Days of week: The dont-care Tuesday..

No useful work has ever been done on a Tuesday (thats personal opinion only). Its a filler day, a small station of the yore that happens to fall on the track, but the train never stops here these days.

Just that kind of the day that people get through, otherwise they would'nt be able to enjoy the Friday of the week. Tuesday is of lesser evil compared to the scary Monday. Its the left overs clean-up day, a sequel in the Monday saga.

Before we write off Tuesday into the oblivion, we must some acknowledge significant events like 'Black Tuesday of 1929' or a more appealing 'Patch Tuesday' when Microsoft releases patches to cover up its blunders. Its astonishing, but they need to do it on the second tuesday of every month!

When I try to recollect the memories of Tuesdays of my life, I dont find many significant events. The only significant event that happened on this day was my birth, but I dont recollect it.

Tuesdays in the workplace were full of meetings; meetings means differences and conflicts, which conform to the Martian origin of this quarrelsome day. In the university, I have lectures right from 8.30 in the morning, which obviously disturbs my sweet dreams, as an unfortunate consequence, I have been found guilty of dreaming in the class.

The Tuesday evening is like autumn, though its cold you know that spring is round the corner. Tuesday evening is busy with my phone blowing away in frenzy. Weekend plans start budding in the minds of all homo-sapiens of the world.

Now while people are busy planning for the weekend, getting tickets for the gator football or stuff like that, I take your leave. But watch out for the next in the days-of-week series.

Days of week: Less liked Monday

I have been thinking about this day and its properties. There is something very peculiar about Monday. Nobody likes it!! There are various reasons for not adoring poor Monday. The one running forefront is that Monday ends the weekend. It has been found guilty of killing the beautiful Friday, the lazy Saturday and the enjoyable Sunday.

When I try to recollect reminiscent Mondays of my life, I hear words like "Get up Nikhil, you need to go to school" and some more fearful thoughts, "Ohh shit, I forgot to do my homework...and its already Monday". Then I board the school bus with more than half the school children still dreaming with their half shut eyes. And there starts a new week...

The school days have long gone, but Mondays have changed little. Reason being that Monday blues are polymorphic. Meaning , the "homeworks" have changed to "assignments and projects", and my alarm clock wakes me up instead of my Mom. The school has given away to college and the school teachers to less forgiving profs. But all said and done, their irritability remains undiminished. Still nobody like Mondays.

I think we must give some credit to the seemingly tiny but benevolent side of Mondays.
Mondays are not all that bad either, they mark the beginning of a new week, a second chance to do what you forgot last Monday!!

I hope this provided you with useful insight.. the days of week series will continue.. keep blogging!!

The walk from the Middle...

The October sky was clear with no rain in sight. A beautiful day for cricket. The few white clouds in the sky moved at a cow's pace. The clear skies and bright sunshine betokened less swing for the bowlers. A perfect day for batting first. We were batting first and it did not seem easy. I watched the game nervously from the players area next to the pavilion. How was that!! Was the cry. Scores of eyes turned and riveted on a slim figure in a spotless white shirt and black trousers standing behind the stumps. Time seemed to stop. The moment was eternal. The finger moved towards the heaven. Grimace on the face of the batsman said it all, he was declared out. A vociferous "Hurrayyyyyyyy!" broke the tranquility of the surroundings. The opponents rejoiced.

I got up. I was the next man in. I heard my heart pounding. I calmed myself by thinking about what Sachin Tendulkar might have felt like walking out in a jam packed Eden Gardens stadium with 200 thousand people looking at him. I picked up the hand gloves left in the sun for drying. Everyone was ready and waiting. Suddenly the atmosphere that was so serene a minute ago now seemed completely hostile. As I walked past the man at extra cover, towards the stumps, I heard the sledging. Till then I thought that sledging was a kin of Australia and Pakistan cricket teams. Then I realized that we inherit such things faster from television than our parents! I donned the helmet which seemed to restrict my vision. The grill of the helmet played the role of horse flaps.

As I comforted myself near the stumps, I saw that a huge white figure with a red cherry in his hand had already started running towards me. He had not even waited for me to take guard. I re-grouped quickly. A lot of things went on in my mind. The heart pounded faster. I thought the wicket keeper could have heard it. But he was too busy sledging. I was sweating because of the heat and more so because of the nervousness. The ball was released and I did not see it! A drop of sweat fell into the eye, it blurred the horizon. The ball skidded from the pitch and I fiddled my bat in front of the pad. I felt a lightening in the knee. The ball had hit the pad. Until I realized, the bowler was already three feet up in the air and busy appealing for the lbw. I should have got a rope with me to tie up the umpire's hands, I told myself and closed my eyes. The finger pointed to the heaven and I was declared out. I had hardly lasted for a minute. I remember even today, the distance could not have been any shorter but the walk back to the pavilion was the longest.

A couple of days in London.

I saw on the BBC weather today…There is a chance of Blizzards (freezing water showers). Cold winds blowing from Arctic Circle will freeze London. Its generally a practice to watch BBC weather before leaving for office…

I normally run to Kings cross at 8.01, buy a ticket and jump in the 8.06 Train to Foxton. Alight at Hatfield then cross the over bridge and board the 600 or 603 bus to T-mobile. The transport is very punctual...but we need to be careful about the Train doors.

They close exactly 3 sec b4 time... today my friend got stuck in the door because it closed a minute early for some reason. Fortunately he did not get hurt...There is a beeping sound for door closing, he had ignored it.

The food here is not so good… but better than Israel..you have some choice. I have an English breakfast every morning in the hotel. Its a filling meal so kind of replaces lunch as well...Lunch is mainly French fries and rice in
Tmobile canteen or some joint in Galleria, a mall which is five minutes walk.. a gruelling walk in the biting cold wind nevertheless.

Dinner yesterday was a vegge burger in burger king..MacD does not have any veg dishes. All bacon, lamb etc. All English veg dishes are insipid and hence hazardous to Indian taste buds. There are some punjabi restaurants that I have found out near Kings Cross and on Euston road. We plan to try them in the future, infact it will be tonight I believe.

Today, along with Krishna, I plan to visit London Eye and Westminster etc... or atleast travel by tube...If we are able to get out of office early...My room in Novotel is on 7th floor and has an excellent view of the Euston Road
and Kings Cross railroad terminal...The sunrise over the Thames is truly a beautiful sight..

I have not clicked a single photograph as it was just to cold to spend even a minute in the open...I seriously plan to do it from today... I am acclimatizing to the cold weather..

That was the account of the 2 days I have spent in London, England. Well it was more than just an account.. it was verbatim.

A memorable saturday!

It was a great weekend and one I would remember for a long time.
I don’t believe that travelling by London underground is so simple. Tubes are undoubtedly London's life line.

I was lucky to have one weekend to visit London’s awesome attractions. I feel that 2 days are too less a time to visit all parts of this versatile city. You must have at least one week for sight seeing.

I decided on a list of top 5 attractions you will seldom find anywhere else on the globe. The day started with a good breakfast, and I headed off to the local post office for the travel card. I bought an unlimited underground travel card for the day. It was 5 pounds for the pass. With a pass, one may travel to any destination from any source unlimited number of times... it saved me at least 30 pounds.

The most important and a never miss attraction is Madame Tussaud. It is a museum of wax statues of many prominent men and women who have influenced world history in some or the other way. Amitabh and Aishwarya, needless to mention that I am talking about Bachan and Rai, have a statue here.

You view various statues and keep descending lower and lower in the basement. At a point when all the statues are seen you feel that ache in your legs, because of standing in the queue for entry, but more because of the fact that you need to climb 4 floors that you had descended. Just then, there comes ride where you sit in a canopy which takes you around the last part of the museum and later to the top. So you sit for some time and enjoy and don’t have to walk back. I think the museum is well planned. Hence a 10 on 10 and a must visit. After Madame Tussaud I allowed myself an economic lunch of customized burger. And then I decided to move on to the London Eye.
The worlds tallest giant wheel. Ok, don’t think about the Disney land one, this is 10 times as much tall. There was a queue which was about 500 metre long. After standing for 45 min in the queue, it dawned upon my unlimited intelligence that I stood in the wrong queue. This was the queue for getting on the giant wheel and not for getting the tickets!! For that there was another queue. Tired of queuing up on every possible line I could see, I gave up. After all it’s just a giant wheel. And instead I embarked upon the River Cruise over the Thames.

This was an enchanting experience. The cruise takes you quickly to the east bank of the river and you alight in front of a royal powerhouse, The Tower of London. It is surprising that this Royal Palace has witnessed and was an active part of nearly 700 years on English history. And even today it is a royal residence. This is where royal jewels are kept and so is the Kohinoor diamond studded in the Queen Elizabeth II‘s diadem. The guide of the tower eloquently portrayed the history of the Tower and was a master story teller. I enjoyed his speech.

The west bound exit of the Tower leads to the famous tower bridge which is considered as an engineering wonder even today. It splits into two parts in the middle and allows the bigger ships to pass through. As the legend goes, the only time the London Bridge failed to open was on its inauguration ceremony by the Queen. It is by far the most beautiful of the 7 bridges on the Thames. There is one more bridge that has a history, The Millennium Bridge. It was built in 2000 and was open for public by the Queen on a fine summer morning. The next day it was closed by the police as it was unfit for walking! Many people actually fell off the bridge as it swayed too much in the wind. The British Govt spent 6 million pounds to reinforce it. Today it is more than safe.

By now it was evening, on my way back to the railroad terminal, I could not resist the temptation of visiting a floating war museum, The HMS Belfast. This is the only warship in the British Navy that survived the World War II. It was nearing sunset, it seemed as if the Thames had gulped the sun. It was dark. I could see the lights of the London Eye moving on the horizon as I boarded the train back to London Kings Cross.

On the coast of Dead Sea....

The Land - as barren as the desert!
The Water - saline!
The Terrain - sandy and difficult!
The Weather - cold and windy in winters and very hot in summers ..
This is how one would describe Israel geographically!

I visited Israel recently and this is how I perceive it. Unknowingly I compared it with my country, India.
Israel is a country that is built from ground zero. All difficulties overcame, all trials faced with courage and the fruit of this ordeal is a country with a strong character... Its people are united and each one is proud of being an Israeli.

If at all we need to learn something from them...undoubtedly, its Patriotism... Love for your country. There are a few shortcomings, the country feels insecure largely due to its neighbours. Israelis have always been fighting for survival and united they have survived all the threats.

At every place I visited, there was this feeling which I cant accurately describe in words. The body language of these people suggested that they are a part of a united nation and not just a country!
The most important difference I found in Israel, as opposed to my country India, is that people are interested in the nation's development. They dont have this "dont care" indifferent attitude about nation's progress.
And large part of the credit of instilling patriotism deep into the heart of every individual goes to the military! It has changed the way of life here.

Right from the taxi driver to the corporate level,everyone has an opinion on every small matter concerning their nation. This feeling of "My Country" is what separates Israel from other nations, and places it in a class of its own.

There are a few more aspects deserving a mention..

I visited many cities and tourist places in Israel. There are some unique places in Israel which are not found anywhere else in the world eg. Dead Sea.
A place worth visiting is Jerusalem,for the historic importance or for experiencing the aura of the place itself.
But I feel that tourism is glorified beyond proportions.
Also some "not so great" tourist spots attract tourists by providing good infrastructure. This is something our tourism department should learn from.We have some beautiful spots in India that need good infrastructure.

Israel is very clean. That is the first thing that an Indian would sadly notice. A country will be clean if it is kept clean! And all of its citizens, are more responsible for this than the local municipality.

Overall it was an experience of a lifetime and definitely a place worth visiting.