Kjerag

After a failed attempt during the mid of August due to bad weather, Kjerag seemed to be a distant dream with the autumn setting in and buses services stopped to Øygardsstøl. But there was something in the store, On a Friday evening me and Kristoffer had a chat and then decided to do it on Sunday if the weather is good and if Jennifer could adjust her weekend plans.

Everything fell in place at the right time and on the Sunday morning at 9:00 AM we 4 for us decided to start, me, Kristoffer, Jennifer, and 7 month old Rocky. After driving through some winding roads for about 2 hours we reached Øygardsstøl, the base from where the hike starts. This place is also called as ‘Eagle’s Nest’ may have got the name because of the restaurant there. Last few kilometres before Øygardsstøl is full of cairns on either side of the road of different sizes.

At around 11:30 AM we started the walk and followed the trail marked in ‘T’ symbol in red color. The first hill was the toughest I believe, may be because it was steep and Rocky was all excited and he improved the overall speed of the group. He was able to do almost most of the steep parts with ease, thanks to his ability to use his four limbs and low centre of gravity. After climbing up and down twice, we climbed the third hill to reach a plateau. It was amazing terrain with hardly any vegetation and the whole area looks like surface of the moon across the fjord. I could imagine the place could be looking evening more beautiful with snow cover during the winter. The walk on the plateau was long and a bit boring before you reach Kjerag. No doubt this place is impressive, the view of the fjord was amazing. And the vertical drop of 1000m really breathtaking. After a photo session there, headed to the Kjeragbolten which is the landmark location. Kjeragbolten is a rock struck between two cliffs. Without any doubt in mind it is most photographed rock in the whole world. J

Kristoffier and Jennifer had the courage to stand on the rock for a few snaps. I was not able to go anywhere near the rock. Probably next time I should wear a horse blinker to focus just on the rock. J We had the sandwiches that we carried and sat there for a while, before heading back. Way back much easier and not all that tiring. By now Rocky had gained a lot of confidence and it was able to find his own way in lot of places. We reached the parking in just over 2 hours. After relaxing at Øygardsstøl for a few minutes, we headed back to Stavanger and reached between 8-8:30 PM.

Thanks to the weather which remained wonderful through out the day, that made the trip fantastic.

Kjerag

The Great Austerity Drama

’Austerity’, I believe could be the most searched word in the English dictionaries online by many Indians, recently. I myself did a search before starting this blog. Its not a very common word in political parlance, considering no Elections in near future, So I thought understanding the meaning of it important. J

Indian government has requested or ordered its ministers to lead a simple life. Yes, Ministers were asked to vacate their plush five star hotel suites and travel economy class, all in order to cut cost and save tax payers money. In the whole drive some tried to prove their point by travelling economy class in an airline with a few seats around them vacant and travel chair car train inviting troubles and another made a statement not in the interest of the party’s policy on austerity and had to apologize later. All created a few interesting article for the news hungry media and people like me who browse the news portals online.

Will this drive make a common man happy? Yes, of course it will make you feel happy at the expense of your comfort. I don’t think one will have a comfortable journey with Rahul Gandhi besides him and be worried about the missed stone thrown at him. When a politician travels it’s not possible to avoid his side-kicks, guards, fans who come to see-off him, and most intimidating thing, the armed guards all over the place. To add to this, we could see a dozen journalists and cameramen to cover the rarest phenomenon on the earth.

Don’t they have the privilege to travel Business class? Yes. Of course they do have. After all they are people who run the country and most responsible people in position; if a CEO/SVP in the corporate world could travel why cant they? I don’t think a common man will whine about his tax money spent on their travel. As a tax payer I have no problem if a politician in Office uses a chartered jet or business class or 5 star accommodation, because they spend on all these to work for the Common Man. So the point is as long as they work for the people, they can spend and avoid discomfort to the people. And for god sake hope they don't make our wonderful train journey and flight journey hell by being one of us. It practically doesn't work. If they are still serious about the austerity drive, how about travelling in disguise by wearing a Halloween mask. :).

Hope this Auterity Naatak ends soon……

The Great Austerity Drama

Pressurized Capsule...

Beautiful young gals at your service, variety of drinks, magazines, movies, music and documentaries, toys and drawing books (Only if you are kid), you get what you want, of all the possible things, just by pressing a button, sitting at your place… All these comforts at the expense of ones personal space and you are restricted to 4 sq feet area. Spending a day of your life in an airplane is significant part, considering the unique lifestyle in a pressurized capsule, with the scarce resources available and makes a living out of it.

I was not lucky enough to get an aisle seat, instead got sandwiched between a male IT engineer and a female student (I believe). Never, will I explain the person in the check-in desk to give an aisle, in the seats in the center column in the flight, because there will be only one person disturbing me, while going to the loo, as against two people in the seats by the side of the window. The airline official understood something gave the sandwich seat.

The girl to my right was not in a mood to socialize, after some breaking the ice, [Smiles…] ‘do you go further from Bangalore?’… ‘Yes, to Shimoga’… ‘Are you working?’… ‘I am going to meet someone’…. That’s the conversation we had, before she went stuffing her head phones in to her ears. Conversation with the IT guy was typical, [Smiles…] where do you work? What do you work on?.... He went off to sleep, Woke up only twice for the food and drinks. I had to do a few high jumps to go out every time, thanks to his sound sleep, he was not bothered when I kicked him once, miscalculating the height.

Having nothing to do after the lunch/dinner… you really don’t know which meal of the day you have… Is it according to the time zone of the destination or the source?? Anyways, I started watching the moving ‘17 Again’ (a comedy movie) not a bad movie specially when you are bored, I heard occasional laughs from my right hand side….Movie ended and I went and stood near the space close to the toilets, just counting the number of people going in to them. J

After sometime pulled out my laptop with great difficulty and started writing this blog, but stopped writing to watch ‘Shawshank Redemption’, and completed this at my home in Chennai…..

Pressurized Capsule...

Heading back….

Irony is 27 C in Bangalore and 30 C in Stockholm.

I will be there in India in a few days and longing for the perfect weather at home. Cloudy day, drizzle, hot tea, egg puffs would be a best way to start after being away from home for so long.

Next few days will be to eat and get bored of idly, dosa, hyderbadi biryani, vada, sambar, chutny. Andhra meals at Bharathi, pani poori by the road side. Shopping!!! Hair cut and oil massage at my favourite barber shop. Next few days will be to make calls, update telephone numbers of friends. Next will be to fix my bicycle, I am sure it will be in a very bad state, get my pulsar, the motorbike which had displaced me over 60k km within the city limits for over 7 years. left hand side drive, had to keep telling myself to look in the right direction while driving and crossing the road.

Next would be to go home, meet parents and brother, photo seeing (they are really curious to know what I have been doing here). Next would be to meet the friends from the Nagar and usual gossips. 16 months a long time, enough, for a fast changing city like Chennai to look entirely different, a few Pizza huts/corners, few Cafe Coffee Day, few Malls, few more Mcdonalds would have sprung up in every nuke and corner of the city.

Watch my favorite series in the television live, not the recorded ones in the youtube.

May be much more……

Heading back….

'Gajar ka Halwa' for Dummies....

A quick guide to Gajar ka Halwa… (Search for this term in google, if you want more authentic processes/recipe on the net. However, the below process can produce a halwa close to 90%, as that of the original one and its easy :))

Things needed:
1. 1 kg Carrot
2. One can Condensed Milk (Sugared), You get it in ICA
3. Butter (osalted/non salted) 50gms
4. Almonds
5. Cashews
6. Dried Grapes (green ones), not the black ones
7. Milk 300-400 ml
8. Most important thing… PATIENCE
.
Step 1.
Grate the carrots thin using a grater, the size similar to carrot in the salad section in the restaurants should be good enough.

Step 2.
You will need a shallow pan with a thick bottom. If its thin then halwa will get struck in the pan, I am sure no dishwasher in the world can help :) . Heat the pan.

Step 3.
Melt the butter, and fry the almonds, cashews and dried grapes.

Step 4.
Just when nuts turn a bit brownish add the grated carrots to the pan.

Step 5.
Immediately add the milk to the pan, and reduce the heat of the stove. If your stove has a scale from 0-10, put it at 5. (Use this to calibrate to the stoves at your kitchen :)). Remember to add milk immediately as the carrots should not get fried in the butter.

Step 6.
Mix the carrot and milk well, and add the condensed milk to the mix. Stir well.

Step 7.
Keep stirring the mixture every 5 minutes, till all the water evaporates and the milk solidify. The carrot should get cooked well. (May take 90 minutes or so... but not much effort).

Serve it lukewarm with vanilla ice cream. Good Luck!!!

Disclaimer: The author of the blog is not responsible for any damages/dissatisfaction or what so ever caused due to the above mentioned process. You have decided to use the recipe at your own discretion. hahaha :))))

'Gajar ka Halwa' for Dummies....

Surströmming

Just came back to the apartment, after a failed mission with Surstromming.

I have been planning this for over a week, but owing to bad weather conditions last week, the operation was delayed by a week. After hearing from my colleagues about the dangerous gases that the can emits on opening, it was decided that it will be opened in an open area far from the habitation. J (Sounds as if like a nuclear test, it was not all that bad).

While opening the pressurized can spewed, a few drops of liquid on my clothes, (Oops I don’t have a laundry slot bookedJ). The first hole in the can left a horrible stench all around. By now, my mind of almost conditioned that I wont be able to eat it. The liquid in the can was drained, which is the main source of stench. I gathered some courage to took a small bite, it was salty and while chewing it I realized that instead of fish going in, the breakfast ate in the morning was coming out J. I thought it is time and give up and spit the fish. Only way one could eat this to think that stinking smell is due to the dog poo (Anna rightly describes the odor) which is few yards awayJ. I thought the taste is not all that bad though.

After coming back home I realized that, my camera cover, bag, jacket, can opener, all needs a wash. J

Surströmming

As a Consultant 23057826....

It's nearly 14 months in my professional career, that I have spent at Sony Ericsson as a consultant...and yes, it is nearing an end in a few days...I thought it’s time to reflect upon a few aspects of this assignment and my experience here....

More than a year ago, one fine morning I stepped into this office and got introduced to some 30 odd people, spread across 2 floors (hardly remembered any names)...I found a vacant desk for myself and started working... ‘Don’t they have any kind of induction session or orientation program here’, I thought to myself... Next moment I had to remind myself, ‘Hey! You are no more an Employee now !!’...and rest is history.

Certainly, it is the most diverse work environment in which I have ever worked...In an AM team meeting,one has to just look around to find people from different countries, spanning across the latitudes and longitudes of the globe. I don’t think it could have got any more diverse than that, unless I get to work with Martians or AI Robots in future. J My team is composed of Swede, English, Chinese and me. No doubt it is one of the most easy going teams and fun to work with. A stark difference is that, there is no line manager whom I have to report to, which means that there is no performance appraisal and development plans...hurray !! it was a real blessing in disguise. J

As an Application Support Consultant, what you do is very similar to fixing a multiple punctured bike tube using patches, you are neither allowed to replace the tube entirely, nor, replace the tire, however worn out it is. (Of late, I am riding a bicycle, hence this stupid metaphor J).

Most of the times, one is on the messenger chatting with a customer, who could be broadly classified under the following categories: *Frustrated with a bug in the system (or) *Frustrated with self for not getting in terms with the system (or) *Screwed up something in the system (or) *Waiting to screw up something in the system.

When you are not on the messenger, you will be seen writing an email typically starting like, ‘Dear Customer, This is with reference to ticket number xxxxx….!!’. J

Apart from these, you are either attending meetings and Release related handover meetings...with every new release we solve a few bugs and manage to introduce a few new bugs and the cycle continues J....after all anything to keep the customer happy….: J

Well that’s all about work and lets come to fun at work. Of course the above mentioned things are no less fun. J Every Monday, at lunch hour, it used to be the Innebandy day and it was good fun. The local people are good at it; me and few others (read it as English man in my team J ) are the so called nuisance players. However I did manage to score a few goals both for and against my team during my short career as a bandy player, nevertheless all by fluke. Weekly Friday fika was another regular meeting time to have a cup of coffee and some goodies brought/baked by colleagues on a round robin basis. Apart from regular fika, we had Lussebulle on Lucia day, Semla on a winter day and Glogg on a day during Christmas time (Few events to get an essence of Swedish Culture). Another occasion for people to come together is the breakfast that occurs every alternate Fridays. All these contributed to fun at work.

Overall, last one year has been filled with plethora of experiences, fortunately all of which would be cherished in the years to come. :)

As a Consultant 23057826....

A Free Hamburger...

Yet again from the streets…. 

I was walking on the streets when I got attracted to the aroma of the hamburger patty on the grill, and decided to have a bite. It was an unusual road side stall with a long bench with all the ingredients of the hamburger on top of it and half a dozen people on the other side which is not common in Europe, where one single person will be busy multitasking. A man was behind the BBQ was turning the patty at regular intervals that left the whole street filled with scent of lard. 

I ordered a hamburger and the assembly line started. Each one in the stall pointed at different colored sauces and made sure I wanted it on the burger; I said yes to all, it really doesn’t make any difference to me, customizing a burger. One of them wrapped the burger in a colorful napkin and other gave me a plastic cup filled with a pink liquid, which I had not asked for. I stood there for a moment and took a bite of the burger, waiting for someone to tell out a number. It looked like no one is ready to take money from me. Meanwhile I saw, an old lady simply said ‘Tack’ and walked away. 

I glanced around, a girl looked like boss of the whole group, and asked her, ‘Don’t I have to pay for this?’ she replied ‘No it’s free!’ She continued that they are from Vaasa, celebrating the start of ‘congregation of Uppsala ***** (I forgot what it is)’, and said few more things about the congregation, which I couldn’t understand. 

This was very similar to ‘Maari aatha ku koolu uthurathu’ (Language –Tamil, Maari aatha – Hindu God,  Koolu – is a thick liquid made from rice/millet), where the Koolu in huge container, carried on bullock carts and distributed to the public around the streets, in my home town during festivals. 

I thought to myself in Sweden they distribute Hamburger, I enjoyed the free, delicious Hamburger, However I couldnt  figure out what the pink liquid was, it did not have any taste, may be a Swedish version of ‘Koolu’ J.

A Free Hamburger...

Susan Boyle

I have no idea as what Opera singing is and I am no expert in judging good/bad music. All I knew is some Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood by a few Indian composers, occasionally some music from the West, and some random numbers here and there, clearly I haven’t found a pattern in my liking for music till now.

Of late, I saw a video from the talent hunt TV show, that featured a forty seven year old woman who desires to be a professional Opera singer, was booed by the audience looking at her appearance, demeanor and age. At the end of her performance she goes on to win the hearts of millions and stood as an example for the statement, ‘Appearance is Deceptive’.

I would say this video clip itself is a Moral Story and full credit to the editor of the video who interlaced the shots from audience’s cynical gestures, undermining statements, sarcastic smiles, standing ovation, roaring crowd, happy faces, anchors’ comments, jury feedback and the woman celebrating like a child.

As I mentioned earlier I have no clue about Opera, but no doubt I like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Susan Boyle

Neighbor

My curiosity was satisfied after visiting the famous Khan-el-Khalili Bazaar and I was walking back to the Attaba Station. Someone interrupted me on the way and asked, ‘Where is the nearest Metro station to go to Sadat?’ The man was in his early 40s was wearing a thick woolen sweater, carried a small backpack, and looked like a South Asian. I was not surprised, at someone asking me for directions, for obvious reason that I don’t look like a foreigner there.

I was glad that he asked a question, for which I knew the answer, as I walked down from Attaba to the Bazaar a while ago; I told him that I knew the way to Attaba Station, from where he can take a train to Sadat and he could follow me to the Station. While we walked I asked his whereabouts, he said ‘Pakistan’. The very next moment, I felt awkward and various thoughts started bombarding my mind. I had to consciously avoid showing my discomfort and stop acting indifferently. However, I was glad that he did not ask me where I came from, which would have put him in the same kind of situation. Or, may be he was smart enough to guess, by looking at my stupid body language, which I found difficult to conceal.

This was my first encounter with my neighbor, though an uneasy one, none of us could be blamed.

Neighbor

Google Rocks!

I have always been a big fan of Google and their applications. Recently I started using ‘Google Analytics’, which, I enabled for my blog, thanks to a friend who told me about this useful tool. Of late, I was impressed by another tool, see it for yourself. Expecting more ‘Powerful Simple Applications’ from them and I promise that I would be a loyal user. J

Me [09:57]:Hi Vivian

Tang, Vivian [09:57]:你好

Me [09:58]:Regarding the PO XXXXXX..

Me [09:58]:are you getting any error while trying to do the GR?

Tang, Vivian [10:00]:这个PO我们做了GR，但是财务和BC那边显示没有做

Tang, Vivian [10:01]:之前是这个PO已经通过批复，但是BC和财务没有显示，现在这个问题解决了，但是他们那里又显示没有做GR

Me [10:03]:There was no GR done, before... I cannot see any previous history..

Me [10:03]:You may do the GR now..

Me [10:04]:Could you try doing a GR now.?

Tang, Vivian [10:05]:不过这个PO不是我申请的，我同事做的，她已经离职了，我没办法使用她的用户名做GR

Tang, Vivian [10:05]:有什么办法可以解决这个问题吗

Me [10:06]:yes..

Me [10:06]:Just a moment

Me [10:07]:Chen Zhang has left the company, Am I right?

Tang, Vivian [10:08]:对

Me [10:09]:Do you know Fiona Gu?

Me [10:10]:She is from the Purchasing Department

Tang, Vivian [10:11]:我知道她

Me [10:11]:She will able to the GR for Chen Zhang..

Me [10:12]:Please contact her.

Me [10:12]:If she also face the problem, Let me know.

Tang, Vivian [10:12]:好的，谢谢

Me [10:13]:You are welcome.

Me [10:13]:Let me know, when its done..

Me [10:15]:Have a good day. Bye for now

Tang, Vivian [10:16]:J

Google Rocks!

Sum up

It’s been a little more than a year in Stockholm.

Some random newbies....

Shifted 4 hotels in first couple of weeks , never forgot to carry the metro train map for first couple of months, the SL monthly ticket became integral part of my wallet, met people, colleagues, saw the first snow fall in the place of residence, worked odd hours from 8AM-5PM, 60 minutes lunch starting at around 11.00 AM during the week days, nearly 24 hours on the internet, saw the museums, palaces, islands, streets, ate all kind of food most of the times not knowing what I ate, mid summer, herring, salmons, learnt English names for few vegetables and groceries, carried the lunch box after a period of 11 years, shaved at least once in a week, started cooking, succeeded in biryani, rava dosa, adai and few others, cooked for socializing, did dish washing, vacuum cleaning, laundry, ironing clothes (its kind of Royal life back home ;) ), hiked in sub-zero temperatures, wore the heaviest jacket, hand gloves, hat all first time in my lifetime, saw almost all the bollywood releases until 3 months back, Stockholm marathon ( was just a spectator), fika, St Lucia Choir, modern art, glogg, semla, ice skating (Top 1000 Indian Skater in the world ;) ), skiing, frozen lakes, beach volley ball, inner bandy, sauna (Back home its an open air Sauna, I really cannot understand why the new apartments in Bangalore boast of Saunas in them), travelled in a cruise, had answered the question: ‘What you did during the weekend?’ on a Monday morning (Not an usual question back home), met 2 of my college friends after 7 years, while talking about time started using odd, even, prime numbers while referring to the minutes like 7:34, 10:27, 9:19, opened the door and held it open for others, had set up a timer switch to turn on the light at 6:30 in the morning to wakeup in the winter, visited the super market every alternate day, Surstromming, kayaking…

Truly was an interesting year...

Sum up

Spring

Sun is shining above the horizon, grass in the Gärdet area is green enough and deciduous trees are waiting for the leaves to sprout, people have shed a few grams by getting rid of the winter coats, few even decided to wrap their pullovers around their waist, few of them are sitting by the water side, while a few of them are lying on their back reading a book, little ones seen on their bicycles and grown ups following them on their overhauled bicycles, unleashed dogs running around burning few calories accumulated during the winter, little ‘blue and white’ Stockholm city bikes are back on the stands, roofs of the convertibles have gone down, scooters and the motor bikes are bustling around, open top Hop-on Hop-off sight seeing buses have hit the streets in the downtown, restaurants and coffee shops have moved a few tables out in the open areas, a few anglers hoping for a good catch….

Spring has arrived; most importantly… smiles on the Stockholmer’s face…….

Spring

Career....

You decided to stick to a company for more than a decade and half, you can speak fairly good English, could network with the right people and address an audience of over around 50-100 – You are VP, SVP J

You decided to not to quit a company for more than a decade, possess average programming skills, understand/utter some technical jargons, you cannot make a speech to large audience – You are a Software Architect. J

You decided to work for a company for more than decade, you can do some coding, do not understand and use jargons at the right occasions – You are a Senior Principal Software Engineer. J

You decided to change 6 companies in 5 years, IT job market at its peak, you earn the ‘best in the industry’ standard remuneration – You are a Project Manager J

You are not bothered about the career growth, could speak the English language fairly well, possess a bit of IT knowledge to run business, you are interested in making quick money – You are a Consultant. J

You did your Bachelors in Engineering – You are a Software Engineer. J

There are quiet a few roles/designations that vary with several parameters, like experience in the industry, relevant experience in the industry, current designation, current salary, desperation to get a job, desperation to fill a position, market standards, university of graduation, educational qualification, etc etc.

PS: As in any system, there could be exceptions, would you like to discuss??? J

Career....

Disgusting

Out of over a billion people in the country, the elite politicos of major parties, found a man who held possession of a automatic weapon and a man who betrayed the country in the most revered sport of the country in the international arena, as their candidates to contest the general elections, who will run the country if elected. 

These are people who cannot even get away with the background verification process, for a post of Software Engineer in an IT company. 

Clearly shows the agenda and motifs of the parties. 

Truly disgusting....

Disgusting

Ho Ho... Po Po

Onboard train from Cairo to Luxor, I found my seat, stowed my backpack and sat down and took a breather. A teenager who looked like an Asian followed and took seat besides me, He was followed by a European in his early twenties, occupied the one next to him.

We all looked at each other exchanged smiles; guy who arrived last started the conversation and asked the Asian, where is he from? The guy replied back that he is from Japan. It looked like is knew very little English and returned back the obvious question to him. Till then the guy had no clue that it’s going to be the most unpleasant moment of his journey. He goes, ‘I am from Holland’. The Japanese guy, haven’t heard of the country named Holland till now, replies ‘Oh Poland’. The Dutch guy was obviously not happy to know that someone could not recognize the country where he came from. He gave me a helpless look and started trying his luck again. He continues ‘You know Nederland’, Japanese guy posed a flat face at him. I saw noticeable disappointment on the Dutch guy’s face. But he persisted in his efforts, ‘Holland, its in Europe’…. ‘Oh yeah Poland’. I decided to help the Dutch guy, and stressed the first syllable ‘Ho Ho’, the Japanese guy goes ‘Po Po’. More disappointment on the Dutch guys face.

Now the Japanese guy takes a pause and asked me ‘where am I from’? By now I got a little nervous and answered ‘India’. ‘Oh India…’, Delight on my face and more disappointment on the Dutch guys face. Meanwhile the Japanese guy, pulled out a electronic dictionary and typed in ‘Holland’ and found no match. He asked ‘is it English?’ (Probably meant ‘are you telling the name of the country in English’).

The next desperate attempt followed, I would say this one of the wildest attempts I have ever seen. ‘Do you know the South Korean football coach Guus Hiddink….. He is from Holland’. By this time I was laughing out loud internally. Again the Japanese guy replied back with a blank face. You cant blame the Japanese guy, its too much expectation from the Dutch. The Dutch guy smiled at me helplessly for the second time, for which I gave a reassuring smile. He pulled out a book from his back and started to read it for rest of the journey.

I understand it’s not a great feeling to be in that situation, felt pity for the Dutch guy…..

Ho Ho... Po Po

Reality Bites

Am I a cynical, narrow minded, pessimist who always, looks at the negative side of the things and fails to relish the positives? I try not to be one. But, I had to put an effort to stop whining about things to myself. This blog is a result of a failed effort.

On the very same day when the websites were flooded with news about a few Indians winning the coveted Oscars, people expressing their happiness through facebook feeds, gtalk, etc. I received an email from a Swedish colleague, in Swedish, calling for donations to one of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) projects which read something like:

(The mail was in Swedish, translation by Google)

Project 1: Building new sovlokaler in the orphanage in the village of Kolkata
Mathieson Music School (MMS) is an orphanage located in the village of Kolkata in India. Many children in this
by living in a DISTRESSED situation

Project:
- Build new sovlokaler for girls, will be able to provide room for 100 girls aged 5-18 years
- Building safer sovlokaler (build up in height, including to avoid snakes)
- To assist the increasing number of children with education, meals, medicines, books, etc.
General facts about India
- A quarter of the world's poor are in India
- 20 percent of the world's children without education available in India
- 50 percent of children in India are malnourished
More info: www.mathiesonmusictrust.org or talk to Catharina Zetterquist Melander

I was ecstatic and read about the news from all the possible news sites I knew. My patriotic self was brimming with pride and honor that my country men brought laurels to the country. The mail brought me to reality and reminded me of the plight of majority in my country. More importantly got reminded of big hue and cry about portrayal of the Mumbai and its slums in the movie, by some elite people in the country. It’s very important to know that the world knows that we are a great country with some of the exceptional qualified and talented people, at the same time they also knew about the dark side. There is no point in denying it or criticizing the people/movies that portray it. As an individual, given a choice to select between ‘Me not receiving this type of email for ever’ and ‘An Indian not winning an Oscar for next 50 years’, I would blindly go for the first option without giving a second thought.

I am proud of the crew of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and my hearty congratulations to them for making a wonderful movie. At the same time when I read a mail like that, it puts in a doubt in my mind, if I have to be overly happy. To put it short, its ‘Disturbing’.

Reality Bites

Pronunciation

You know to pronounce the letters, A-Z perfectly, as in English; you can push your ‘P’s and roll your ‘R’s and sound like native speakers of English, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can read and pronounce everything written in Swedish with your English knowledge. Remember, you are in Sweden and the Queen of Sweden speaks Swedish.

Knowing few letters and the way they are pronounced, will be very helpful in spelling names of places and people. The most pleasing sound to hear, is someone calling you by your name, exactly the way you pronounce your name. Swedish language has few extra vowels with one or two tittles over ‘a’ and ‘o’ them, lets not try to understand them now.

Lets see how the name of the place ‘Karlberg’ is pronounced. Its simply ‘Karlby’, as in English. So remember anywhere you see ‘Berg’ replace it ‘By’. It applies to a lot of Swedish last names, like Dahlberg, Edberg, and Nyberg etc. Now pronouncing Nyberg is tricky again, ‘y’ is a vowel in Swedish and it is used like ‘i’ in English, So its ‘Niby’ or ‘Knee + by’. This applies to name of the places as well, ‘Vallingby’ is ‘Valling + B’. Confusing?!!! ;)

Don’t think ‘Peater’ is your new teammate, because it might still refer to your old friend ‘Peter’. If same letters appear twice consequently, You will find people stressing both of them, like ‘Henning’ is ‘Hen + ning’, similarly ‘An + na’, ‘Em + ma’ etc. Don’t consciously make a effort to pause to prounce the letters, it will sound stupid. J

Another important candidate is the letter ‘K’. It sounds like ‘S’ when followed by the vowels ‘i’, ‘y’. ‘a’ with dots on it (I don’t have that letter in my laptop keypad). The tube station ‘Kista’ is ‘Shista’ and ‘Skarholmen’ is ‘Sharholmen’. Church in Swedish is ‘Kyrka’, which is pronounced as ‘Shirka’ as in English.

When I have to ask for directions, I say ‘How do I go to Karlberg (pause for a moment and quickly) Karlby!’ because sometimes people do not expect a foreigner to pronounce it correctly.

Having said this, I still wonder what the lady voice in the underground train announces, when I arrive at ‘Medborgarplatsen’. I am pretty sure that its not ‘Med + Bor + Gar + Platsen’. Hope I get to pronounce it correctly very soon J…….

Pronunciation

Tryst with Tyresta

I had spent a lot of my weekends and public holidays not doing much at all. And the words I used to describe them were lazing, relaxing, sleeping, easing etc. While thinking of options to break this monotony, Hiking, was the first that came to my mind. As a result the following plan was made, rather a simple one:

Where to go: Tyresta National Park

When: 31.12.2008

Time: 8:00 to 17:00 hrs tentative

I reached Svartbacken, at around 10AM, this place is around 3 Km from the entrance to the national park. There are buses that go to the park but I had to wait for another half an hour, so decided to walk.

After reaching Tyresta By (Village) and checking out some information boards, at 10:30 AM, I took the trail following the ‘inverted orange triangle’ marking on the trees. This orange triangle was a common symbol, back home in India, which was used in population control awareness campaign (See picture).

This trail leads to Stensjödal(Another entrance to the National park) from Tyresta By. The trail is also marked in green and white strips as it is a common path which forms half of Bylsjöslingan (Name of a trail).

I would say that, his trail was easy, and it was a leisure walk with occasional ice sheets on the way, which could give you a few shocks if you put you foot carelessly on them. It went through the forest with pine trees all around. The whole atmosphere was calm, clean and serene. I walked taking my own sweet time, enjoying the freshness of the woods. After hiking for around 3.5 Km, I reached a junction at 11:00 from where the trail diverts towards Stensjon Lake in one direction at 2.5 Km and in the other direction, Bylsjöslingan continued with its green and white stripes which would lead to Tyresta By.

Just after walking in to the forests towards Stensjon, was the most surprising part of the hike. It was the area of the forest that was destroyed by a massive forest fire during the summer of 1999. I have never seen a charred forest in my life, though it was a unique experience, it was not pleasant feeling observing the destruction caused by fire. There was hardly any greenery and it was vast open land, profusely covered with logs of the fallen trees and which in turn is covered with ice. The ice over the tree trunks looked like bright white flowers, which will never wither away rather melt away.

This part of the forest was little difficult mainly due to the ice covered areas which make it slippery. I got off the track, as few of the orange triangles were hidden under snow. Remember that if you are walking over a slightly rugged path, you are little off the route, as the trail is not difficult. If at all there are some ups and down or rough patches, there will wooden steps and planks to make it easy. As the area affect by fire comes to an end, the green woods starts approaching. Few meters within the woods there was a tiny wooden bridge over a frozen stream. This should have been the water flowing from the edges of the Lake Stensjon.

I trek for about 10 minutes took me to the Lake Stensjon. It was a beautiful site on a bright day with blue skies and crisp air; it can’t be anything better than this. The frozen lake was shining like a huge mirror reflecting the mild Swedish winter sun rays. It was here for the first time after entering the fire hit forest I saw 3 humans, we had a little chat and they guided me to Fornborg, which was supposed to be an ancient castle. The man was kind enough to give me a map and enquired if I knew about light fading away by 3:00 PM as it was 1:00 PM by then.

Don’t have high expectations about this castle and imagine drawbridges, battlement, canons etc, I had to search for the castle for a while, and soon I realised that it’s just a bunch of rocks. Tyresta never ceases to surprise you. After a few hours of hiking, I was hungry and decided to have my lunch with a view. It was at the cliff over looking the bright lake, I had the sandwich I picked from Pressbyran and relaxed for couple of minutes before, starting to Tyresta By at 1:30 PM. I did the return at a brisk pace, following the same route except towards the end took the other half of the Bylsjöslingan, which passed by Bylsjon Lake, where few peoplewere found skating on the lake. At 3:00 PM I reached Tyresta and took the SL bus and headed back to Stockholm.

While travelling in the bus, I already started thinking about hiking the trail Kustleden in the National park which goes along the Baltic Sea……

Tryst with Tyresta