Thinking out of the box

I remember how excited I was in class 5, when my drawing teacher asked us to draw and paint a parrot. I was very excited and drew the parrot sitting on a branch with some leaves. And to avoid too much "green" on the page, had painted the leaves "red". I was given a B grade saying the colours weren't right. Wish I had the knowledge then to tell my teacher that leaves could be red, and shown him in 1990 the autumn colours you get to see in the US. So ended up with a B grade for "thinking out of the box".

As a software engineer, you get to attend hordes of meetings to solve "issues" (which never seem to end). And the words you would hear the most are again "Think out of the box solutions. Think different". After having successfully killed the creative spirits in a human being when you were a child, here you are being forced to bring back those skills to save your job and earn a living. Wouldn't it be better if those "skills" weren't killed, but nurtured? This week watched a lovely Hindi movie titled "Taare zameen par" followed by an article by a school principal. Wish man knew how to understand himself and hone his skills better.........

I miss those days, when learning was fun and less competition. I remember the standard statement from my dad when I would be a little dull (more often than not) with the progress report in my hand and standing in front of him waiting for his signature, "It doesn't matter to me if you get 100 or fail in a subject. If you have understood the matter...that is all I ask for." Those were the days of "Speak n Math" and "Speak n Spell". And now its mostly PS3, Nintendo n the lot. Its about competition, who scores more. Who becomes a doctor or an engineer and who ends up becoming a teacher in a school!!!! Only wish, the brightest and the best of this generation can do some bit of teaching in their lifetime to help the next generation atleast be kids when they ought to be and better citizens when they grow up.

First Night

Shocked and surprised at the heading for my latest post?? "What on earth is Maddy planning to write in this?" "He is supposed to write about his trips and the wonderful places he sees and not talk about his personal life". This is the name of the festivities that I have seen for the New Year's this time. Its the festivities welcoming the "First night of the new year" in a place called Saratoga Springs, NY, about 40 mins drive from Albany.

Having missed her wedding earlier this year, I thought of spending time with my cousin and her hubby in her hamlet in Albany during the year end vacation time. Thought 1st Jan was a holiday. And I ended up "working from home" as it wasn't :-( . This trip started on a bad note....think my worst time with the airlines in America. Had to take an early morning flight from Kansas to Chicago and connect to another flight for Albany. Weather was perfect. But due to "excess weight" our first flight took off late..and landed just 5 mins before the scheduled departure of our next flight. The displays in terminal C of ORD showed that the flight left. So there we were cursing our luck with the travels this year and waiting for our turn to talk to the helpdesk lady of United. She quickly checked and informed us that the flight is still at the gate (in terminal H) and if we run, we might be able to catch it. But after running for 10 mins, we couldn't make it in time and as ladyluck would have, our checked in baggage made it to the flight!!!!

With no availability of seats on any airline that day to Albany, we got routed to Hartford instead, a good 2hrs drive from Albany!!!!!!!! We landed on a "perfect winter day" at Hartford. Clear skies, a little warm with the sun showering his blessings on us and snow from the week having melted. Not knowing what to do, we planned to go to Boston as my cousin and her hubby nor we have ever been there. After driving for another 2 hours, we reached Boston downtown. None of us had any idea of what to see in Boston and where to go. So we finally ended up spending time at the World Trade Center area and then wandering the empty streets in downtown with everything closed. One thing I noticed while entering the city were the huge tunnels. Apparently as the city grew and highways were being built, they had no space other than build tunnels. This is also known as the Big Dig. We also saw different kinds of lettuce being used as "floral" arrangements on the pavements in Boston near the World Trade Center!!!!

And by the time we reached Albany Airport in the night to collect luggage, there was no one from United available. After running from pillar to post trying to get our luggage, and having spent about 90 mins, things got escalated to the airport manager and finally someone came to give us our luggage. We reached home at 11:50pm.....about 13 hrs late! The next few days, we spent time in Albany, the state capital of New York (the state...not the city). I got to know one interesting information. In India, usually the state capital is the biggest city in the state. But in US, almost all the states have a smaller city as the capital! New York capital is not New York but Albany. California has Sacramento and not San Francisco. Probably Boston is an exception!

Just like the SFO trip, here too most of the time was spent at home - with Chinnu and Dev. And ofcourse their cute parrotlet (yes... a species under the parrot family)- Nitai. Had a whale of a time with this cute little bird. And whenever we had to go out, unfortunately, it had to be put in the cage. It is so small that it can get into trouble with the different things at home and so couldn't be left free when no one was at home.

The New York Ball Drop is a big event and is supposed to be the biggest show in US for New Year's eve. And this year was the 100th year of this event. With the cold weather and stories of difficulties faced by people who have been there, we planned to skip this event. Instead, we made our way to Saratoga Springs, a short drive from Albany. This place is supposedly home to the second largest congregation after New York Times Square for the New Year festivities. This is a small town mainly known for the Horse races. Also, this town does a good job of promoting its local artistes - musicians and standup comedians and magicians. A lot of events spread across the town were organised and people could enjoy the shows for $13 per head. We had dinner at a local restaurant (being a vegetarian, without much choice, I had some fontina - supposedly a starter which I converted to an entree - and it was yummy!) and attended a standup comedy show and a 45mins show by a local band. Though I couldn't understand a single word of the song, the music was superb. And I felt the guy playing the violin was amazing. The 4 of us had a good time at this "concert". There were many young and old couples who were dancing when the band was playing!!! Enthusiasm and energy is all it takes for enjoying good music and dance. Not age......

And at the stroke of midnight, there was a wonderful display of fireworks. This was the best New year's eve I ever had. I would normally sleep into the new year :D . There was some snowfall on the very first day of the new year which didn't affect our flights though and we safely made home, though a little tired of having to "see" (read it as wait) at one more airport(Philadelphia this time). Seem to be spending as much time at the airports as in air this time.No trips have been planned as yet in this year...but hope to take the train from Kansas to Los Angeles, drive down Highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco, see Florida, Hawaii, Chicago, Grand Canyon..........................

San Francisco and its environs

Christmas time!!! What a lovely time to be in the USA. Every home is decorated, colourful lights and some decorations with themes...and if you are lucky, clear skies in the evening making it such a beautiful sight for anyone! And for an Indian software engineer like me, this means the time to relax without fear of delays in projects or having to think of deadlines. This is the true holiday time in the whole year (eventhough you might still be "working").

This Christmas, I used the vacation time to visit relatives on the West Coast/Silicon Valley - San Francisco (and its neighbouring towns of San Jose, Palo Alto, etc.). I would suggest the movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley" by Martyn Burke. Its a movie based on the book "Fire in the Valley" and is a comedy on the stories of "Apple" and "Microsoft". And thankfully for once in this year, there wasn't much problem with the flights! Even the dreaded red-eye flights weren't so bad. But yeah, the laziness and age in me finally caught up and when I landed back in Kansas, I slept like a baby. I took the newly bought Tamron 75-300mm lens for my Canon 350D on a spin during the trip and boy, my wife (my sponsor for the lens) was impressed with the amazing portraits that have come of her!!!!

The usual spots of Golden Gate, Downtown San Francisco and Stanford University and town were covered in this trip. This trip was mostly about family time and we stayed indoors. We had 2 wonderful family get-togethers at different locations and it felt real good. And personally for me, it was a great change in the environment. Here I'm, seeing loads of Sunshine and greenery around with beautiful autumn colours still present in many areas .....contrast that to the dull,lifeless environment in Kansas with the cold, bare trees and craving to have some sunshine fall on your body to produce Vitamin D!!!!!!!! Fell in love with California. Though everyone was wearing sweaters and jackets, this seemed like summer for me having spent almost 1.5 months in the Kansas winter.

The Stanford University is a private University and was started by Leland Stanford and his wife Jane Stanford. Leland was also the Governor of California during the years 1861-1863. Born and brought up in New York state, he started his career as a lawyer in Wisconsin and moved to California during the "California Gold Rush" and became a very successful business man. He started the Stanford University in memory of his only son who died at a young age of 16 due to typhoid during a trip to Italy. The picture above, is of the Hoover Tower which houses a library collection and is named after the former US president Herbert Hoover. He also happens to be the "first" student of Stanford University. It also has the largest university campus in the world (there are other colleges which own larger campuses, but they are not universities). They even have an old "clock tower" which rings on the hour and the university has a nice display of the mechanical parts making the clock tick.

I personally enjoyed this trip - lot of family time with relatives, nice food and excellent weather (compared to Kansas). And the sponsor of my new lens is a happy person seeing her wonderful portrait pictures it produced ;-)

Trip to the Niagara Falls

Started off the year (2007) with a nice trip to Mauritius and ending it with a trip to the USA. What more can a traveller/photo hobbyist like me ask for...a very GOOD YEAR.

The first travel in USA this year has been to the famous Niagara Falls. We left Kansas City (MCI) at 9:23 AM by a NorthWest Airline DC9-50 aircraft to Detroit. It was a nice 2 hour flight. Weather was good. The flight took an interesting route. It flew over Lake Michigan before landing on the automobile city of Detroit. The view from the sky of the lake was breathtaking. It didn't look like we were over the lake...but over the Atlantic or the Pacific. It was water and the shoreline near Chicago & Milwakee as far as we could see. We landed at the Detroit airport on time. But there wasn't enough time left before our next flight to catch up with Sudarshan, buddy since college (ahhh...the good times).

Detroit airport started off in late 1920s and with frequent upgrades/renovation, facilities are as good as any of the new airports can boast of. It even has an "Express Tram", to facilitate passenger movement between the 97 terminals at the McNamara terminal. And this is within the terminal building...just above the counters!!!! The terminal was impressive for the architecture and the cleanliness. But failed to satisfy my food needs. I was delighted to see a "Vegan Sandwich with Pita Bread" in one of the grill bars. Only when I had it in my hand did I know that I would have to pack food next time I plan to travel. It was loads of cheese (2 varieties) and a big Spinach leaf rolled into the Pita Bread!!!! Somehow managed to eat it leaving, probably 400g, of cheese behind.

Our next flight to Buffalo was a one hour flight and we landed on time at the Buffalo International Airport. This route too was interesting... as we flew close to the international border. A bridge across a narrow stretch of Lake Erie takes you over to Canada. View from the sky was breathtaking. Wanted to take some snaps...but was hesitant as I didn't want to talk to the marshalls if photography wasn't allowed. Just before landing at Buffalo we could even spot the Mist coming from the Horse Shoe falls in the distance very clearly.

We didn't have a Canadian Visa and so booked ourselves in a hotel close to the falls on the American Side - Howard Johnson (Closest to the falls on Main St, Niagara Falls, NY). The taxi fare is a standard to any of the hotels in that area from airport - $60. With the cabbie talking continuously and our eyes wandering to see the country side, the short 30mins (26mile) drive was good. This is adjacent to the border crossing checkpoint for the Rainbow Bridge.

After checking into the hotel, we walked to the Niagara Falls State Park area. It was clear skies and Sun was out. But cold winds were blowing into our excited spirit to see the falls. It was a brief 5 mins walk before we got the first glimpse of the water. Water was sounding ferocious that evening. Gallons of water at high speed across the rapids finally culminating in the American Falls. The Goat Island just at the falls, makes it a set of 3 falls - Horseshoe (between Goat Island and Table Rock), Bridal Veil (between Goat Island and Luna Island) and the American Falls (Luna Island and Prospect Point). Roughly about 20% of the water falls thru the American falls while about 80% is thru the Horse Shoe falls, named after the shape. We walked all our way in the national park area and got some nice snaps of the American Falls and the HorseShoe falls as can be seen from the American Side during Winters. Most of the attractions like the "Maid of the Mist" and the "Cave of the Winds" were closed because of Winter and also some trails close to the water too as they would become dangerous n slippery with ice formations. There was some portion of the Cave of the Winds which was open, but we didn't take it.

Since we landed on a Friday, we were lucky to catch some fireworks on display at 9pm local time. Though it wasn't as grand as they show on TV for sporting events or New Years in Sydney Harbor, it was still something to watch out for. The sight of lights probably about half a mile away across the gorge falling on the falls must be a spectacle for the eyes from the Canadian side. Could only take snaps from the American side.

There is a mini park within the Niagara Falls State Park which has been built in the form of the Great Lakes. Lakes are depicted by the grass formations and the paths are in the shape of land. There are other attractions too like the Aquarium and "Casino" which we skipped. On day 2, there was snow fall too and most of the trees were covered with ice. We left on Sunday afternoon (day 3) and traced our way back to Kansas via Atlanta this time. We took the Delta flights. This was the first time for me when after boarding the flight, we were asked to deplane. Half the passengers boarded the flight when the captain received information that all incoming traffic to Atlanta airport has been stopped. So after a 4 hr delay, we finally landed at Atlanta at were at the gate for the next flight (which too got delayed) by 11:10pm and the gates closed by 11. :-( One interesting thing to note here is the "taxiing" (that is what my wife calls it). Its more of a drive in the aircraft. At almost all the airports I have landed on this trip - Paris, Atlanta, Kansas, Buffalo, Detroit - the aircraft takes a 10-15 drive from the runway to the gates at a fairly good speed!!!!! Anyway, after spending the night at the Atlanta Airport Concourse B (with all restaurants and shops closed down by 12), we were lucky to get seats on the next day morning flight as 2 passengers couldn't turn up due to bad weather. Landed finally on day 4 at 9AM local time to finish this exhausting travel trip.

Overall it was a good trip with a lot of things for the eye to see and appreciate nature! So long till my next trip......

Owning a house

One more cousin owning a home from today. And one more time I curse my luck rather than my laziness (in finding/building one). 5 years since I started working... and 5 years of "efforts" to buy some property. Property prices always seem to be "just a little more" than I could afford. Lucky are the ones who own one (some have more!!!). Property prices seem to be heading in just one direction...upwards. Growth rate of investment in property beats any other form of investment. Though govt. bonds and other saving schemes are called "safe" and at the max give a return of 8% annually, I feel property is the safest investment with the best returns! As my dad would always say,"You are wasting your hard earned money, if you do not invest properly and it doesn't grow atleast at the rate of inflation".

Bangalore has always been in the news in the last few years for the burgeoning real estate market. A huge chunk of Indian IT professionals have made Bangalore their abode (if not permanent, atleast for now). And with IT salaries rising at a rate of atleast 10% in the last 5 years (need help in keeping the taxmen away - hikes expected in our company this month!!!), property prices don't seem to be losing steam anytime soon. And with RBI increasing the repo and reverse repo rates, lending rates for home loans have gone up. Added to that news of "serious thoughts" being given by finance ministry on removing tax benefit on home loans is the icing on the cake for me to be more lazy on the house search front.

What will happen tomorrow when I get married and my wife, and in future my kids, do not like the house I buy? If I'm in rented house, I can aways shift to something else. And with this "intelligent logic" from a lazy bum, I'm back to my deep slumber......zzzzzzz.......(till my dad wakes me up again) ...................

Trip to Savandurga

A beautiful scenery at the small "vana dham" near Savandurga hill maintained by the State Forest Dept. A beautiful sight from the top of the hill....but not so spectacular from up close.

4 college friends (resembles Dil Chahta Hai??)- Avi, Madhu, Naresh...and yours truly- decided one fine day to go out somewhere together. The weeekends were getting boring and the week days were monotonous. We wanted a change. The married guys couldn't come as they had their family duties to perform and so the remaining bachelors in Bangalore were the ones. Maybe some adventure sport, a trek.......But after failing to decide early on the spot and not getting any booking, we decided we would drive down to Savandurga and do some "rock climbing/trekking".

Day started early at 5:30AM as we wanted to finish the climbing part before the sun rays start burning the handsome hunks. Madhu had recently bought a car... and boy... is he a gifted driver!!!Just one month of driving and the ride was so smooth, though a little slow. After picking up Avi and Naresh on the way, we took the Magadi road and the milestone read "Magadi-48KM". Magadi is the birthplace of Kempegowda - founder of Bangalore.

The road was good in patches...but had too many potholes and bad patches for a novice driver. The Arkavathi river passes by the side of road. We pass by the Thippagondanahalli Reservoir, more famous as TG Halli reservoir which was (not sure if still is) the source of drinking water to Bangalore. There is also the Manchanabele dam close by which we skipped.

We reached Magadi and got down to have breakfast at the roadside eatery. Had some bananas, "tatte idli", biscuits and water before we took the diversion to Savandurga which was 12kms from that spot. This stretch of the road is bad and almost no traffic. Thought there would be many adventure buffs going there for a trek...but thankfully...there were none.

At 8:15 AM, we parked our vehicle at the foothill where there was a temple. The local boys had explained the best route to climb the rock. At first glance, climbing looked impossible. I read that it rises to a height of 1226m above mean sea level. It looked so smooth and steep for me to climb. I can say I had done some rock climbing on my trips to the North-East, Jammu & Kashmir and Darjeeling (on a small "hill" at the age of 15). But this was not for me. Until, ofcourse, I started following the path. We were told to follow the electric poles up the hill.

The climb looked steep and we were huffing & puffing all along. Initially we had to stop to catch our breath after every 5 mins of climbing. After 5 halts, 2 puffs of Ventorlin as a precaution(a drug for asthmatics from Glaxo in the form of "spray"-nicknamed maddy's gun by the friends from school) and 2 lts of water down the thirsty throats of "Ramaiah Telecom" boys, we finally reached the top at around 9:30 AM. Someone had taken the pains to mark with arrows the best path to climb.

One of the most breathtaking sights I had seen from the edge of the hill at the top. There is a Nandi statue where we rested for a while. There were strong, cool winds which was a welcome break after sweat rolled down our faces and body climbing. It was so strong that at one point we thought our shoes, which we had removed for resting, would just fly away and had to be secured. We rested for a while at the top while enjoying the strong breeze and the beautiful scene from the top. Felt like standing on the edge with arms stretched and shout "I'm on top the world!!!"

But fear of going down took over and I was content just taking snaps. With Arkavathi river in the background, greenery on the ground, and deep blue skies dotted by clouds was a welcome change to the eyes, which normally are used to seeing computer monitors, Bangalore traffic and pollution. It was so peaceful up there, that sounds of an autorickshaw speeding on the road below could be heard on the hill. The 4 of us now realized how much sound pollution we were accustomed to back in Bangalore (and all the other cities I have been to, around India).

We did not want to get back from this beautiful place and come back to the chaotic life back in the city. But Avi and Naresh had some appointments in the evening. After spending a good hour on the top, we started our descent. We had 2 dogs following us all the way from where we parked our car to the top. They were our guides making sure that we didn't lose our path. They too had rested at the top and accompanied us down, though half-way down they shifted parties and accompanied another group which was climbing.

Coming down was easier than we had thought. At just one spot we had to sit and climb down. But it was taking its toll on our toes. There was so much pressure on them trying to balance and support the weight of our body and getting a grip on the rock. At a couple of spots, we thought climbing down was becoming less adventurous and tried to add some spice into it by thinking of jumping between rocks. But after getting close to the spot, we realised we weren't up for something like that and went back on the path.

Having perspired a lot during the entire climb/trek, and thoughts of losing 2-3Kgs got smiles on the faces of Naresh and Maddy. We got into the car and after a brief 5 min drive, we reached a small forest area maintained by the Karnataka Govt. for people to enjoy some picnics or just sleep in the midst of nature away from the hustle-bustle of the city. The entry fee is Re1 per person.

We were so tired. All the way I have been thinking of my physical fitness and need for me to start doing some physical activity. Decided to wake up early and doing some exercises again. Well this goes on in my mind every forthnight when a trouser looks to have become tight. We had some chapatis and curd rice... thanks to Avi's and Madhu's moms. After resting at the small pond and taking some snaps, we started back home at 1:50PM.

With Naresh challenging Madhu and intimidating him that even bullock carts seem to be overtaking and the PJs on Radio Mirchi, we reached the city around 3:40PM. Enjoyed every bit of it-time with the boys, the good ride thanks to Madhu and the beautiful locales of Savandurga. After reaching home, had a hot shower and hit the bed with some body aches and good memories of time well spent.