Blogs of a traveling monk...

Time for another trip - warm, bright and sunny !!

2010-02-24T11:32:00.000-05:00

And if you are thinking, ohhhh, Florida again, no no!!!! Not a chance in the near future!!! Florida is too cold this season for me to even think of going there again. Think East...... think US Virgin Islands, think miles of white sands, all year 80F temperature, very little human infestation (for the most part) and most importantly away from home and work... does that sound like a lot of fun?? It does, because it will be....

Orlando/Tampa trip

2010-01-05T08:36:00.011-05:00

Cold, cold everywhere and no place to hide! As you wonder why am I writing about cold when we just visited Florida, let me just say that this visit to Florida will be remembered not because we visited warm and sunny Florida, but because we all had a lot of fun in spite of the cold :-)

We boarded our Airtran flight to Orlando (MCO) on Thursday, Dec 31 around 12 noon having a quick bite at Einstein's Bagel on terminal A. Except for the "anti high-price lotion" in the restrooms and advice written on the snack bags, the flight was pretty average :-). Upon arrival at MCO, we met up with the other party in crime (aka Pragya and Amit) and while Amit guarded the luggage (and d some office work), we caught a bite at my favorite (Panda Express) fast food joint and then boarded Disney's so-called "Magical Express" and just as 'magic' we were in our room (uhh.. that was a very long ride from the airport to the Pop Century Resort)

While I and Amit were doing the manly thing (i.e. standing in line) the girls asked the Concierge about the fun stuff and food (of course). We found out about a yummy sandwich place in downtown disney (and apparently the concierge made sure that we understood that she really meant "yummy"). We all went to the room only to discover a miniature room with the bare essentials (they call it a "Resort"). But we were quite impressed by the external decor of the buildings. As the name suggests, the building had a "pop culture" theme depicting the culture from the 1950's all the way to the present time. We waited for the last and the final criminal of our gang (aka the most notorious one, Ranjana). After getting cheated by her GPS (only to later discover that she inputted the wrong address), Ranjana finally made it to Pop Century and we headed off to Downtown Disney (as suggested by the Concierge). Among the sea of creatures (humans), shops and restaurants we managed to find the sandwich place (Earl of Sandwich) and decided to respect the wishes of the lovely concierge. While Pragya and Tina got the sandwich the rest of the gang headed off to Wolfgang Puck Express. As for the food, let us just say we could have all kissed the concierge and Mr. Puck didn't fail us either :-). We had a lovely meal.

With our tummies full, we headed off to see all the other fun stuff in downtown Disney. The hot air balloon looked interesting and after standing in the infinite line waiting for our chance, we decided to give up :-( We--and I mean the only people who drink--had a few drinks in a bar and suddenly realized that we are standing on the edge of a passing year with just a few minutes to go. The fireworks started (at one of the parks -- Disney or Universal -- not sure) and we stood there staring at them from a distance, marveling at the bygone year, and wondering what the next year would have in store for us.... We headed off to our "resort" and tired that all of us were, we couldn't think of anything but sleep (Ranjana and her phone might disagree :-)).

Friday started off pretty lazily and after waking up much past breakfast time, we headed off to our resort cafe to find out that 3 of us vegetarians had nothing but cereal and cold bagels to eat (after breakfast we'd discover the badly located toaster). Tina decided to try her luck and asked the chef if he could bring us nice fluffy pancakes from his magic hat (ummm...... yummmy) ... and there they were (well more than we needed at the time) ... warm and nice and yummy.... and the perfect recipe for the start of a great day!

Unfortunately, it was all cold and wet outside and the drizzling wouldn't stop..... we decided to head over to Kennedy Space Center rather than "donate" precious dollars to Disney. Ranjana volunteered to let us be the first victims of a group drive in her new Scion! We got there around 2:30 only to discover that we were amongst the last of the batches even though Kennedy's website clearly says that it closes at 5:30 PM. One thing which I have realized is that Floridians aren't very tech savvy (and don't update their websites very often). I guess the sunshine has it's effects :-)

KSC was fun as we watched over the nation's premier shuttle launch facility in the frigid Florida winter (thanx to Tina, I had to do the right thing and give my wind breaker to her (granted she made me pack it); but all I could imagine was hot coffee). We visited two of the three tour stops (the third was closed) and then waited--outside--in line for the shuttle simulation ride. We finally made it back to the car around 6:30p, starving (note, we only ate breakfast that day). We would have eaten each other (think cannibals) had our breakfast pancakes not come to our rescue (yes, we had ended up buying 5 extra pancakes in the morning)!!! After devoring them in the car, we used the newly acquired glucose to locate a Thai restaurant (aha, I found some use of my new iPhone) and on the way stopped over to ponder the beauty of earth's only satellite rising over the gorgeous ocean [moon]...... Thai food was good (the lack of any hot coffee in the restaurant was a bit annoying). The non-vegetarians in our gang had a lot of fun eating their snapper (wait, it wasn't eating, it was devouring).

Saturday was Disney day, the main reason we were in Florida. Having gotten our lesson about breakfast the previous day, we woke up bright and early (well... earlier) and ate whatever our souls might have desired the previous day (yummy waffles.....). The non-veggie souls had gotten hungry earlier and headed off to breakfast a bit earlier than the veggie folks. They also got the tickets for Epcot. At Epcot, we hurried into completing as many rides and attractions as we could (I wish we had understood the importance of Fast Track tickets sooner). The Space Adventure was fantastic (better than the simulation at Kennedy). The undersea adventure with Nemo and family was also cool (though a bit kiddy-oriented I would say). Around 5, us hungry souls wandered off to the food pavilions only to discover very limited options for the grass-hoppers (or might I say the vegetarians). Amit got the orange chicken from the Chinese pavilion and the vegetarians got stir-fried vegetable with rice. Ranjana devoured beef sandwich at the grand American pavilion (and the 3 V's ate veggie burger and fries). Having gotten a bit of energy, we managed to venture into the Test Track (which all of us were incredibly scared off). Tired that all of us were, we hoped that this wouldn't be the deal breaker (i.e. retiring one of us). It turned out to be an incredibly fun experience as we zoomed in the old GM car's test track!!!

Dinner at Epcot was another story altogether. We were so exhausted at this point that we could have become cannibals. We ended up in the Moroccon pavilion and had falafel. I and Ranjana also had a glass of cheap Moroccon wine :-) Following dinner, the only thing which kept us going in the Arctic Epcot (that's not a new ride, that's how cold it was for us) was the fireworks which proved to be one of the best fireworks which all of us had seen. The majestic Epcot center glowed in the dark while the firework in the sky and the lake beneath was just awesome!! We hurried off back to our rooms completely exhausted and totally cold from within and outside. Ranjana narrated some bedside stories and drove off in the night to her much-desired "comfy" bed in Gainesville.

Sunday was the day of bifurcation for the 2 couples. While Chi and Amit headed off to Miami/Key West early in the morning, we took it a bit easy and then headed off to the airport for our car rental in the Mears coach (still don't know what Mears is) provided by Disney. At the airport we realized that the Hertz car rental location was actually an off-airport location and fearing that it might cause problem with us on our day of departure, we decided to use the services of Enterprise. How convenient..... huh... they almost ripped us off... and we got our lesson about not doing walk-up rentals :-( Perhaps in an effort to salve our wounds, the car rental guy gave us an upgrade and we walked out with a nice Hyundai Sonata! We decided that now that we have an expensive car (well relatively), we might as well enjoy it and zoomed our way to St. Petersburg. On our way we decided to satisfy our appetites with our one true friend- Taco Bell (in Plant City, FL) and we had a satisfying lunch (both pocket and tummy wise -- can't beat the Taco Bell deals). It was one of those n number of times when you are so glad that Taco Bell exists on earth... it's almost like the savior of vegetarian travelers...

We reached St. Petersburg and drove towards the Dali Museum. We bought a ticket for their last guided tour at 3PM. Although, I am not a big fan of museums, I have to admit that this one was cool and definitely needs attention of all you folks out there.... This artist (Salvador Dali) is a bit eccentric (by that I mean a lot) and although most of his creations don't make any sense, the ones which do will totally blow your mind.....and taking the tour definitely helps in making sense of surrealist art.

Following Dali, we sped off to our Comfort Suites jacuzzi room wanting to maximize every penny we paid. On the way, we wandered on small roads observing small Florida towns, people and getting a feeling of our hotel neighborhood. We stopped at a Walmart and got a bottle of wine and chocolate cake (the perfect accompaniments for the evening) and got clothes for my iphone (a casemate cover). By the time we reached our hotel it was already 9'ish and we were hungry. We checked-in and headed to the nearest Olive Garden (we're still proud of the variety of food we had during the trip). We were almost dying to eat the addictive salad! The waiter was really helpful in giving advice as to where to go the next day and what to do. We ordered just one entree (u could see the face of the poor waiter) and ate tons of salad (not that we even finished one bowl of it). Having satisfied our most natural craving (food that is), we headed back to our hotel and had a good night sleep on the lovely king bed.

We woke up next morning bright and early hoping to not have missed the hotel breakfast. After a standard continental breakfast (plus warm waffles) we headed up to book our hotel for our last night in Florida. Our main criteria- cheap and close to MCO as neither of us was sure that we would wake up on time for our early morning flight (9am). We decided to give priceline.com a shot based on Amit's recommendation and believe it or not got a room at the MCO Hyatt Regency for 40 bucks (plus tax)!!! Unable to believe our luck--we thought we would get the worst room available--we went on with our day. We headed out the door with a long list of places that we wanted to see before heading back to Orlando.

By any stretch of the imagination our list was pretty ambitious. It included "honeymoon island", clearwater beach and the most exciting of all Mixon fruit farm!! On the way to clearwater beach we stopped at a few pretty spots overlooking the lovely ocean..... if it wasn't for my impatience we would have been surely late for the fruit farm as it was almost an hour drive (and Tina just couldn't resist stopping at nice view points). I had to employ the best of my driving skills to reach Mixon on time only to discover that we were the only 2 people on the tour. For better or worse, us eager beavers got a private tour of the orange and citrus grove :-) The dude giving the tour also showed us a few of the wildlife his non-profit rescued from cruel owners/public mistreatment and were now unable to reintroduce into the wild. We saw a baby croc, a burmese python, a florida deer and several other creatures up close and got to even touch the croc and the python !!! scary, but a lot of fun....

As we headed out of Mixon, it was pretty close to sunset and we rushed back to Orlando. On the way of course, Tina could not resist stopping at another beach to watch the sunset. On the highway, in utter darkness, I suddenly had a strange realization..... the Hyatt we booked was the same hotel which is inside the MCO terminal... actually inside MCO !!!!! When we had arrived at MCO, we were actually wondering what it would be like to stay inside a Hyatt in the airport and suddenly without meaning to, we booked it on priceline. Of course, we reached MCO and checked into our room thanking God that the room was not the roach infested room we had imagined, but a totally normal, gorgeous Hyatt room overlooking the security line at the airport! Excited, we rushed to return the rental and enjoy a great roasted veggie sandwich and heirloom bean chili at the hotel restaurant.

Final day in orlando... we were ready to head out... I watched the security line growing more and more every passing minute... TSA was a total mess... couldn't handle a few hundred people and also made us throw our Jalapeno jelly which we bought from Mixon. But oh well, we didn't complain too much... we were still basking in the glory of booking a Hyatt room for 40 bucks :-) Tina had said we should just kill the night in the terminal, but I know she didn't mean in the Hyatt.

We were headed back to DC... back to the cold recalling not of the warmth of Florida, but rather the fun of it... there is always a silver lining in the clouds....

Canada Cruise

2009-07-25T11:07:00.001-04:00

For all of you who are eagerly waiting for the details of our fun and exciting Canadian cruise, keep reading.... also all of those folks who have never taken a cruise and would like to get a first hand report, be ready to empty your wallets !

The journey started on Friday, June 17th. TV decided to take Megabus instead of other modes of transportation, a decision which we will regret for some time to come. We reached the 10th & H st location in DC and after waiting for some 15-20 min past the scheduled departure time, we saw this enormous double decker Megabus approaching. We decided to hop on the top deck of the bus. It looked cool and felt cool..... All was fine till we drove for about 1 hour.... we saw a few people feeling a bit chilly inside... we laughed at them :-) and then we felt cold too ... and the driver had no idea how to control the cooling system.... we took a break at a rest area on the NJTP.... that was the best thing ever... the warm, humid weather which we would normally hate felt like gift from God....

We reached NYC around 1 AM and hung out with friends... we ate at San Loco in the city and decided to rest at Mitesh's.... We met his new friend, Mondo... and while you are thinking what a weird name, let us warn you that he wasn't human... it was a black monkey dog who can totally scare the shit out of you (= Tina) in dark... Mondo drove Tina (and Varun) out of th house early in the morning, so they went to her sister, Meena's place (Mitesh joined them there after packing).

Having been burned that last time we (TV) booked a cruise, Varun started persuading everyone to leave for the Pier early (to the point of being a bit annoying !). We managed to leave by 3:30 PM, arrived at the pier at 4 and got into the line for immigration. Tnia approahced, thinking, this can't be too bad we all have our docs in order -- yeah right! The agent stared at our docs (= Mitesh and Varun) for what seems like eternity, then we found that that Mitesh needed to provide his current India address. This doesn't sound too bad, until... Mitesh informs us that he has no idea what it is. Recall that it is 4 pm EST, so it's the middle of the night in India. Too bad. He had to call his parents in the middle of the night to get his own home address in india. After that they confiscated (kept) his passport and told him they'd give it to him after the Canadian officials review it in Canada.... All information having been duly provided to Carnival, they gave us our "Sail and Sign" cards and we boarded. Lesson one: its not a boat, its an enormous ship. It's big enough to fit a Hilton and a few Days Inns...

We promptly went into our interior room.... As we were beginning to wonder the space requirements for the 3 of us, the reality hit us that Carnival grossly miscalculated the average height of an adult! The 3rd bed was max 5 feet long and fitting Mitesh in it would need some gymnastics .... so we did what anyone else would do, we ignored the beds and left our room to explore the ship. We quickly learned about our "commute" on the ship, the 24 hour pizza and ice cream, the honking of a ship and most importantly how high the ship is as we successfully passed under the Verrazano holding our breaths... Soon everyone on board was required to attend the boat drill which was nothing more than a total waste of time. At dinner we met our "friendly" dinner mates with whom we would be spending the rest of our "romantic" evenings. On one end was the mother with 2 girls with one of them already beginning to look sick and on the other end was this 40 something white man with his "lovely" asian wife, Julia, and asian-looking kid (the milkman's kid ?) Other than the occasional chatter of the 3 of us, our dinner table was mostly quiet. We exactly knew how the next 4 days will be :-). (Preview: Julia would continue to be curious about what three vegetarian souls are eating and will laugh after hearing the answer as if we are pathetic.) After dinner we attended the welcome session (Jorge, the entertainment director's chatter) and went on a bar hopping tour with the "fun patrol". It was impossible not to notice that the people who worked really really enjoyed their work. At first we thought it was a fake smile and excitement but it continued forever. Internal satisfaction makes a huge difference in customer service.

Day 2: We woke up bright and early and after breakfast went on the Lido deck to enjoy the nice weather and the ocean. We went on the water slide and discovered (the hard way) that except for the water in the rooms and drinking water, most other water on the ship was salty. We later found out that the ship actually desalinized the ocean water on board! We were slowly getting used to the idea of eating 24 hours a day. We went for lunch, then tea time and then dinner - a constant reminder of America's biggest problem, overeating. Tina had this great idea to attend the "sunset stretch" (at 5 pm). Of course, the sun didn't set while we were stretching. However, we did stretch, so the guys had to do some weight-lifting to feel manly. Tina then took her revenge by kicking MV's asses playing air hockey in the "underground tokyo." (MV did fight to claim their dignity back by the last game). We hung out in the Piano bar for some time where the live entertainment was the pianist singing non-stop for hours without ruining his voice. At night in the Karoke bar, we watched an "adult" comedy show, basically something we used to call in college as non-veg jokes. We decided to go to bed "early" in anticipation of Mitesh's 7:30 am "meet-n-greet" with Canadian immigration in Saint John.

Day 3: M-life woke up at 630 ish for his rendevous with the Canadians, they asked simple questions, and it all went very smoothly except for waiting for the immigration officials. TV woke up at about 7 (grr..... grumpy Tina), MTV quickly ate (rather sped past breakfast) and hopped in a cab to the reversing falls park where we were supposed to do the Jetboat ride. After some persuasive French accented English, Tina decided to do the ride with MV. We finished the ride completely soaked in water thanks to Andre, the pirate look-alike jet boat driver. Basic concept of tides in Saint John: due to the invasion of the ocean into the river, the tide level increases by 30-40 feet twice a day and reverses the course of saint john river. You can imagine how bumpy jet boat ride will be in the midst of tug of war between river and ocean. As we got off the boat we were greeted by Dana from Eastern Outdoors who quickly drove us to Dipper Harbor for Kayaking. On our way Varun decided to ask Dana why "Fundy national park" is called so and she had no clue why. The drive was about 40 min from Saint John. We arrived in the middle of no-where and were greeted by our lovely Kayak instructor, Heather (yes, MV thought she was cute, and it turns out that she's smart too: she's a physics college student). Following a quick tutorial, we wore our outfits and sat in our Kayaks. And for the first time in Mitesh's life he wore a skirt (it helps keep your lower body dry in the kayak). We spent the next 2 hours doing some good upper body workout (a.k.a Kayaking) with Tina "officially tired" trying to row past the "yummy" sea weed. Heather showed us some lobster pounds: fenced enclosure where lobsters are bred. We all pulled ashore to relax and take some pictures. We drove back to Saint John not sure how to make the best possible use of the hour or so left. Also on our way back Tina realized she was missing her sweater which apparently was at the Jetboat ride place. Dana was kind enough to drive us there and fetch the sweater and take some pictures of MTV and the reversing falls. When we got back, we decided to look for food (yeah, veggie food in a port town). After some wandering around, we found a Mexican restaurant (Mexicana Rosa, I believe) and quickly ordered food. If there is one thing I cannot complain about Canada, it's their food (and the friendly people and the outdoors.. and..and...). Man, these guys know how to cook food. That mexican place had the best rolls (mexican spring rolls) I have ever had in my life, simply amazing. We also tried few local beers including Rickards..... We rushed (ran at the speed of light) back and boarded the ship, being one of the last few passengers to do so. Tired as hell, we unintentionally napped for a while. We got up, went to the Sushi bar, ate the veggie rolls and drank some warm Saki. We ended up bar hopping some more had martinis at the wine bar, did some cha-cha (how can we forget Mlife's desi girls?) and then ate dinner (with another bottle of wine). To kill time, we went to Karaoke and decided to murder two beautiful songs on the stage: Sweet Home Alabama and All Stars. The Burlesque show was quite high tech and very well executed.

Day 4: We decided to take-it-easy in Halifax (yeah, that's what MV said to Tina, but you judge if this was a relaxing day). We got out of the ship by 10 AM, found a bike rental place (thanks to Mitesh's b'bery) and rented 3 bikes. We started biking towards the Citadel (uphill) making fun of Gujju-English on our way (Halifax, a.k.a. "Helifex" in Gujarati)... hahaha.... We wandered around on the fort shooting pictures (from Mitesh's camera which is lost now :-( (found as of 31st July 09)). We biked to Point Pleasant park and then biked back to Garrison Brewery (which is essentially on the port). We had a distillery tour during which we learned a lot about beer. Apparently, the only difference between beer and whiskey is distillation and aging; both quite expensive processes. Also, the bitterness in beer comes from the plant named hops. The tour ticket gave each of us 6 samples of beer and a full pint. We had some of the samples, recalled that we had yet to return the bikes and we didn't really want to be biking under the influence (BUI)! After returning the bikes, on the advise of bike store guys we took a quick snack at Wooden Monkey and again had great food. As we now only had 15 minutes to have the remaining beer samples and get on the ship, we again ran like the light, consumed (= chugged) the remaining beers at Garrsion and continued our sprint to the ship. We would have been one of the last people on the ship, but a Carnival-sponsored tour bus pulled up to the port right as we were running into the line. On ship, we showered, went sushi tasting again, ate dinner and went to the main lobby bar, got martinis and discussed what will be some of the most funniest conversations - shaadi.com and the portrait pictures of girls. We even decided to take a few shaadi.com style pictures !!

(there is something wrong b/c we only did sushi once and only did martini's once).

Day 5: "Fundy" at sea or so we like to call the Fun Day at Sea. Varun and Mitesh decided to go to the gym the first thing in the morning. Having duly ditched Tina, MV tried to find her on the Lido desk during breakfast -- this was no small feat as there are 4000 people on this ship. Our breakfast conversation went from one topic to another and landed upon a discussion about vegetarian options in Greenland. Having eaten breakfast, we went to Jorge's disembarkation talk, ate lunch, and then went to the top deck to watch the water gush past the ship. We thought of contingency plan of what to do if one of us fell in the water. Then we watched something called Marriage game where three couples were asked same question and see if they come up with same answer. Surprisingly one of that couple got married on the same cruise in the beginning days. Mitesh had a lot of fun laughing at married couples including us. Surprisingly there was a cellphone tower on the ship to make sure we keep communicating with our loved ones while paying roaming charges. We then decided to soak in the sun and jot down all the keywords for our vacation so that we can blog about it later (and we were too lazy to bring my laptop from our room, so we made good use of Mitesh's b'berry). In the evening we went to one of the 3 or so salt-water pools and decided to re-live our younger days splashing and jumping in water. We ate dinner, along with a bottle of sparkling wine, true to our tradition, and said goodbye to the nice asian-american couple. Then we sat on the Casino bar for the farewell "party" not knowing that it would be one of the longest nights on board for us (ask Mitesh for details ... somehow he's managed to remember after the cruise).

A lot of people have qualms about going on cruises saying that they are not very adventurous. To be honest, one can make it as fun and adventurous as one wants. We had some of the very best times on the ship and doing our activities on shore. Bottom line, if you haven't done cruising, it's time to do one....

booked a cruise

2009-07-09T11:38:00.002-04:00

After almost an year of contemplation and a failed effort to go cruising, we finally did it ! No no, I am not talking about actually doing a cruise but rather booking it... One can say that the last time also we booked it but never managed to finish it, but this time there is an extra incentive for us to go, we are not the only ones going :-)

To summarize the saga of our cruise, we booked a Caribbean cruise last October.... so far so good... but then I decided to be a bit lazy about my visa and finally applied for a British visa about 2 weeks before the cruise started. Thanks to the December holiday seasons, the damn Brits decided to be lazy and instead of processing the application within a day or 2 just like the last time when I applied for a transit visa, they decided to take it easy.... but wait, that's not the worst part... the worst part was that I did not need a visa since Grand Cayman doesn't need a visa for cruise passengers !!! Dejected, we decided to go to Miami anyways and explore the southernmost corner of continental US. I would say that I was definitely dejected but pretty excited to see Miami/Key West.

Thanks to Carnival, we even managed to salvage most of our cruise money which we ended up putting in this Canada/New England cruise which is supposed to start in about 9 days !! Yipppeee !!!

More details to come later.......

theory of relativity....

2009-04-25T00:08:00.000-04:00

When I was a kid, I remember the days would go by way too slowly. I always felt like the next holiday was too far away and that New Year's celebrations were light years apart. As I've gotten older, the years seem to just pass me by. This last year has sped by quickly, that I feel like I barely experienced it. We got married, went to India for Gigs' (Divya's) wedding, started law school, and am almost finished with my first year. Varun changed jobs last May and now the company he's at filed for bankruptcy, so he'll probably change again. Phew!

These days life is busy with writing thank you cards (please forgive us for the delay!), studying for exams, and both of us making sure we eat something yummy every day!

Tina

Miami trip

2009-01-20T00:01:00.006-05:00

Mourning over the failure of not getting my passport over on time and not being able to take our cruise, we decided to go to Florida anyways.... and looking back, I think that the trip was worth it.... every penny of it....

We got to Reagan on Friday, Jan 2nd, more than an hour early anticipating rush hour Friday traffic. When we got there, we came to know that the Miami AA flight one hour before ours had not left yet- thanks to T's on the foot thinking, we immediately went to the gate and asked the dude if there were any seats left in the flight. The flight was not full and we got a seat. We reached Miami an hour earlier as anticipated. We decided to take a cab from the airport to South Beach. The ride was supposedly about 20-25 min long. We mistakingly thought that the cab fare should be around $22, but it came out to be a flat rate of around $32.... We started a nice chat with the cab driver who happily told us about things to do in the area, showed us the downtown as we were passing by, the arts center, the AA arena etc... we asked him where to eat and we were told of a nice Mexican place in South Beach, Lime.

We arrived at our hotel, the Albion (wasn't too sure how good or bad it will turn out to be). Seemed like a pretty decent hotel for the price we paid. The location was the key, we were in the middle of the South Beach hotspot of food and night clubs- Lincoln Road area. Unable to decide where to eat, we ended up with the only choice we had - Lime, and we don't regret it. It was one of the best Mexican food we have had and that too very cheap yet healthy. We spent the rest of the night just wandering around in the area, getting familiar and to be honest just enjoying the weather !

On Saturday, our first task was to call Carnival and try to figure out a way to get a refund from them or book a future cruise, both of which failed. We had to contend with advice from Carnival people to just write them a letter and hope that they will take pity on us.... It's amazing how rigid systems are that sometimes you have no control over them.... Anyways, finally we ate breakfast (I think at Einstein's) and proceeded to our next hotel (since we didn't book 2 nights at the Albion) Dorcester which was just a few blocks away from the Albion. This was another "ok" hotel, a bit more pricey than the Albion, same "Art Decco" style... We decided to take it easy that day too, just relaxing, recovering from the shock of not going for the Cruise... At night, we thought of going to the Aventura mall.. that didn't prove very well as it proved to be a very long ride and in the end we decided to cut it short, took the bus and got back....

Come Sunday, we woke up bright and early, went checked out of hotel and went for breakfast at a nearby cafe, Dolce Vita. We ate waffles and omelette (the lady wasn't very intelligent, gave us bacon in omelette, we had to get it changed). Following that, we went to Enterprise car rental to pick up our rental cars. We ended up waiting for almost an hour and a half since they had run out of cars... Anyways, we picked up our Accord and soon we were on our way to Jungle Island. We had fun over there, especially with the "ligers" and the animal show with the little tiger cubs and monkeys... Just as we were done, it was close to 3:30 and even though we wanted to go to Villa Vizcaya we couldn't as it closes at 4 PM. We decided to start looking for hotels for the night and expecting to see the Everglades the next day, we thought of finding hotels near the Everglades. After a couple of hours of search, other than the Mikosukee hotel, we couldn't find anything and ended up in a La Quinta in Hialeh. We ate yummy burritos (from the grovery store) late at night, watched TV and went to sleep.

Monday, we ate breakfast at the hotel, and started our long drive towards the Everglades. We got there and decided to take the trolley tour as we were not too enthusiastic of meeting our dear friends, Alligators, all too much :-) The tour ended up being one of the very good things we had done on the trip, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We definitely wouldn't have covered so much by ourselves in such a short period. A must see for everyone I think !

We started our drive towards, Key Largo and reached at our hotel, Ramada around 8 PM. It was a nice hotel and the Jacuzzi (which we didn't ask for) just made our day ! We ate dinner at a (crappy) restaurant/bar (Coconut Grill, I think) , came back, watched TV and went to bed...

Tuesday- we started driving towards Key West. As expected it was a reallllllllly pretty drive with vast open skies, colorful waters and the long pleasant drive..... We stopped on the way once to take photos on one of the small Keys. We reached Key West in the afternoon (around 3'ish) and checked in our B&B (Avalon). This was one of the modestly priced B&B's in the overpriced Key West.... definitely not the best B&B you will ever find, but pretty decent. The innkeeper was a nice lady with a British accent and quite helpful.... She told us about the Sunset cruise and advised us to buy the Adventure Day pass (which comes with a free Sunset cruise). We bought it thinking that it would be a good test and will help us figure out if T would be able to make it to the long trip for the day adventure on the boat. We also bought Dramamine and boarded the boat. The trip went ok and we reasonably enjoyed it. T had taken Dramamine half and hour before the cruise, and we came back happily from the cruise and went to a nice almost vegetarian restaurant (). Food was ok, but service was not good. We headed out, with T feeling a bit dizzy.... almost fainting... thanks to a nice couple walking by who bought some ice from the pizza place closeby.... Not sure what was the cause, may be the Dramamine, may be the food...

Wednesday, was the fun day.... hmm.... may be too much fun... having canceled the day adventure, we decided to Jet Ski... we bought tickets for the 4 PM tour of the islands, ate lunch and went to our room to relax a bit before the show began.... around 3:30 we reached the resort from where the cruise began... we had to wait for about 40 min as the tour which left before us were a bit late.... anyways, finally the tour guide came, gave us a brief introduction (hmmm... remember the thing about grass getting stuck in the jet ski!) we boarded our skiis and out we were ! after getting into the sea for about 7 miles, suddenly my ski wouldn't move... and as I was beginning to realize that the worst had come true.... we couldn't believe our eyes... the skies were turning dark.... with clouds.. and here comes the rain.... a heavy downpour... and us waiting for the tour guide to come save us... for miles we couldn't see anything but water and dark clouds.... with no sense of direction whatsoever, it was perhaps one of the more scary parts of the trip :-)

By the time the tour was complete, we were scared shitless and just glad to be back....

We packed up next afternoon and soon were on our way back to Miami... we had booked a room at the airport La Quinta.... and I can definitely say that I won't ever book another hotel near an airport.... it was pretty bad with no fridge, ok service and a location which litererally makes you completely inaccessible..... On friday, just before returning the car, we managed to eat breakfast and go on a whirlwind tour of Key Biscayne.....

We relaxed that evening.... had a six pack, ate chips, watched TV and went to bed...

The trip will always remain in our memory, not just because it was a cruise gone bad... but because we actually enjoyed it.... our style....

international travelling fun ? huh, depends on nationality....

2008-12-10T17:14:00.003-05:00

From starting our journey together in 2006 to changing 2 apartments in DC, to getting married, and of course law school... life has changed a lot for both of us.. We decided to take a break and get away........ from the busy life, the tiredness, the work, the school (and the family :-) the lazy bums that both of us are, we ended up booking cruise tickets from Carnival for a 5 day cruise to Grand Cayman Islands and Jamaica starting from Miami.... No problems till this point.... Guess where the problem begins- yeah u got it, Visa issues... travelling internationally is fun to the point you don't have to get a visa.... if u are in the loop of getting a visa, get ready to face some really fun times... if u r a citizen of the "not-so-rich" countries, get ready to sell urself and ur pride in the open visa market.... u will be treated like a criminal.... fingerprinted a thousand times, asked a million questions from ur family and friends to the most personal details anyone can get.... and if that's not the end of the humiliation, u should pay a couple houndred dollars and in return mail your entire original passport ! mail ur passports ? are you kidding me ? are these people completely insane ? who sends their passports to an unknown location by mail ? who is responsible to loss of identity if the passport somehow gets stolen on the way or gets damaged ? these self-righteous countries (a.k.a UK) should be just ashamed of the terrible visa application process they have which is nothing more than a complete nonsense and a sham.... Forget about giving some respect to the people whose money is paying for the salaries of the consulate staffers ! They say that they are making sure that bad people don't enter their country.... does anyone in their righteous mind believes that this world is any safer now than it was say 40 years ago ?

Gone are the days, when travel was all that fun.... Then also u needed a visa, but the process was not so humiliating... I feel like half the fun of travel is gone right here, right away....

indian film festival in DC

2008-11-22T10:32:00.002-05:00

Just as I was sitting watching MHZ networks showing the chit-chats of Bollywood, I was wondering about the weeekend which is already on the doorsteps. I thought about the previous weekend and the fun we had as a friend of mine came from New York city, Mitesh, to enjoy the Indian Film Festival in Washington DC.

Last friday was a day of lot of fun. We had a get together organized by SALSA (South Asian Law Student Association) in downtown DC (Farragut Square) in an Indian restaurant called "Indian". We had our usual cocktails, some appetizers and then followed by a hour of waiting and chit chatting, we had the dinner. We were only half-way thru the dinner when we started hearing the beats and the loud Punjabi music.... not surprisingly, it was dance time.... with a wonderful mix of brown, black and white students we had a total blast dancing.... a good exercise for normally busy people.... I feel like corporate America should start a tradition of dancing for their over-worked employees ! Everyday for an hour, as you get out of your offices where you have spent the entire day sitting on an office chair staring at your desktops and laptops, here is some good news for you, corporate america- we are gonna dance ! that should be so much fun in some utopian world..

Saturday and sunday were days of both relaxing, eating and enjoying the film festival. On saturday, we watched a movie- "a wednesday". None of us were very sure of what we were getting into, but we are glad we watched it.... it was a nice movie starring Naseeruddin Shah about the life of a "stupid common man" who was so fed up of the terrorist attacks inMumbai, that he decided to take the law into his hands and through some clever manouevering, forced the Mumbai police to shoot some of the bad guys locked in terrorist cells but will be ultimately released for lack of evidence.... upto the last 15-20 minutes of the movie you will not realize the twist and the fact that you are actually watching a "Shah" movie and not just any ordinary hindi movie.... Shah has again proved his calibre and his choice of movies of substance.....

Sunday was a documentary day.... we watched "Shorts" which was composed of 3 documentary style movies... one was about the life of Indian-Americans and the difficulties faced by them right from their childhood.... the other one was about gay Indians..... it's good to see India finally rising up to the issue of gay people through movies... I would also like to see the mainstream recently released movie "Dostana" or "Friendship", again made about gay people.... The last movie was a documentary on the life of an Indian American women who is struggling to keep the "India" connection alive following the death of her father....

Our film watching bonanza ended with a great lunch at "Woodlands" one of the very good Indian restaurants in a Washington DC subarb, Takoma Park. We reached there just about 15 minutes before their buffet was closing, and am glad we got there... they had a very extensive buffet menu, with south Indian dosa, idli, coconut chutney to north Indian pani-puri, paneer jalfrezi, gulab-jamuns and what not..... If you want to go to this restaurant please do eat their gulab jamun- it is just heavenly.... it literally just melts in your mouth, has just the right amount of sugar, in other words, just perfect......

We had a fun weekend... and I look forward to such a weekend again....

salute to America

2008-11-06T22:28:00.006-05:00

Barack Obama, the name which people really love repeating these days.... For the past 8 years it feels like America was under the spell of Satan... everything which could go wrong, went wrong... the attacks of 9/11. followed by the so called "war against terrorism" which I doubt did anything better to make this world safer, attack on Iraq, a country, which came towards the end in the long list of countries which had corrupt autocratic governments, the curbs on individual freedom and the rights of the government to snoop on it's citizens and of course not to mention the total seizure of power by the executive with virtually no checks and balances..... Just to make things worse that they already were, the nation faced the worst economic crisis since the great depression....

After all that the American public has gone through for these horrific 8 years, finally they have someone who seems like a person who truly believes in uniting the people, a person who believes in bringing a change. On some levels it feels like a dream, it's as if something completely unbelievable has come true... America has finally risen above the color of the skin and chosen the right path.... It has given hopes to not only millions of Americans but also billions of people living in those corners of the world were "hope" is the last thing you want.... Obama knew what this elections means for the black people, but hardly ever has he fought for it on the basis of the color of his skin... and then we have those parts of the world (aka "India") were virtually nothing goes beyond the talk of caste and reservations for the backward classes....... "backward classes" they call themselves and then demand for reservations... isn't that a complete denigration of oneself and an inherent acceptance of the caste system? Aren't Indians just adding to the problems of the system instead of just solving them?

I hope that this world learns it's lessons from this American presidential election... the virtues of confidence, patience, openness, respect for everyone and rising above the politics of blame games and short sightedness which divide a nation... My salutes to democracy and the people of America who have lived to see this day and make history...

P.S. The photo above is an artist's (Sudarshan Pattnaik) rendition of Barack Obama, a sand sculpture on the beach of Puri, India

diwali aartis/chalisas.... part 2

2008-11-01T20:21:00.000-04:00

Laxmi Aarti

ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता मैया जय लक्ष्मी माता

तुमको निस दिन सेवत माय्याजी को निस दिन सेवत

हर विष्णु विधाता ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता

उमा रमा ब्रह्मणि तुम ही जग माता ओ मय्या तुम ही जग माता

सूर्य चंद्रमा ध्यावत नारद ऋषि गाता ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता

दुर्गा रूप निरंजनी सुख सम्पति दाता ओ मय्या सुख सम्पति दाता

जो कोई तुमको ध्यावत, रिद्धि सिद्धि धन पाता ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता

तुम पाताल निवासिनी तुम ही शुभ दाता ओ मैया तुम ही शुभ दाता

कर्म प्रभाव प्रकाशिनी भवनिधि की दाता ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता

जिस घर में तुम रहती तहां सब सद्गुण आता ओ मैया सब सद्गुण आता

सब सम्भव हो जाता मन नही घबराता ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता

तुम बिन यज्ञ न होते वस्त्र न कोई पता ओ मय्या वस्त्र न कोई पाता

खान पान का वैभव सब तुमसे आता ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता

शुभ गुण मन्दिर सुंदर क्षीरोदधि जाता ओ मय्या क्षीरोदधि जाता

रत्ना चतुर्दश तुम बिन कोई नहीं पाता ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता

महालक्ष्मी जी आरती जो कोई जन गाता ओ मय्या जो कोई जन गाता

उर आनंद समाते पाप उतर जाता ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता

स्थिर चार जगत बचावे कर्म प्रेम लियाता ओ मय्या जो कोई जन गाता

राम प्रताप माया की सुभ दृष्टि चाहता ॐ जय लक्ष्मी माता

Om Jay Laxmi Maata, Maiya Jay Laxmi Maata,

Tumko Nisdin Sewat, Mayaji ko nisdin sewat.

Har-Vishhu-vidhaata. Om Jay Laxmi Maata.
Uma, Rama, Bramhaani Tum hi Jag-Maata, O maya tum hi jag maata

Surya-Chandrama, Dhyaavat, Narada Rishi gaata. Om jay laxmi maata.
Durgaroop Niranjani Sukh-SampatiDaata, o maya sukh sampati daata.

Jo Kai Tumko Dhyaawat, Riddhi-siddhi-Dhan Paata. Om jay laxmi maata.
Tum Pataal Niwaasini Tum hi Shubhdaata, o maya tum hi shubhdaata.

Karm-Prabhav-Prakaashini, Bhavnidhi ki Daata. Om jay laxmi maata.
Jis Ghar Tum Rehati, Tahan Sab Sadgun Aata, o maya sab sadgun aata.

Sab Sambhav ho Jaata, Man Nahin Ghabraata. Om jay laxmi maata.
Tum bin Yagya na hote, Vastra na koi paata. O maya vastra na koi paata.

Khan-Paan ka vaibhav sab tumse aata. Om jay laxmi maata.
Shubh-Gun-Mandir Sundar, Ksheerododhi Jaata, o maya ksheerododhi jaata.

Ratna Charturdash tum Bin Koi Nahin Paata. Om jay laxmi maata.
Mahalaxmi ji ki Aarti Jo koi Jan Gaata, O maya jo koi jan gaata.

Ur Aanand Samaate, Paap utar Jaata. Om jay laxmi maata.

Sthir char jagat bachave, karm prem liyata. O maya jo koi jan gaata.

Ram pratap maya ki subh dristhi chahta. Om jay laxmi maata.

diwali aartis/chalisas.... part 1

2008-11-01T20:18:00.001-04:00

लक्ष्मी चालीसा

Laxmi Chalisa

दोहा

Doha

Poem

मातु लक्ष्मी करी कृपा करो ह्रदय में वास

मनोकामना सिद्ध कर पुरवहु मेरी आस

Maatu Lakshmi Kari Kripaa, Karo Hriday Mein Vaas I
Manokaamanaa Siddh Kar, Purvahu Meri Aas II

Oh mother, please stay in my heart.

Please fulfill my wishes and desires.

सिन्धुसता विष्णु प्रिये नत शिर बारम्बार

ऋषि सिद्धि मंगलप्रदे नत शिर बारम्बार

Sindhusutaa Vishu Priye Nat Shir Barambar I

Rishi Siddhi Mangalpradey Nat Shir Barambar II

सिन्धुसता में सुमिरों तोही ज्ञान बुद्धि विद्या दो मोहि

तुम समान नहीं कोई उपकारी सब विधि पुरवहु आस हमारी

Sindhusutaa Main Sumiron Tohii, Jnaan Buddhi Vidyaa Do Mohii I
Tum Samaan Nahiin Koi Upakaarii, Sab Vidhi Purvahu Aas Hamaarii II

Give me knowledge and wisdom.

There is nobody other like you

jaya jaya jagat jananaI jagadmbaa,,, saba kI tuma hI hao Avalambaa

tuma hI hao GaaT GaaT kI vaasaI baInatI yahI hmaarI KasaI

Jai Jai Jagat Janani Jagadambaa, Sab Ke Tumahi Ho Avalambaa
Tumahii Ho Ghat Ghat Ke Vaasii, Vintii Yahii Hamarii Khaasii

Oh mother of everyone, you defend everyone. You are omnipresent.

jagajananaI jaya isanQau kumaarI dInana kI tuma hao ihtkarI

ibanavaaoM anI%ya tumho maharanaI kRpa krao jaga jananaI BavaanaI

Jagajananii Jay Sindhu Kumaarii, Diinan Kii Tum Ho Hitakaarii
Binavon Nitya Tumhe Mahaaraanii, Kripaa Karo Jag Janani Bhavaanii

You are the savior of the poor and the humble

kohI ivaiQa AstutI k$M tIharI suaQaI laIjaO ApraQa baIsaarI

kRpa dRiYT icat vaao mama AaorI jaga jananaI vaInatI sauna maorI

Kehi Vidhi Astuti Karon Tihaarii, Sudhi Lijain Aparaadh Bisaarin
Kripaadrasti Chitvo Mam Orii, Jagat Janani Binatii Sunu Morii

What method can I worship you with? Please forgive me for my sins and listen to my prayers

&ana baui,W jaya sauK kI data sankT hrhu hmaaro maata

xaIr isaMQau jaba ivaYNau ma caaoOdh r

Jnaan Buddhi Jay Sukh Kii Daataa, Sankat Harahu Hamaare Maataa
Kshiir Sindhu Jab Vishnumathaayo, Chaudah Ratn Sindhu Mein Paayo

You are the giver of knowledge, wisdom and peace. Please save us from our problems.

When Vishnu churned the sea, it produced 14 gems.

चौदह रत्न में में तुम सुखरासी सेवा कियो प्रभुहि बनी दासी

जब जब जनम प्रभु लीना रूप बदल तहां सेवा कीन्हा

Chaudah Ratnan Manh Tum Sukhraasii, Sevaa Kio Prabhuhin Bani Dasi
Jab Jab Janam Jahaan Prabhu Liinhaa, Ruup Badal Tahan Sevaa Kiinhaa

You live in those 14 gems. You served Vishnu and became his devotee.

Whenever Vishnu took birth (as human) you have served him in different forms.

स्वयं विष्णु जब नर तनु धारा लीन्हेउ अवधपुरी अवतारा

तब तुम प्रकट जनकपुरी मनहिं सेवा कियो ह्रदय पुलाकाही

Svayam Vishnu Jab Nar Tanu Dhaaraa, Liinheu Avadhapurii Avataaraa
Tab Tum Prakat Janakapuri Manhin, Sevaa Kio Hraday Pulakaahii

When Vishnu was born as Ram in Ayodhya (then capital of Awadh), you served him as the daughter of King Janak of Janakpur

ApnaayaaO taOhI AntryaamaI ivaSvaivaidt i~Bauvana kI svaamaI

tuma saba प्रबल Sai@t nahIM AanaI khaM tk mahImaa khaOM baKanaI

Apanayo Tohi Antarayaamii, Vishvavidit Tribhuvan Ki Svaamii
Tum Sab Prabal Shakti Nahi Aanii, Kahan Tak Mahimaa Kahaun Bakhaanii

The Lord Vishnu (then born as Ram) embraced you.

मन क्रम वचन कराई सेवकाई मन इच्छित वांच्छित फल पी

ताजी छल कपट और चतुराई पूजहिं विविध भाँती मन लाई

Man Kram Vachan Karai Sevakaaii, Man-ichchit vaanchhit Phal Paaii
Taji Chhal Kapat Aur Chaturaai, Puujahin Vividh Bhaanti Man Lai

Whoever serves you with his body and spirit gets his desired.

और हाल में कहहुं बुझाई जो यह पाठ कराइ मन लाइ

ताको कोई कष्ट न होई मन इच्छित फल पावे फल सोई

\\\\

Aur Haal Main Kahahun Bujhaaii, Jo Yeh Paath Karai Man Laaii
Taako Koi Kast Na Hoii, Man-ichchit Phal Paavay Phal Soii

Whosoever sings these hymns never suffers and has his desires fulfilled.

त्राहि त्राहि जय दुःख निवारिणी त्रिविध ताप भव बंधन हारिणी

जो यह चालीसा पढ़ें और पढाये इसे ध्यान लगा कर सुने सुनावे

Traahi-Traahi Jay Duhkh Nivaarini, Trividh Taap Bhav Bandhan Haarini
Jo Yeh Chalisa Parhen Aur Parhaavay, Ise Dhyan Lagakar Sunay Sunavay

Whoever reads and teaches this and listens to it attentively,

ताको कोई न रोग सतावे पुत्र आदि धन सम्पति पावे

पुत्रहीन और सम्पति हीना अँधा बधिर कोढ़ी अति दीना

Taakon Kou Na Rog Sataavay, Putr Aadi Dhan Sampati Paavay
Putrahiin Aur Sampati Hiinaa, Andha Badhir Korhii Ati Diinaa

No disease can befall him; he is blessed with many sons (children) and wealth

All those who are childless, poor, blind, deaf, lepers or very poor

विप्र बुलाई के पाठ करावे शंका दिल में कभी न आवे

पाठ करावे दिन चालीसा ता पर कृपा करहिं गौरीसा

Vipr Bulaaii Ken Paath Karaavay, Shaankaa Dil Mahan Kabhi Na Laavay
Path Karaavay Din Chalisa, Ta Par Kripaa Karahin Gaurisa

Gauri (Laxmi) is kind to those who don’t doubt her and who read and teach her stories.

सुख सम्पति बहुत सी पावे कभी नही काहू की आवे

बारह माश करें जो पूजा तेहि सम धन्य और नहीं दूजा

Sukh Sampati Bahut Sii Paavay, Kabhi Nahin Kaahuu Kii Aavay
Baarah Maash Karen Jo Pujaa, Tehi Sam Dhanya Aur Nahin Duujaa

They get a lot of wealth and never have a dearth of anything. Whoever prays to you for all the 12 months, are among the wealthiest.

प्रतिदिन पाठ करे मन मन ही उन सब कोई जग में नहीं

बहुविधि क्या मैं करहूँ बड़ाई लेय परीक्षा ध्यान लगाई

Pratidin Paath Kare Man Manhii, Un sam koi Jag Mein Nahin
Bahuvidhi Kya Mein Karahun Baraaii, Leya Pariikshaa Dhyaan Lagaaii

Thos who sing your songs everyday are the blessed ones.

करी विश्वास करे व्रत नेमा होई सिध्द उपजे और प्रेमा जय

जय जय लक्ष्मी महारानी सब में व्यापित जो गुण खानी

Kari Vishvaas Karay Vrat Nemaa, Hoi Siddh Upajay Aur Prema
Jay Jay Jay Lakshmi Mahaaraanii, Sab Mein Vyaapit Jo Gunkhaanii

Whoever trusts without any doubts in you

तुम्हरो तेज प्रबल जग माहीं तुम सम कोऊ दयालु कहूँ नाहीं

मो अनाथ की सुद्धि अब लीजे संकट काटी भक्ति मोहि दीजे

Tumhro Tej Prabal Jag Maannhin, Tum Sam Kou Dayalu Kahun Nahin
Mo Anaath Kii Sudhi Ab Lijay, Sannkat Kaati Bhakti Mohi Dijay

Your glory is spread in the entire world; nobody is as generous as you.

भूल चूक करी क्षमा हमारी दर्शन दीजे दशा निहारी

बिन दर्शन ब्याकुल अधिकारी तुम हीं अक्षत दुःख सहते भारी
Bhuulchuuk Kari Kshama Hamaarii, Darshan Dijay Dashaa Nihaarii
Bin Darshan Vyaakul Adikari, Tumhinn Akshat Dukh Sehate Bhaarii

Please forgive me for my wrongdoings and show me the light from your presence.

I am waiting to see you.

नाहीं मोहि ज्ञान बुद्धि है तन में सब जानत हो अपने मन में

रूप चतुर्भुज करी के धारण कष्ट मोर अब करहूँ निवारण

Nahinn Mohi Jnaan Buddhi Hai Tan Mein, Sab Jaanat Ho Apne Man Mein
Roop Chaturbhuj Kari ke Dhaaran, Kasht Mor Ab Karhun Nivaaran

You are full with all the knowledge in this world.

Please relieve me of my problems with all the four hands you have.

केही प्रकार में करहूँ बराई ज्ञान बुद्धि मोहिं नहीं अधिकाई

राम दास अब कहई पुकारो करो दूर तुम विपति हमारी

Kehi Prakaar Mein Karhun Baraaii, Jnaan Buddhi Mohin Nahin Adhikaaii
Ram Das Ab kahai pukari karo dur tum vipati hamari

Doha

त्राहि त्राहि दुःख हरिणी हरो बेगी सब त्रास जयति

जयति जय लक्ष्मी करो शत्रु का नास

Traahi Traahi Dukh Haarini, Haro Begi Sab Traas I
Jayati Jayati Jai Lakshmi, Karo Shatru Ko Naas II

रामदास धारी ध्यान नित विनय करत कर जोर

मातु लक्ष्मीदास पर करहु दया की कोर

Raamadaas Dhari Dhyaan Nit, Vinay Karat Kar Jor I
Maatu Lakshmiidas Par, Karhu Daya Kii Kor II

Diwali 2008

2008-10-30T20:23:00.003-04:00

Diwali this year was a lot of fun.... for the first time in a very long while, I actually felt like I celebrated Diwali in the spirits of Diwali (though it would have been fun to blow some crackers :-)

We had been preparing for this occasion for months now, but actually started really preparing for it since the last week only. We discussed the menu, worked on the layout of the apartment, started cleanup of all those dusty creepy corners where we would normally not care to go. Everything was going on as expected till we realized that we need to decide as to how are we gonna involve our friends with the "aartis" and "chalisas" which we would be reciting during the "puja" ? In the increasingly globalized society it is very important for people to include their friends, coworkers etc in their religious customs, traditions and believes so that others become aware of them and appreciate each other....
Of course, the first thing that came to out mind was just to google :-) and find out if we could find the hindi version of these along with the english transliterations and also the translation so that people can not only read hindi thru english but also understand the meaning of it..... googling thru thousands of websites, we found that we could either get scanned hindi texts or transliterations and very few translations.... since modern OCR software are not so capable of understanding anything but english, it became very apparent to us that we will have to do the hard work. I started by playing with Microsoft word and it's support of hindi. After a few trial and errors, I started typing some basic hindi alphabets and started making small sentences.... but i soon realized that it was a very tedious task and given the time constraint which i have, it was almost impossible to finish it.... a little more googling ---> and finally i got the break thru, google's very innovation Hindi transliteration tool.... www.google.co.in/transliterate/indic ... looked like a very breakthru technology to me, very easy to use and very accurate indeed..... i soon became a master of typing hindi :-)

I was very excited by the overcoming of this technological barrier... I came back home, we started preparing food: one sabzi, chole, plain rice, pooris, gujarati daal... and of course D's favorite yogurt and tamarind rice were yet to come to add spice in our lives:-)

Everyone came on time, though we started our prayers a little later than scheduled (yeah you got it, IST)..... I was a little nervous about where and how to start... i gave a little overview of Hindu Gods and then started my recitals.... it went much better than I had expected and my doubts about my hindi skills proved to be very unfounded (kinda excited about that)..... following the prayers we sat down for the most important part: food :-) everyone was very hungry and we ran towards the food like vultures.... the food was delicious (even though till that point we had not tasted it). We decided to sit on the floor instead of the sofa and chairs (thot it was more fun that way)... T and friends talked a lot about law school.. and law....

As people started leaving, we sat there thinking... that was a lot of fun... and for the first time in years I wish that Diwali comes soon next year.

the debate....

2008-10-15T23:00:00.001-04:00

Today was the day of the great American presidential debate..... We were sitting at our friends' down a block from our apartment on Massachusetts ave, enjoying some nice cocktails, savoring the delicious domino's pizza and eating pretzels! what else do you want for a evening well spent :-)

We did not even notice that the debate began as we were too busy chatting.... and making fun of each other... But as the debate progressed more and more, we finally understood that it was not the spiritless, monotonous, boring debate which the American public (and the whole world) has been watching for the past 2 times... finally we get the opportunity to hear the thoughts which 2 people have put into, people who are gonna govern this part of the world for the next 4 years.... and may be more....

As I was thinking about the debate, a thought just ran across my mind: why don't politicians in India have this kind of debate ? In the world's largest democracy why is this so difficult to achieve? Why is it that our politicians have the strength to organize huge crowds of people with thousands of trucks and cars and lorries running with them as part of their entourage, but can't get together in a town hall and discuss things quietly? To me it seems like the only way politicians can make a point in India is by yelling and screaming at each other and threatening to stop the traffic and halting the trains and buses. Has India's politicians lost the ability and patience to sit together and talk ? and then we boast about being a peace loving, vibrant democracy!

Indians talk about the American lifestyle, the hi tech gadgets, access to education, health care and the free society here; but they definitely fail to see what makes this society the way it is.

I feel that on some levels India is facing an identity crisis... it has forgotten the roots which our founding fathers had based this democracy on as we got independence from the British....

I think it's high time that Indians get their act together.. before it's too late... so that at least our children get the chance to live in a society where democracy has a meaning other than just taking the privilege of the right the speak....

Indian Ocean concert - Washington DC Metro Area

2008-09-28T14:09:00.002-04:00

The Association for India's Development (AID), a non-profit, organized an Indian Ocean concert. For all those folks who don't know what Indian Ocean band is - it's a band which started about 18 years ago and attempts to mix Indian classical music with western Jazz.... apparently (which I discovered yesterday) they started off as an intrumental only band and later advanced into vocal...

I hadn't heard a whole lot of IO music (don't be surprised with that considering they have done only some 30 or so songs over their 18 years history), except for a few like Kandisa, Maa Rewa etc... Yesterday they started off with one of their numbers "Kya Maloom" which was apparently composed during the height of the Kargil war between India and Pakistan.... One good thing about the band was that the guys are very ultra cool and chill types (thanks to their western education! one of the guys has a Phd in environmental toxicology from cornell). Before the start of any song, they would give a brief introduction of what it is about and that used to be really funny; I think the audience laughed more at the introductions than at any other time in the concert... the concert proceeded with more of their well known numbers like Kandisa, Maa Rewa, Hille Re, Bhor and several others.... after about an hour or so we took a short 10-15 min break and resumed after which they played for another 1.5-2 hours..... In some of the songs (like Maa Rewa) they tried to mix a lot of Jazz like instrumental music which I don't think is actually there in the original music itself. Sometimes it fell like an overkill- the music itself is so good that it didn't really need any more fusion... but anyways....

If I have to say on a scale of 1-10 how I found the concert, I would say 7... why not more than that? hmmm, there were a few things about the organization of the entire concert which really bothered me, not to mention the fact that it started almost an hour after it was scheduled to start due to "technical difficulties". For one, it didn't seem like the audience itself was thought about in the entire organization.... there were no signs about which line is the food line and which is the ticket or the food coupon line.... people were just supposed to know that by intuition..... the IO CDs did not have a listing of the songs on their back; how is the audience supposed to know what they are buying if they don't know the songs? The other thing which really bothered me was the "run for India" presentation they made.... it was the most poorly made presentation I have ever seen... for someone who had not seen the run, it was almost impossible to find out what it was.... there was no connection made to the fact that it was done as part of the Marine Corps Marathon.. and of course when the run is actually conducted wouldn't be known had the IO guys not mentioned it to the audience.... there were no names mentioned for the runners in any of the slides and no captions whatsoever..... on some levels it felt like an insult for all those volunteers who had spent so much time and effort on the run....

Anyways, for everything there was, I think it was a fun concert...... AID did a good job raising money for all those poor, hapless people who lost their everything in Bihar floods.......

2008-09-17T23:13:00.002-04:00

A CNN economist told on CNN today that it is perhaps not all that bad and things can be much worse..... She even went on to say that the "world is not coming to an end"....... coincidence when just the other day I wrote that it seems like the world was coming to an end....

The Wall street saga does not seem to be ending- AIG and then WaMU.... wonder where it is all gonna stop....

On the more fun stuff - apparently McCain is not sure whether the economy is strong or not... on Monday, he said that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong" and then an hour later he told another group of audience that "fundamentals of our economy is in danger" or something similar to this.... and today, Sarah Palin goes on defending him.... wonder what's gonna happen to these 2 fellas...

world coming to an end ?

2008-09-16T21:04:00.002-04:00

Seems like it is the end of everything.....The Wall Street is coming down to its heels, the global economy slowing down, terrorism at its extreme, doesn't anyone wonder if the world is coming to and end ?

Just the other day as I was watching television eagerly listening to how big companies like Merill Lynch, Lehman, AIG and several others are on the verge of bankrupcy, my wife suddenly comments from the background as she was reading her law school books - honey, i feel like the world is coming to an end..... I really did not think about it until it finally made it through my mind, what has the world done of itself?

As if it is not enough that everything is getting so screwed up, we have some very interesting characters who are ready to rock the world with their completely delusional view of the world - Mr. McCain and Madame Palin.....

A Cold Tuesday

2008-01-22T19:30:00.001-05:00

It was a cold Tuesday today... not as cold as yesterday, but as I have heard many places in the US are freezing right now..... Finally it seems like it is winter; otherwise among the so many worries in life, one would have to worry about global warming....

Work was as usual; government jobs are boring after all, doesn't matter whether it is the Indian government or the US government.... Sometimes, I don't understand why people don't want to work..... and why can't a government be more efficient than what it is?

The worst part is that the US economy is not doing that great either.... job addition is slow, companies are cutting on their work force and of course not to mention the subprime mortgage crisis which has crippled the entire world economy....

Liberty Mountain

2008-01-20T21:54:00.000-05:00

Hahaha! that was a wonderful experience going to Liberty Mountain....

As usual, we started off at our Indian Standard Time (IST): 11.30 AM Saturday, instead of the time me and Piyush had decided earlier (10.00 AM). Not that this wasn't expected :-) After driving for an hour and a half we drove to the muddy and marshy grounds of the parking lot of Liberty Mountains resort. Considering the fact that we were so late, we had to park towards the end of the parking lot in one parking spot which was perhaps one of the worse among all, the most marshy and watery. Forget about the car getting dirty, we were worried that out sneakers, shoes and clothes don't get soiled.

From the parking lot, we had to walk for about 10 min to the ticket counter where we bought the tickets for 77 bucks for the beginner package which included boots, skiis, beginner lesson and of course skiing for as much as we wanted to the rest of the day....

After buying the tickets, we headed towards a small room where boots, skiiks and other equipments could be rented. At first, everyone was scared to see the big, behemoth boots given to us by the nice girls (they were cute). We couldn't even figure out how to put our feet in them and how to tie them. After some playing around with them, I managed to put them on and also help others to put them.

We headed out into the wild cold and as soon as I attached my skis to my boots, I could barely control myself and started skiing wildly.... Oh well... that was exhilarating as well as scary...

We waited for a while to find out our instructor.... Our class began in a strange way and ended rather weirdly.... As usual, our class consisted of 100 % Indians and Chinese (an issue which has been arising rather frequently in my life these days; more of this topic some other time) Other than me, Tina, Piyush and Deepthi there was another Indian couple and a Chinese couple. In the beginning we learned a few nuisances of skiing and following that we boarded the "lift" which took us to the top of a small "mountain". We didn't know how to disembark off from the lift and all of us literally fell on the top of each other as we got off. At this point, our instructor had formally asked us to start sliding, taking right and left turns, stopping and starting off again... And this was the real bad part... We used to get up after falling and then fall again.. and again.... The other Indian couple had a real bad time as the girl could barely do anything except falling and wasting time getting up.... But it was all fun.... hahaha... we managed to do a few rounds of going up the hill and sliding.... after about 4 rounds all of us were tired as hell (I am not sure if Piyush was also tired, but he did complain about his infamous "Ligament" problem).

We decided to go to the restaurant and eat something as none of us had the energy to go back to the car and eat the stuff which we bought with us... We ate a veggie burger, pizza , chips and drank hot cappuccino.

Oh well, all that was a lot of fun.... we will definitely do that again... perhaps in some other ski resort and not anytime soon.... :-)

Going to Liberty

2008-01-19T09:21:00.000-05:00

Tina and me and our close friends, Piyush and Deepthi are going together to Liberty mountain resort for skiing.... that should be a lot of fun.... almost all of us are first-timers... so don't laugh if we break our bones and do something stupid! hehe... will keep you guys posted...

Google Apps

2008-01-18T16:26:00.000-05:00

This is really cool! Now I can manage my custom domain email and a lot of stuff using google.... Now, one can get "Gmail", "Docs", "Chats", "Calendar" and a bunch of other stuff which used to be available to google users for one's own custom domain... how cool is that :)

You know what the sad part is: this is one of the thousand ways google is enveloping your life... The day is not far away when most tech savvy people will be managing most aspects of their life using google one way or another....

But instead of being a doomsday predictor let me come to the bright side of it... Google is making out life increasingly simple to manage....

So don't be surprised when you are surfing the internet tomorrow (of course searching using google and checking email using gmail and so-on and so-forth) and you come across a new service which helps you in....... well...... something interesting...... like......

...To be continued...

The start....

2008-01-18T12:29:00.000-05:00

Well, well, well, here is a blog from somebody claiming to be a "javatarian". My first blog! Sounds exciting. Not sure what this freaky word "javatarian" means? Neither am I. This word definitely does not exist in a dictionary (at least not that I am aware of). Hopefully my blogs over the years justify it!