A passion to Travel

I had been an admirer of different places and experience. But I never got a chance to visit many places. Two reasons, one: I am too timid to travel alone and secondly:  I was not able to find a travel mate. Anyways, now I have a defaulter, my hubby. He has promised to take me to every corner of the earth. However, whenever the time and finance permits. Hmmm.. We are optimistic and hoping to travel to North pole to South Pole, 1 place at a time. 

So, to remain passionate, I have been goggling around learning about different place. I should admit I have become a little travel guru, not an expert though. Researching about different places, when to visit, how to visit, what to see, what to buy, where to stay etc. have become my hobby now. 

Anyway, first I thought, I would compile all the information and create a blog/website. But there are enough number of websites and travel guides and hence one can get the info in one/other site. 

Courtesy: www.adventure-travel.org.uk

So, I am thinking of becoming a trip adviser (not a full-time though). There are many people who want to travel but don't know where/how/when etc. Best example is Honeymooners, they wanna travel somewhere romantic and different but not really knowing where. Here is my role. I will help them sort out their travel plan, personalize the trip planner according to their needs. Does it sound convincing? 

Anyway, people who have queries about travel can post a coment them here. I will try my best to help you. You can also refer me to others ;). 

Fingers crossed for the response. Do comment about my idea? Is it feasible ? Anything..

Small things for the Community

Courtesy - www.icicp.blogspot.com

There are times, we feel guilty seeing people participate in social awareness activities, when we were not able to show our support. Though we understood our responsibility towards the community and wanted to join them, there was some important situation/reason that stopped us. These obstacles don't have to stop us. If we run into a dead end, we don't stop and give-up. We turn around to find a different route.

As Napoleon Hill ones quotes “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” To support a cause, we can do small things that can make a big difference. Actions speak louder than words. I have tried to mention some small things that we can practice to do our part to the community. Please comments about the small things you do, so that we can practice them too.

Go Green – Save Trees
We have already reduced the usage of paper and limited the printout we take. We can go a little further by not throwing the waste paper in thrash. When we throw the paper in thrash, it mixes with the other waste like cooking waste and hence it cannot be recycled

Action: We can separate any paper product like the ticket printouts, bills, newspaper etc., and give it for recycle. We can also get little bucks on them if we give it to the paper-walas.

Say No to Plastic
Action: While shopping we can carry fancy “Go Green” cloth bags and avoid getting the polythene bags given in the shops. We can become the trend setter by doing this. People following us may even do the same while they shop next time.
Keep the city clean
We throw garbage on the streets because we know no one is gonna ask us. What if we lived in Singapore were throwing thrash on the ground is prohibited?
 Action: Lets imagine we are in Singapore and dispose waste in the nearby bin. Singapore is made beautiful by it people. Lets make our city beautiful
Don't Spit
Will we allow anyone to spit in our house? There are so many disease spreading because of that.
 Action: Spit in the dust bin.
Don't buy Diamond
We are moving up in life, diamonds have become a way to showcase it. The diamonds are unearthed by African slaves. Do we really want to spend money on sometime which has a tag of sorrow and humiliation attached to it.
 Action: Lets think twice before we buy diamonds. Watch "The Blood Diamond" movie.
No bulbs
The round bulbs we traditionally used emits a lot of CFL which intensifies the ozone hole and in turn affecting us with the “Climate change”
Action: Replace bulbs with power savers lights. We can also reduce the CFL emission by reducing the usage of A/C and fridge.
Don't Waste Food
We know how much we can eat. Then why take excess food and throw it in dust bin
 Action: We can take sufficient/less food first, complete that and go for more if hungry. Food is god. Wasting food is more sinful than killing someone. What is the use of poja, fast and prayers when we knowingly waste food that someone else can live on.

Lets practice these whenever possible however possible. Hope this post was of some use

Off the rain, Under a roof

Its raining in Bangalore everyday. The smell of the mud, the cold nights and greenery is back. The bad part though is that, it always rains in the evening, just when we leave office :(. Here is a fictional experience.

As the first drop of rain fell on my head, I geared up my bike, hoping to reach home before the rain starts pours. It was not just me, everyone on the road have accelerated and I knew it was an "On your mark, Get-Set-Go" moment. The drizzle slowly intensified while I waited for a long signal. The red light seemed permanent. Finally, when the green appeared, I was almost drenched.

The visibility was low and I felt driving further would be risky. Lucky, I was in the shopping district. So, I parked my vehicle and ran to the nearby shop. There was very little room for more people. I squeezed in and found a little spot. I removed my coat and helmet and breathed  the mesmerizing smell of mud. I stood there watching people and the shops around me. I realized I have never seen many shop though I had traveled the same route for years.

courtesy: www.sfbappa.org

Soon I felt bored, so I decided to do what everyone else did under an unknown roof, calling  those number, which we knowingly forgot. After about an hour, the rain had no signs of subsiding and I ran out of people I can talk to. Water in my clothes had dripped off and I was almost dry. So, I headed to the shop in which I had taken refuge, a branded show room. I didn't have any intension to shop yet I step in to checkout the casuals. The collections were good and tried half a dozen tees and tops. Finally picked 1 tee and went ahead to bill, expecting the rain must have stopped. Another half an hour had passed, the rain had not let up.

Mad with the rain, I headed to the cafe. Cafe was not crowded. I found a seat with the good view  to watch TV and ordered a cappuccino and a smoked chicken sandwich. While I called home to inform that I was stuck, the order had came. Then, it was me, the cappuccino and the smoked chicken sandwich spiced up with a gossip show on TV.

Ideally, drinking a hot coffee with some deli in a nice couch on a rainy day would just be perfect. But doing it alone was annoying. After about 15 - 20 mins, I couldn't take any more. I decided to drive in any case. Fortunately, as i fled down, I noticed the rain had stopped. No time to spare, I wore my coat, pressed on the vehicle and was finally heading back home.

Stuck in the heavy jam after the rain, I prayed "Thank you God for the rain! I just wish it doesn't rain when I leave office."

Single Vs Married

23 years Vs 9 months is indeed a biased comparison.

Tracing back, every chapter in life has a pleasant memory. Mimicking the "The pursuit of Happyness" style, the first chapter of my life should rather be called as "Cry baby". As my mom describes, tears would roll out of my eyes even before she canes me. Being an average student in a competitive society like Neyveli, is absolutely a setback. Though I was never able to boost up my confidence during the period, I had a great childhood. Dozens of kids next door and a huge play ground opposite to my home, awesome is the word.

Next part of my life should be called "Miracle". Many hidden talents was miraculous unleashed. A girl who nearly passed the exams, topped the board exams. How else can I describe this? This period also introduced me to some life time experience and great friends.

Then came the period that should be called "Friends". What else can college be called? Its everything to do with friends. Chatting, chatting and more chatting was the only thing we ever did.

Next came the most boring part of my life, should be called as "Reality". It was like a mirror to the reality. Realized living alone is not fun, college hostel food was awesome and software job is not glamorous as it seems.

Then happened the relationship status change. Its a "fairy tale time". I am in a relationship, people to care, a family, my own home and above all Satish. A new meaning and a purpose in life.  

23 years - fun, experience and friends
9 months - love and life

An Experience in Chinnaswamy Stadium

Around 6:45 we reached the Gate 10 of Chinnaswamy Stadium, to watch Royal Challengers Bangalore Versus The Deccan Charges, my first ever experience to watch a match in a stadium. Also for Teju and Sharat, we were super excited. First we bought some flags, whistles and Hair band with Horns, then followed the queue to the gates.

The streets near the stadium were flooded with crazy audience. Few had their face painted, many were already carrying the flag, friends were rejoining, it was instigating. We squeezed through the crowd and entered the stadium. Reaching the deck, we realized we were too late. All the best view seats near the stands had already been taken. Even the flags, the 4/6 posters and the balloons had been picked up. We somehow found few seats at the last.

From the seats we occupied we were not able to see the field clearly, so we went down to passage near the first row to have a closer view. The view was awesome, we decided to stay there and watch the match. As match started my illusion was cleared. I had been thinking that at the end of each over the batsmen switched places. But only in the second over of the match I realized that except the batsmen everyone else switched places. [Another Stupid thought -> It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas].  also realized that the field is not very big as it appears in TV and the wicketkeeper do not stand just behind the stumps. He stands about the same distance as that of the batsmen.

Seriously speaking, we rarely saw the ball in the air. We saw the bowler blow the ball and batsmen hit it. Then we really didn't know were the ball went. Only when the fielders ran for the ball, we caught the sight of it. In the last 5 overs of the first innings, when RCB was hitting sixes and fours, we were on the toes, jumping and screaming. The crowd was going crazy. Flags were waved, Ouhs and Auhs throughout the gallery, screams and cheers from every seat, it was electrifying. The dance numbers and the drums were adding to the madness. Between the balls, people waved, held banners and danced to grab the camera attention, so they could be shown on the TV.

Finally, the crowd as disappointed that RCB lost but the fun was unlimited. We headed back home, exhausted.

Cheers to everyone in the stadium, everyone have been a part of my awesome first experience of the match in the stadium.