Carol Vorderman counts-down her primetime on TV!

I was browsing through the news sites on the net and was shocked to read that the co-hostess of the longest running British TV show 'Countdown'  in Channel 4, is stepping down after spending her 26 years of sizzling time with the programme.  She is leaving the show this December. 

Countdown is a very popular afternoon show which tests our skills on numbers and words and has been giving many,almost three decades of top-notch afternoon entertainment. The generation which has grown-up along with Countdown is a very gifted generation indeed!

Countdown was the first programme broadcast on Channel 4 when it launched in 1982. The show started with Richard Whiteley as the host and Carol Vorderman as the co-hostess. Both of them gave this words and numbers game so much of their creativity and hard work , that this program earned sky-high fame for itself and for its originators.  The show was temprorarily suspended due to the sudden demise of Richard Whiteley in 2005.  Carol Vorderman carried the show after Richard along with Des Lynham , who was later on replaced by Des O' Connor.

I remember the countless number of countdown late-afternoon lunches with my husband V, both trying to frantically come up with words and form the equations with numbers amidst the abandoned lunch, feeling elated when Carol is outwitted by our equations involving numbers, with a "Even I can apply for this job!" bragging. But alas! we didn't realise that someone- else would apply for the job so soon! We'll miss you Carol for sure!

The successor to Carol for this coolest math job of the country is the enviable Rachel Riley, 22, from Oxford University. The answer to the question "Will she be another Ms. Vorderman?", only time can tell! But for onething, the ardent Countdown fans like us will take time to get used to the show without Carol as it did with Mr. Whiteley missing!

There are no 'Adieus' Carol! I am sure we'll be seeing you soon! Good luck for all your future ventures! Hope the 'Countdown' saga doesn't end with you!

Desi 'light'-packers Episode 7!

10:30 AM, Sunday

9, November 2008

Dublin

California, United States

The gas cooker was at its full blast trying to cope up with the speed of the cook , preparing a leisure Sunday meal. She was cooking at her maximum speed, but very cautiously as the exhaust vent, along with the microwave, had lost its life the previous day. She was taking extra care not to wake the fire alarm up while cooking without the exhaust vent.

"It's been ages since you had a haircut!", the lady raised her voice.

"I'm going mom! ", he said in a feeble pleading tone.

There was a knock at the door precisely at that time. He got up from the sofa and walked to the door to see who the visitor was. The lady who was cooking exclaimed "They have come!". I followed him to the door.

"Oh! I didn't know that people come home here to give a haircut!", I said with a mischievious laugh.

Both of them, caught off-guard for a moment, started laughing. He looked through the magic lens and opened the door, still a smile remained on his face.

"Hi! 'ow u doin'?", came a shout from the familiar short dark man.

"We are doing fine", he replied reciprocating the enthusiasm.

We were expecting them to come. One was a known face, the short dark man and the other was the familiar, tall , heavy-built lady from the apartment maintenance department.

The tall lady waved her one free hand towards me with a cheery and chirpy "Hi!" and I replied back.

They both were carrying a rather heavy black GE microwave, the exact replica of the one in the kitchen and heaved it towards the living room carpeted floor. When they stood up, I asked,

"How are you doing K?"

He replied, "I'm doin' fine! I'm doin' fine! Where are you these days? I don't see you down at all!"

"I've become a bit busy, K!", I , showing my hands in the direction of the lady, who by now had switched off the stove and had started removing the pans from it, said, "She is my mother-in-law! She is with us for sometime. So I don't get to come down often these days!"

"Hi ma'am!", waved K towards my mother-in-law and she replied with a shy "Hello!"

The tall lady by this time had noticed the numerous photographs on the fridge, held in place by fridge magnets.

" Where are these photos taken? They look lovely!", she asked.

"Are you a photographer?", asked K  looking at the photographs to him.

"No, not professionally! But I do have an interest in photography", he replied shy-hesitantly.

"These pictures were taken in Holland last year when we went there for the tulip flower festival!", he started explaining the lady, who was by now examining the photos one-by-one. Kearney joined them in looking at all these pictures.

"Are these tulips through-out?", the lady asked, pointing at one of the photos.

"Yes! " he continued, "It is a 34 kms stretch full of tulips, the name of the place is......"

They both were awestruck looking at the flower display outside the glass windows of the coach. They were looking at the flowers fondly, the way they held their beautifully blossomed face high with pride. Their face glowed with such chirpy, vibrant colours pink,yellow, red, orange, green, reflecting the sun's rays casually, warning the sun, that the farmer cared for them so much, showered them with his love and their shine is like a child's face who has got all the love and care in the world from its mother. Their petals forming a bulb, just only slightly distracted by the gentle breeze, teeny-weenily deformed the shape of the bulb, was the only flaw....Oh God! now every flower is like that with the breeze...even a fault finding machine would never be able to find anything and anyone can bet a million dollars on it! Such is the dutch precision!

"I am going to have a very quick round of the garden as I have to head back to the airport for my flight!", said the lady.

Only then they both realised that the bus had come to a stop already and the lady was half out of her seat. They got off the bus with the lady.

"How long will it take for us to see the garden and cover it fully?", she asked the lady.

"It will take one full day if you want to do it leisurely!" , the lady continued, "This is the first time for you, I presume , so I am on my way. Bye . Nice meeting you two", she said with a smile.

"Not so soon!", he said with a smile, "You will not leave us without taking a photograph of us, I know!"

The lady laughed at this, "Sure! Sure! I will" and took the camera to freeze another Kodak moment of their lives!

To be continued.....

Desi 'light'- packers Episode 6!

The airport shuttle came to life sharp at 08:30AM and they both were seated in a two seater, in the second row of the bus. There were only two other passengers, as it was the first shuttle that day from the airport. One was an old lady with a small frame, in her mid-fiftees and the other was a rather stout tourist from SE Asia with a state of the art Digital SLR, big telephoto lenses and tripod almost occupying his entire seat.

"Which part of India are you from?", made them startle and turn back towards the direction from which the voice originated. It was the lady with the small frame who was smiling back at them. On close observation they found out that the lady was an Indian origin, but long-term stay outside has changed the colour of her skin considerably along with her slang.

"South!", he annswered and smiled back at her throwing the inevitable question back at her.

"I was born in Delhi. Which place are you from?", the lady asked.

"You know Chennai?", she asked and he replied, "I am from Thiruchirapalli"

"Oh! Yes! I know Chennai and Thiruchirapalli.... is it not Trichy which has the famous Srirangam temple?", she asked with her eyebrows crossed, looking at him as if she is expecting the answer in the affirmative.

On hearing her, his face glowed with pride and became soooo big as a child's face in trying to explain something in excitement. "Yes! Its the same place you are mentioning! It has river Cauvery running through it and many other temples", he said with eyes wide and a smile on his face with kiddish enthusiasm.

"Now! Who says me?", she murmured to him in a teasing manner that his face turned red and continued his conversation with the lady as if he has heard nothing at all!

" You must have heard about Akhilandeswari temple too", he continued.

"Yeah! I've been there when I was young. My parents took me. They are such beautiful temples ! I still remember", the lady elaborated.

"Where do you live at present?", she asked the lady.

"I have lived in Toronto Canada for 26 years now", the lady replied with a smile.

"Oh!", she exclaimed, "Thats a long time"

"Yes", the lady continued., "Before that we lived in Brussels, Belgium for 12 years, and every year we used to visit Keukenhof during this very season for the Tulip festival. We haven't missed a single year! It used to be very nice to drive down from Brussels to here, spend a day or two and return back! I am hopping over in Amsterdam this time on my way to India and thought that I had 7 hours time, I can visit Keukenhof and here I am! After 26 years!", the lady said.

"Wooooooooow! ", she said.

"Yes!", the lady continued, "It is a nice memory. See, from here and from now onwards it is just Tulip farms non-stop for 34kms", pointing outside the window and only then the two's gaze went outside window to see the ever stretching, never ending fields of flower mat, interwoven with such brilliant array of colours, spread like an ocean on both sides. For the first few minutes they found it too difficult to decide what to see and what to miss! After a few moments they have come to a conclusion that they are going to miss a lot for sure, even if they record whatever they see!

The heavenly mat stretched far beyond ones eyesight could reach, laced and fringed with such precision, that it was hard to believe, how all the plants could flower at the same height and time. They just wondered about God's creation for the nth time during the past two days.

"How are they maintaining such large farms with such dedication? Can we have entry access to get inside?", she asked the lady.

"Sure, their dedication and hard work has to be appreciated, othrewise the country wouldn't have had the world famous Tulip festival during this season. The farm owners usually give permissions to enter inside when we go and ask them personally. For that driving helps a lot!", the lady explained.

"Yes! That is true!", he said disappointment clearly etched on his face on missing a chance to get inside the farm just for the reason of not driving.

Desi 'light'-packers Episode 5!

04:00 AM

Saturday

Apr 7, 2007 

Dorint Novotel, Schipol, Netherlands

"The canal cruise is starting at 9AM and each trip takes about an hour-and-a-half!", said the brisk guy in the concierge.

"Where is the boarding point?", he asked.

"Just outside the station Amsterdam Centraal",  he replied.

"Oh..Okay! Thank you!",  he said and moved away from the concierge desk to where she was waiting with a small brown crochet handbag, wearing a tan coloured overcoat over a brown cloured 'V' necked tee, with blue-black jeans. 

"You look crisp and fresh today", he said looking at her.

She smiled back, her usual trademark smile with a dimple in one of her cheeks whenever she gives a glorious one. 

"You look wonderful, as always!", she complimented him, with eyes glowing with pride.

They started walking towards the hotel entrance hand in hand expecting a splendid day ahead! As soon as they reached the hotel entrance....

He sat bolt upright when the alarm in his mobile phone, kept on the bedside table started ringing.

"Oh! Is it 4 o' clock already?! I was dreaming is it?", he said in a slumberous-alerted tone.

When he received silence as the reply, he realised that she is not awake as yet, smiling, stretched his hands out to reach his phone to switch the alarm off.

"Wake up! Its already time", he shook her.

"Dont bluff! The alarm hasn't rung yet!", she said in a muffled-shaky voice.

"Ha!Ha!",  he crooned like a rooster and started to giggle.

She sat up on the bed lazily looking at him, he looked at her and his giggles volcanised to fits of uncontrollable laughter.

"There-should-be-an-atom-bomb-kept-right-beneath-your-ear...", was all he could muster trying to suppress his giggles, but before he would finish, she was on top of him with her pillow in hand.

"Don't -you-dare-tease-me", she retorted, between clenched teeth, every word uttered for every blow.

"Stop-hitting-me", he said between blows with strained rising tone for each word, that the 'me' sounded shrilly. She stopped hitting him with the pillow,  "Its time! We have to start!"

The next hour was spent on getting ready and they were out sharp at 6:00 AM for the breakfast lounge. The continental breakfast contained a shuttle to the Schipol airport, twisted fries ( it is an enhancement made with french fries, which is twisted and flavoured with garlic), veggie burger, coke each!

"I am a great fan of twisted fries. Oh! Let me call it garlic fries!", she said, carrying them in a tray to their table in Burger King.

"I know! Do you remember the story of a lady who got snubbed by asking this option back in London?", he asked with a mischievous smile.

She replied with a stern stare, " Do you remember who got bugged in the morning for teasing me?"

"Okay! Let's drop it!", he mumbled and started chatting about the enquiries they had made yesterday in the very same airport, where they were having their breakfast.

"So! Its a shuttle from here at 8:30, a 34 km ride, which would take, say 45 mins...!"

"Wow! Don't say that! I am getting too skittish!"

"...and now we're Off to Keukenhof!"

"Yessssssssss!"

And here are some teasers for the next episode!

Desi 'light'-packers Episode 4

" I had been to Utrecht last time, to meet my client, do you remember?", he asked.

"Yeah", she answered.

"You take a train from Amsterdam to Utrecht. Its a 20 mins ride and you will get a life's worth to watch", he said, "Thats how it is", he added.

"I have heard about it. When I was with IBM, some of my friends travelled to the office here in Utrecht and they have said that the place is pulchritudinous! Didn't realise it then!", she said.
"Yes, I have seen your office. Utrecht a small industrial town. ", he replied.

By this time they were reaching Amsterdam Centraal . They wanted to travel to Schipol Airport, where they have planned to stay in an accomodation nearby. He stood up from his seat and started moving towards the driver's.

"How do I go to Schipol from Amsterdam Centraal?", he asked the driver.

"To Schipol? From Centraal? You have to take a metro train. Its quiet a distance from here. Around 30 mins by train", the driver replied back, he seemed to have lost in thought about something which the hero of our story couldn't comprehend.

"Oh! Is it that far?", he asked.

"Yeah!", the driver replied, totally lost.

When he wanted to resume his way back to the seat with a polite "Thank You!", the driver told him, "I can drop you at the airport! Would you mind waiting for 15 minutes, until I unload all the passengers and their lugguage?"

Startled by the driver's unexpected question and the offer, he was in search for words "Er.... yeah! But how could you do that?"

"The airport is on the way to the garage. So I can drop you if you want", the driver replied.

"Thank you!", he said unable to generate any other word from his totally baffled brain.

" Its not a problem at all", said the cheerful driver.

Awed by the generosity of the coach driver, he told her about the offer . She was surprised on hearing it and reacted in her usual dramatic manner.

Friday

Apr 6, 2007
Schipol, Amsterdam, Holland


It was 5:30PM when the coach driver dropped them in Schipol. They both enquired about the shuttle buses to the hotel and reached the shuttle stand. On their way, they met a cheerful set of people who wished them which theyresponded with equal enthusiasm. When the shuttle arrived, they took their seats and the vehicle started. At the same time there were claps from the people outside and passengers in the shuttle turned to see what caused the applause, to find out a person running to catch the very shuttle which has started to move. The driver applied brakes to stop the bus for the running pasenger!

The two were astonished to see the unfolding scene, with wide-open mouths wondering whether they were dreaming. Their previous trip to this place has made them familiar about the good-natured people, but this was hard to believe. It was 15 minutes by the Accord hotels shuttle to reach Dorint Novotel. They saw the wonderful poster behind the receptionist and smiled secretly of the enquiries that they made, just a few minutes ago, in the airport about their plans for tomorrow.

When they reached their room he said, "Lets call it a day! We have a great day ahead for tomorrow. We need rest!"

Desi 'light'-packers Episode 3!

The coach started after the half-hour break and in no time crossed the Belgium-Holland border.

"I just can't take it! I was so disappointed! It was just last year!", she said.

"Leave it! Its just a simple thing", he consoled her.

"Yeah? I was so looking forward to it", she continued.

"We can do nothing about it, can we? They just stopped it", he said with sincere politeness, she realised that he was at his tether, trying to control something, which was puzzling and irritating her by the time.

"I even remember the guys face , who gave me the biscuits last time!", she said like a child, talking through its nose, which made him burst into fits of laughter, he was giving a mammoth try to control for the last few minutes. She looked at him angrily and turnd her face to the window.

 Just as the bus entered the border of Netherlands, there started the riot of emotions inside them, looking at the crystal clear blue sky, cotton- like clouds, forming a fantabulous backdrop to the scene of the cattle and sheep grazing in the green fields, fed by numerous canals, every frame of picture, if captured would have a thousand stories for them. 

"Where do these canals come from?", she asked. "I have this as a sincere doubt!"

"But why?", he asked her back.

"I can't see where it starts, it suddenly appears from somewhere and just abruptly ends, always looks so beautiful, the water is heavenly pure, if it stagnates, then it will never be this clean!", came the rush of words, as a result of not willing to miss even a single pixel, but having the curiosity to know the answer .

"Mystery adds to the beauty of it", he replies. 

"Before coming to this country, I have always heard about the beautiful canals in Amsterdam and have always had the assumption that it is the only place in this country which had canals. I didn't, even for a moment, think that the whole country has numerous number of small miniscule canals which are un-wordably beautiful".

He was smiling back at her, listening to her intently.

"Instead of naming Amsterdam as 'City of canals', we can name Holland as the 'Country of canals'!", she said excitedly.

"You know what? Just bring your voice down! Others who must have heard you by now, will think that you are too dramatic!", he warned.

She flushed, "Oh! I am so sorry about that! I didn't realise my decibel levels were high! But am I dramatic? Is it not a reality?"

"It is the reality! As far as we have travelled, we have not seen any country with so many canals running through them, especially throughout the whole country! But, understand this fact! These people do not react and show their excitement as we do! They express their excitement with a mere "Wow!" or "This is amazing" or just silently", he explained.

She was listening to him with utmost concentration, but with her eyes and nose plastered to the panoramic windows of the coach and  almost wanted to say "Waste pasanga!" but decided not to, at the last moment. As he didn't get any vocal feedback from her, he started to gaze back through the windows which offered him feature rich views, when compared to the documentaries in HDTV, these will reduce them to a rubble!

To be continued....

Desi 'light'-packers - Episode 2!

... And Windmills....The journey through the country of Holland is a delight. Rotterdam and its picture-perfect settings, as a small town, with sourrounding villages, smaller houses, greens as far and wide one's eyes can stretch, long winding lanes, people with cheerful smiles and windmills wafting their monstrous arms to the brisk and gentle breeze.... A walk along the winding lanes ....


" I think we are seeing an example of how a man can preserve what God has given!", she said standing beneath a windmill staring at it!


"Yeah we are indeed.. he has done it by not overproducing himself, firstly", he said.


She laughed at his light-hearted humour, "Oh..its a serious fact, I've always admired how thinly populated these places are! And that is the reason , they have sooo much more of beautiful landscapes left, with no occupation, adding to the beauty , thus very less polluted" and started walking towards the winding lanes.


"People here give so much importance to nature and have declared vast amount of area as green-zones!". she continued.


"Yes thats a wonderful plan by the government to stop people spoiling the place by construction and has strictly allocated for sight-seeing purposes only!"


She spots a canal from no-where, with water as clear as a crystal and a small un-occupied boat. "Oh! I just want to build a small hut here to live my retirement life!", totally lost at the beauty of the picture spread ahead.




"It may not be possible! This might still be a green zone then!", he said laughing at his own joke.

Then came a rude jolt " The bus will stop here for half-hour. This is a legal stop required before getting into the border of Holland! People can have refreshments here, if need be", announced the driver through his mike.


They both turned their heads around to see the board of Mc Donalds smiling back at them with an inscription "Welcome to the border of Holland!"


"Oh! I almost forgot this! We are still not in Holland!", she said and looked back at him, to find him give a startled look and realised he too was lost in memories. They both smiled and climbed out of the bus.

" I want to have the biscuit, the Mc D guy gave us last time", she said. "It was delicious".


He shook his head disbelievingly, his hair fell on his forehead, he combed again with his fingers "I am not able to believe, you are this childish when you come out!".


"Yeah! Only then you can enjoy without a worry!" she replied with infectious enthusiasm, hopping for every step she took.


They both entered Mc D he asked, "What are you going to have?"


She said, "We haven't packed anything! So a full Mc D veggie meal"



So let them have their meal and we will resume later! :)

Desi 'light'-packers - Episode 1!

Friday 04:15AM
Apr 6, 2007
Paris, France


The two walked out of Hotel Elysees Mermoz, Off Champs Elysees, hand-in-hand with not a worry in the world, feeling as independent as a bird on its flight, with a very exciting plan on their heads, as light as their bags. They boarded a metro train to Haussmann Saint-Lazare from St. Philippe Du Roule, from where they took another train to reach Gallieni. The two reached the ticket counter and bought tickets to board a 07:30 AM Eurolines Coach Service to Amsterdam, Holland.

"I am still not able to believe we are doing this" said one to another

" Yes, we are!" he said.

"Why did I ever buy myself into this plan? " she asked.

He laughed at her admiringly, combing his hair, ruffled by the brisk early morning breeze, with his fingers, which has become habitual.

"If we are going to pull this off, it is going to be a memorable one!", he said.

"Yes ", she replied excitedly and both exchanged excited looks.

"Tickets please", shouted the coach driver. He verified the tickets, helped passengers one by one, to board the coach.

"Here we go! I think we are crazy!", she said.

"I think so too!", he said and took her hand to sit beside her.

And the coach took off sharp at 07:30 towards the early morning sunrise, which showed, what a fine typical spring day it is bound to be! Spring in Europe is nothing but pure bliss! The sprintness in the breeze, brings a fresh inner feeling for walkers, striding by the innocent looking flowers exhibiting their bewitching smile as a bloom! She was looking outside the window watching all these sights trying to take-in and register every pixel of beauty spread in-front of her eye.

"Our eyes are a thousand Digital SLR's put together! I always wonder God's creations... our eyes, the beauty that lies in front of us! ", she said, eyes still outside the window busy capturing whatever it can.

"Why do you say that?", he asked, puzzled.

"When you hold a camera to take a picture of the frame which lies ahead, you will notice how panoramic our eye-view is and how little can these digital state-of-the-art man made machines , pack to a single shot!", she answered.

"Phew! I've realised this many times... but Kudos! beautifully worded!", he said appreciatively.

She turned away from the window still wide-eyed to smile at him. "Thank you!"

Brussels city center

The 10 hour journey continued through the picturesque town of Lille in France , then through Brussels and the industrial town Antwerpen in Belgium with light conversations between the two and a lot of sight-seeing. When the coach wsa nearing the border of Holland, excitement had started mounting again already! The two had travelled to Amsterdam before, the previous year and were so fond of this country for the spellbinding scenic beauty, the helpful people and the careless lifestyle.... And oh! Who can forget the windmills? ......

Ho! Ho!..... Holland!

To be continued...

Paatum naane Bha(Paa)vamum naane...

"Akhila nanna paadaraye! Paatu class la serthu vidaren". And there began the countless days of paatu class with the least amount of interest that could be spared for it, eventhough I was reasonably good in singing. "Nanna sruthi nikkaradhe, innikke serthudungo" were the words, I think, I would have never meant to forget, when my Paatu master Mr. K told on the day of Vijayadasami, to my mom and thatha ( my maternal grand-father). My thatha, happy and full of pride did as much publicity to this matter, as possible, adding to my misery.

Then came navarathiri golus, marriages where-in I was made to sing asking"Nee paatu kathundrukkiye, krishnar mela oru paatu paadu" which I would try to escape saying that I dont have my book at present, or that I have a bad throat, I dont know any songs on Krishnar, would go in vain. The agony I went through during those times were un-wordable. The situation rose to a peak when my bro's mrudhangam master would ask me to sing for him and my bro, to practise jadhi for the songs and for 'karpanajadhi'. My bro was damn good at it, that I started getting an interest singing for him. But still, golus and family get-togethers were still a no-no, where i wud get the center of attraction to sing. My mom would also teach me small songs and 'thukdas' which were composed by my patti(my paternal grand mother).

My paatu master would arrange for a kacheri on the day of Vijayadhasami every year with great violinists and mrudhangists, to get the feel of how to sing in co-ordination with them.
Every student and student groups would have to perform a mini kacheri with a small 'thani aavarthanam' for mrudhangam, each a slot of 45 mins to an hour! I learnt the format of a kacheri only with this practise! Everyone hearing the kacheri would appreciate me but still, I was one very non-interested person.

But, ask me to sing any ARR's or Anu Malik or anyone, I was always ready! I went through the agony of paatu class for a little over 2 and a half years till one fine day I was told not to sing for 6 months following a surgery in my abdomen. That was the end of my paatu class and the beginning of cassette and CD class days which were predominantly ARR, Jatin Lalit, Ilayaraja, Nandeem Shravan. I would just memorise each and every song and sing along with the cassette/CD, much to the fury of my dad-mom!

This continued to my college days and everyone appreciated the fact that I had a good voice and I could give life to the song. Even here I didn't give much thought or interest to singing. I started working after my college and there came a full-stop to my paatu. I became so busy that I could barely spend some time with my parents Due to the lack of practise and listening, my singing became not-very good to worse and even bad. When I met my hubby and found out that he is interested in music and would love to hear me sing, that is where I really got stung! Yes, I used to sing during the initial days of my marriage. That stopped too, due to no-reason at all! Now that, when I listen to MSS, Maharajapurm Santhanam, Semmangudi, Ariyakkudi, Hyd. brothers, I wish, I could sing ! But alas, even I loathe my voice. Paavam naan! Paatu class continue pannindu irundhirukalaam!

Home searching, made easy!

You must be aware by now that I have moved quiet recently to the great big umrika and having a blast here... not just alive and kicking !But when we were about to move here, we started getting anxious about the daunting task of searching a nice, commutable, safe place to live. We had been going through various places in and around San Francisco via internet thanks to the citydata info and shortlisting places to live for months and finally settled on three. Then came the search for the apartments nearby the train stations as we will not have a car for sometime . We had shortlisted those too from the information given by our friends and all time best friend internet. We had called all the apartments to fix an appointment from the next day of our arrival . The day after we arrived, we caught a train to the place where I live now, Dublin to view the apartments. The first appointment for us was in the morning. As our journey to SFO was just the previous day, we had Jetlag which made us get up wide awake early (3:30AM). We had very well made it here for the first appointment and saw the apartments they had to offer. It was a brand new construction and I dunno why, but new constructions normally attract me. The house was very nice and we both particularly liked one of the floorplans they gave us.

After the viewing was complete, we were enquiring the apartment people about the nearest grocery store, shopping mall, Indian groceries if any, etc., We were informed that we have a shopping mall nearby, 2 Safeways which is a grocery supermarket in CA(only in CA, I think so!) , a Walmart, 3 Indian grocries within the radius of 2 miles. We were also informed that the shopping mall is just 0.5 miles away and that we cud walk! Overjoyed, we got the directions and started to walk, we wud have walked more than 0.5 miles, the shopping mall still insight, we found none of the roads leading to them. We asked another passerby, and he informed us that we are walking in the right direction and it is another about 0.5 miles away. We finally reached the mall, walking under the blazing hot sun for around 45 mins.

We just suthi paathufied all of the shops and my husband was making me familiar with the American store names like Bestbuy, OldNavy, JC Penney, Mervyns, Macys, BedBath and Beyond etc., etc., We would have walked for another 2 hours and finally tired of travel, jetlag, walking and everything, we just wanted to catch a taxi back to the train station to get us back to San Francisco! When we came out to the flood of cars, we couldn't find even one taxi! Arreee yaaar! in India if there is something like a big shop, then ppl wud have even constructed a taxi stand! But here, eventhough I was warned about the country of no-public-transport a hundred times by my hubby himself, his bro-sis, my cousins.... I think I was too pampered in London to have a-minute-a-train-to-the-place-you-want-to-go style of transportation. We finally decided to go and talk to an old couple by the coffee shop about our situation. We told them that we dont even have the number or a mobile fone to call for a taxi. They were very kind to offer us help and called for a taxi on behalf of us! It does not stop there! When they saw us waiting for the taxi for nearly 20 mins the old lady, offered us a drop to the train station which she did very happily.She said that she is living in this place for the past 40 years and she has found no other place this good! We were floored by her help. Can you guess what we did next? We signed the apartment the next day! This is the only apartment we viewed and we are very happy now that we made this decision! With the view of Mount Diablo from your balcony and very nice people around what more could one ask for?

These are some of the photos taken from my balcony for the views I have mentioned!

It is a west facing balcony... and the sunset is un-imaginable... will post some good fotos of 'em later.

My travels....

Hello everyone,

Work was keeping me away from my computer. So I could not blog. I was just thinking about my travels through Europe for the past few days. I have travelled a little bit in mainland Europe when I was living in England. It is a beautiful country to live. The people in Europe have great sense of beauty. The houses they build -beautiful is an understatement. They decorate their houses in a very aesthetic way, have great sense for colours, great attention to detail (for eg., nowhere you can see a spot of paint extra when they paint). The houses and everything may be small when compared to US, but the way they keep it looking sparkling clean and tidy, during all times of the day, will tell you how much house-proud they are. The sense of beauty doesn't stop just with the house and the interior decoration, it extends to anything and everything they do....even the tiniest miniscule thing like gift wrapping. One will be astonished to see the care they take in doing even little things. I think the nature and its beauty, the rivers, breathtaking mountains and landscapes, has given people the inspiration to look beautiful ( which ofcourse is in their genes ) , keep, make or build anything beautiful. I think , they have taken nature as their way of life.

English people are very punctual. If they want to make an appointment at 3 o' clock in the afternoon, they reach the place at 2:58, wait for two minutes and then will press your calling bell on dot at three. This is a great thing to learn from them. French are very sharp and clever. They understand what you are about to say even before completing your sentence. One can ask ' Whats a big deal about it?' Most of the french are not that fluent in english. They can understand with only hints from the English we speak which is an extraordinary capability according to me. Dutch people are the most helpful and optimistic I have ever seen. They are very sweet, very very perfect as in the quote 'dutch precision' fully justified. Greek are the most intelligent i have seen. Oooooooooh we actually started to read greek when we were there for just 5 days in the country. Very few people know English and the speed at which they comprehend is amazing and the way they explain back to us makes you dumb! They are too good at mathematics and geometry. Then Swisssssss..... what can I say, with the mixture of French and German , the country looks all charged with positive energy... just enter Zurich airport and you will never feel like coming back! the ppl are sooo helpful, you will never believe, there was a stranger, who gave us a lift to the station Interlaken Ost, when we missed a bus early in the morning deviating from his office route for 10 kms..... this made us feel really good about them.

My memory train would not stop..... wherever we go we have a lot to learn about that country, the place, the people, their culture, which gives us the true insight of what the place is all about .... its a lot different from reading in books and newspapers!

I will continue about the countries and their natural beauty whenever I get some time to blog. Thanks a lot again for reading. Enjoy your day!

Dean Kamen and his mind-controlled prosthetic arm!

You know what, when I read this news in a tech blog, I was just wondering how the amputees will react to this news. Dean Kamen in Carlsburg, California has invented a mind-controlled prosthetic arm, which has come far from the prosthetic arm (like rugged claws) that are worn by the amputees at present. This arm has great sensitivity- moves much like a normal arm, great angular control , sensitive enough to pick a paper, wine glass and to grab a grape without crushing it! This invention is certainly a boon indeed for the people in need of it!

Flight to the US!

My husband had an intra company transfer to work in SFO! We had to relocate to the US. When we actually heard the news, we were excited, thrilled, happy, anxious ... all emotions exploding at the same time. We had carefully planned our move and as the date of journey approached, it was a mixture of everything. We had packed all our stuffs and had boarded the 12 -hour long non-stop flight to San Francisco, the excitement got to us and we became so impatient that we started to think, " Why can't we just apparate and disapparate to the place we wish?" Commonsense hitting us about the probability tending to zero in this case, duh! Our flight journey was a blend of excitement and boredom. We had travelled to a fair extent by now, that the flight journey has started becoming monotonous now-a-days. We had a brand new life in a brand new part of the planet, awaiting to teach us with brand new experiences , to embrace us with both hands!

First blog!

Hello to all who read this blog!

You will see some nasty, irritating, unpolished writing here on! I had lived in UK for sometime and has recently come to the US. Lotsa new experiences , everything new to get accustomed to , many new things to learn and will keep posting the differences when and wherever I find time. Just searching for a new job, that takes time.