Waiting....

Undoubtedly the most mind numbing thing to do is to wait for few hours at an airport before the flight. There are a few ways to get away with this agony. ‘Grab a Beer’ is the most common one! I could understand why a beer is priced so high in the airports because that’s an easier and old fashioned way to kill time but not the best way. Have you arrived early at the Airport, to start with leave some liquids in the hand baggage to be detected by the X-ray machine, which will give the airport security to get on to his job while he/she ransacks your hand baggage. You can stand there with a dumb face till the whole thing ends. If one don’t mind getting frisked leave your apartment key in your pocket, this could help with couple of minutes. Then its the duty free section! Go around till you get dizzy due to a cocktail of fragrances in the air from the test perfume bottles and tipsy gazing at the liquors. Hmm!! Another few more of minutes lost. Now it is time to look for your gate. You don’t have to be selfish by looking for only your flight. But can look for other flights and destinations, airlines flying to destinations, check if they are on time, if not sympathize for others. More importantly this improves ones geography knowledge. Long automatic walkways are another good way to kill time. Just stand on them which moves at snails pace. Don't be bothered about that brisk old lady who walks past you, thinking what a lazy bum you are? All this is not enough, when you have found the gate and reached there before an hour. There will be few people conducting surveys, smile at them to get their attention, answer a few silly questions. (They can have some interesting ones every time, I answered the same one twice). Now select a random person and start hating him/her for whatever reason, believe me it’s so easy to hate random person. If you have recently watched a crime/thriller flick image yourself to be a sleuth, secretly observing a terror suspect, while your mind voice asking “What has he got in his bag? Why is he moving around suspiciously” “Why is he going to the wash room quite often!!!”

Now if nothing is enough, ‘Grab a Beer’ J

Waiting....

Walrus

Far in the middle of the sea, from the captain’s deck we saw dark brown dirt like thing on a sheet ice which is about the size of table tennis board. As we got closer and viewed through the binoculars, found that it was a big fat Walrus. The captain of the boat slowed down and moved the boat towards him to have a good look. By now he understood and might be telling to himself, “Oh! These touristy fools will start coming in these boats from now on, as the summer time has started”. He quietly watched the boat coming towards him with no curiosity and no panic. He was enjoying the cold day and just landed on the sheet of the ice to get a breather and relax. Of course enjoying all the attention from the tourists. I think the sea ice to the Walrus is what sauna to the humans. He posed for the people on the boat with the binoculars, cameras till the boat was at a safe distance. And then he realized that boat is infringing his personal space, he rolled himself over his belly, moving his huge fatty body and splashed in to the cold water. It was one of the coolest things I have seen and many who were on the boat.

Location: On board Langøysund, on the way to Esmark glacier heading to Barentsburg-Russian settlement, Svalbard.

Walrus

Preikestolen

I woke up at 7:00 on a Saturday morning, which was early by any standards. The weather forecast was fantastic and I peeped outside pulling apart the window blinds to see the sun shining and blue sky. I told myself, today is the right day to go hiking to Preikestolen. I knew that I had to take ferry to Tau and then a bus to the Preikestolen parking, I was not aware of the timings and also if the buses were operated between Tau and Preskeistolen Base, as its not the peak season yet.

I reached Fiskepirterminalen to try my luck and was informed that there was a ferry at 9:30 which had the connecting bus to the base. I had got 90 minutes to take that ferry, it was only 8:00 then. To while away time, I just went around the port and finished a chocolate muffin that I carried. It was a sunny day I was sure there will be quite few like me who would be heading to Preikestolen. There were a couple of Asian guys who were typically in hiking attire, sun glasses, outdoor wear, and huge SLRs, where else can they go other than Preikestolen? Then came a tall guy with an one and half inch length beard and looked like a hiker as well. I was not looking so much like a hiker, as I was in jeans, t-shirt and a laptop bag. At about 8:30 a ferry arrived at the dock to Tau. I saw the Asian guys rushing to the ferry, I decided I will take the ferry to Tau and wait at Tau for an hour to take the bus. I started a conversation with the beard guy and he confirmed that the ferry goes to Tau and I told him I was heading to Preikestolen. Meanwhile a girl came in who also looked like a preikestolener. J She looked caught up in a decision to make, who to ask for directions, a group consisting a South Asian and thick bearded shabby guy or couple of guys who looked more touristy. She decided with the Asian guys. J. Not being a racist here, just stereotyping. :) We boarded the ferry and I was still wanted to check if there was any bus other than the connecting bus at 11:30.

I asked a middle aged couple, if they knew of any bus to Preikestolen Base from Tau, they had a little discussion in a feeble voice which I decided to ignore considering their privacy. After the conversation, they said they can give me a ride to till Preikestolen and gleefully accepted the offer and they saw me with the beard guy and I reserved a place for the beard guy as well. The ferry is already in the move, and me and beard guy started a conversation. I came to know that he is a student in the Stavanger University and passionate hiker from Romania. On the way to Tau, he showed me most of the Islands and said he has been on them. When we reached Tau, I told him the couple offered us a ride to Preikestolen, He said he is not going to Preikestolen but going to explore some other parts of Tau. He said he has been there few times and does not like the marked trails.

So it was me and the couple, we headed to Preikestolen in their Volkswagen. The journey was about 25Km from Tau. And at around 9:45 we reached the Parking place at the base. They said I can join them while hiking and I can join them on the way back. At around 10:00 we started to hike and they both were pretty fast and disappeared in few minutes. The information board at the parking place showed that the hike is about 3.8Km and terrain varied across the whole trail. The total displacement in altitude is about 600meters. Initial part of the hike was over a long stretch of big boulders and then through a short valley. It was demanding at short stretches and easy over some parts. Overall it was easily doable. On the way I refilled my half liter bottle with water from a small stream. This is something I learnt from the Kjerag hike where I carried a 1.5liter water bottle and made my backpack pretty heavy. I realised that I don't need a lot of water, like in the tropical climate. The trees in the woods haven’t got their leaves completely as it just early May. That was a really good as it was really bright and warm due to the sun rays.

It was only 10:30 and I saw a lot of people already coming down after hiking, while hiking you were never alone and will receive a warm smile and a ‘Hi’ from most of the people as we knew that we are there for the same purpose. And the easiest word that one can say while panting heavily through their mouth is ‘Hi’. J

At about half way to the pulpit rock there are a couple of small water bodies, it could also be called as lakes. Needless to say it looked really beautiful. Close to the rock, there were some wooden bridges and barricades looking over the cliff. It gives a scary feeling when you realize that next piece of rock under the wooden log is few hundred meters below. A small almost flat path leads to the Pulpit rock and you can see the steep edge and I already started feeling funny in my tummy. The view of the Lysefjord was terrific from here, with dark blue still water.

I met the couple there said hello they took 1 hours to reach here and then I looked at my mobile phone, I took almost 1 hour fifteen minutes. The guy helped me take couple of pictures of mine. I slowly crept in to the edge of the cliff to see the water down and the few birds flying below me. It looked fantastic. After a few minutes the couple decided to start hike down, they were kind and nice and once again reminded me about the ride back. I gratefully accepted the offer and told them if I catch up with them I will join them. There is a trail from the pulpit rock which takes you to the hill on the right hand side. I just climbed a few meters to have good view of the pulpit rock. I then ate the bananas I had and started the decent. The decent was quite fast and made use of the gravity quite well. J Half way down I saw the girl who I saw at Stavanger port, she was with a group and recognized me as well. Further way down I met a colleague of mine and stopped by, to have little chat and further way down almost got bitten by a dog, before the master pulled him away from me. J

It took little less than 1 hour on the way down, and as I was strolling close to the parking place I saw the lady smiling at me from the VW and they stopped by me. I felt I was so lucky on that moment and we reached the Tau port right in time to take the ferry back to Stavanger. On the top deck we had some discussions about work, Norway, Australia, Cricket and reached Stavanger at around 14:15. I said good bye and thanks to them and started walking back to the apartment, fully satisfied about the trip visiting the landmark of Stavanger or even Norway itself.

Preikestolen

Greece- My impressions

My impressions about Greece during my week long trip is mostly based on the perception about Europe after living for almost 2 years in the Nordics, it was a truly amazing country. The buildings in cities Thessaloniki, Athens looks very different from the cities of Europe, they do lack the character, but I understand it’s designed for the Greek climate. Old parts of the Athens city is truly charming. Churches in Greece look very different and beautiful ( I don’t understand much of architecture but they are not gothic, Romanesque or Renaissance J ) and not massive. Every residential building has a long balcony running all around the building. Traffic is chaotic when compared to Nordics and drivers are really skilled. As a pedestrian you need to take care of yourself. Public transport is effective. Every second person in the city seems to smoke and smoke everywhere, only place where people were not allowed to smoke in my whole trip was in the flights and Athens Metro. Small traders holding meat shops and general stores are common, unlike big super markets in other parts of Europe. Bakeries and Takeaways have some interesting and affordable things to munch. Pirated DVDs are sold and bought everywhere. Food and drinks are amazingly tasty stuff, Greeks eat some tasty food no doubt about it. Country has a history of over 2500 years and everything you see has an interesting story from the past. People are full of energy and dynamic and at the same time laid back. Most of the youngsters speak English and most of the middle aged and old people don’t. Whoever it is they are more than willing to help you. People in the tourism industry (shops, restaurants, guides etc) are well matured; they try to sell things without being pushy. I loved this as it will be really boring to walk across a touristy place, without having a feeling of tourist. Santorini islands are beautiful due its unique landscape and cube houses and clear waters of the Mediterranean. The blue dome churches and white washed houses with doors and windows in blue make Santorini look like a fairly tale down.

Fell in love with Greece...

Greece- My impressions

Dalsnuten

Dalsnuten is hill close to Sandnes, at an altitude of around 350 meters MSI. It’s a great place for an unplanned getaway from Stavanger or Sandnes for hiking, which is suitable for all age groups and fitness levels. To get there from Stavanger, take a bus or train to Sandnes, then take a bus route 18 to Gramstad. Bus timings could be found at www.kolumbus.no. From Gramstad take Fjogstadveien and walk along the asphalt road, till you reach a big parking area, this will take about 15-20 minutes from Gramstad bus stop. The hiking trail starts from the Parking area. The trail is marked with symbol ‘T’ painted in red. Initial part is through some swamp areas and fields and there is climb on to the rocky hill. It is not required for any special clothing except a spring jacket as it gets a bit windy at the top. The climb will take around 30-45 minutes. At the top there is a cairn which marks the summit and a binocular, to view the towns Sandnes and Stavanger. There are 2 different views that one can enjoy from the heights of Dalsnuten, one in the direction of the town with sea and the boats which leave a trail behind them like the comets. The another view is the direction in which you climbed, looking over the patches of pine trees, small water bodies and hills in the surroundings. On the way back you can take a different path, with leads to the other side of the lake on the foot hills of Dalnuten. It is worth spending some time by the side of the lake and grabs a little snack before heading to the parking area or to Gramstad to take the bus back to Sandnes.

Dalsnuten

An Eventful Sunday..

I pulled up myself from the bed early and got ready at 6:00 AM. I was really proud of myself to be awake after a long night and be ready on time. I had to catch a train at 7:15 to Casale Monferrato, to be able to do the Skydive and be on time for a football match at San Siro. I was out in the street and the clock on the street, showed 7:05, it took sometime for me to understand that the clocks have changed to summer time and at the same time a message arrived in my mobile from Dessy which read ‘Where are you?’, by now I knew that my day was screwed, because the next train to Casale Monferrato was at 8:15 and it reaches at 11:50, which would be too late. Getting to this place on a Sunday is really difficult as there are very less trains. There was some constant exchange of SMS between me and Dessy and I tried calling her, but not able to reach her. My efforts to guide to her through SMS about the train, place, and phone number of Luca (Contact person at the Skydive center) went in vain, as it is already late. I arrived at the Central Station at around 7:40. I could see that she was visibly upset, after realizing that the only option was to take the train at 8:15 which means the whole day would be gone in Skydive. Dessy decided to drop the plan as she had plans to meet some friends, and I decided to take the train at 8:15 with a guilt of messing up her plans as she was really excited about the skydive plans. Which means I had to skip the football match.

The train journey to Vercelli was about 50 Minutes and from there I had to change a bus to Casale Monferrato. To my shock, the staff at the ticket counter at Vercelli said the bus is at 13:30 and it was just 9:15, Second biggest blunder of the day, I was not supposed to get off at Vercelli. After wandering around for sometime around the Train Station. I found a couple of Asian guys who also wanted to go to Casale and we decided to share a taxi. Things started going in right direction from this point. I was picked up by a Max from the Skydive center and I reached the center by 11. After a short briefing, we were ready to go. Luca, the guy with who was exchanging emails is the only guy spoke English, so he would do the tandem jump with me.

After strapping on the harness, there were three tandem jumpers including me and we walked across the field to take the flight. I do not remember which flight it was. But it looked really dodgy. I am sure even the pilot would be sitting with a parachute strapped on to him. In what ever little space that was available we all crammed in, for the take off. It took some time for reaching the 4000m and now its time to jump. The flight itself was an experience. The first 2 tandem jumpers jumped off and disappeared in seconds. Third was mine, for a couple of seconds, I felt completely disoriented after coming out of the aricraft and then was facing the ground, crusing at a great speed. The view was amazing, with the Italian Alps on one side and the ground looked the same through out the world from that altitude. J While, enjoying the view and the fall, I felt like I am the master of the situation, forgetting about the guy behind you, who takes care of the whole proceedings. Luca kept showing the altimeter, which showed around 1500 meters. Now suddenly I felt like I was dragged up and the parachute was open. From free fall to a controlled fall. It was really scary to see that, you were right above the motorway, and few houses, and sheds. If someone fell straight down, then you land up in some body’s bedroom, piercing through the roof. Controlling a parachute is pretty simple, pull the right string to turn right, and pull the left to turn left. J Landing was smooth, as I was asked not to put my feet down before Luca does that. Finally you are on the ground safe and sound! J

Immediately after the jump, Max drove me back to Casale station and I was there at around 1.00 PM. I asked a man close to the station about the any trains to Milano and he took me to the station master, they both had a major discussion and then explained me in Italian and some sign language that I have to take a train at 2:50 to Montara and then a train to Milano from there. Now I have a lot of time at Casale and went out to explore the place, before that wanted to grab something to eat and got in to the only Pizzeria around the corner. I found the Asian guys there eating potato chips. I got in and said just one word to the lady there, ‘Pizza’, she started talking obviously in Italian and kept talking and talking, went inside the kitchen kept talking to someone, came back kept talking and finally I heard ‘Toast’. I assumed there was no pizza and only thing available was ‘Toast’. I ordered for Toast. And it was time for a beer, she had Becks and Moretti and suggested tap beer holding up a 50cl mug. I asked her how much by flipping my thumb indicating money. She showed me 3 and something. So it was not expensive. While waiting for the toast, I sipped in beer and then I had a refilling for 5cl. Hope the Swedes and Nowegians are listening… 50cl Beer for 3.5 Euros and a little refill J

While I was eating my toast the man to whom I enquired about the trains, came in explained to me that he is going to Vercelli and I can join him. That was awesome, I could reach Milano at least 2 hours earlier, as there are trains every 1 hour from Vercelli to Milano. I was just about to start, but he asked me to finish the beer and the toast and he would be back in 30 Minutes. I was wonderful! Casale was literally pampering me. On the way, We had some interesting chat about the farms, some biscuit industry on the way, fiat headquarters, Skydiving, all with the medium of communication such as Italian, English and Sign Language. J He dropped me at the station and the next train to Milano was at 2.45 PM and I reached Milano around 3:30.

After reaching the room, I realized that the football match was at 8:45 and I could still buy tickets at the Stadium. I was bit skeptical about getting tickets, but I joined Mutsumi, Masao and an Argentanian guy. They all had a ticket and I wanted to try my luck. We walked from QT8 to San Siro, it was not far, may be a couple of kilometers. There were not a lot of people waiting to buy tickets, and I got one for 19 Euros in the same stand as other three and I had to show my driving license for identity. San Siro is amazing stadium and it can hold upto 85000 people for a big match. I have never been at the Eden gardens watching a cricket match, but I could imagine the electrifying atmosphere with the full stadium. It was a match between AC Milan and Lazio and the stadium was almost half full. The atmosphere was great with the home crowd going crazy during the game, hooting and lighting fireworks and waving huge flags. The game was a draw 1-1 and ended around 10:45. We all grabbed something to eat from the road side eat-outs and headed to the rooms. My eventful day came to an end.

An Eventful Sunday..

What are you going to do to your country?

“What are you going to do for your country?” was the question asked to my friend, who is living in the US for a long time after his graduation. The question made me feel guilty and this economic equation is to console myself, as I have been living abroad for 2 years now.

Moreover this question is not posed to someone who lives in the country and lives his day-to-day life. For people who argue that I am a brain-drain, I am certainly not one, because what I am doing is not rocket science and could be done by any average brain from any part of the world.

Also We are no comparison to the doctors working in the rural areas, honest officers working in the state administration, soldiers guarding the ever tense borders, scientists working in state owned research institutes, social workers working in the health, education, child welfare, upliftment of the poor and the underprivileged.

Lets assume I earn 100Units of money working in India and see how much I contribute to the economy.

100Units à minus 20% state taxes à get 80Units take home à I pump 40Units in to economy (part of it goes in to traders’ pockets as black money) à 40Units goes saving in long term investments which could be used by the states development.

Let’s assume I earn 400Units of money working abroad and see much I contribute to the economy.

400Units à minus 30% state taxes à get 280Units take home à I pump 100Units in to the economy à 180Units I invest in India which is indirectly used for states development.

Bringing in 180Units is better than bring 100Units to the country’s economy. That’s my understanding with my little economics!!!

What are you going to do to your country?

Conversation...

Location: Road side Ice cream Parlor, Milan

Guy: [scanning through the ice creams in the glass box]

Shop Guy: [Looking at the guy for the order]

Guy: [with a straight face] Give me a moment..

Shop Guy: [Searching for ‘Moment’ flavor, looks back at the guy helplessly]

Guy: Give me a moment [Gesturing with his index finger]

Shop Guy: [Smiles]

Guy: [Smiles]

Location: Duomo, Milan

Me: Can I have a picture with the Duomo in the background?

Japanese girl: Sure!

Japanese girl: [ Moves 2 steps back, 1 step forward, squats and then stood up and settled somewhere between squatting and standing ] One.. Two.. Three...

Me: Thank you!

Location: On the boat to the Volcano in Santorini..

[I heard] One.. Two.. Three..! [Turned around and saw an Asian girl clicking a picture of couple]

Location: Airport, Thessaloniki

Me: [Walking towards the exit]

Cop in mufti: Police [showing his ID card in front of me. I had seen this kind of scene only in the Hollywood movies, The ID card looked like a photocopy of my driving license, if it was not the airport I would have laughed at him]

Me: Yes…

Cop in mufti: Where are you from?

Me: India..

Cop in mufti: Where are coming from?

Me: Milan..

Cop in mufti: Thank you..

Conversation...

Nominate me!

‘Martti Ahtisaari’, ‘Wangari Maathai’ !!! Wondering who these people are, I would have recognized these as names of cocktails or Japanese food, before looking for them on the internet. Now! ‘Barack Obama’ what about this name!!! I knew, it’s really an outdated topic, but the topic came up a few days earlier during a conversation and I thought of writing this. There was a huge hue and cry when the American president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize few months back. On the onset of this write-up I would like to make a point that I am not judgemental on if the prize is right or wrong.

People all over the world debated and rationalised the decision of the Nobel Committee. Good for people like me, who understood what the prize is for. But unfortunately it didn’t happen when Mr. Ahtisaari or Ms. Maathai did win the prize. May be President Obama fell prey to his own popularity due his Presidency of a super power. A commoner like me and my friends, we knew who is man Obama is and to some extent what he did, so we are in a position to debate on it. Apparently he is the most powerful man on this planet who could be a saviour of many human lives or could be one who could cause damage to human lives. He showed substantial intent towards saving lives and the 5 wise men/women found he had done a good job so far.

Some call the prize is premature and I would call it pre-emptive. There is no harm is awarding a prize prematurely to someone if it’s going to produce good results in the future. Internet says in 1939 Adolf Hitler was nominated for the peace prize by a Swedish Parliamentarian, who knows had he been awarded the prize that year, he might not have gone to invade Poland, which triggered WW II. It would be unfair on Usain Bolt to expect him to run 100M races in 9.58 seconds through out his life and call him world champion at an age of 60. Probably 10 months in presidency was convincing enough for the committee to arrive at a decision. Even if they are to be proved wrong in the years to come, we can say Nobel Prize is after all a worthless prize and it could be awarded to someone worthless by a worthless people who had a 10 million Swedish Kroners to give away to someone and lots of people like me wasted time writing on it.

Off late, I am working for filthy rich Norway, which brings money to a company in rich Sweden, which pay me where the money goes to not so rich India. I am working for bringing in equality in the planet, eventually World Peace. Is this called Welfare-Economics by any chance! If yes! I am already a candidate for Nobel Prize for Economics!!! Who is going to nominate me? :)

Nominate me!