Hi From Gangtok

Just checked in a cyber cafe in Gangtok and thought to write a quick post. The trip has come to an end and we would be heading back to Delhi. Can't wait to upload the photos and write about the visit.

Went to Nathu La today and said hi to a few Chinese soldiers across the boarder but the detailed posts will have to wait.

2007: May We All Travel More

Wish you all more travel filled 2007.
I would be back in the first week of January.

Christmas Carols with Kids from Ujwal Niketan

We had the pleasure of meeting the kids from Ujwal Niketan (All India Ujwal Charitable, Trust Ujwal Niketan 2096/4, Gurgaon Haryana -12201. It is run by two awesome ladies, both named Sister Lily) as they were in the Christmas mood. The kids filled an entire room and suddenly the room did not feel so cold in the Delhi winter. I think after school (and that was ages ago), yesterday was the first time I met the Santa Claus again!

Santa Claus: Hmm, I Know your Name Now!

These five young brats (with one sister Lily in the background) played the Christmas carols on violin and how well they play. And I think I have a reason to take a little bit of extra pride in that. My husband teaches violin to the kids every Sunday morning when we are in town.

PS. The first pictures from my new DSLR that I have put on my blog. I know, if I would not have said this, no one would have noticed the difference. The date with the Canon manual cannot be postponed beyond today or else it is going to become my holiday reading and I would hate that.

An Ode to Feet by Frankie Zelnick

I absolutely loved this post by Frankie Zelnick and I identify with it a lot. An ode to his feet cause they took him her to all the corners of the globe.

I like them best this way – rough, worn out, paint chipping away at the edges. All are signs of use, productivity, and accomplishment. If I could add up all the miles they’ve journeyed throughout my lifetime, I wonder what length they would stretch. I wonder how far these feet have taken me.

...

But my feet remain the truth, the evidence, the division between fact and fiction. These feet have walked through English gardens, through Canadian forests, through the fields of India. They have hiked up the Himalayas and strolled through the streets of Paris. They have been washed in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, blessed in the Ganges.

Also posted at Blogbharti.

Now That I Am About To Go On Vacation, Can I Afford To Fall Sick?

Sheesh, I did not take a single day sick leave when the semester was on. And now that just a few days remain before I head for Sikkim (with the new DSLR too, I finally got it but have to figure it out yet, I can work it only in the auto mode as of now) I am not feeling well. Nothing too much wrong till now and I hope it remains that way. Maybe, I have to stop asking everyone at work about their vacation plans. And when a few of them say they have none, I should stop the gleeful "I am going on vacation from ..." with a twinkle in the eye routine.

Sesha has already threatened that he will go alone if I am foolish enough to fall sick. And going by the past experience, he is quite capable of it. It feels like Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes fame) falling ill on a holiday!

Parivahan Mantri Dwara Sammanit! (Honored by the Trasnport Minister)

I met Rohit at the recent GV meet and we chatted about our blogs. Today when I visited his blog I really liked his picture of an autorickshaw which says ' Mananiya Parivahan Mantri Dwara Sammanit' (Honored by the Trasnport Minister) among other things. Do have a look at the picture.

I exchanged a few emails with him and I found it yet more interesting the way he got the picture. He says: "I had to chase this autorichsaw & stop him to take his picture." Now that is some enthusiasm.

Also posted at Blogbharti.

The Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2006: You, Me, Everyone!

The Time Magazine has a very interesting declaration for this year's (2006) person of the year (via Touchstone):

... Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?

The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you. (emphasis mine)

Sure, it's a mistake to romanticize all this any more than is strictly necessary. Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom. Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone, never mind the obscenity and the naked hatred.

But that's what makes all this interesting. Web 2.0 is a massive social experiment, and like any experiment worth trying, it could fail. ...

Also posted at Blogbharti.

Update: Some call it link baiting by the Time Magazine.

YOU Decide.

Global Voices 2006 New Delhi Meet

Update: Here are some pictures of the conference taken by Jace.

The conference website is GVdelhi2006.
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I have done a few posts at Global Voices but then I lost steam or rather I got too busy with my semester. When I came to know that they are having their annual 2006 summit at (tagged gvnewdelhi2006) India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, I decided to attend it. Now I am back after the first day and in some ways it has been an awesome experience. I am writing my personal views here, I have done a roundup of the summit at Blogbharti.

The India Habitat Centre, New Delhi where GV 2006 is being held

The best thing about the summit was finding so many people from different parts of the globe under one roof. I have been to some large academic conferences but I don't think I have met people from Tunisia, China, Poland, Maldives, Kzakistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Bangladesh, etc. under one roof (thought many people are living in different countries from their country of origin).

Another high of the meet was actually getting a chance to have a look at the 100 dollar laptop, though I am not very sure what are there plans with it.

I had a small chat with Georgia Popplewell from GV (she was taking so many pictures) and I was expressing my doubt about continuing with GV because of time limits. She said I can keep my own pace, and maybe I will get more time this semester. I think I should continue but I will give a time commitment after I come back from my Sikkim holidays.

Coffee Time at GV 2006 New Delhi

But what topped my attending the session was meeting so many people I had known only through their blogs. It was an absolute pleasure to meet Kamala Bhatt and Sakshi. I had interacted with Dina when the blocking of blogs happened here in India and now I have met her in person too. Had a quick chat with Aparna and finally got to meet Shivam Vij.

I was too sleepy yesterday, otherwise I would have never forgotten to mention Rezwan. I asked his opinion about Brick Lane by Monica Ali and he said as far as fiction goes, it is a decent book.

Thank You Lily and Tom

Chocolates and T-shirts: Both the Things I Love

I got to know Lily through our chit-chat about India on our blogs. I met her and Tom last year around this time in December at Metropolitan Mall for Dinner. We really has a wonderful time and for quite sometime we chatted through our blogs and emails. Then she started posting less and I too was caught up with the semester.

It came as such a pleasant surprise, when I got a mail from her a few days back. Tom and my elder nephew had discussed some songs and Lily wrote that they are on their way. I did not tell my nephews, I wanted it to be a surprise for them. We exchanged emails again and she said there is something more in the packet. Now even I was curious!

Today evening, after a lousy day (OK, not that lousy but tiring, cause I had a stiff neck) at office my younger nephew came running with a packet just about half an hour ago. They are so thrilled over the songs, T-shirts and the chocolates. I took the white one, Lily. Thanks a lot for remembering us and all the things. I hope we will meet again sometime.

Israel Issues Terror Warning for Goa in December 2006

I stumbled upon The Jerusalem Post article that warns Israelis against travelling in Goa this December2006 season. The article says:

The security warning for all Israelis traveling in and around Goa was issued on Wednesday by the Foreign Ministry and the Counter-Terrorism Division of the National Security Council. The statement said the warning was based on intelligence information of a specific al-Qaida threat against tourists.

"As part of the existing al-Qaida terror threat in India, there is currently a concrete threat concentrated in the Goa region, where hundreds of travelers, including Israelis, gather for holidays at the end of the year," a ministry statement said.

It must be a desparate lot indeed which can think of hurting people randomly. I hope the season passes off peacefully

Straight from the Sabzi Mandi (Vegetable Market)

What are these? Bell Peppers or What: From the Noida Sunday Bazar
(Now that Ketan mentions it, they do look like capsicums, don't they?)

Vegetables in the Local Market, Noida

We are used to buying our vegetables from the local market where the sellers put there stuff under the sky out in the open and we take our pick. I wonder how a majority of us would react to coming of the Walmarts of the world to us, I wonder if the way we shop is going to change? Cause I am not willing to drive any place and find parking with the kind of roads, traffic and parking facilities we have. But this is no informed opinion, just what I feel, my initial reaction. In fact I would give my students an F if they wrote something like this but thankfully this is no assignment.

Going Places ... I Didn't Mean To!

After all the drama (that I mentioned in the previous post) of the weekend subsided, I headed to my sister's place to catch up on my weekend. I absolutely love playing with my one year and four months old niece, she has started speaking like a tota (parrot) and tries to repeat everything we say. And then, of course, no one can pamper you like an elder sister even though I forgot their wedding anniversary for the second year in a row. She still lets me enter her home and insists that I eat loads of delicious stuff every 10 minutes. No wonder, I lazed off and decided to go back home early Monday morning instead of Sunday evening. We chatted up to 1 in night and then I reluctantly went to sleep. I am so chirpy at night but I wake up like an almost dead fish in the morning.

So when the alarm went off at 6, I got up like a dead fish and left in 10 minutes to start my 30 km drive home. Being winter, it was still pitch dark when I got out and reversed my car. Soon my favorite songs playing, I was congratulating myself for starting early as the roads were nearly empty.

There are a few diversions (very minor I must say) from Noida to Kalindi Kunj due to Metro construction, near the roundabout that has a road going to Greater Noida Expressway. I had to get on the Kalindi Kunj road. In the dark, I read a signboard saying no right turn and kept left.

I reached a well lit road and was a bit confused. I shrugged it off, thinking they have improved the lighting on the road. But the nagging persisted as the road was too wide to be the Kalindi Kunj road. Soon, a signboard (after about 1km) confirmed my doubts. It said Greater Noida X km ahead! I realized that I have taken a wrong turn and hit the Expressway.

Two options flashed through my mind. I could pull distress signal and drive on the wrong side of the almost empty road but I remembered a fatal accident on DND flyaway through the same action for some people and decided against it. I decided to drive ahead and wait for a U-turn. But obviously, they do not design highways for people with my sense of direction. I rarely look at the distance on my dial but I took notice this time. And I was still looking for a U-turn after driving 16 doubt-filled kilometers on the Expressway.

I saw a police vehicle and a few other stranded ones but decided against seeking help, it was still pitch dark and I did not feel overly safe in pulling over as I was alone. Anyway, I can say this much, the expressway is well laid out and you can easily reach the speed of 80km/hour without even noticing it.

So, driving at that speed, I finally notice a small break in the road that could be used for taking a U-turn. Then I started applying breaks and with my Maruti 800, I stopped about 15 meters ahead of the spot. I knew there was no one around for miles, so I reversed my car back to the spot and took that U-turn and started driving all those 16 kms back. Now that I knew I was headed in the right direction, and the highway was completely empty, for the first time in my life, I reached the speed of 100km/hour for about five seconds before going back to the regular 75/80.

After about 50 minutes and 32km of extra ride, I was once again on course. Drove for another hour to reach near my home. And this time they have changed the diversion near Uppal Orchid and ahem, I once again went ahead of the spot where I was to take a turn (I wonder if they are ever going to complete the Gurgaon-Delhi Expressway and stop changing the diversions every few seconds). But this time, just after 150 meters there was a U-turn. After sometime, I reached home, finally.

Husband had a good laugh on my account and I thought I would catch up with sleep for 45 minutes before I start for office. After 45 minutes I decide to call the office to say I am not coming (I could afford to do this because I had not taken an unscheduled leave in ages and there is no teaching right now). When I woke up again it was 2 in the afternoon!

So the lesson learned: Not start when it is dark even on a road I have taken a zillion times, because I am still not sure which turns to take even if there is even a hint of a diversion. How I hate road diversions!

Never Again! I Hope

Yesterday was a moonlit night. I said in an earlier post that my current favortie song too is suhani chandni raaten ... (pleasent moonlit nights ... though it never quite means the same when you translate it). But yesterday was horrible.

I have had a smiliar horrible experience before. Long back (more than two years now) my younger nephew one fine day did not turn up home after his playtime. He is a tall (over six feet even then) and responsible lad, so when such kids don't turn on time you get worried. He also calls up from a PCO or a friend's mobile (he has declined an offer of mobile phone for so many times, saying it will be too distracting, that kind of kid I am talking about, and he is still in school).

So when it became an hour later after his playtime, we started calling his friends. Could not find much. Then my elder nephew and husband went out of home carrying one mobile with them. They went to the place where he plays football, to a few friends and another one hour slipped by. I was franatic by that time, because he is after all just a kid.

Sometime later, my husband called to say that the kid has contacted him on the mobile and they are going to pick him up from a particular spot because he took a shared cab that took him to some other place. To this date we are not very clear why the cabbies let him off so far away? Was it for 20 rupees extra that they charged? Anyway, I knew we were very very lucky to get him back just after a few hours of anxity, all in a single piece. It was a freak accident. In fact, yesterday only he called me up to say he is going to be late by twenty minutes because their friend's bike has got a flat tire. And he turned up within next 10 minutes.

But later, yesterday I got a call, this time about an adult who failed to turn up after saying he was going out for 10 minutes. Well, you give adults a longer rope. You do not hit the panic button till much later. But when it became 12 at night all of us were getting worried.

Till 3 in the morning we stayed awake, hoping for a call. This person was also not carrying a mobile (well this was not my husband, even though he too refuses to carry a mobile. Anyway, he knows how much I worry if I do not know where he is and he is getting late, so he makes a point to let me know, always. Or else, I tell him I will empty our joint account on silliest of the things in this world. He has not tested me till date). So, all we could do was to wait for his call. He was also staying someplace else so I kept asking for update every half an hour. Finally, after three I fell into an exhausted sleep waking every 15 minutes. Woke up at six in the morning and started driving to the other place. When I was almost there, I got a call saying that the person has arrived in the morning.

That is when I realized that sometimes suhani chandani raaten ... can become daarawani chandani raaten (pleasent moonlit nights can turn nasty) just like that without any warning or reason.

Twice, we have been extremely lucky. And I sincerely hope this was last time, for my entire lifetime, when someone I know did the vanishing act on me. In fact, once itself was much more than enough.

Lunchtime Ritual

I came to office today determined to do a lot of work. But as soon as I occupied my chair I don't know what happened. I was getting very restless. Lunchtime came and I had a nice chat with my colleagues. I have a lunchtime ritual. After lunch, I usually walk just outside the premises and talk for a while on the phone. Invariably, it is my sister I chat with. She always gives me a patient ear. I was cribbing to her: "I do not feel like working, I wonder what is wrong with me. If I do some work today I will not have to die to complete everything tomorrow," and on and on like that. She was making all the soothing noises at the other end.

While talking to her a man walks nearby. I watch quitely (still talking on the phone) standing amidst cars, security guards and tall glass buildings just a few feet away, housing some big name software companies. His face is almost expressionless, eyes vacant. He goes to the edge and rummages through the kachra (litter thrown around) and picks up an empty box that must have contained some takeaway meal. Puts it in the chadar (sheet) on his shoulder and face still expressionless, he moves on.

And here I was leaning on a car, having this mobile phone in my hand, wearing appropriately warm clothes, with lunch in my stomach, complaining about god knows what! It is not that I have seen this for the first time (or the last) but some days it bothers you, gets on your nerves and makes you feel more helpless than some other days, when you just shrug it off.

Before I end this post, found (via Desipundit and they want people to link this from their blogs, the least that I can do) a post by Anuradha of Projectwhy about an ashram in Ghaziabad that was abusing children.

A Trip to Khurpatal, Nainital and a Stay at Dynasty Resorts in Uttranchal

I went on a short trip to Khurpatal, 10 km ahead of Nainital on a college sponsored trip. We stayed at the Dynasty Resorts which is secluded and next to a small lake but I feel their normal rates are a bit too high.

I visited Nainital again after ages. Last that I can remember is when I was in standard 8th. And of course, places change in so many years. I was pretty apprehensive about the Khurpatal trip. I have traveled a lot as a student for various sports meets but this was my first trip as a member of faculty! And now that I am back in one piece, I can say it is pretty OK to go with 18 year olds! And you get to interact a lot with your colleagues too, not a bad thing at all.

I am sharing a few photographs of the trip. The one below was taken from a walk through a forest near Dynasty Resort. It was a short 30 minutes walk and this view of the valley was one of the best I got in the entire trip.

A View from a Walk through the Jungle near Dynasty Resort at Khrupatal

While we were freezing to death in Nainital

Our entire group made a short trip to Nainital and I clicked this picture while we were waiting for our cabs to take us back to the resort at Khurpatal. I wish I could make the cars vanish from the picture but they are very much the part of all the popular hill stations in India.

It was damn cold and I don't know why I did not take a thick jacket! Actually, I finished the major part of grading by 7 in the evening of our departure date to Khurpatal and then went home to pack. No wonder my packing was stupid. And all this while I was cursing myself and wondering if I was finding Nainital so cold in the beginning of December what made me decide to go to Sikkim at the end of the month? I am sure I am going to freeze to death there.

Khurpatal Lake

By comparison to Nainital, Khurpatal (tal means lake in Hindi) is so peaceful, I was the only person around when I took this picture. But people at home say it looks more like a pond than a lake and I will have to agree. But for me, any day give me peace and quiet by a pond rather than loads of people by a large lake.

In the far distance you can see the Dynasty resort (Khurpatal). By the lake, one could not guess that the resort contained 40 screaming teenagers!

At Naini Lake, Nainital

I have seen so many pictures of boats taken from above that when opportunity came I had to take one myself and I am pleased with the result. These boats were resting at Nani lake.

On our way back the bus got a flat tire. That and a lot of traffic, and we took nearly 14 hours to get back from Khurpatal to Gurgaon. I also realized that if bad music is played on the music system of a bus it messes up the thought process and sets my teeth on edge. But all said and done, it was a much needed break from grading, grading and some more grading.

Some more pictures of the trip are here.