Welcome to the blaaawg

Long Journeys and the End of it all!

2009-06-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

Prague was beautiful. We did a lot of Church and Chapel touring and finally left for Fussen, Germany, to see the Castle Neuschwanstein. For the uninitiated, it is the castle which inspired disneys castle logo. Very beautiful and nestled in the mountains. After the castle and some excellent bavarian dinner, we headed out to Stuttgart, the automobile capital of europe. The Mercedes benz museum was a masterpiece and it was thouroughly enjoyable! All of us loved the discounts students got at every place in germany.
After Stuttgart, we headed out to Cologne, another beautiful city nestled on the banks of the Rhine. The DOM Cathedral, one of the oldest and most revered church in christianity took our breaths away. Their treasury was even better and we had a chance to see the remains of the Magi.
Cologne gave way to Amsterdam. The hostel was clean and neat and we had a fun time walking around the city. The Ann Frank museum served another grim reminder of history and a family's failed struggle to get out of Nazi supremacy.

From Amsterdam, we moved to Paris via Antwerp and Brussels. Paris was AMAZING in all aspects. A Big city with a BIG History. Too many things here to describe, but the city was worth the visit! From Paris, we moved to Barcelona which is where I am writing this post from. Thanks to Bertha, our host, we had a flash tour of the city including the Campnou, Cathedral and the Pier. Tomorrow, we head out to Marseille from where we catch our flight to London. IF everything goes well, I should be in Minneapolis on Thursday morning :). Hope youve found this blog a BIT useful. Thanks again for the patience and have a great week ahead.

Avani

Mans greatest mistake. And some memories

2009-06-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

People say eastern Europe is Scary and not as beautiful as the other parts. Although I should agree there are strong remnants of the War in Slovakia, the slovak countryside is one of the most beautiful scenes ever! The country is slowly making progress although movies like Hostel and Eurotrip have not helped it a lot :D From Bratislava it was a 4 hour drive to Budapest, Hungary. I HAVE to say it is one of the most americanised cities in Eastern Europe. There are 94 McDonald outlets in Budapest alone! Like every other European city, Budapest is BEAUTIFUL at night. We spent an entire day roaming around the city on the banks of the Danube and taking some awesome night shots of the bridge and the Buda Castle. Some of them will be up on my Flickr page shortly.

From budapest, we moved on to beautiful Krakow and met some of the friendliest people inside and outside of our hostel. Another night later, we headed out to the auschwitz and birkenau holocaust museums close to Krakow. I have to say they were the most depressing moments of the entire trip. I guess everyone who knows about the horrors faced by the almost 1.3 million who perished there would feel the same way. Every inch of the camp still bears testimony to the anguish faced by the inmates, right from the tons of human hair to Spectacles and Gas chambers. One cannot help but feel anger and disappointment towards our own race for committing such a horrendous crime against humanity, against our own kind.

Once done with krakow, our next destination was Prague, Czech Republic, which is where I am writing from now. It is the 2nd of June, 3 years since I lost one of my closest friends in a Motorbike accident. Looks like depression hits all at once :). Rest in peace Siddharth. Your loss becomes painful by the day dude. My deepest condolences to your family.

More on the trip in the coming days. Sayonara

More Travelling and Alpine beauty

2009-05-29T00:39:00.000-07:00

So Rome was fun and everything went pretty smoothly, except for a few incidents which I will talk about in person :) The ferry ride from Napoli(Naples) to the island of Ischia was magnificent. From rome, it was a 6 hour drive to Venice, which blew us all away with its beautiful mix of ancient and modern building styles. A wonderful water taxi ride followed and we finally settled into our hostel in the night. The next day, we started out to Innsbruck, Austria, which has become famous for hosting the winter olympics. It was amazing fun to be back in the Alpine mountains again and seeing all those snow clad peaks tower upon us. After spending a couple of hours at Innsbruck, we headed to salzburg, the home of the dancing master Mozart himself. The ancient castle at Salzburg was a big treat and the icing on the cake was the visit to Mozarts house, atleast for me :). Due to some unavoidable circumstances, we could not visit Munich where we had planned a visit to the Bavaria Motor Works factory (BMW in short :)).
After spending the night at Salzburg, we headed to Vienna which is where I am writing this blog from. It is a beautiful place full of Castles, Churches and Cafe's. Did I mention we visited the Leopold Cafe in Vienna? That was one heck of an experience. After this, we leave for Budapest, Hungary via Bratislava. That should be a fun drive.

More coming.

Avani

PS: Some of the german words have cracked me up pretty hard. For instance, Exit is Ausfarht :D.. You can imagine what the rest would mean ;)

Fun Fact :)

2009-05-23T02:23:00.001-07:00

How about 3 countries in a single day? We started of from Zurich to Lake Konstanz which is on the border between Switzerland and Germany but german territory Technically. Lovely place and amazing architecture. Seems the city was intact even after WW2 due to its proximity to switzerland. BEautiful churches and o ne of the biggest lakes in the world. Truly Mindblowing!!! After that, it was time to take one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on, the one from Constanz to Milan. Ripping thro the alps at 130 kmph never felt better :)

Once at Milan we went hostel hunting at Bergamo only to be scared away by drunken revellers! :( Somehow, the movie "Hostel" flashed thro my mind for a few seconds. We had to settle for a slightly expensive hotel. But fortunately, we managed to catch up on some well deserved sleep. Now we are heading out to see the last supper and then move to Rome via Pisa, which I am super excited about. Two more nights in Rome and its off to Austria!!

More coming

Update: Marseille and Switzerland

2009-05-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

Action action everywhere! First was all the running around london to get a bus to the Stansted Airport only to be politely shooed off by the bus ppl to take the train, which was another 15 pounds! 45 Minutes and a lot of anti british language(!) later, we were at Stansted and finally got on board the flight when VOILA, theres a fuel leak in one of the engines and the flight gets delayed by an hour. When we finally reached marseille EVERY place was closed and we ended up eating dinner at an Arab restaurent. Being the lone vegetarian, I ended up with the falafel :| Our hostel was nestled in a street no wider than a bus and we spent a good half an hour looking for parking space. After all the hurrying around, it was 3 AM when we went to bed/attic whatever :D

Wednesday, May 20: We leave marseille at 11 AM and start our 730 KM drive to Interlaken, Switzerland. DId I mention how happy i was to be back in a land which followed Kilometres and Litres?? Aaahhh bliss!! :) The drive was absolute bliss and was well worth the entire money spent on this trip. Amazing roads and no adherence to speed limits!! Europeans are the worst drivers ever!!! Another hostel and roaming around later, we were done for the day and all set to hit the alps on thursday.

Thursday, May 21: So we leave the hostel early in the morning and head to the mountains and the Cable car adventures at Schilthorn, made famous by Indian cinema and its countless romantic ballads! The ride was FANTASTIC and we were proud to show off our Minnesotan attitudes by roaming around in tees when the rest of the tourists were clad in sweaters and Jerkins and what not! Afterthat, it was time to head to Luzern, Switzerland which is another of those beautiful and historic cities which indian cinema flocks to. NEw York Nagaram from the movie Sillunu oru Kaadhal is an apt example. A couple of hours at luzern and we all headed out to Zurich, which is where I am writing this blog entry from. Its 1030 in the night and the lady at the motel was sweet enough to give us reduced fares. People in europe are FAR MORE friendly and hospitable than the Imperial Nation. Go there and you will see for yourself. As for me, I am super excited that I have visited 3 countries in 4 days :) More coming...

Avani

PS: Sorry for the delayed posts. My internet presence is next to minimal and I am not to blame :D

eurotrip 2009 Begins. FINALLY :)

2009-05-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

Lovely day in the twin cities and all of us were super excited about beginning our 24 day road trip of Europe and London. Things went smoothly and we reached london right on time. It took us a while to realize why we had decided to spend a couple of days at London. To BLOW AWAY OUR MONEY! The place is such a rip off. Every minor thing at the hostel need one pound or two. And the exchange rates arent helping either. But we're hoping we make better of our financial situation in the other countries, ESPECIALLY the Czech republic!! :)

So, Day 1 began with all of us checking into the Smart Russell Hostel at Russell Square, London. We had a quick bathing routine and left to the Buckingham Palace to witness the change of guard. event did NOT live up to all the hype it created and all of us ended up being pretty much bored, apart from being badly Jetlagged already!

Once that was done, it was time to head to Madame Tussads and posing with the hot wax chicks in a gesture of hopeless optimism :D. Fun! Westminster Abbey was next followed by the London Eye. The Eye was great fun though we did not get to enter the final resting place of Isaac Newton owing to a Pro-LTTE rally very close to the Abbey. A couple of hours of posing in front of the London Bridge and mindless wandering later, we were back home tired and sleepy. I slipped out of the room to catch my share of free internet! But it looks like the great bladewarrior must succumb to sleep.

Cyanora and more coming.

Caffeine Wars

2008-10-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

Its that time of the year again. The beautiful fall colors have set upon the student community; Classes in full swing; The chilly breeze; and not to mention, the sleepy students! Damn you down comforters, you win again.

Its that time of the year again. The pot of coffee in our apartment is finished even before we start; every other person walking on the street has a starbucks/caribou cup in their hand, even if its empty :D; there are more students sleeping in class than ever before and the professor knows it is an absolutely natural phenomenon, coz thats what he is going to do after class; my room mate buys a bag of coffee (worth $10) because he gets a cup of coffee (worth $3) free with the bag; multiple alarms between 6:30 and 8:30 save your day; you start loathing your decision to register for that 9 AM class 'coz thats when you notice your alarm did not go off ( maybe it DID and you were far too sleepy to notice it).

Its that time of the year again. Its the end of the Fall. The beginning of the Caffeine Wars.

Time for a quick nap before my next meeting!

Adios

Five Questions I DONT PREFER ANSWERING

2008-07-13T18:43:00.001-07:00

Yes, the top questions which end up in the dumps. And to make matters worse, I keep getting them every-other-day (almost :D)

1. What da machchan. Did you get a girl in america??

- If I had, what the hell am i doing writing a blog on a Sunday afternoon!

2. So, you are from India? Could you speak something in Indian?

- Sure. Do you want some Asian thrown in too?

3. What time is it there?

- Definitely not a time to answer that!!

4. Kanna, how is the USA? Did you talk to chinni paati's sister's cousin's husbands niece?

- Does she look good? Otherwise not a chance :D

5. So you cook on your own huh?

- Pretty much. And if life does not interest you, you're welcome to try my cooking.

Of Jeens, T-Sharts, Tchoo-Tchoo's and my attempts at hindi

2008-07-12T23:03:00.000-07:00

Iv never been a fan of shopping. Infact, thats something I have never enjoyed doing. If you ask me, shopping of all types should be restricted to a maximum time span of 10 minutes. I am reminded of my valiant attempts at it when I visited my aunt at mumbai, a few weeks before i left for the USA. We were at this area popularly known as the "fashion street" in one of the most posh locales in bombay. This place has everything from tom-toms to shorts to Naik-e's ( no, not the marathi surname) to bling-blings to what not. All im trying to do is buy some keychains and compliments for a few friends back in Madras. So my cousin sis and I wander around and voila, one of the shop owners jumps up to me and says "Bolo Jeens Bolo, Shaarts Bolo". I admit I am not that good at colloquial hindi, being the perfectionist :D. So like any dumb, hindi-illiterate I interpret that as the merchant asking me to say "Jeans" and "T-shirt". And to make matters worse, the guy makes this weird sound to gain our attention, like a rat trapped in a bait. The lil' squeaky sound which cyclists make when theyre too lazy to ring their bell and ask you to move out of their way. God i hate that, I REALLY DO. Its only after we reach home do i get to know what the merchant ( I wouldn call him that. All he had was a bunch of hangers and some clothes strewn over them) actually meant. And I felt like a total retard. Another classic case of shopping blues.

There are times I have tried to be the slick shopper, always bargaining for better deals and trying to outsmart the shopkeeper guy. In vain. There was this time when my entire college class went to Delhi for a tour. I had been to Delhi before, in my ninth grade. We had this great bargainer of a teacher who accompanied us. And she bought a 550 bucks worth trolley bag for 220 bucks. Inspirational indeed!! So i tried my luck with the whole bargaining thing.

ME: Yeh kithna hai bhaisaab. (YES I SPOKE IN HINDI :D. But i will translate it for you poor illiterates:))
SK: 750 Rupees
ME: Its too much. thoda kam karo.
SK: Theek hai 730 rupees.
ME: :| .. wow how less. No no, i want it for 300 Rs. (Trying out the Teacher's Tactics)
SK: No response. Blunt look.
ME: What do you say?
SK: Wont work.
ME: Its worth only 250. Im paying 300 for it.
SK: Looks like you dont know about the market. Please leave the shop.
ME: DAMN!!!! This is not happening.

Thus ended my first and last attempt at bargaining. Fortunately, I had my friend, Namratha, who came to my rescue and managed to get me a similar deal in another shop. God bless her :)

For all you shopkeepers who drove me away. SCREW YOU GUYS, Im Going Home :D

sayonara, mere yaara

Grizzly at it. YET AGAIN

2008-06-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

As if existing mockery wasnt enough, our hero is at it again. This time at a political press conference in Dindugal district, Madurai. Watch the video below to experience cinema and politics mixing in a rather unpleasant way.

Those of you who do not understand Tamizh (NO, I WILL NOT CALL IT TAMIL) are surely missing out on the time of your life. Trust me, I wouldnt be surprised if people actually develop an image that Indian politics is this bad. Our hero is in a press conference when one of the reporters asks him why the turnout to his campaign meetings are lesser than his rival. This pisses off our hero so much that he loses all control and blasts the poor reporter guy left, right and center. The whole damn episode comes off as a very cheap attempt at gaining attention, not to mention the rehearsed-feel english sentences thrown in occasionally :).

Funny no doubt. But is this cheap stunt doing any good to Indian politics? Definitely not, apart from further mockery in movies and talk shows. When the entire episode could have been ended with a simple "Come to my meeting and you will know", a lengthy and useless rhetoric follows, spurred on by some foolish supporters waiting to shout their guts out at the slightest signal. Watch the guy standing behind our hero, who goes into a hysteric clapping spree when hero calls himself a "Tamizhan.. Neruppu (fire)". Is this some kind of scene from the next big Rajnikanth movie? Has Tamil Nadu politics degraded so much to be reduced to some sort of publicity stunt? Only the next election will tell.

On a lighter note, watch our hero's ( His name is TR by the way) videos on youtube when you find the time. He is a gifted actor and a great guy no doubt. But honestly, all talk and no action makes jack a sucky politician :D

Adios...

Dei dubagooru; inna pandra?

2008-06-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

For the uninitiated, that was a sentence spoken in authentic "madras tamizh" :). First things first, my apologies for running such a dormant blog. As if it matters; you guys have better things to do anyway!! :). Well what do i say, Time ( a lot of it) and location ( read forsaken desert) have forced me to take the forgotten path once again after nearly 6 months.

And for those who are wondering why the hell this post is titled the way it is, heres why. During one of my extremely-bored-super-tired moments here, i ended up watching "this" tamil show on youtube. And boy, was i reminded of my good old days when "madras" tamizh was the in-thing :D.. And i couldnt resist posting some of my favorites here. If you already know, please bear with me. If you dont, ask around and you will know.

1. Mama, naastha thunniya? ( Dude, done with lunch/dinner/whatever?)
Usually outside the college canteen or someplace.

2. Somma landhu kudukaadha da domaru ( dont pain me you moron :D)

3. Naa onniyum pannala, nee mooditu kada. ( I didnt do it. You shut up)

4. Podango*** ( in reply to 2 :P)

5. Unna nambina, naaye nee andharbalti adichta ( I believed you and you messed up)

Standard dialog before assignment submissions!!

6. Inna da, sarakkadichtu mallandhutiya?
Heard you got sloshed yesterday?
And many, many more.
Its hard to believe that this hasnt caught up here in the US which, by the way, is being inhabited by tamils by the day. ( I fall in that category too. ;))

Bottom line, i miss chennai, oops, i mean MADRAS, and its lingo too much and cannot wait to get there in september. Till then,

inna maamu
kayandukkavaa :)

and FINALLY!!!

2007-12-23T15:59:00.000-08:00

ho ho ho!!! the holidays are here

and what better way to celebrate it than whiling away time at home :) Away from school, away from assignments, just me and my laptop. And when you are at your sister's place, knowing you don't have to make any attempts at cooking!!! HEAVEN! (ALTHOUGH she made me vacuum her place today :( )

Seriously,its been a crazy semester. And an even crazier last month of school with every damn assignment and project having the same deadlines. At the end of it all: Yes, i have survived my first semester in the U.S of A. But yeah, it has not been crazy all the time. Iv found the time to make new friends, to get a glimpse of the Minnesota Winter, to sample all types of food ( mostly free :)) and most important of all, uncovered (almost) all the sites which host free movies and TV shows :).

How different is life in the US from india? Not much, other than the fact that your entire life here depends on some randomly generated 9 digit number ( the software for which was probably written back home), Or that 5 hours of sleep a day becomes a luxury, or that i am actually expected to complete my assignments, or the harsh realization that people don't really give a sh*t about your first class with distinction anymore!!! But there is one thing that everyone here gets to learn: that there is life beyond school and books. which is mostly spent at the library or the lab, at least during the first semester :). Whats more, the babes rock!! I hear the mid-west is famous ( or notorious) for that. God bless you all!! You are all the light of my life :))
Reflecting on the past few months, i would say life could not be better. The holidays are here, there's a full month before classes and i am a semester closer towards visiting India :). So here i am. Alive and kicking.

Welgum Everybuddiee

2007-12-18T23:20:00.000-08:00

And finally i get to have a blaawg of my own. Not that i have scaled the everest or even better, Aced my operating systems course ( never gonna happen EVER) or anything remotely relevant to that :) im just glad something has finally materialized after two years of snooping around others blogs and saying to myself, "thats it. I am gonna blog too".

So am i gonna make your life interesting? Heck NO. This is just one of the numerous ways i plan to utilize (read "while away") my time for the rest of my student life at least.

Once again,"welgum yeverybuddiee".

and so sleeps the bladewarrior