Another 365 ( +1 )

Funny this time of the year, when the whole calender has gone by, when you realized how swiftly every month went and how you have evolved in 366 days (leap yr) and how much.. ?

Well, who gives a shit isn't it ??

Nah, we might not be too pensive about it, but i guess, somewhere somehow we all think the aforementioned. Neways, its been great year with galore of emotions ( as always ) n with Liverpool going into Christmas sitting on the top of the tree, am as happy as pig in shit honestly. Being a Liv supporter, i still have some doubts though about the title challenge they are going to pose come April, but i'm staying positive.

And no ways i could exclude my B'day on my blog. Well uhh, to be brutally honest, it was just another day. Just a few extra calories i guess defined the day. Nothing ecstatic in fairness.
There's something which i was holding back n didn't want to mention ,nehow i guess am over with the moaning period so i should let it out. My iPhone screen is cracked.. YES.. !! I mean NOOO.. But luckily only the front glass is cracked, the digitizer and lcd is fine.
But the pain is still just seamless i tell you.. !! And a thing which i have not failed to notice is that, MOST of the people who got to actually see the cracked screen of my iPhone, cudn't hide their grin somehow. As if it surprised me.. plss ..


Ok, everything apart, I wish everybody a merry Christmas and very happy & safe new year. N thanks for reading my blog :-)

Keep the Faith.. !!

P.S : I'm still can't write about my plans for the new year !! Let the things materialize and i'll be up for it..( IF )

4th gen # 2

Mumbai

Mumbai is shit. Thats all really I have to say for the place. Am sorry am being too blunt or too north indian to say this, but honestly, the place is not worth living. You might have heard this line so many times, that " Life in Mumbai is Fast. " Its really a rhetorical statement if you ask me. If they mean spending more than half of the day on roads stuck in jams with the ever present shit smell. Then i totally agree.. Life is indeed fast. Am not blaming anybody for this honestly, its just a personal opinion that Mumbai is not the place to live life peacefully. Dreams might come true there as most of us say, but i guess it'll be a lot better to put in an extra ounce of effort in your dreams so that they come true in a better place.

Anyways, enough battering Mumbai. I stayed there for 4 days involved nothing on my itinerary. So one day i decided to go to Juhu beach and Andheri myself. I went by a taxi which took me an hour. But it actually look as if seasons changed outside. Damn.. The place is sooo crowded, any place you go. You need some really awesome driving skills to drive in a place like mumbai. Yes .. "Awesome" is the word.. Taxi's change lanes faster than it takes you to give an indicator honestly. But one thing which i personally noticed that, people were calm. Even if you cut someone off in traffic, nobody will retort with any abuse or give some disparaging facial expressions. None.. Here in chandigarh, ok i shud zoom out a bit, lets say, in north people just can't hold off the abuse meter no matter who's fault it is. People here just love to harangue while driving here. The driving sense is obviously not one out of the text book, but Mumbai-ya driving score on the temperament part. And this is totally of what I noticed in those 4 days. Maybe i just got to the see the sober ones in those days. I really can't say.. !!

Anyways, i cudn't go to juhu as it was far off, and i was really put off after a hectic drive and roaming here n there. And hunger was also a major pt. which make my junket a bit rusty in the end. I spent 2 hours roaming in Andheri. I went to SP jain just to see the college and all. Then finally on my way back, rather just as i started, i saw Mc Donalds. I actually cannot write in words how happy i was bcuz i had been eating shit food for 3 days. First 2 days involved hospital canteen, then in house where my sis is living. After eating, another thing which really made my brain tick was the local Railway Station. Ya, you heard it.. !! I was just about to take the taxi, when i had the craziest of ideas. I thought of getting a real feel of Mumabi. And seriously, if you havn't experienced a journey in local train, you have just touched Mumbai. You didn't get into the groove of it.
Well uhhh., I no it sounds way to good..

Last Local

It was around 2 in the afternoon. First there was a a very very big line on the ticket counter. ( sort of line. ) The ticket costed me 6 bucks for the same journey which costed me 25 times more while coming. Neways. Heading to the platform, it took me several minutes to figure out on which platform i've to be on. Then i took the stairs to cross the platforms on which it seemed as if i glided to the top. No kidding.. Mind the pun.. !!

No, not what you conjured right now in your mind. It was as if, i flew with the crowd you no. Autopilot mode.. !! Only thing which have to do ( if you cud do nething else ) is to move your front foot ahead. thats it. The whole direction part will be taken care off pretty well. Just that you have to make hell lot of effort to go in different directions. Neways, waiting for sometime for the train. It finally arrived.. !! Yes.. N boy wat a huge swarm.. Every man for himself in the battle. Fighting and striding and doing whatever u can to get into the train. ( N i thought it was a foul to raise your elbow in football ) ..
N again, a funny thing happened. As it was my first time in a local train, as the train was about to stop, i couldn't decide which coach to get into. It was like calculations going in my mind, which coach had the least people hurdling and easiest to get onto. N the one i chose..??? Was all ladies.. Damn.. Seriously, in my defense, i didn't no that there was a separate coach for ladies. And as soon as i entered, it didn't me long to realize that there were awful lot of women in that coach staring at me. (And that doesn't happen too often :-) ) As if i came in a superman costume in my own wedding you know.. N i felt very awkward but suddenly one lady broke the ice with such harsh words, " this is a ladies coach ". I wasn't actually so offended, bcuz i knew something was fishy. So i got down n immediately looked for the next one. I had to hurry cuz, the train doesn't stop for long. Hardly 2 min or something. I entered another coach and obviously, there's more chance for the Indian football team to make it to the World Cup than getting a seat in the train. There are several levels of luck you know..

Very Very Lucky, --Walla... You got a seat.
Very lucky -- you get something to lean onto.
Lucky -- You get a latch to hold onto.
No Luck -- just try and keep your feet on the ground bro..

So i was Lucky and while standing, you just can sense the (un)freshness in the air. mind the "un". Seriously, there's nothing worse you can ask for than in a humid weather, men standing with one hand raised and standing right next to you. N again, mind you !! We are not talking about ONE man here. Though, the smell sensors in my nose were a bit inured after 3 days for the smell, but seriously, no sensor in the world can outsense ( if thats a word ) the smell in the local train.

Anyways, the train journey was a bit cumbersome ( a bit.. ??) but good thing was, i reached the place in 10 min which took me an hour in a taxi. So in fairness, its actually quite convenient and saves lot of time.

After saying bye bye to the baby boy, we came back to a chillier and thankfully better smelling Parwanoo.

4th Gen #1

Disclaimer - Firstly the title doesn't refer to any Apple products. ( iPods or nething ) Enough has been already said n written for Apple till now. Given that topic a break :-).

Old times

Bombay, oh sorry i mean ' Mumbai ' , i visited long back. Somewhere in 95 or something. I clearly don't remember, but it was when Essel world was one thing which had to be checked in your itinerary no matter from where you manage to squeeze time. But any ways, I have a faint memory about Bombay, ( ya bcuz it was called this when i went earlier ) Juhu beach, where i had this extremely spicy Bhel Puri, and i remember meeting Salman Khan and Karishma Kapoor.

New Times

But, i got a chance to go back to Mumbai last week , bcuz hey !! My sis became a Mum, my mum became a nani and i became a Mama. :-) I wasn't actually sooo excited about the whole thing before, maybe bcuz i didn't no how it feels you know. But when i saw the cute little, oh wait, way too little thing lying in the bed, it just took my breath away. I mean, this has to be biggest miracle known to mankind i suppose, when a human makes another human. N oh my god, how small it was. Ya i no am using " it " as an antecedent for the baby, but seriously, you just cannnot refer it with ' him ' or nething at present when its just a week old.

Anyways, going back, i mean the trip from Delhi to Mumbai n then to the hospital, before i actually met my sis and the new kid. I had a plan to go by train to Mumbai but the ticket canceled, so i went by Indigo Airlines. And to my surprise, the airlines weren't as shit as what they seem from their name. The plane journey had nothing exciting but the only thing which i cannot resist to write is that, credit crunch has affected companies so badly, that you don't get free water bottle in planes nemore. I waited and waited a bit longer if the air hostess wud bring water bottles or nething, but nah. It was freaking PAID... !!! Seriously I mean, i've never traveled before where i paid for water. Even GoAir i guess gives you 200 ml water bottles, those 5 rs ones for free. Not giving free water is actually is act of cheapness of such degree, that even the cheapest of the cheap end up saying, Damn,, now how cheap is that ?

Anyways, the flight time went by easily, but it was the time i spent in taxi to get from airport to the hospital which sucked big time. Firstly, before i enter into the taxi, i wud like to honestly pay my regards to Russell Petters bcuz what he said about the shit smell you sense as soon as you step out at the airport is soo soo true. As if airport hired people to shit and go as soon as there is an arrival.

Which century seriously ??

I took a taxi from the airport to the hospital where my sis was. And Taxi is actually the funny part here . I never knew that taxi's in Mumbai were still those stone age fiat.. Damn... !! N to top that, those taxi's still have those button doors, which you have to press to open the door. I never noticed that it had a button system, so i just went for the latch and pulled it, n tried till a cracking sound came, and the driver said, sir , you need to push the button. I might sound insane but seriously, its been ages when i actually pushed a button to open a car door. It was just a normal reflex action you know to open the door. Neways, the driver wasn't too mad about the door lock thing.

The First ride..

It took me 1 full hour to reach the hospital and it was one pathetic journey i must say. But even more pathetic ones are yet to be experienced in this journey, so wait a bit. Neways, the scenes were awful really on the road side and lots of slum areas around the city. Roads not at all wide, too much shit all over, and the inescapable smell is just something which your nose has to deal with. Regulate its meters inside or watever.


The Baby

Slowly edging through the traffic, with dust all over me and inside me probably, i reached hospital to witness the smallest human being i've ever seen in my life honestly. It was soo tiny that i cudnt even pick him , not obv bcuz they are small, just that bcuz they are soo delicate and have soft or less bones gives you a feel that they'll wobble out from your hands or something. Anyways, on the first day, i was scared to pick it up, so just spent few min playing with it. Babies are just so much full of expressions honestly. Not that elder people are not expressive, but what you get from babies is something more candid. Although right now, a week old child wont do much on the expression part. All they do is sleep and shit. n thats what made me call him " Shit machine ". Seriously. sleep n shit. !! That sums up the day for them really.

There's a bit more to the trip.. will continue..

Chinese

A very happy Diwali to all.

There's hardly anything to document here honestly of what I did which greatly involved eating. Mom's bday cake, to ladoos and what not. 

Neways, there's something i noticed ( not that i saw it for the first time ) which i found really very funny. Funny or maybe you'll find it strange. Anyways, however you riposte be, just go and have a look at the front of the box of crackers for diwali you bought. Probably you have a some stunningly white chinese kids over the box or ( if you are lucky ), on some you might get raunchy photographs of women posing for uhh, definitely not for Diwali.. :-) 

I myself is not a cracker bursting maniac, but as a ritual, i buy a single box of some kind of bombs every year. And this time when i bought ,it actually made me laugh. The box had a chinese kid posing and i was like what the.. What has chinese kids to do anything with the crackers really ? Its bloody our festival afterall. Damn.. And am sure its not a marketing strategy that people will get seduced into buying after watching a chinese kid gleaming at you on the box you know. I still would have been convinced to some extent with girls on the boxes but Chinese .. Hell No.. !!

Dichotomy

No, this is not the dichotomy i want to write abt.But It sure is one of the cutest pics i've seen, after the mouse on the frog one which i had sometime back in a post. I havn't seen monkeys and dogs go around so well before, but these two have certainly beaten the odds .. !!

Diwali "the" festival of india is right around the corner really. You don't feel anything like it anytime of the year like you do in Diwali. Honestly i mean!! Things get paced up, huge crowd everywhere , shopping whatever they can their hands on to and people drive like crazy this time around. 

I still havnt got that exact feel, but i'll wait for it to get on me in a day or two, when i have to go to officers for giving diwali " wishes ".

But actually, Diwali has taken a back seat, it isn't the most talked about and read about thing this month, n especially this week. The Bulls just got held by their horns really this week with market came thrashing down, n today was historical day as Sensex fell 1070 pt. stripping it to 8701. Not thats something nobody cud have imagined in their wildest of dreams when sensex was shooting up as if there was no tomm back in Jan. It came from 22000 to 8k's something in 10 months. Damn.. I remember my friends CD n ajgar were on the edge of their seats as soon as the 10 am clock strike. N funny ( ya it is actually ) it is that, now they just don't want to talk about the whole trading thing. Cd doesn't even remember his password of his icicidirect.com . Thats a kind of set back the punitive investors had, so we can't even begin to realize what the big game players are going thru. Even in my house, tensions fill up after 10 in the morning which has become quite inevitable no matter how hard my parents try not to switch to CNBC.   

Thats something which has really ruined diwali of stock brokers and many Bold people who invested blindly. Bolder than Himesh i can say..

Speaking of Himesh, i really don't expect any one to c his movie, but if you have seen it, pls be bold enough to claim it infront of everyone. Cuz i have seen this in the past, many people are his secret admirers. Ajgar my friend, bought his first film's audio CD and then he went on telling a lie that somebody else bought it, it was not him. 

N hats off to Himesh. What it seems like, somebody has over emphasized the spider climbing up again n again story to him. He just doesnt want to give up !! Just look at the promos only. Such pathetic acting. Seriously, i wud have preferred Gulshan Kumar to play the role instead of him.. Oh uhh wait, I think he was even shitter .. Neways.. On mobiles as well, people getting calls these days, " Hi i'm Himesh n bla bla.. Go watch my movie and pray for me " 

I mean what the hell ? Only a big jack ass can do something like this for the promotion. I seriously can watch Sas Bhi Kabhi Bahu thi at home,which is about to shut down i guess ( The Immortal " Ba " must the happiest person i bet ), rather go watch Karz. 

Neways, its great week coming up, with pre fireworks starting in Chelsea vs Liverpool match on sunday to the ultimate showdown on tues. Diwali i meant. N pls go easy on crackers dudes.. 

Oh n did i not mention, There's a unsecured wifi net which i've found near by my house. Soo near that, it catches full 4 bars in my room. And i tell you, there's nothing like using free net in this world. !! Trust me !!

Dusshera

I didn't plan to chip in back to back posts, but one thing led to another and it was worth every effort of mine to come back on my blog.

Neways, Happy Dusshera !! N Dusshera infact is supposed to be very eventful thing in India. I was very much part of this " event " myself back in the days. Back in the days, I no, sounds a bit stereotype ( isn't it ? ). Back in the days, ya !! back when i was uhh, i certainly cannot say " when i was much shorter " but ya, what i can say is," when i was a bit fat ". Few years ago, even i used to jump of my feet honestly, with a idea of going to a dussehra mela. With friends to catch up, play hide seek, or buy a gada or teer kamaan, n lets be honest, the focal reason was that i got legit free time to play with NO STUDIESS ...!! I was as happy as uncle Scruge was when swimming in his treasure chest.

Now, times have changed. Things like watching a ravan full of crackers dont actually seem to fill in the amount of joy ( or i shud say any ) it used to. I was just pushed over to go along with my parents who didn't actually had this planned earlier. It was my mum who wanted to go to fill in for the festive void on a festival. Though i just went there for hardly 10 min n just stood there reminiscing the days when i was the one who dragged my mum dad to go there tried to figure out gods knows what i got excited about back then.

And, honestly, nothing has changed. It's been like 7-8 yrs since i went to any mela of this sort, but really, nothing has changed a bit. Only i guess, people with more luxuries don't prefer to go and this mela thing has become an middle class afair. But as i said, nothing has changed. The people still have that, excitement in their eyes, just to get a glimpse of what they have been watching it from the day they came to know who are Ram and Ramvan. Its something very reflexive i shud say of our people. Like if you push a man into a chocolate store, no matter what his age is, he's sure in for a nice time.

Its that kinds i mean. Hundreds or i should say thousands lined up just to get a peek , of whats happening there. Well, if there's nothing happening, still they'll wrestle for the place anyways :-) .

I'll be honest myself, if i see a ravan burning, it just leaves you happy ( Even if you deny the fact !! ). Reason which i don't even know. I didn't see the ravan burning today, but i no that feeling which has long been indebted to our brain's cache memory. And its something which we'll continue to do i think. Its not that we really want to have a look, but the whole scene of Ram ji firing an arrow and making ravan burn, leaves something in you which is more perplexed than this word itself .

Well, not for those who were not a fan of Ramayan or didn't play with gada's in childhood. Shame on you !!

Ok, coming back to the topic which i havnt discussed in the past weeks. yea, iPhone !!

Got this funny list which was given a heading

Things which make your iPhone a Whore !! ( seriously, how do you come up with this.. awesome !!)

n ya even non iPhone owners might find it pretty funny. go thru..

1. You’re a member of an iPhone forum --- Hell ya i'm

2. You posted more than 500 posts in this forum -- Not really, but nearing 100 u can say

3. At home or the office, you’ve moved photo frames of your loved ones to make space for your iPhone dock/charger

4. You know what BSD Subsystem is -- plsss, dumb ass question

5. You say the word “iPhone” more than 20 times a day -- make that 100 times day really

6. You’re googling “porn for iPhone” -- Nah, am no more a school kid.

7. You tuck your iPhone in at night -- I wud hav honestly, but swim a lot on bed, so its a risk

8. You think the iPhone could save lives if used properly -- Ppl actually will laugh at this, but someday it'll prove to am sure.

9. You have a nickname for your iPhone -- Heyyy, havnt thought of this really.. shud keep one soon, ( ideas appreciated )
10. Your gf is not allowed to use your iPhone -- I don't have one, but she won't be. Thats for sure..

11. You don’t talk to people who own a BlackBerry -- Nahh..

12. The Verizon Voyager’s ad makes you laugh -- Uhhh ??

13. You would buy an iPhone even if it was $1000-- Not really,

14. You take your iPhone out naked in hopes of meeting another iPhone mate -- Everyday !!

De-vista-ted

N seriously take my word for it !!! 

Going around vista is itself so much complicated and to top that, it shits up even more when u want to install our beloved XP. With all those silly dim effects during absurd security questions and the dazzling effects which will end up leading u no where. If you want to remove any application, just click REMOVE and wait for 10 min ( with 2.0ghz and 2 gig ram ), you just have to go thru bloody unimaginable amount of pain to get things shared and move your stuff from one comp to other. 

I started transferring drivers onto a flash driver for back up, n initially it showed 15 min which was pretty acceptable for 1.6 gb. but slowly the time counter started increasing. N it reached to nearly 5 hours ( without no reason ) and that was it. I was so frustrated with vista that i decided to erase watever happens. 

But, thats actually not wat i did. :-) . There was some sense left in me to get those drivers and start installing XP. 

But !! as soon as the booted with the XP cd, i got an error that the setup cudnt find a HDD, i was like what the hell ? No wonder Apple's share is rising. neways, i got my way around that hurdle as well after searching on net for a possible solutio

n by changing AHCP to compatible hardrive in BIOS. 

After some homely feeling i got after watching Xp install process, i actually for the first sat back n relaxed for a while ( which xp installation tells you to do ). Xp installation didnt take long and after some hard fought things, i got finally booted into Xp. But uhh, there were actually quite a few barricades on the way. 

Yikessss   Driversss. .!!! 

Which is the most painful thing to do (or to find ) after installing a diff OS on laptop specially. I had some real pain in the ass finding Mac OS X drivers for my dell's hackingtosh, n now this XP is laying here like an alien on a toshiba laptop on a 800x600 resolution.

I still havnt been able to find the some drivers and one major problem now is i can't get  .NET framework to install on it. It seems like with every 1 step , am moving 2 behind. Damn.. !!

Neways, i have taken a break for a while from windows. I cudn't take it nemore of windows in a single day.  

Swearing..

Ok, ya this is an interesting topic actually. I had to go and sign few papers today and meet some one regarding it. I have known that person for a while, he's my friend's dad. And the funny thing is, when we were kids, everybody was very decent and posh talking to you and your family. Now that we have grown up , things change. And the men actually tend to count us in in there talks ( of ne kinds ). Well its good but sometimes you actually have to pretend you didnt hear the things which just flew by or just act busy in something.

 Even making dumb faces can help ;-)

Neways, its not a big issue but surely it'll take some ti

me to get into the habit of acknowledging the " swearings " :-). N mind you, hindi ones am talking about here.. !!

---Appended---

I actually came across a funny pic. Well the funny part is that, something similar can actually happen with me . :-) n VILLA are the football club - Aston Villa ( just in case ) 

Been Around

I've upgraded myself this week, ya, i got the iPhone, Finally ! N the word is just .. you know it, WOW. I really don't want to revamp 'my part' into an iPhone blog ( what it seems from the previous 4-5 posts ). But yeah, somehow it makes itself worth writing for time n time again. It is more than just a phone honestly which makes it so special. N iPhone owners will agree with me. Ok yeah, even ipod touch one's too ;-) happy ?? 

n so what if doesn't have a bluetooth, ? It still is sexy !! :-)  [ I had some real bashing up for this bluetooth issue in the party last night :-(   damn... ]

ok, here's n there's from the week(s)-

Delhi Bomb blasts 

I had my tickets booked for sunday shatabdi and was comfortably watching the most awaited match of the season ( football ) till now. Liverpool vs Manu, there cannot be a bigger match than this honestly. N boy liv whooped manu's ass. I cud have danced on roads that day. 

Ya, I was that happy !! 

n while watching the match (as news was the least i was cared about that time), my friend called in n gave me the news of bombings in Delhi n i was like , what the .. I cudn't believe honestly that time that something of that sort had actually happened. Not bcuz i was going there the day after, its just was soo off-guard. Its something very implausible to be honest. Suddenly out of no where these ppl wake up one day to set bombs n spread chaos. Its still an unanswerable ques that what's the purpose behind all this .? What are they getting out of it ? Well, if terrorizing muse is they want to spread, they just broke a bone landing from the first step.

Not that ppl will fall apart. Well, nobody will infact. N i don't blame nebody for this honestly if you ask me. Police force ? nah. there are so many ppl in our country that ,even police from every part of the world also can't stop nething of this sort. People ? again nah..

I no we can sit at our homes, some like me, write , some discuss on phones for somedays, n a week gone , n all washed up. All forgotten, n the next thing we'll be doing is planning which movie to go n where to eat. N for a week, news channels have something to jabber about. n you just can't help it. They keep on repeating the same damn thing over n over again. But neways for few days, there is a relief in newspapers from all the lesbian stories of Lindsay Lohan or maybe some new effort by Britney spears who's trying to keep herself in the news somehow, or possibly a rakhi sawant news of her proposing to Salman Khan ( i mean what the hell ?) . 

Its not that i or nebody expects himself to do nething about it. N pls don't come up with your comments that suggest a solution to it or ne bullshit you want to point at. Its just wat i think for which we can't do a damn about. If you can, don't waste time writing a sleazy comment, go do it.

 The next morning, was like just another day at the New Delhi railway station. No chaos watsoever, well there was the usual kind from the auto waala's n taxi waala's. but nothing which stopped ( us ) people to get up next morning n go to work. It never will become a impeding force really !! I no kerosene n gun powder come cheap and it aint a big deal to make bombs now, specially when its few clicks away, its just that who ever wants to prove a point, be a man to do it the way it shud be proved !!  Killing people like this is like killing people in an open field with a sniper. 

Ya, its that easy ..!!

iPhone, which took all away

Neways, i reached home safely from station to bua's house and certainly no denying the fact that, iPhone just made me forget every thing in the world for that hour. Unlocking iPhone, my very own iPhone, gave a unparalleled feeling. This was my 3rd iPhone unlocked with totally different procedures every time. 

Ok, pulling myself from the iPhone topic, me n my cousins had a wonderful time around. Eating obv. Well, after loosing 6 kgs, n eating a proper ( or shud i say shit ) diet for so long, wait how many, 2 months maybe , i just let go of myself ( for this week ) No strings attached. I was on a eating spree really and boy i had a mouthful. From Pizza ( which has to be one thing i come running back all the time ) to chaat paapadi, to chole bhature to bhel puri to what not. The list is endless ! We 3 foodie's just had a go at it. 

Warning 

Speaking of which, i should chip in a warning as well here

We ( bua n all ) went for a movie,Last Liar. N pls honestly, i don't want to be too critical, but just DON'T WATCH THAT MOVIE. It might be a personal opinion as some might say, but i really don't think its even worth watching even ( with a general opinion ) if you are free and have absolutely nothing in this world to do. Just sit back n enjoy the cold weather. No need to go. It has to be the shittest movie i've ever seen in my life. We fortunately ( ya ! i wished we missed the whole ) the first 10 min of the movie, in the interval, i went up to some guy ( only 15 people in the hall ) to ask abt the first 10 min, n wat he said , - " Sorry, i can't explain ".

Ya it was that bad !!

Hadron Collidor

Ya, i shud have written it before, it just slipped out of my mind. The multibillion Hadron collider will explore the tiniest of particles and come closer than ever to re-enacting the big bang ( or taking it back from the start ? ;-) ). Well its the theory that created universe. This collider will push the protons to nearing speed of light, 11,000 times a second. Now thats fast ! N there has been lot of talk of the formation of black holes by this which is the rarest of possibilities. But mind you, if that had happened, we wudnt even had had a second to actually realize the fact that we went thru something. 

But as i said, news channels really wait for something to jump on. A bandwagon which they can roll over to nowhere. With all the dramatic visuals and shitty catch lines about ending the life on earth, there was this girl who committed suicide listening n worrying abt the day of the so called Doom. I honestly have no idea what went through her mind, cuz drinking pesticide n dying is much more painful than being simply vaporized. 

N ya, it was that Vague !!

iWorld

It has been very calm 2 or i shud say 3 weeks which just whooshed by after the iPhone release day. Not that i have not been doing anything productive, but not much to document really or any funny incident which i came across. 

And the world just can't seem to do anything without donning an " i " in-front of everything. Recently a company launched an iFridge. Now that its obv what am coming to next, its actually makes you wonder how on earth will these things co-exist ? Apparently its called Gorenje Fridge. iGorenje is an application with which you can control the fridge with your ipod or iphone just by docking over the panel infront.

 

But hey, the story doesn't end here, the i(Things) are just packing the heat. The iGerenje application is not only for a fridge, but also ( one of the easiest faults in GMAT-SC ) for other house hold things - washing machine, stove or a microwave for that matter. Well lets hope iPhone applications are bug-free so that our ice creams don't get messed up. Now honestly, didnt it give you " What the .... " feeling.. ?

Ok, changing the the successor of " i ", ehh, which doesnt have a name as yet. It's type of an add-on kit for cars with BMW signaling out as the frontrunner. The german auto-makers will be providing multi-level connectivity with the Apple devices in an upcoming versions of 7-series sedan. There's not much news related to this but who knows, maybe they could come out with innovative things ( like- engine meters or something watever is beyond the normal brains, Yadav, this is where you can showboat your IQ ;-)  ) and specially something to talk about for days. ;-). 

Ok busting loose, its undeniable that iPhone probably is the foremost gadget which has seemingly endless potential to come up with things beyond imaginations ( of ours obv ) or in simple words, which could send other mobiles on a graveyard shift. And its somewhat shallow when people say, iPhone is not worth for the price tag its coming with, and even to an extent that, people ( i've read ) even consider its lacking video recording capability a reason for not buying it. Maybe they just havn't seen the pace and the tenacity with which its touching our lives.

And, recently, Apple filed a patent -Solar cells for portable devices. The new generation ( i mean in some years ) of portable devices, such as laptops and iPhones will be powered by the sun with solar cells all over the surface n even beneath the screen. So, not long when we'll have to find a better reason ( better than the lame no battery one ) for keeping the talks short. 

oh n ya, i'll be writing the first ever HANDS-ON for the iPhone next week. but, ofcourse controlling fridges and BMW's is the least i've planned for its homecoming. I'm buying the 1st gen iPhone since i didn't want to spend freaking 31k's on an iPhone which might be upgraded in an year or so. Its something very implicit, the feeling of having an iPhone, not a Guilty pleasure  mind you !! ( buying the old one ). 

It certainly is lifting me up on the waves of ravishing romance :-) 

Don't buy the tease, I mean it ;-) 

'The wait' till eternity !!

The title is somewhat misleading i no, ( or maybe not ? ). The long awaited phone or I shud say, paragon ( not the chappals ) of hi-tech gadgets was out on 22nd aug in India. And i don't know whether its a very " inn "thing to line up outside the stores for something very anticipated or is it  just me who's being humble and hiding my anxiety ?? but i honestly heard people lined up in delhi for the iPhone.

That said, airtel quoted a nearing-catastrophic price really, and even engadget.com people felt the after shocks of the tremors in India. Well, honestly , i don't blame the mobile carriers for such roof shooting prices. In US also, its coming for 599 $ without contract, n if people in india don't sell it for more than 30k's, then i guess, the business-way cud have turned around. People wud start selling iphones from india to US.. ;-) I've read on many sites, people not happy with the price ( neither am  I , to be honest ) and want the iphone to be below 25k's. How is that possible without a contract.. And, for the some ( who just flowing in the iPhone 3G wave, ) really need to wake up n realize the fact that its NOT for 199 $ ONLY !!. So many people have come up n advised me to get it from US n saying " ohh iphone is  cheap there, only for 9000,," n this has happened so many times that i honestly have started thanking them for the advice.

Neways, on the down side, I can't accurately describe how much disappointed i was at first about the price. cuz coughing up 34k's for an iPhone seems more of a luxury than a slick move, but as my reptile friend says (which he claims to have invented ) " Passion commands premium " . 

which, i fully agree.

So i'll wait for the right time and when the gush of emotions really cross the threshold barrier, I'll be holding one that day..  !! 

Driving test..

Last week can be tagged " lively " considering the events. Not just for me, globally I mean.. !!

Solar eclipse, iPhone release date announced for India, and my driving test.. Yes my driving test for license..

I got my learner's license back in April but due to misfortunes and my own efforts kept delaying things. But finally the day , date, time everything clicked for once n I was finally up for my driving test. First the time of the test was at 11:00 in the morning, but it got stretched to 2 ( for god knows obv reasons ). The govt officials really don't give a crocodile's ass for keeping others on wait.

Reaching the pt. where the test was going to be, i suddenly saw people peeping into some paper, cramming something. I went up to see and oh oh !!  Traffic signs ... Yikes !!  I just didn't see that one coming, not in my wildest of dreams. Honestly. Not that I am not aware of traffic sign boards or nething, but there are whole chunk of them , n specially Indianized ones which gave me a scare. Some were really confusing i tell you, and something similar i could sense was happening .. The long lost feeling of collg days  ! They just flashed back i tell you. Really, the whole scene, people crowding in, to sneak and read from the piece of paper, even if it doesnt make any kind of sense. It was just as if we rolled back the days, friends standing outside E-F block, to take a quiz or exam. For quiz i guess, we were more involved in making formations :-) Okay, lets not get into that. 

Coming back to the test..

After 2 also, RTO officer was no where to be seen and the ever growing tension on people's faces was somewhat giving me a shiver too. Cuz, if you dont get atleast 3 out of 5 right, "Next time " is what you hear before you can even press down the clutch for the 1st gear.

RTO came at around 3 and i no how i passed that 1 hr cramming those road signs, this was something which took me off-guard honestly. I never expected Indian driving test to be with such deeper and intricate detailed stuff. I thought it would be just a simple drive zig zac or back or watever kind of thing. 

As the test started, the officer asked ques , not the road signs, just normal situation given questions. They were okay but some girls just stumped miserably in the questionnaire round. One guy was told to come back next time bcuz he had BECKHAM written on his bike's number plate :-). And what was more funnier was, the officer asked, who's Beckham ?? I no, some of you will point fingers at me that '- oh cumon, ' its not that everybody knows Beckham ' . I totally agree but still you no, i cud have dropped my jaws honestly when he asked - who's beckham. I mean Beckham has to be one of THE most famous footballers on the planet. And as it turned out, the officer didn't ask ne ques n told me to reverse uphill. Thats it. Nailed it !! It was one of a kind experience i must say. Experience which reminded of my viva's in collg :-).

N ya, the Solar eclipse which recently took place was a mob mover really. People didn't step out of the house during the eclipse, didn't turn up to the gym. I mean damn !! Even i was ordered though, not to look at the sun directly. But neways, in India i don't think nebody saw the actual moon earth n sun lining-up thing. But certainly these dude in the video were the luckiest of all i guess to have witnessed a solar eclipse from a plane.

ok, iPhone !! 

It was honestly a patient wait from my side with few bumps of emotions ( recently ),  But nehow, the thing i have been wanting to hold the day it launched is finally here. Airtel confirmed the launch date of iPhone 3g. 22nd Aug. Nobody has any clues abt the price tag its coming with. 20k to 25k's shud be worth a Flutter. Nething more than that will seriously ( as i said earlier ) price out my emotions.

The Dark Knight

Well there ends our wait for this years block buster. Christopher Nolan produced an absolute stunner, The Dark Knight, sequel to Batman begins of 2005. I was ( as always ) was so excited to see this sequel , though i had to wait 2 days to actually get the tickets.

Slick action? Check, Dark Plot ? Check. Maddening terror ? Check. Yes,Nolan has made a master piece. Truly unflawed in every aspect ! 

From Batman Begins original story, Nolan cuts out a deeper dimension to the story of The Batman. You just sit on the edge of your chairs the full 2hr 30 min movie which extreme and one of the most exotic actions sequences i've seen so far in any film. Ok ya, some of you can go on bitch about the length of the movie, but i dont think sane people wud have wanted the movie to end. There have been 7 Batman films in all, its really nothing to say or compare this one from the old ones really. Nolan has scooped out all the fantasy and comic look from the DC comics and presented the best look and feel of Gotham City and ofcourse the Batman. 

I'll do this in detail, so u can leave if not interested. ( Now ) 

I'll start with Joker, i had to start with him honestly cuz for the first time a villain has outshined ,outdone and probably out... watever the good guys. Ledger gives an epic performance who is crazy ass bastard who sets a new class of criminals all together. I could go on using superlatives for Ledger honestly with the most astonishing acts he pulled off playing a psychopath. Ledger takes the character of Joker to an absolutely new level which i guess even comics cudnt portray. The script is awesome really, every word coming out of his mouth is terrifying. But nothing is chillier than the smile carved out of razor from his dad and as the Joker says, " What doesn't Kill you, makes you Stranger ". His Black humor is death defying really. " I have a Magic Trick " .. oh boy what way to put an exclamation point to his character.

Joker's sadism is limitless who wants the Batman to choose chaos as well. " I Chose Chaos" as he says. and chaos is all what the movie is about. I no, but i just can't take these lines out of my mind. Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman proves his point. He's one of the best serious actors around ! Him and his alter-ego go through flurry of emotions which have been shown . For the first time, Bruce Wayne is shown like the way a true batman fans conjures him - Intelligent, Smart, Quick, Strong and Planned.  In simple words - 'a Hero' and every sense of morality which surrounds the word.

Every (so called )supporting actors, Mogran Freeman, Michael Caine, all add small anecdotes through out the movie. But its not all abt jokes, its the typical crisp Michael Caine who purrs out of his sarcastic wit to teach everybody the lessons which they had long forgotten. Along with Caine, Morgan Freeman as always does his shit what he does the best, is Talk. His atypical tone of speech is something all he needs to put his 10 mins presence throughout a treat to remember really. --" Wait till you get a load of the Batpod " And oh oh.. not to forget harvey Dent / Two Face. Eckhart did his role nicely but what really adds to his character is the makeup or mask watever was that to make his burnt face. AMAZING. 

Apart from the movie and action, the music as always given by the legendary duo Hans Zimmer and James Newton. The whole background score is so dark which adds to the fury and rage spread on the streets of Gotham. The movie surpassed all its hype and fully deserves to be on the top spot of imdb top 250.

With Ledger who pulled an absolute rabbit from the hat, to Batman who turns from the white knight to be called the Dark Knight, You are in for a treat ! Its full of surprises you don't see coming. 

And just a tip, Just try to get it out of your dreams !!

iPhone saga .... continues

Down with viral, Dark Knight's already on its 6th roll now since the opening bagging # 3 ranking on the imdb top 250, missed gym , no classes. What else could possibly go wrong ? 

Batman begin's reboot -The Dark Knight is really making my weekend a big trauma. It seems like a "Joker's "s ticking time bomb making you watch every second's hand move and saying silently :- " Why so serious.... ". ( ohh no subject in the sentence, do i give a shit ? nop ) i just cant wait to watch the movie and specially what adds to misery already people calling me n telling, go n watch the movie.. !! 

The other upsetter of this weekend was the bizarre end to an excitement filled build up ( was the sentence parallel ? ) for an iPhone .. Ya.. am surprised to say this actually , but i got so roped into buying THE most talked about gadget in the world probably from the past few weeks. After so much sleepless nights ( for cd ) , the plan didn't work out. And maybe i didn't mention,our madness took us an extra mile on the road of insanity to buy the old 2G iPhone for 17k's. But i guess the jolt was an eye-opener for me on the shop and made me realize that i had the power to conquer over ( idiomatic ) my emotions and wait for 3G another couple of months ( did this sound like Bruce wayne ? ).

But now i've taken the pledge that the only phone i will ever change from my sliding sensation Samsung U600 (which was worth every single rupee) will be iPhone 3G. 

Ehh.. Lets hope it doesn't price out my emotions when its released in India.

Its rumored to be released on 9th of sept or maybe sometime around. So people, its time to 

, Suit Uppppppp !! 

∞∞   APPENDED  ∞∞

I just cudnt hold myself honestly after watching the video. The cutest video i have ever seen. just watch the whole clip. It'll show you the extent to which tech has touched us. When a 22 month kid can play nintendo wii, what do you call it ?  wait for a min.....

 Next Gen.. 

First Week at the Gym

Due to the previous efforts of toning my body went in vain, I decided to give another shot at it with a different approach. Joined gym with my friend Maninder this week. Having a contrasting body type ( he's all bones ) , we set on different schedules with different meal program. The motto of his program is, EAT ! thats it. Eat every damn thing he wants to. Well, ehh things turn 180 in my case, its all Salads, fruits, black coffee ( w/o sugar ) and egg white. But am actually enjoying my diet scheme and following it regularly.

Gym as such is not a new place but yeah, I never continued it for more than a month everytime I joined . Every time you go to a gym, there are actually some stereotyped set of people which you will come across in every gym on this planet.

Starting with, the instructor..

Instructor is mostly a short, muscular ( duh .. ! ) guy who just impresses you the very first day with his cloaked concern , and after that, he'll hardly give you time. Broken english, short hair and eye popping biceps is what the gym instructor all about.

Then come the guys with already bulging out biceps. These bulky bears lift 20 kg wt.'s like pen and walk as if they have plank fitted between their elbows and side abdomen. Watching them I always wonder , how they'll get married ?

Some clean lean muscular guys are the real dudes of the place. They work out, keep a watch on the girls on their radar and spend lot of time in front of the mirror admiring themselves. 

In between somewhere , people like me ( the newbies ) come. Who have to devote more time in the cardio section (which is supposedly the best place to be ;-) ) than in the real place. The first week seems odd in which people look at you with a big ques mark on their faces -" Who is he ? Seems to be a new guy. " You tend to be 'come and go' guy who never existed in the first few days. But as the days go by, the newbies are well settled and ready to give the same ' ? ' look to the new ones. 

Then, there are the fat ones who just look so exhausted as if they have been building the pyramids. Poor ones are made to run a lot and sweat a lot. With their presence, normal ones like us are squeezed in the middle of no where, which somehow don't let us fall off the inferiority complex bar set by the bull dozers and the lean machines.

Ok, ya am coming to "them" guys.  !!

Girls, well keep all the style fledged to perfection no matter what their weighing machines say, even the chubby bubbly one's will bowl you over with the brimming attitude. 

So what should we say about the toned one's ??

All the eyes of the gym are fixed on them, trying to sneak a view of the ongoing events, which might even involve 3-4 times reflected image from the mirrors all around. And when you caught eavesdropping, you tend to look tough with extra expressions on you face for the effort you putting in your work out [ I haven't been caught though ;-) ]. 

And ya, the gym also contains a very secluded place for a private time with urself. Any guesses ?? The weighing machine !! Every person stands on the machine I tell you, but whenever you walk by it, you'll find it empty :-). Weight is more or less like age, as the figure rises, the shyness to reveal the same rises as well.

Water water every where, but not a single drop to drink !!

With monsoon's overtaken the summers ( ?? ), its been a peaceful May-June this year. Nothing much in my life which is edging towards a new turn.

This monsoon, it could be the greatest interspecies rescue since since the Autobots (Transformers) last year. A mouse on a frog is anything but fun.

Besides rains, there has been lot of catching up with old friends. The very slow ( slower than vista ) Anuj came to meet us. But certainly slow doesn't mean he's dumb. After all he's as IIT'ian ;-) . And some others who not worth mentioning.

So what we did ( me anuj and all ) ? ehh.. Eating , night-outs, some weird movies (In-Bruges) and of-course EURO's. Euro's which has witnessed an unlikely heroes this time, Netherlands, who are playing juggernauts honestly. Thrashed every team left right and center ! Germany knocked Portugal out day before, which means Cron's transfer saga is going to become even more unbearable. Real Madrid are offering him 200,000 pounds per week, Yes you heard it right ! But, this is nothing compared to the money Lindsay Lohan is getting just to admit to a news paper that she's a Lesbian. The figure is arnd 2.3 Mil $. Now, is this the most easiest way any one has earned money ?

Changing topics, a funny thing happened this week, which made me come back to my blog. I went to buy a Dual Layer dvd from a shop and i simply asked the guy , "you have dual layer dvd ? " , and his reply frankly left me speechless. He replied - " Moser Bair ki hai hamare pass toh ". Damn.. You can't even think of having a comeback to this sort of ans.

Went to see Hulk yesterday and found the movies pretty decent enough ( comparing to what cartoon the first one was). Highly detailed action sequences and a good story line makes it fun to watch. Hulk was never one of my favorites hero's though, and honestly, which kid wants to be a hulk in his imaginations ? Wearing towels behind the backs and acting caped crusaders is far more enjoyable than being a Big Bad Green Machine ! but anyhow, the movie is one time see. Entry of Tony Stark in the end made me jump of my chair really which has to be the most excitement filled moment in the film. I just can't wait to see Iron man and Hulk and probably Spiderman together, Yup, our friendly neighborhood spidy. They might be forming a team called Avengers, which we might see in about 2 years time. Next movie on the block has to be Hancock and then the most awaited of them all, the Dark Knight.

Until then, " HULK SMASH "

iPhone 3G

Listening to live audio feed of WWDC yesterday with lazy ass CD and ever excited ajgar, it was myriad of emotions really listening to the whole conference. Why myriad ? I'll tell u later.

 

But, finally its here !! After whole lot of rumors and leaked-filled wait, Apple really wraps it off with the new iPhone in the block, 

and yes , its loaded with 3G and GPS and many more applications. Plastic back, thinner edges, flush headphones and 2.0 firmware ( which is another mountain to climb for unlockers ), makes it even a more sumptuous treat. 

 

There are loads of new flaunts in the iPhone 3G, but what actually takes the center stage is the price for the iPhones, 199$ ( Yes nokia, samsung, its time you open a restaurant ). Well, 199$ is for 8 Gb and 299$ for 16 Gb which comes in another option of White ( shiny ). Though am pretty fed up of scratching erasers on my Macbook but am still up for another challenge of a white iPhone. Hell yeah i'm !!

Ok the let down is that the release date of 3G iPhone is 11th July. Which leaves us ( me n CD ) with no option to get it from US. Damn !!

And, for the aluminum back owners, its time to get rid of that sucker !! ( Sorry snake )

Disturbia

Well, 6th June is the day when it really throttled my thrusters to take it to the next level, not that it has to anything with the 5 rs fuel hike mind you. Just that, I erased the "un" and became employed. But really, its not that i've got the boost and already on the 7th heaven, its something which even am not sure what part of me to agree with. The one which bounced off the roof after the interview or the one which sat for while with myself and thought about the whole scenario. 

Maybe all am trying to do is making a public facade for everybody debarring myself to see it.

And thats what I call it - Disturbia !!

EBA(b)Y

After a traumatic result in the champions league final which nearly gave me a foot in mouth, i moved on, and the Euro's ( 7th June) coming down the pike, have thankfully lifted the invisible pressure off the liverpool fans.

ok, St . to my title of this post. I just stumbled upon something which will really make you smile with an awe lurking behind that smirk, not bcuz its out of this earth, but the idea of .. ok cut the crap..The thing is, a German couple offered a baby on ebay !!  Now how innovative is that aye ? Though the people insist that it was a joke of god knows what kind, but they nearly bowled everyone over.

Ohh n ya, the price was 1 euro ! damn thats dirt cheap. You wont even get an umbrella for 1 euro.. It was a definite steal really  !!

And ya, the rumor mill has started again and no prizes for guessing. The new iPhone 3G's news has been flowing in and due to the "No stock" iPhones at present with the shops and even on apple's site, the launch becomes a much more awaited thing in this WWDC on 9th June.

And this time, i'll be unlocking mine fshao !!

Euro Trip

Day 0, Terminal

This is not the place and time i imagined myself adding to the (to be) phantom post. The start of the much awaited journey started at 5am ( Ouch ). Till then all excitement and adrenaline had drained out and cud barely keep my eyes open. It had been a complete 24 hr clock strike before i got some sleep though not the kind i deserved after round the clock day, but not that bad as well. Qatar airlines was in-fact one of the best till now i've travelled in. Great leg space, good food, and specially the different kind of chocolates they served were amazing.

The biggest let down was the avg age figure of the people in our tour which was nearing 60 + ( no exaggerations ) and seemingly i'll be the only factor which will be countering the avg figure. Damn , am the only youngster ( Till now ) !! But, there are still arnd 20 more people joining from Mumbai and its-bits from other places, so lets hope the figure comes down considerably.

Ok, coming back to the boarding, there were whole lot of movies to watch but as it goes, its never good to be too much updated. I had seen almost all the movies which were on their playlist and i didn't have that much dominance over my sleep so just gulped down the bfast and fought for every inch of space i could manage from every side possibly i could make on the seat to sleep comfortably.

After appreciable amounts of rolling, reached Doha's airport and the first thing which could hardly be missed was whole lot of laptops people were using. No need, to say the next line really ? Without any delays, opened the Mac and wala.. Free net :-) Its the best possible thing which could really tranqulize the situation a bit (6 hours, damn). And to my surprise, most of the people here speak hindi on the airport. The airport is a bit empty, (maybe i just came from a VERY crowdy Delhi airport) t. But its awesome ! No questions about it. Mac's battery is in the red region but i wont charge it any further though as the charging points are not at a very desired places. Enough for the 7 hr journey till now.

This has just started boys !!

ROMA

Bounjur no ( Good morning ), Well this is the first word i heard over the phone at 6am ( oh god ). This is a wake up call in the hotels for the tour people. After having to wait for an hour more at the Roma airporte for our delayed luggage, we reached the hotels at around 9ish. The first night in the hotel just went by eating then falling ( on bed ). Morning as i said, started at a time with the feel which i had long forgotten ( or did i experience it ever ;-) ).

First day , First morning, Ouch !

Swallowing breakfast with hopes and guess work ( bad ones mostly ), managed to get myself some really pathetic tea. But after some hit and trys with the wending machine, got a nice hot chocolate with croissant finally. The first place we started was with 'The Colosseum'.


The Amphitheatrum Flavium or in simple words where Gladiators ( The movie one ) fought. There are actually no words to describe the Colosseum and its architecture. Despite of so many shambles and holes ( lead was taken out ), the once wonder of the world stuns you really. But the tour people didn't take us inside, which i really wanted to, so all the pics are from outside but i tell you what, pics from outside are enough to just say the word "wow". And never in my life i have experienced such kind of weather like here in Roma ( almost everywhere in europe ), it starts to rain with a flash and stops the minute you decide to dig into your pockets to buy an umbrella.

After roaming around a bit, we headed to CLEMENS XII PONT MAX.





A fountain, or rather a very famous fountain, it possess all the grandeur and art to bolster its importance. Its somewhere in the middle of an alley, where i had some awesome Lasagna ( i just can still conjure the taste on mu buds ). It was something which i never had anywhere, not even close. There were some jerseys as well, though all of all italian clubs but one player's who's fame finds it way in the Roma's alley also is C.Ronaldo. Amazing he has achieved at the age of 23. But the jerseys available here were no better than the ones our palika has. As for that, Roma ain't that rich city but the style, fashion and attitude people carry is something you wont miss out.

Then we zoomed around in the city for sometime before going to the most awaited place ( or state ? )



Yes the Vatican. St. Peters Basilica was ( i wont say the finest i've seen, even india has many work of arts ) simply huge and carved to finesse. I know the word 'huge' injects a slight contradiction for a place like Vatican. But after you see the Basilica, you'll understand the unsuited word i used. I wont be able to write much about it because you'll end up reading lots and lots of awesome's and stunning's for the work of arts inside it from Michael Angelo to some other really big names. The pics got a bit messy inside ( due to i don't know ), sorry for that. I took a panoramic view of the outside of the Cathedral, hope i'll be able to edit it nicely. Here i had some weird pizza which i want to forget really. Most of the restaurants or shops you go in, i don't need to say it but there's a BIG BIG language problem ( Wish the subtitles worked in real life ). Your dexterity will help help the way out or your hand actions might actually end up punned. People who have seen Russell Peters and seen his interpretation of what kind of hand actions people in Italy say for the word Fuck, ( Goto to Youtube and search for Russell Peters Italy ) you'll get the drift of it :-) .

Roaming around for 2 hrs there, we finally started moving towards the Motor way ( for high ways ) through an drop-dead country side. And finally managed to charge my Mac ( Plug is somewhat a prob ) and empty the 120 photos i clicked today. The place called is Arezzo. Its in some far far away land with wine farming everywhere. Its a small town yet very picturesque.

Rest, The story continues tomorrow. I wonder how many photos i'll click in the rest of the 13 days. Damn.. !!

Day 2. Ferenze ( Florence ) & Pisa
Ferenze




After, we headed to Pisa for the very famous, Leaning tower. There is very peculiar but interesting thing which guide pointed out ( not a fact ) that the place near Leaning Tower, there is a place where children were Baptized, then there is a church next to it for the child when he grows old. Then the Leaning Tower itself which depicts old age and just behind the Leaning Tower, there's a grave yard which depicts the end of life, i.e. death. Quite interesting theory i must say and was amazed myself to see all the things lined up in such a astonishing hierarchy. One thing also again which you wont miss is the typical souvenir shops have Bangladeshi owners and lots and lots of Blacks who were quite friendly in their typical Yo Brother style ( I like it honestly ). All these are illegal immigrants. There's a huge lawn besides Leaning tower where people were playing football and nothing to say really but i had a few kicks there as well :-) .

Then we headed to PONDOA near Venice and finally got net for an hour in the hotel, and thank god receptionist spoke english so it didn't take long to get the things working on Mac.

Venice


Aqua ( something ) it is called and among the most beautiful places in the world. There are no cars scooters allowed in the city. Just boats ! So we went by a boat to the island. Here we got to see The Morano Glass Factory where glass were actually blown up and given different shapes. Here's a video .

Things not be missed in Venice, the world's only building which is a Church as well as a Mosque.

There are lot of pigeons ( real fat ones ) which jump onto you if you feed them with corns. This was real fun i tell you !


It was so funny, old ladies first came sportingly to feed and then started running in different directions when pigeons sat on their heads. And some of the ladies in our group are actually spending like hell, to such an extent really that they forgot and kept on converting everything they bought with a multiplying factor of 6 instead of 65 ( thats gonna hurt real bad ). They bought telling everyone that they got such a good leather purse for 180 Euro's and when something hit them that everybody's awing to what they bought, they themselves joined the rest :-). Europe, everywhere is too much expensive, whether you go to buy something from a thele wala type shop or a proper store.


This is the very famous Bridge of Sighs which some king got it made for killing people by cutting their heads, Guillotine is the name. Interesting really !

Traveling another 500 kms to Innsbruck sounds scarier than what it was actually. Time passed away quite smoothly watching Bheja fry ( movie ) and then people went to the mic and spoke something which they wanted to share. And for the avg age thing i mentioned, it was a mistake bcuz those were the people who were on the 15 day trip. In our group, people belong from every part of the India really. Some cheap ass started dividing themselves in groups, but Maharastrians and Northies were jelling well. People from south or with big bank accounts ignored others most of the times , even if you sit on the same dinner table.

[ From here, am writing after the whole trip. Didnt get time :( ]

Austria, a German speaking country was a chilly one. Again the 6 o clock wake up call and gulping down breakfast had become a routine. We headed st. to the Swarovski Crystal Factory which has a famous entrance of a grass face with a water fall tongue.




Swarovski is an international brand of crystal jewelry and show pieces, i guess female part of the section knows more about it. It had a 10 min walk in show as well, sort of a museum i can call it. Which had the worlds biggest crystal right in the center. It had a Maharana Pratap's horse Chetak bedecked with lots n lots of crytals, n damn very expensive ones. After the 15 min tour indside, you end up in hell aka heaven for women. Yes, the last thing is the shop where females go crazy. Trust me on this. But not to take nething away from them, the things are simply awesome in the store.

The Crystal Studded Chetak

After a guiding city tour of Innsbruck, we went through Zurich, stopping at the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen. The largest waterfall in Europe !


Sounds good but the good part is just in the sound. It wasn't that impressive honestly having seen the very famous Kempty falls here in india. All we did was, clicked pics, duh and had some very expensive yet pathetic tea.

Arriving at Lucerne in Switzerland on the 6th day, we were all set for Mt. Titlis. Hell ya we were. This was the last time for the skiers this season to really rub off some skills on the board. Mt. titlis in Swiss Alps is at a height of 10,000 ft. There was a heavy snow fall in the morning the time we started to ascend in rotating cable car up the mountain. The moment we reached up, people who havnt had any experience in snow started jumping like kids. The snow was so white, that i bet you havn't seen such bright white in your life. I couldn't keep my eyes open due to glaring snow. We could hardly see anything after 15ft and it was impossible to make out the edge of the cliff, thats why the whole mt. titlis view of the alps was washed out. And when we talk about Switzerland, only 3 things strike our brains, Chocolates ( which i had the luxury to eat ), Watches ( which my mom dad availed ) and swiss bank ( which our ministers are availing ). Oh ya, our country's black money is all up there.


Before heading to THE place, we stopped in Lucerne city for the famous (but not known to many, which includED me ) The Saddest monument in the world. The Lion monument of Lucerne. It commemorates the 800 swiss soldiers who were massacerd in the French revolution in 1792. It was indeed sad i tell u. A dying lion with a spear across its belly. uuhh.. Though people there , specially ladies mind you, had all the attention on the tulips just beside the monument. Then we went to shop ( THE mentioned before ) which has the world record of selling wrist watches and not just any watches, the best of the best you'll get here. Bucherers ! n pls, don't pronounce it BUCHers. say with the german style with lot of stress on CH and say it as Bukerers. You name it, and they have it. Every world class brand in that shop, the thing which was really a shell shocker, the price tags ! Rado's seemingly were looking cheap in-front other never heard brands. Most of all, some Leonardo Da vinci ( IWC ) collection sort of desk which had the most expensive watch of the store ( from the ones i saw ). It was worth 50 lakhs . Damn.. !! You need to earn a fortune really to wear something thats costing the earth and that which does nothing but shows only time. My mum dad bought watches for themselves but certainly i cudn't even think of buying any. The only thing i bought from that place were chocolates. I tell you, i don't have any words to describe the taste of those chocolats.


Next stop while going to Chamonix, we drove through Geneva. Palais des Nations - U.N building was the place to visit in Geneva which had the famous 3 legged chair ( huge ) .

Reaching Mont Blanc ranges, we stayed back in Chamonix and roamed around around in the city.

Weird dogs we saw in Chamonix

Shopped a bit there in the market, and there you get to see myriad of dog breeds, some which you wudn't have even heard of. We went to casino in the evening where we just lost lost and only lost. Casino wasn't my thing really, but just had to curiosity to play on the slot machines and wanted to listen to clanking noises of the coins dropping, well this sound you only listen when you win something.




The next day was a long long drive to Paris, City of Lights ! We stayed in the periphery of Paris, but in the eve we went to the place where we can get the full Eiffel tower in our camera lens ( don't no the name to be honest ). Its just awesome to see the lighting effects of Eiffel Tower which start from 2100 hrs and goes on hourly till 0000.



We were then taken to a sort of city tour to Champs-Elysees, the most expensive and one of the hottest streets in the world. ( n where the famous Lido show is as well ). Throughout europe, most of cities are full of many obelisks around the city. In Paris also, there is an Egyptian Obelisk in Place de la Concorde, one of the major squares in Paris.
We also got to see, just see ok, the famous Louvre Glass pyramid outside the VERY famous Louvre museum.



We wanted to go but on tues it was closed. In paris, not infact in just paris, in total europe, you get to see sittings outside the restaurants which is supposed to be a very inn thing these days. So i guess, dhaba's on the delhi chandigarh highway are totally dominating the pizza huts and mcdonalds aye in respect to european style :-) Evening is the time to roam around paris really when its all dazzling with lights. And , to add to the list of things to see in Paris, there's yet another Statue of Liberty which was gifted to Paris by the creators of the original Statue of Liberty. Yes ! there are more than 1, and that too the count is 7 to be precise. ( this number can be wrong ). Entering into Paris is honestly a revelation from the countries like Austria and Switzerland. Revelation in the sense, the people, place is obv which obviously wont go unnoticed.
The next morning, we headed to the Eiffel Tower ( to actually touch it ). n hell its huge honestly. Photos don't really encapsulate the magnitude of the steel structure. We were taken to 3rd level which had some shops and a cafe. The view from the top is awesome really of the whole city. We werent suppose to go the 2nd level but the height of that thing really pushes you to take a bold step to climb 10 stories and boy that effort is worth it. The view gets even better on the 2nd level. It takes time to catch your breath again but the view just emollients the pain.

Another thing which i came back to write it here is that, driving sense ( blatantly ) is the most admirable part of european living. But when you come to france, specially paris, you tend to notice the difference in the driving style. Its like going from Chandigarh to Patiala ( or maybe Rajpura ) . Its that big diff i meant to say. Specifically the 2 wheelers in Paris drive in an absurdly manner.

Staying 2 days in Paris , we set for the last destination. yes London. To cross the english channel, we first headed to port Calais which connects England from Dover. There is an underground tunnel in which trains go and the whole bus goes inside the train( damn ). The journey lasted 35 min or so in the tunnel before we entered England.

This is the Train for the English Channel

England ( with the tour) was a speedy jaunt where we covered most of the sight seeing places in a scuttling fashion. London bridge , Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and few more, all done seen in 3 hrs.

Outside Buckingham Palace

This sort of rushy sight seeing scooped out the excitement for the places which i had. But anyways, i wasn't disappointed as we had another 3 days to measure every inch of carpet in london ;-) The best part of first day in london was the hotel in Wembley. The first time i saw the hotel's place ( wembley ) i was delighted to know that the place would be near the New Wembley stadium. And when we headed towards out hotel, from extreamly far off, i saw the white curve of the stadium and started jumping with delight ( ya i no , like the type i mocked previously in this post ). Started clicking pics from wherever i could get a decent enough shot of it so that i could probably say proudly that i saw The Wembley. But clicking shit pics from so far off went all worthless. You know why ? Our hotel was right next to it.


Haha. I couldn't believe it really for first 5 min and our tour guide went on blabing about the stadium and this that (which i hardly paid any attention to. i knew more than him about it ). I went at night to see the stadium from outside and my word for that, it was so huge. Well, i wanted to see Anfield honestly but my count of stadiums didn't kick start badly . Not a chance in hell !!

The Trafalgar Sqaure

Buckingham Palace

The next 3 days

Second day, we came to Ashford, in Middlesex to our relatives place.A nice peaceful place, typical england type houses. The first day ( of the 3 extended days ) , we went for shopping and to some really big toy store Toys are Us.



Weird name i know for a toy store but it was simply awesome, though i crossed the age bar for every toy there in the store but even a 60 yr old will chuckle and have a nice time watching the new gen toys. And i tell you what, had i been 10-12 yrs younger, i would have gone mad with excitement in front of so many toys. Its a heaven really for kids.

The next day, we had a 24 hour traveling ticket for England, where you want to go , however you want to go. We had all the plans chalked out with bus maps to tube maps. Everything ! The whole transportation system is very well organized and brilliantly explained on the stations. We took a bus to the Feltham station from where we took a train which took us to Waterloo Station, which is quite a hub for trains and tubes. We a took a tube for the Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum and stood in the line for around 45 min in the queue for the tickets. But entering in Madam Tussaud's was worth waiting honestly. It was simply awesome ! The moment you enter, you have The Rock standing with his trade mark eye brow raise with Beckham n Posh posing for a pic. Ok, i wont go on touching every facet but ya, some are worth mentioning. Like, Boris Becker and Lady Diana's was statue were the best really out of all. I mean the finest , doesnt mean rest all are bad, i guess all have been made to perfection really.

You know what am saying !!

Loosing track of time in Madam Tussaud's , we went to to the oxford street, another fashion street of europe. Very famous !! But i liked Champs-Elysees more. ( My opinion.) Spending there, most of it was consumed by Marks n Spencers really ( doesn't imply that we shopped a lot from there ) . Its just the size of it which is really mind blowing. And after all, mum were along, so we had to really hunt all the places in London to visit right at the rush hour. We took a bus to THE most expensive store in London, Harrods and maybe in Europe and not surprisingly again each and every brand, no matter even if you havnt heard off, you'll get there. It disguises the amazingly built architecture inside from the simple structure outside.


The last day was a bit relaxing with some shopping and some pizza added to the days list.

London as such you wont find anything that appealing when you come from Italy or Paris but its just that feel of living 3-4 days there what makes London a must-go place in Europe.

Finally , on sunday ( phew ) cuz i had lost track of days in the whole trip which day was which, we headed back to our mother land with 80 % of the plane empty. Came back laying across 4 chairs in the plane :-) Coming back to delhi was hot and i mean that !