a Rome Cappuccino in your hand. This is the luxury of being in Italy which you cannot happen to experience anywhere. I got myself a small Ferrari 430 model.

Then, we got to the flight and back to Brussels and home by midnight 0000 hrs.

A very very eventful Rome/Pisa trip was very satisfying.

Flight: Brussels Airlines
Italian Train: http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/ (click English at the top for English version)
Cost Per head: 400 Euros (Including food but not shopping)

Rome - Day 1

So far so long. Again the Rome experience delayed. Not to mention, the work is getting hectic coz the production release is nearing.

It was jus 2 weeks before that we had been on a Swiss trip and now, we were getting ready for the Rome trip. As usual tripadvisor is the best source for any planning. Kusuma in her free time investigated more about Rome to make our trip more fruitful. She proposed that we could either travel to Venice/Pisa on Saturday so that we also get to see one more city in Italy.

So, the itinerary was finalized. Our flight to Rome was on Friday evening from Brussels via Brussels Airlines this time. We reached Rome at around 10:40 PM and by the time we walked to the train station at the airport, it took some time. There was a huge queue in front of the Ticket Vending Machines and we missed the 11:00 PM train. Managed to get tickets before the next train at 11:36 PM.

The funniest thing that happened when we were in the queue to get the tickets from the Vending machine. The Vending Machine (atleast when I selected English) clearly mentioned that it does not accept CASH. Either Credit/Debit card. But there was this group of people who were trying to force the Vending machine to accept Euros.

Later, when we got the tickets using our card; they were so surprised and they looked at us like we’d just discovered something no one there knew!! How could people be so dumb? The vending Machines are very very user friendly. Again, ladies and gentleman; I selected ENGLISH. I know not of other languages messages on the Vending Machine. I understand only ONE international Language and that’s ENGLISH.

Given that it was Easter that weekend, Rome was packed to its limit; hence we’d booked a room for 4 people near termini. I repeat. It was ‘a room for four’. Yes, we wanted to stay near termini as it has great accessibility when you are entering Rome as a visitor and that too jus for 2 days/2 nights.

It was a very short sleep. Next day, we had to wake up at 4 AM to get ready to leave for Pisa. The Hotel guy had managed to give us some “breakfast” last night when we asked him. We just managed to gulp the over concentrated Orange Juice and a Croissant and leave for the station. The station was jus a couple of mins walk from the Hotel. Oh yes!! The name of the Hotel was Cherubini.

Kusuma and I left 15 mins (by 5:45AM) early to get to the vending machine to buy the tickets to Pisa for the 6:09 (not very sure about the minute) AM train. Arun and Vinod made it in no time and meanwhile, I was in another queue to buy cappuccino for us. We managed to get into the train jus a couple of before the scheduled departure. The cappuccino I must admit was truly amazing.

Ah! I had forgotten to tell you one important thing. By now, we were “Feeling Home at Rome”. Why? Rome is dirtier than India. Atleast the surroundings of the Termini Station. The trains here make almost the same sound “Tuk Tuk.. Tuk Tuk” as their counterpart back in India. The people more importantly are like India very Warm, Friendly and yes, they do understand and speak good English.

We met Vikram in the train. Who is he?? As usual, we 4 (Vinod, Arun, Kusuma and I) talk a lot doesn’t matter where we are. He heard us talking in Kannada and he came searching from the other end of the coach. He’s a Banglorean who works in Copenhagen and he alone knows how much he was yearning to talk to people in Kannada. We had a nice time talking and talking and talking and taking some pictures ofcourse. We never realized we were in the train for 4 hours.

We were on the streets of Pisa walking towards One of the many attractions in the City(err.. should I say World); The Leaning Tower of Pisa. By now, we were quite hungry and hit an Italian restaurant on the way. All we ate was just Pizza. Sluuurrpp.. It was very very delicious. My mouth starts watering just remembering the Pizza taste. It was full of cheese and the sauce was not much, the crust was very thin; as thin as that of our tandoori roti.

We got to the Tower after a heavy lunch. Shot some pics and roamed around; bought some souvenirs. Ate ice cream. Slept on the grass bed in front of the Tower. We were in Sun after a very long Winter. It was just amazing.

The walk back to the station was tiring as the mercury was at 27 degrees. It was worth the long train journey back to Rome. All of us dozed off to sleep after some coke and were glad to realize when we woke up that we all had a sound sleep and our pizzas had digested making way for another long walk in Rome and then planned an Indian Dinner at Guru.

Once back in Rome, we left our bags at the hotel and then walked all the way to the Colosseum. On the way, witnessed a ceremony at the Mother Mary church a little distance from the hotel. We were there at the colosseum finally after a long search and the shutterbug in me started capturing this Giant Arena in various angles.

All people said to me usually was “Have your passports handy while not in your native country”. When we were at the Colosseum, we realized why. The crowd was sparse and unknowingly we had entered the Colosseum from behind. We never had realized that there were Police who were also watching people. We were wondering why people were not in sight in this part and thinking that it might be well late and tourists were all gone. But after some time, a couple of Police officers walked up to us and started questioning. They demanded our Passports. Atleast I was frightened when he asked me to show my wallets and stuff. Known and heard of “Mugging” while in the US, I got apprehensive. Later once he was fine with our identification, he said that lot of drug-trafficking happen in Rome and he let go us off. We were walking towards the exit and then we realized that the whole crowd was at the front of the monument and that we had entered it from behind.

Then we walked all the way till Piaza Venezia, then to the Trevi Fountain. We had decided that we would have an Indian dinner and Kusuma had researched and decided that we would dine at “IL Guru”. It was an amaaaaaazing dinner. The spice and taste was just superb.

So, Rome, it was night and we took a walk back to the hotel as it was just a couple of kilometres. The walk back in the night was good with the Easter setting for the next morning.

Pasta with Indian Masala

Thanks to Pankaj for teaching me this when I stayed in Brussels with him from January 2008 to March 2008.

Though, I have never been able to match up the taste to what he prepares, everytime when I have prepared this for anyone, including my wife and frnds, they have all licked their fingers till the last penne/spiral pasta left in thier plates.

So, here I have outlined the recipe in a photo blog.

Now, for the ingredients

Pasta, sliced Onion, Ginger garlic paste, cream, sliced capsicum

Chilli Powder, Dhaniya powder, jeera, Oil

Boil the pasta in a microwave for like 20 mins so that its edible (soft) and drain all the water. You can alternatively pressure cook it for 3 whistles and drain all the water and keep only the Cooked Pasta.

Put some Oil in a Frying Pan, and add jeera to splutter. Once Jeera splutters, add Onion in the Pan and Fry it. Once Onion is little brown, add some Ginger Garlic Paste if you use it. ( I do not use it hence not added here)

Later, once onion is golden brown, add Capsicum, chilli powder and dhaniya powder and fry till the masala is coated over onion and capsicum.

Once this mixture is fried, add cream. You can use milk if you do not have cream. I like it with Cream.
Allow the cream to be coated over onion and capsicum in the pan. Late add this mixture into pasta or the otherway round and add salt and microwave it for 3/4 minutes or fry it in the same pan.

Pasta with Indian Masala is ready to Serve.

Swiss Alps, One of the many heavens on earth!!

Yo!! Sorry for blogging my experience so late. I was very busy and could not catch up with my blog; however, wanted to make sure I blog our Swiss trip before I leave on another trip and I'm fresh with a new set of memories. :)

Yeah! It was Saturday, the 20th March of 2009. We took the early morning Easyjet flight from Brussels to Geneva. It was a trip Kusuma and I had been planning since we came to Brussels. A long awaited trip and we were very excited. More, when the flight flew over the Alps, the scene from the window was enchanting!!



We'd booked the stay at Cristal Hotel. With an Ibis hotel experience at Paris, to be honest this was 1000 (yes thousand) times better. The rooms were spacious and well maintained. More importantly, they did not STINK. Good View from the room as well. And 2 mins walking distance from the Geneva Main station. Its very much a budget hotel.

We landed by 10 AM and then took a train from the airport to the Geneva Central. By now, we had realised we had done a mistake of not withdrawing enough cash in Euros. All in all, with 4 of us, we had just over 500 Euros. Coming to Geneva, tats quite less for our shopping, food and other expenses for 4 of us.


Geneva as such is a small city. We had all the time in the world to go around the city. Visited the UN office at Geneva. It was a moment of pride to see the Indian flag at the UN office after a long time. Yeah, people get more patriotic when they are not in their home country. :)


We had our lunch at an Indian Restruant "Gandhi" and set out to the other part of the city.


We were unlucky that day. It was quite windy, hence the Great Geneva Jeton was turned off. Its one of the "must see" spots in Geneva. Nonetheless, we took the ferry and had a view of the huge structure that spurts water to that great heights.

We shopped quite a bit. Swiss is said to be famous for watches and yes, Geneva is supposed to be the home for those watches. But believe me, they're VERY costly. Did not find any good one for less than 600 Swiss Francs. tats like 400 Euros. Arun badly wanted to buy a ROLEX. He started with a budget of 500 Euros and finally was ready even for 1000 Euros. But the prices were very very high. He did not get any "good" Rolex for any price less than 2250 Swiss Francs; tats like 1500 Euros!!!

Geneva is certainly not a place for a 2 day stay given tat the shopping malls are closed on Sunday all over Europe. By evening, we started making plans to get to the Alps next day. It was not possible by Train, coz by the time we got to the train station, counters (including information) were closed. Arun and I went around the station to see if we could rent a car for the next day. Finally, got connected to Europcar and we decided to rent it next day morning from the Airport.

Kusuma was tired and she caught up some sleep when we 3 guys roamed about to find some "swiss dish". When I checked with the hotel, they suggested "Fondue". We went to a nearby "Swiss Meal" and had them. We were surprised that they even served Indian Samosas. Back to the hotel to hit the sack as we had to get up early next morning as well.



Sunday (22nd March 2009) we got up early as scheduled and left for the airport to rent a car. We went in search of Europcar counter; we found none there and finally rented a car with Sixt. We went in search of a basic car to accommodate 4 of us. However landed with a Mitsubishi SUV. The Sixt executive suggested Iterlaken. The drive was just ecstatic. Everytime we saw a snow capped mountain, we thought we are heading towards that. Little did we realise that by then we were already climbing the mountains. We went by so many tunnels and some of them were atleast 2000 mts long. finally after 3 hours drive we were in Interlaken and now confused where to go.

We got some help of the locals and then asked the GPS to take us to Lauterbrunnen. Within half an hour drive we were at the foot hills and in no time boarded the train from Lauternrunnen to Wengen. Wengen is a small village; but one of the very famous skiing resorts in the world.


Oh!! Did I forget to mention, Arun left his wallet at the tickets counter at Lauterbrunnen and only realised of tat when we were half way in the train to Wengen. Once we got to Wengen, we went to the counter there and were told tat the person at the base had picked it safely and would return to us when we returned to the base.


We then settled for an Italian lunch at Wengen. Just the thought of "4 Indians from Bangalore and Hyderabad in Swiss; travelled from Brussels on easy jet; then driving a rented car (US Car rental company) to Swiss to get to top of Alps to Eat Italian Lunch" describes the extent of Globalisation. :) The Pizzas were too good. Then we headed to the nearest Cable Car to get to the top of the 2nd Peak Mannlichen.

The cable car travels 1900 mts over the cable to take us to the top of 950 mts from the station. Acrophobic that Vinod and I are, we were very apprehensive while in the cable car. We had a gala of a time at the summit. It was different to be there for the fact that we were the only 4 in that place who were walking tourists. We were surrounded by skiing people. People also asked us why were not skiiing. :)


It was an amazing experience sitting there at the top at a restruant and sipping coffee. Afterall tats why coffee is on earth!! What say? :)

We spent more than 2 hours at the top and then decided to descent from the summit as we also had to drive back to Geneva :). If it was not for he was the one to drive, it would have been very difficult to get Arun return to the base. We collected Arun's wallet and then it was a long 4 hours drive back to Geneva.


We had a tough time locating a fuel station to refuel the car as we were supposed to return it full tank. After about 1 hour circus finally refuelled the car and returned it at the Car Rental Parking and returned to the hotel.

When I was in NY, Srivatsan and I had once been to have "Burritos". So, I suggested people we try Mexican that night. Ah!! it was very very heavy with so much of cheese. Not to forget to mention that all 4 of us just had one portion of it and left the 2nd one untouched. What I had in NY was more in a bowl and not the ones wrapped in flour tortilla.

Finally an accomplished day on the Alps and we went to sleep with lots of good memories.

Next morning, we had to get up early by 4:30 to get to the Airport to get to Brussels by Easyjet again. Reached Brussels airport by 8 AM. Kusuma left to office from there as its halfway to Leuven. Arun caught up with Prem at airport and they left together. Vinod and I reached our homes by 8:45 and off to office by 9:30. Back to the same POOL OF SHIT. :(

Flight: http://www.easyjet.com/
Hotel: Hotel Cristal, Geneva (http://www.switzerlandhotel.net/cristal_hotel_geneva.html)
Car Rental: Sixt (http://www.sixt.com/)

Cost:
Flight + Hotel - €175 per person
Kharcha/Pani - €143 per person

Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/kusumasharma/Switzerland#

Switzerland is calling....

Yo!! Another 4 days to go to land at Geneva. The long awaited Switzerland trip.

We've done prep as good as we've done when traveled to any other country/city. Booked hotels, flights etc..

So, wait for my blog with a travelogue of Geneva.

Paris - A Romantic Getaway for our First Valentine's day

It had been close to 9 months since our marriage and close to 7 months since we arrived in Brussels. Since the time we arrive in Brussels, Kusuma's plan as always is to roam around as many countries as possible and cover majority of the landmarks in Europe. If it were possible; she would have traveled all the countries by now; if not for my loan and other commitments. But Kusuma is not the one to settle for anything less. So, we arrived at a pact of traveling to one country every month. This started from the month of August/September. Since then; thrice I guess to Antwerp, twice to Cologne, once to Frankfurt, Brugge, Waterloo, Amsterdam. Some important places inside Belgium and some (as promised) outside Belgium. By mid January; I'd started planning for Geneva and Rome. But Kusuma wanted something special for our first valentine's day after wedding. So, Paris it was destined. To spend the Valentine's evening at the Eiffel Tower.

So, It was time to start pack bags to Paris and to plan the travel and stay. We booked the bus (coz we din find any good offers on Thalys) to Paris and after some search found that the Ibis hotel near the Galleini Metro (Bagnolet) was an OK OKish one for our stay. Because we were a little late in finalizing; lost a couple of good deals at some hotels near the central of Paris.



On the 14th of February, we took the bus to Paris. Took us close to 4 hours ( including the 30 mins break) to reach Paris Bagnolet. We checked into the hotel 1st so that we can park our luggage and roam around with minimum luggage and maximum comfort. Kusuma had owned up to research the busses to various places. We both believe city is better seen on the ground transport rather than the underground transport. Took the Bus 76 from Galleini Metro towards Louvre Museum. Paris is nothin different to any other European Cities. The people, crowd make it a happening place. For the 1st time in Europe, I felt home. I felt as though I was in Bangalore because of the amount of Asians we saw and not to forget the TRAFFIC JAMS.



Louvre was an amazing experience. The paintings and the sculptures are mesmerizing. When Nelson had come home, I remember he mentioning that one day is not even near to finish appreciating even one of the Museums of Paris. Kusuma and I realized it when we finally gave up appreciating and decided to just make it a customary to see the whole Museum once.



We then did a little bit of shopping; found a McDonalds; had some food (what Kusuma calls Junk food) and took the bus 69 from Rue Rivoli towards the Eiffel Tower.

The Grand Eiffel tower is visible from the Louvre; we realized it only when we were in the bus between the Louvre and the Champ de Triumph.

It was close to 3:50 PM when we reached the tower. Such a scintillating experience it was. Had only vague idea whenever had read the various books and articles about this giant structure. Could not believe myself when I was right there with my beloved that too on a special day. The crowd was not surprising given the importance of the day in the Western countries.



It took us more than 1 hour in the Queue to purchase the tickets to board the lift to take us to the 2nd floor. We wanted to go to the 3d floor; but it was close due to "affluence". Such was the crowd on that day there at the tower. Finally by 5:20 we started the ascent.

It was awesome to get to the top. We were standing by the sides of the glass wall of the lift. The Pulleys; chains and the weights that are used to make the lift operate are monstrous mammoth massive.

The view from the 2nd floor was simply awesome. For me who is feared of heights; it was not an ounce of prob to stand by the gauge simply because of the way they have constructed the whole floor. We'd seen the bollywood movie "An Evening in Paris" by Sharmila/Shammi Kapoor. The gardens and the steps the movie have been shot I presume are just a little distance from the tower. We were able to see it from the top if the tower.



It was the perfect way I had planned. To get there when there is daylight and see the sun set on the city of Paris from the Tower Top. The right place to be to witness Paris lit up and the Eiffel Tower to be on "fire".

We started the descent by 7 PM. Took quite a few photos in front of the Eiffel and finally bid farewell, thanking it for giving us a wonderful evening that we will remember for life.



Time to get back to the hotel. We found a shopping centre next to the hotel and surprisingly and gladly it was open even at 8 PM. At Brussels, the shops are close by 6. Did a little bit of food shopping at the supermarket. That I'm fond of pizzas and Coke makes supermarket the best place to buy them doesn't matter if we are in Brussels or Paris or anywhere in Europe.

Next day morning, as planned we got ready to conquer the Notre Dame. But as usual; it being a Sunday morning, we were lazy to even get out of bed. Finally out of bed and hit the streets with a cup of Cappuccino Settling the Hotel expenses.



Again the same by 76 takes us close by the Notre Dame where we have to walk half a km to reach the Cathedral. Meanwhile, we started shopping on the street of Paris; the Souvenirs. We make it a point to buy a postcard from each city we visit.

Reached the Notre Dame. The building is outstanding. The interiors are as outstanding as the Exterior architecture. With some ceremony going on in the Cathedral, it was right time to spend time inside. We also got a "Notre Dame Coin" that Kusuma shows in her possession.



I guess after we return to India or when we visit India and display all the Souvenirs to my mom. She will eventually throw all the current (master)pieces in the show case and replaces it with the ones we would take.

Then we took a stroll by the riverside and enjoyed the views of the Bridges constructed on the river. Paris attractions can also be reached by the water cruise in the Central of Paris. So, next time Kusuma and I are in Paris; we decided to take the cruise because by now we'd finished our scheduled visits and anything more would mean we would be late to the Bus.



Now, that it was almost 24 hours(She had packed Chitranna for the Bus travel) since we had anything "Indian" (as in food); Kusuma badly needed to taste Indian food at Paris. We were told by many (reviews we read by travelers) that the Indian food is outstanding in Paris. We set out in search and as usual, what comes to our aid is the GPRS on her office mobile and the google maps I have installed on her office mobile.

We found an Indian restaurant by name "Akash" and after looking at the Menu outside, we both decided to settle there for lunch. I took a Vegetarian Thali and she opted for a Kashmiri Rice (she is fond of sweets you see). The taste was quite good. I liked the curry masala and Kusuma the amount of nuts and raisins in the rice (wonder if it would be better to be named as Nuts & Raisins with Rice instead of Kashmiri rice).

We took the 76 bus back to Galleini Metro and back to Brussels by Sunday night.

It was a very short trip; but surely a memorable and a lifetime experience to be at the Eiffel Tower for the Valentine's day (and what more; when its still not the 1st year of our wedding).

Bus: Eurolines (http://www.eurolines.be/)
Hotel: Ibis (http://www.ibishotels.com)
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/kusumasharma/Paris#

My take on R. Raju

Confused whom I am writing about? Its Ramalinga Raju

Known as one of India's Icons and one whose success and achievements every Hyderbadi/AP guy wanted to emulate, Mr. Raju is one among India's greatest corporate leaders. He stands in the row next to Premji and NRN.

It is not a child's play to grow a company from 20 people organisation to 53,000 people and operating in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Today early morning, the news shocked me that he had resigned. I did not bother to read how/why he resigned until I saw many websites shouting at him. While the whole world is barking against him, my heart goes out to him.

At 54, it was not needed for him to declare the fraud and resign. I dont think till yesterday, one bad word was spoken against him in any of the media. Even when the independent directors of SATYAM, resigned, I only heard people shouting at "them" that "they" should have stood with Raju in this crisis situation.

One has to carefully, logically think and apply his knowledge in this. Raju being the promoter went ahead to pledge his promoter shares to satisfy "marginal calls". Was it only that?

Reading his resignation letter on one of the websites, I was awestruck. He did apply all his B.Com and MBA skills in that letter to present to the board and the public the exact details of the fraud.
YES!! I do agree!! He should not have done it!! That is WRONG!!

But, I admired his leadership in the letter that makes anyone realise how passionate he is about his company and towards his employees (associates). He did not step back from suggesting what needs to be done NEXT. He gave all his heart into that letter. I really wonder when he had drafted it. I really doubt if it was just today morning. It must have been drafter quite a long back.

Understand one thing. Manipulating the balance sheet is not easy and CANNOT be done by just the CEO. The Balance sheets needs to be authorised by the Board of directors before it goes public. Even before that, the Auditor needs to approve it. But, in his letter, he showed what it is to be a leader. He took all the crime on him.

Its not easy eh!! To even confess that you stole 20 bucks from your mom/dad's wallet. The most easiest is to say.. "I did it for so and so.. and so and so helped me/motivated me".. But a Leader, stands up and says.. "Yes.. I did it.. It was my responsibility".

There may be 100 reasons why Raju own it all on him.. It maybe his faith in the "others" that they can get the company back to what it was and thus not putting his 53,000 associates' career and life at risk.

Yes, he must be brought to the law. His very last statement also says that he is willing to face the law of the land and as always "Law will take its course".

Last but not the least!! "Thank you Raju" for blossoming in us crores of people, the smile we have seen all because of ur efforts till now. But Sorry that you let us all down. :(