Easter Trip 2008- Part 2

Day 3: Our first stop was the Buckingham palace. The change of guards at the palace is touted as a must see and so we set forth to catch the action on time. By the time we reached the palace, it was teeming with tourists and finding a vantage point seemed impossible. The group split up and for a while each one seemed to be on his own. Somehow all of us managed to individually find spots from where we managed to see the entire ceremony and it was definitely worth the hype. From here we walked out towards Trafalgar square. As was the case on my last visit, this time also I did not have the time to visit the National Gallery situated right opposite the square. After a quick lunch nearby, we proceeded to Baker Street, not to meet Mr. Holmes, but to the equally famous Madam Tussauds wax museum. Inside the museum, the group was like kids inside a candy store; totally delirious and wanting a piece of everything around. Kiran, am sure, got his photo clicked beside every single celebrity statue inside, giving special attention to the ladies. Hollywood/ history/ royalty/ sports / science/bollywood music all sections were covered. The newly unveiled Salman Khan statue seemed quite popular, so did Jack sparrow and Gandhi. I found George Bush to be hideous and the one of the British royal family splendid. But other than statues, there was something else in the museum which we ventured into – the scary dungeon which is a walk though a dimly lit, narrow path, with unexpected scares expected around the corner. On my visit earlier with Rusa we had chosen not to try this, but this time with a larger group I was bold enough. We thought we might be looking at more statues of murderers and infamous men, but had not bargained to run into live actors impersonating devils/ vampires/ and killers and scaring the living daylights out of us. Kiran had his eyes closed the entire stretch and yelled out howls which would have woken up his ancestors from their grave. Shubhada started questioning the logic of live actors coming too close for comfort, little realizing that logic was the last on their minds. I was bringing up the rear and I was scared to my wits. The only unfazed person seemed to be Kirti who returned the cold stares of these actors. This testing experience aside, the time spent in Madam Tussauds was enjoyable.

Day 4: We were due to catch a morning train from Paddington station to go to Bath. For some reason the underground s operation was suspended and we had to catch a bus to get to Paddington. We got into one of the famed Double Decker London buses and soon we were at Paddington. Previously, I have run into Tamilians at unexpected places like San Sebastian and this time as me and Kiran were deliberating about something at the ticket counter, we heard a Tamil voice addressing from behind the counter. An ex Loyolite now settled in London, he helped clear what ever doubts we had and directed us to the platform.

After a short uneventful train ride, we alighted at Bath amidst pouring rain and dampness. Our YMCA hostel was about 10 minutes walk from the station and with the rain showing no signs of abating; we trundled on in the rain to the hostel. By the time we were ready to move, the sun had come out and we made our way to the Great Bath, from which the city has derived its name. A Roman discovery, this place was established as a spa resort in the ages gone by thanks to the naturally occurring hot springs. Today the Bath is one of the most visited tourist places in Great Britain and a UNESCO world heritage site. An impressive audio guide helps you to understand the history and significance of the bath and you can visit the museum, temple and also the spring. Tourists are not allowed to enter into the water though there is enough history in the place to keep you occupied. Right next to the Bath is the majestic Bath Abbey. A quick tour of the Abbey followed after which we caught a hop on hop off bus which was to take us on a tour of the city as well as the surrounding hills of Bath. The live commentary given by a raconteur of a man was enjoyable as we were told about famous sons and daughters of Bath, celebrity guests and residents. At the end of the hop ride we alighted at the Royal crescent- majestic building housing flats, museums and offices. As the name suggests, the building takes a shape of a semi circle that extends across what seems like a small hill and it is simply a spectacular sight.

Day 5: We left Bath early in the morning back to London via a short hop at Oxford. The weather was typical English – cold, gloomy and with intermittent rains. We really could not enjoy our stay at Oxford due to the conditions, but still managed to take a bus ride around the town and catch a glimpse of the various colleges that make the city what it is. By nightfall we had reached Stansted. It made sense to book hostels at Stansted with early morning flights to catch. Most of the hostels offer free pick up and drop to the airport and that’s such a boon as finding public transport in the early hours was going to be impossible. By next day noon all of us back at our respective cities and now I don’t recall if I did manage to go to work the same day. Knowing me I would have, at least to upload all the photos.

Easter Trip 2008 - Part 1

Easter weekend is a sought after holiday period in Europe. Given that you have a long weekend stretching to almost 5 days and that normally spring is around the corner during this period, Easter vacations are looked forward to. Last year I had flown down to Antwerp and explored Antwerp, Brussels, Gent, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. This time, the general consensus from the Junta was that Easter 2008 was to be spent in UK. All of us Maersk expatriates by now had been told that we were going to head back home during summer and we felt that it would be a shame to have spent close to 2 years in Europe and not visit UK. I had already covered London a few months back, but one visit doesn’t do justice to the great city. So a plan was chalked out covering London, Bath (Thank you, Jane Austen) and Oxford.

Day 1: Me, Kiran, Jigna and Shubhada reached London by 7 in the evening and checked into our hostels. Given that I and Kiran were dying for south Indian food the first plan was to visit the Saravana Bhavan restaurant at Rayners Lane. We were at Stamford Brook and we left around 8ish in the evening in search of Saravana Bhavan. But due a mistake in reading the underground map, we found ourself on a tube to Heathrow. By the time we got down and changed trains it was already quite late and trains were also not too regular. With a heavy heart we had to postpone the plan and returned to Stamford Brook for a sedate dinner.

Day 2: Kirti and Kamal joined us overnight. Their flight from CPH was delayed; they missed the Stansted express and managed to somehow reach the hostel by a combination of buses, taxis and walking in the biting cold. After breakfast, we headed out towards the most iconic symbol of London- the Big Ben. After the customary photo sessions with the Big Ben and the Parliament house in the background and on the Thames Bridge, we walked towards London s newest big attraction- The Millennium wheel. I had been on this earlier, back in cold January and the ride had been uneventful as the rain and clouds hampered any decent views. This time thankfully the sun was out and we could look out of the space capsules and spot various London landmarks on all four directions. A definite must visit.

The waiting time for the tickets / the q for the ride and ride itself took close to two hours, after which we decided to walk down along the Thames walk for a while looking at the street performers and mingling with seemingly endless tourists. On my visit I had been to the Wagamama restaurant at Piccadilly and found the food to be very good, and so suggested that we have our lunch at the Wagamama on the Thames Walk. We were not disappointed; the place is value for money.

We retraced our steps back to the Big Ben and further down towards Westminster Abbey. The scene of various coronations and famous burials ( think Da Vinci code- “The Knight A pope interred” ), Westminster is a UNESCO World heritage site and rightly so. From here we made our way to the Tower of London. With a history of more than a thousand years and having enough stories about it to fill a library of books, the place radiates history all around. It has been a fortress, a castle, a prison, a torture chamber and much more. Now it is a historical monument with a royal armory and most famously the seat of the crown Jewels including India s own Kohinoor. We walked around the Tower listening to stories of the Kings and Queens gone by, of betrayal and savagery, of ghost sightings and famous prisoners. We watched in awe at the crown jewels on display and spent time at the chapel inside. Next stop was the Tower Bridge, which almost everyone unfamiliar with London, mistakes to be the London Bridge. A suspension and bascule bridge which allows for small vessels to pass through it, the tower bridge is a widely recognized London symbol.

With the visits for the day being done, we turned our attention again towards Saravana Bhavan. From Tower hill we made our way all the way to Rayners lane. By the time we got there it was already dark and the cold was biting, the strong winds not helping us either. We had to walk a small distance in the cold to locate the place, only to find that it was full and we would have to wait. But the moment we entered, the familiar aroma of the place came back to me in a torrent, and Id have gladly waited all night to have a seat. We did get our corner and were ready to order everything on the menu. Among the 6 of us we ordered enough food to feed a village. Blame it on a year of Scandinavian food. After having devoured idly , dosas and uttapas of various size and shapes, there was still place left for the ubiquitous thayir-sadam ( curd rice), that must eat dish for any self respecting Tamil.

London trip - Jan 2008

Phew... Finally, have managed to put some keystrokes to MS word after almost 2 years. This post is to be read as a sequel, to my earlier one “New Year. Old habits” and half of it were written while I was still in Sweden.

The Ryan air flight from Gothenburg to Stansted, London was scheduled to leave at 9 15 pm, and perhaps as is the case with all the low cost airlines in the world, it took off 30 minutes late. Among the host of things that they sell onboard the aircraft, the most useful thing to buy is a ticket for the Stansted express - the train that you need to take from Stansted to London. It comes cheaper than the counter price at the airport and also you save time as you can head straight off for the train after you have finished your passport stamping. The trip from Stansted to London Liverpool Street took 45 minutes and from there, another 45 minutes before I could finally reach my hostel, which was located at west Kensington. It would be good to keep in mind that the underground stops after 1 am and so if you are dependent on it for reaching your hostel, plan accordingly. As I traveled on the tube and started hearing the public talk in English and noticed the signboards and announcements in English, I realized how much of a difference the knowledge of the language makes. It instantly puts you in a comfort zone and you tend to relax even though I was in a new city at it was half past midnight. While almost everybody in Gothenburg can speak in English, it is not the first choice. The announcements, the advertisements and the idle talk are not in English.

The hostel I was put up in was located in a good locality and also was extremely comfortable. It was a far cry from the small and slightly shady hostels I had been in some parts of Spain. This one had 80 percent rating on hostel world written all over it. The next morning as I drew the curtains out, I was half expecting sunshine and as I had thought it was raining. I had time till the evening to kill before my friend Rusa joined me from Gothenburg. Like a true tourist, my first stop in the morning was the Big Ben. The most definitive symbol for London , located right next to the Thames and with the Parliament house and the West minister Abbey nearby The most popular attraction of London this century - the London eye was my next stop. As luck would have it, they were closing it down for maintenance and I managed to get onboard the last flight before it shut down for 2 weeks. But it was still raining and in effect the so called spectacular view of London was ruined. After an uneventful 30 minute ride, I was back on terra firma and started walking further down along the Thames.

As the rain started getting heavier, I needed a place for shelter and I went inside the Tate Modern - the museum of modern art. A modest and ordinary looking building from outside, the Tate has about 6 levels of art and other exhibits inside its cavernous interior. As the name suggests, it comprises of modern art and I found it difficult to understand what on earth most of the paintings and art work meant. I remember seeing one huge canvas hung on the wall, entirely blue in color with a reddish line drawn through it. How much ever I try to interpret it, I could not come up with any meaningful ones. I continued my walk along the Thames covering the Globe theatre, the Millennium Bridge, the St.Pauls cathedral, then further down towards the HMS Belfast and finally the Tower Bridge. There was an exhibition of some fantastic sports photographs on the walkway near to the HMS Belfast and I spent the maximum time looking at them.

After Rusa checked in by evening, our first stop was the Piccadilly Circus. As we stepped out into the street up from the underground station, the first thing that we saw was the famous neon signs that have come to symbolize Piccadilly Circus. We walked along the public space, past the fountains and onwards towards Leicester square. The box offices were in full swing selling tickets for the weekend shows. We walked around the various by lanes, dipping in and out of china town, having a look at the various listings for musicals and movies playing and walked our way towards the Trafalgar square. Since it was quite dark and the rain had not abated, we quickly made our way back towards Piccadilly and further walked on to the Hard rock cafe. After a couple of drinks and some wasted food (thanks to a wrong decision with regards to ordering the food) we were back in the hostel.

Day 2 was a day of glorious sunshine. This made me believe that it doesn’t actually rain everyday in London. We started the day at the Big Ben again, and walked through the St.James Park towards the Buckingham palace. Since the palace interiors were closed for visitors during this part of the year, we had to make do with just a peep in through the massive gates and generally walk around. From the palace we walked along the red colored road called ' The Mall ' down towards the Admiralty arch and onwards to the Trafalgar square. Before getting to the square we stopped over at the Horse guards’ parade, where a change of guard ceremony was taking place. We had missed the more famous change of guard at the Buckingham palace, so had to make do with the one here. Trafalgar square was our next stop. This site celebrates the British naval victory in the battle of Trafalgar. The national gallery (a place which I have sadly missed, in spite of two trips to London) is at one end and the imposing Nelsons column is in the centre which is guarded by 4 giant Lions. It was interesting to note that the fountains in the square were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who later had designed New Delhi.

We walked towards Leicester square and after a quick lunch, we reserved tickets for Les Miserables later in the day. Since we could get tickets only for the afternoon show, we had to postpone Madam Tussauds for the next day. Colloquially knows as Les Mis, this is one of the longest running shows in the London west end - 22 years and counting. The story of Jean Valjean, Javert, Cosette and others set in 19th century France had us captivated and I was bowled over by my first experience of watching a musical.

Next was Oxford Street. Considered to be Europe s busiest shopping street, it was packed to its seams on that Friday evening. We walked the entire length of the street, gaping at the various marquee names that had their flagship stores along the way. Virgin, Disney, GAP, Marks and Spencer, UCB, Selfridges among others. Meanwhile Rusa s long running search for a new Digital camera continued in London as well, and as has been the case for a long time, the search ended with no purchase.

Next day was Madam Tussauds day. Guess for any first time visitor to London, this is a must visit place. And it certainly did not disappoint me, living up to the massive hype that this place has. Right from the moment you step out of the elevator to the light and sound of flashlights welcoming you like a celebrity ,till you come out of the place a couple of hours later, this museum does not disappoint. For me of particular interest were the Indian film stars, with SRK s statue placed right in front as one enters the Hollywood section!! Sports, movies, music, leaders, and royalty they were all there and sometimes we had to wait for a few minutes to get an opportunity to click a picture next to one.

By the time we had covered Tussauds it was too late in the day to get to the Tower Hill. We had to make do by just walking on the Tower bridge and taking a view of the city from there and retired to the hostel as we had an early morning flight to catch back to Gothenburg next day. But the drama was not over yet, the next morning we had to be at Liverpool street station early morning around 4 30ish in time to catch the Stansted express to the airport. We had to change buses twice to get to Liverpool Street, and we ended up missing one of them thanks to the fact that we are a stop where the buses stop only if you put your hands out and signal. Probably the bus driver mistook us for two homeless souls taking shelter in the bus stop from the rain and drove straight past us. We had to go through some tension filled minutes before the next bus came along. Thankfully we reached in time to catch the express and subsequently the flight to Gothenburg.

Kung Fu Panda

Am a big sucker for animation movies. I have enjoyed every single movie of that genre that I have watched. Be it all those wonderful movies that come from that fail safe company called Pixar or the blockbuster Shrek and Ice age series, animation movies are the best in the business in my opinion. This year Dr.Seuss's Horton hears a who has received rave reviews and also is a box office success and needless to say i enjoyed it.The next big thing this year would be Wall E , which going by its trailers looks a sure shot pixar winner all the way. But then yesterday I stumbled upon another animation movie that is releasing this summer and I died laughing watching its trailer.

It is called Kung Fu Panda and it is about the laziest Panda in Ancient China that has to be taught Kung Fu , since it is the chosen one. Cool plot eh ? Check out the trailers here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMeA9Jvf3TU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR4TIYEAmIk&feature=related

I cant wait for the movie to come out. It has an impressive voice cast comprising of Jack Black as the Panda, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan and Seth Rogen and looks all out hilarious. I died laughin watching the trailers.

Prepare for Awesomeness. Go Panda.

Talking of Seth Rogen, also check out "Pineapple express" trailers on youtube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=AZ07JO-SaBc

The guys who gave Superbad and Knocked Up are ready with the next offering and this one promises to be quite a ride as well.

Wish i was there...

I got the idea about this post last year, while up in the skies on an airplane flying towards Helsinki. It was a September evening and I was proceeding towards the Finnish capital for a meeting the next day and my mind was somewhere else. Not even the cold, dry and tasteless sandwich served aboard the SAS flight could shake my thoughts. And my thoughts were in far away Johannesburg. It was the day of the 20-20 world cup finals. India was taking on Pakistan in cricket’s newest show piece event and I was here in this damned aluminum tube with no freaking way of knowing what was happening in the match. Oh, what I would have given to have been there that evening in Johannesburg to witness the drama unfolding live. A once in a lifetime chance. That got me thinking about some other sports events which I would have loved to have been a part of and witness it real-time. Just a fantasy thought. Since I don’t want to travel too much farther back in the past, I start from the turn of the 90s. And tried to cover as many different sports as possible. Wish i was here..

90- Tokyo. The biggest upset in boxing. The ‘Buster’ing of the Iron Mike. Tyson probably never recovered from this fall.

91– Chicago.His Airness Jordan’s first NBA title with the Bulls. The world’s first sports + commercial superstar?

92- Barcelona. To see archer Antonio Rebollo fire the burning arrow to light the Olympic flame. Tough to match this breathtaking start.

93 - Old Trafford. Manchester. Shane Warne. Ball of the century.

94 - New York, US open tennis. An Unseeded Andre Agassi winning his home slam. Also the last one before he turned bald, en route to being the elder statesman from the rebel.

95 - Melbourne, Australian open QF. Sampras vs. Courier. An epic match: when Sampras won it for Tim.

96 – Atlanta. Michael Johnson’s 200-400m Olympic double. The man with the golden shoes.

97 - Augusta. To see the Tiger roar into the world of professional golf. The man who transcends greatness.

98 – Sharjah. Sachin Tendulkar vs. Australia; the closest that ever came to Bradman. Cricket is my religion. Sachin is my God.

99 - Barbados. Brian Lara 153 no vs. Australia. 3rd Test. Perhaps the greatest innings in Cricket.

00 - Champs Elysees, Paris. Lance Armstrong winning the second of his 7 Tour de France titles. Don’t ask me why specifically 2000, I had to put him somewhere.

01 - Wimbledon. Wildcard Goran Ivanisevic finally winning in his fourth final. A fairytale script if ever there was one.

02 – French Grand prix. Yet another Schumacher special. He completed a hat-trick of titles and equaled Fangio’s record of 5 titles, with 6 races to spare.

03 - Sydney. To see Johnny Wilkinson kick England to the Rugby world cup.

04 - Boston. To see the red sox break the curse of the bambino. A game I don’t follow. But the history of the 86 year curse and it being broken is too interesting to be missed.

05 - Istanbul. Liverpool´s champions league victory - the Reds renaissance. A game I do follow and a team I support. A magical night.

06 – Berlin. The world cup final .Zizou’s last waltz. Yes, the head butt as well.

07 – But of course, Johannesburg, the 20-20 Finals. India – World champions. Happens once in a generation.

For the love of the Tube...

“You are fascinated by the metro, aren’t you '? That was the question a friend of mine asked me , as she noticed that I was lost in the London underground map for a considerable amount of time, while the rest of the group were busy with other things. And my answer was a very energetic nod of my head. I am indeed fascinated by the underground transport system called the metro or subway or underground or tube or T bana or whatever in various cities of the world.

The first thing that I do after reaching a new city is to grab a copy of the metro map. The maze of different lines criss- crossing each other in the map captivates me no end. My first experience in one of these underground systems was when we did a Paris trip in April 2005. Initially the map looked all confusing, but after the first trip to get to the airport to our hostel, I already had got a hang of it. And when I compared the metro map to the over ground road map of Paris, the real simplicity and ease of the metro struck me. What was a labyrinth of roads and complicated routes over ground was filtered down to just 2 metro lines, taking me from point A to point B in 20 minutes flat. The metro system of course is as complicated as the roads in terms of the physical layout of the underground, but we are made oblivious of it. That for me was the beauty of it. That under the chaotic exterior, there is a big network underground, but which does not awe you with its complexity, instead making your travel quite simple.

Having had to use public transport in both Madras and Bombay as part of my work, and seen the trouble with them, perhaps my fascination for these underground systems only grew more. So much so that I used to frequent the Subway outlet in GN Chetty road, Chennai because every table had a different city metro map laid out under a glass covering. So if one day I was having a Chicken Teriyaki poring over the New York subway map, the next day I was devouring a tuna sub looking at the Tokyo system.

As my trips abroad increased and I started visiting more cities, I started becoming a metro devotee. I created imaginary metro lines that could run in Bombay and Chennai which solves the problem of the overcrowded suburban trains and make life easier for the masses in these cities who struggle no end everyday using the existing modes of transport. The fact that the unique elevated transport system in Chennai ( MRTS) was being criminally under utilized and not getting enough patronage troubled me no end. Every new government coming in to power in Tamil Nadu had a new idea. If someone suggested light rail, the other suggested mono rail while no one seemed to be bothered about the MRTS not functioning well

Finally some sane heads worked on it and now the subway plan is up and running. The routes have been finalized, the locations for constructing the stations identified and things going ahead. The project is being undertaken by the Delhi metro guys, who have given a world class metro system in Delhi and in quick time.

The Chennai metro is slated for completion sometime in 2014. More information and the proposed corridor can be found here.

http://www.chennaimetrorail.gov.in/Proposed_Corridors.htm

Add the current suburban tracks and the elevated MRTS to the metro network and Chennai will have a comprehensive transport system. The MRTS is getting better patronage now that it has been extended to Velachery and in the future if it goes up to St.Thomas Mount where it would meet the proposed metro line , then a circle gets completed which would cover most parts of the city. Three different rail systems would take the load off the roads to a great extent and also make travel faster. And I believe and hope that they day is not far off.

So here is for all the metro systems in the world and the one coming up in Chennai. You bet I would be one of the first to hop on to that when it starts functioning.

New Year. Old Habits.

Active when it comes to travelling. Lazy when it comes to blogging about it.

In 2008 , have been to 2 new cities, places which I have been on my list for a long time .London and Berlin. As per Wikipedia (bless it), 2 among the 5 most visited cities in Europe – Paris, Madrid and Rome being the others. My interpretation of make hay while the sun shines is travel as much while the expat lasts. But so far haven’t penned down anything about these visits. I will start today with how it all started for the London trip and then try to finish the rest as soon as possible.

The first trip was to London in the second week of January. And this was a trip that could have very well not happened if not for a flawed finger print recording machine at the British embassy in Stockholm. Let me explain.

The plan for London was on an extremely short notice. Till as late as Christmas there was no concrete plan. But availability of extremely cheap tickets and holidays and company of a good friend for the trip meant I was going to give it a shot. But there was the small matter of getting a UK visa. With some luck I managed to get an appointment in the British embassy in Stockholm 2 days before my flight. I took an early morning train and was there at the appointed time. The so called interview meant handing over documents to a person over the counter, answering a few basic questions and giving a scan of your fingerprints. After which I was told that IF my application was accepted, it would be couriered to me. I knew that some of my friends had obtained their visa the same day of application, so was not sure why I was getting this treatment. Also with just 2 days to go for the trip, waiting for a visa over the post was not what I wanted. Flight tickets, trip to Stockholm and all that would amount to zilch. My pleas about a confirmed flight ticket fell on deaf ears and so I trudged back to downtown with my prospects of a London visit bleaker than the Stockholm weather at that moment.

But then the luck turned its tide with a call after half an hour of so. The person at the other end was from the embassy and explained that my prints had not come out properly and I would have to come back to the embassy to give it. She profusely apologized for the fault in their finger print machine and the inconvenience I was being put in. she had assumed that I was already half way to Gothenburg. Little did they know that my train back to Gothenburg was at 8 in the night and I had another 9 hours to kill in cold, rainy Stockholm. I pretended that I was already in the station ready to board my train, put on my salesman hat and said that if I was to come there, then I wanted the visa to be given the same day itself. Since I was putting myself to inconvenience I needed this in bargain. Well, the deal was made and I returned back, gave my fingerprints and after a few hours had the UK visa in hand. That tells us another thing; they can indeed issue a visa the same day if the papers are in order, but they still want to courier it and also charge you 80 kroner for that.

Anyway I returned to GOT with visa in hand and was looking forward to 3 days in London. As my friend said when I told her the above story; Sometimes one should not be complaining about the inconveniences caused. Because it may lead to a greater good. Quite a cheesy line. But was true for me that day.

Scandinavia Trip - Bergen

The second part of the Scandinavia trip was the one we were most looking forward to. The trip to Bergen.We had an early morning train to Bergen. While researching for the trip, I had read that the Oslo-Bergen rail route was perhaps one of the most beautiful in the world. Naturally I was cock a hoop with excitement right from the time the train pulled out of Oslo around 6 30 am. The first hour and a half was sedate with the usual sights of pretty little villages, streams and rivers running along the tracks. But soon the scenery started getting better and better as the last traces of habitation seemed to go away. From the giant windows of our train we were seeing some breathtaking views ; pristine blue water stretching for miles on end, steep gorges and valleys, fjords, green covered hills, distant snow capped mountains, an idyllic village now and then. Basically, Mother Nature in all her unspoilt glory.The sun was shining bright and the spotless blue sky only added to the beauty that we were witnessing. The train passed through bridges and tunnels and each time it crossed a tunnel, it will come out presenting a scene more beautiful than before. Our eyes were glued to the windows and our cameras were always ready to take pictures. It was as good a train ride I had ever been on and all that i had read about were so true.

After 7 hours on the train, we reached the Atlantic coastal city of Bergen, the second biggest city in Norway. The main agenda in Bergen was to find a good fjord cruise tour, on which we could explore of the many celebrated fjords around Bergen. So soon we went checking for the right deal and managed to find one for the next day, which promised a cruise around the Hardaenger fjord.

We had the evening to spend, and we decided to explore the city on foot, which I belive is the best way to see a city, especially a smaller one like this. We walked to the Bryggen, a UNESCO heritage site, which is a series of buildings built close knit to each other on one side of the fjord which comes into Bergen. We were told that the best view of Bergen and the fjord around it was from atop the hill Floyen. We preferred to walk up the hill and not to take the funicular railway. As we walked up, we realized that Bergen was not only fjord country, but also Troll country, for there were statues and images of Trolls of various sizes and shapes along the way. After an hours climb we reached the top and indeed the view from there was mind blowing. One could see the entire city, the fjords coming into from the sea , the hills all around the place and the surrounding islands. Dinner soon beckoned and we found an Indian restaurant in Bergen, run by Tamils. The people running the restaurant were more surprised in finding Indian customers, and that too a Tamil speaking one, than we in locating an Indian restaurant in far flung Bergen. This was the second instance of me running into a Sri Lankan Tamil in the least unexpected of places. The previous instance being the one where we met a Tamil family from Berlin on the beach at San Sebastian.

After 2 days of marvelous weather, our luck ran out the next day. We woke up to a gloomy and rainy Bergen, not the right climate for a fjord cruise. But it was not any surprise, since we were told beforehand that rain is always in the air in Bergen and that we cannot escape it. Nevertheless we boarded the bus which would take us to the departure point situated an hour away. Being the off season, the boat was sparse and the rain had sort of dampened the enthusiasm inside. We were soon cruising on the Hardaenger fjord, which we were told was one of the biggest. Thankfully soon the rain gave way to partial sunshine and we could go to the top deck and have a look. With sloping hills on either side all along the entire length of the fjord and with many smaller fjords branching out at a distance, it was indeed a sight to behold. Also one could see small villages in the distance and it was in one such village that we disembarked after cruising for a few hours. Lufthus, as the village was called, seemed an idyllic sleepy hamlet which one reads about in books. The local tourist office had already closed down since the season was over and so we were left to chalk out a plan for ourselves. And the only plan seemed to be to walk up the hills and see whatever we could. As we moved out of the main road into the dirt track, we noticed that we were in a farm – an Apple farm. And a huge one at that. We learnt soon that Lufthus was the largest apple growing centre in Norway. It was a new sight for us, to see apples grow on plants, yes; they were not apple trees, just plants which grow to about my height and sprouts apples all over. Lufthus was also noted for having a glacier not too far from there, and from a vantage point higher up in the hill, we could spot in the distance some snow covered peaks which we guessed might be the glacier the brochures mentioned. With rain and shine alternating, our walk was hampered now and then and we took refuge at a few places and we were expecting locals to give us the quizzical look. But it seemed to be a ghost town because apart from the few people we saw on the main road, we could not see anybody in the village or anywhere else that we walked by. The sight of three brown people walking around without any purpose in their far flung village on a rainy September day did not seem to interest of the locals at all.

This was a trip quite unlike any of the previous holidays, wherein we had been always on the move from one city to another, racing against time often and hoping to check out as many sights and sounds of the big city we were in. Paris, Rome, Madrid, Amsterdam etc. But now we were in a village in a remote part of Norway, with no agenda, nothing to do, and amidst breathtaking natural beauty. And I liked this.

In a few hours, we had to catch the ferry back to Bergen. The fjord cruise was good except for the dull climate most of the day. I can only imagine how more beautiful the place would have been if there was sunshine and clear skies. Later in the night we had the night train to Oslo. We did not reserve beds and chose to sit and travel, it was considerably cheaper. And with comfortable reclining seats, blankets and the like, the night passed without much discomfort. Just like spending time on a long haul flight.

We were back in Gothenburg next day afternoon. Good old rainy damp Gothenburg. Some things never change.

Scandinavia Trip - Oslo revisited.

I had visited Oslo earlier in the year on the Norwegian Independence Day. It was only a day trip and my take away from that trip was the sheer beauty of the countryside. Oslo as such seemed to be like any other city in this part of the world, though I may be wrong in judging that way basis only a few hours spent there. But whatever little I had seen of the hinterland was captivating and after the view of the Halden fjord from atop the hill I made a mental note to return to Norway soon and for a longer duration.

Along came September and with it a chance to visit Norway again. Well it was not that a chance presented itself, but we had a few days left in the leave balance and the idea was to use them fully. Since my co travelers – Kamal and Shubhada – had not seen any part of Sweden, we decided to spend 1 day in Stockholm followed by 3 days in Norway. Apart from Oslo, we were going to cover Bergen, considered to be the capital of the Fjord country.

We kicked off the trip a Tuesday morning catching one of the early trains to Stockholm. The weather played spoilsport and it was gloomy and rainy the entire day in the Swedish capital. Hence we could not cover as many places as we wanted, but compensated for that by means of an extended shopping trip around the old city of Gamla Stan buying things ranging from paintings to photographs to antique knives to ancient Viking board games. We returned to Gothenburg the same night, hoping for sunshine over the coming days.

We reached Oslo next day afternoon. The weather gods were kind towards us and the sun was shining bright in Oslo. Our hostel was just a few minutes walk from the station. Neat and comfortable, it was also the first hostel that I had seen which had a DVD player in the room. They had free DVDs to rent out, and would you believe it some Indian movies as well to choose from in their collection. More about that later. After keeping our bags there, we set out to explore the city. After walking around the Fort and the hill (explained in my previous post about Norway) we passed through the city hall, the Nobel peace museum and reached the seafront. We took a ferry to one of the nearby islands and visited the Viking ship museum. A smallish looking building from the outside, the façade did not really impress, perhaps maybe because we expected a grander building. However the displays inside ensures you do not worry about the building anymore. Housing almost fully restored ships from the Viking era and along with it a host of other articles and artifacts from that age, the museum if full of information. It was amazing to see that the Vikings conquered so many countries and explored far and wide using these small ships; actually they are just small catamarans compared to today’s ships. Add the fact that the technology then (700 -1100 CE) was primitive, knowledge of maps , currents, compasses and other navigational facilities were perhaps non existent, then the Viking conquests are nothing short a miracle. What was more interesting is that these ships were recovered not from any wreck in the sea, but from land, or more specifically buried underground. We learnt that it was ancient Viking custom to bury the kings or people of high importance along with one such ship and with a host of other things needed for the person to lead a comfortable life in his afterlife. Similar to how the Pharaohs of Egypt were buried in the pyramids with all riches, here too the Vikings were buried with every basic necessity and sometimes not so basic necessities. How else do you explain the fact that live horses , carriages and sometimes servants also were also buried along with the dead person? It must have been one hell of a graveyard, starting with a ship all the way to utensils, shoes and clothes.

After this eye opening trip to the Viking museum, we got back to Oslo and decided to check out the Vigeland sculpture park. Located not too far from the city centre, the sprawling park consists of hundreds of bronze and granite sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland – whom we decided to refer to as the Norwegian Gaudi, what with our Barcelona visit still fresh in the mind. As you walk towards the centre of the park, you cross a bridge and there are statues on either side, with the statue of a Little Angry boy being the most striking. Most of the statues showed humans in various activities. One weird statue had a man fighting off a few kids who it seemed were attacking him. The less violent ones had people embracing or just being happy with life. The centre of attraction in the park was the giant monolith. Situated atop an elevation with scores of complicated sculptures lining the steps that surround it, the monolith was an awesome piece of art. It depicts humans – hundreds of them, embracing one another and moving upwards towards the top of the monolith. A visit to this park should be on the list for anyone visiting Oslo.

Afterwards we walked towards the Royal palace and down to the hostel via Karl johans gate, the main tourist thoroughfare in Oslo.

After a quick dinner, we decided to make use of the DVD player in the room. We browsed through the available titles and selected a Hindi movie -NO ENTRY. It was one of those odd things, that of all places, we happened to watch this blockbuster movie in Oslo while we were well and truly in India when this movie was playing. Except for Anil Kapoor’s almost blonde hair and moustache and some totally unfathomable illogical scenes, the movie was fun. We dedicated the movie watching to Sid, a proclaimed No entry fan,and a constant companion on our trips ,whose wise insights into life and ideas to have fun on a trip was being sorely missed this time.

Summer in Spain.. The other cities..

Its December and winter is well and truly set here in Sweden, with darkness all around at 4 pm and temperatures dipping occasionally below 0. The only sunshine I can get now is by thinking of the summer that went past , and I realized that I had not yet completed the Spanish trip update.

Barcelona and Madrid were of course the cities that were first on the list when we drew up the plan for Spain. The question was which other part of Spain should we cover as part of the week long trip. We decided to do the North coast ; ride up North from Madrid to the Asturias country and travel along the coast towards San Sebastian and Bilbao , and from there do a coast to coast marathon and drive all the way down to Barcelona. It seemed we were biting more than what we could chew and decided to join the North coast further down at Santander and gave up the idea of Oviedo and Gijon. And in hindsight it turned out to be a right decision.

After marveling at the sights of Segovia , we were in for a longish trip Northwards towards Santander. At some point along the way , we missed a turn and instead of being on the right road as per our via Michelin printouts , we were on some sort of state highway towards Santander. It was the second slip up the same day ,nevertheless we were on the way to Santander. The trip began with the familiar sight of parched plains and bare yellow-brownish countryside. But soon the scenery started shifting. We encountered ragged mountains and hills with the roads starting to twist and turn along the climb. As we started climbing further up the temperatures outside started dropping and mist and fog descended out of nowhere.. The visibility was down to a few feet and with a shaky yours truly at the wheel , things weren’t exactly hunky dory inside the 8 seater Volkswagen. After sometime we got back to the plains and it seemed we had reached a whole different place. With lush greenery all around it seemed we were a world away from the dry settings of Madrid and Segovia.

By evening we had reached Santander town. As would be the cause through out the trip, we had to spend time trying to locate our hostel and also spend time getting a parking spot for the car. We only had the evening to cover what ever we could of the city and we decided to head straight to the Sardinero beach. Since it was late evening, venturing out to the sea didn’t seem a good idea and we instead walked along the promenade and rounded off with dinner outside the Casino. We could not spend as much time as we hoped we could , mainly because of the various detours and delays on the road earlier in the day. Next morning , it was travel time again. Along the coast towards San Sebastian . We had heard from many people that the this route along the coast will be perhaps the best drive and it turned out to be one. With the sea on one side and green covered hills on the other side , the drive indeed was quite breathtaking. Except for a slightly longish traffic jam due to an accident , which robbed us of a precious hour or two, things went as planned. We were in the Basque country by afternoon and we drove straight to the La concha beach The weather again was looking to play spoilsport with clouds looming large. Thankfully , soon the clouds gave way for glorious sunshine and within no time the beach was full of people. Sun, sand and beaches. This was what we had in mind when we set out for Spain and here it was right before us. Unlike Santander, we had quite some time in hand in San Sebastian and we spent all of them in the beach, not bothering to check any sights and sounds in the city.

We had booked our hostel for the night in Bilbao , since we could not find any reasonably priced hostels in San Sebastian. Next morning , we decided to check out the Guggenheim musuem, which was the only thing we had heard about in Bilbao. This Art musuem is more famous for its structure that what is on display inside. The Frank Gehry designed building has been hailed as one of the most spectacular buildings of the world. I had heard of the structure and its famed design from an architect friend many years ago and ever since was looking forward to seeing the building, and not much the musuem it itself. And that is what we did , we drove towards the museum, walked around the building and did the tourist thing of taking pictures around it and not bothering to go inside. One more in the list of places to see was covered.

After Bilbao, we set out on the longest drive of the trip towards Barcelona. We reached there in a little over 6 hours which was faster than expected. The only exciting part of the drive was at a certain point where a board said that we were crossing the Greenwich meridian. I don’t really now understand what is the big significance of crossing the meridian, but we were quite kicked about that on that day.

After spending almost 3 days in Barcelona, we kicked off the penultimate part of the trip. To Valencia. We drove along the Medditeranean coast. An uneventful but picturesque drive with the blue Mediterranean giving us company all along the way. In Valencia , we first checked out the City of Art and Sciences , a set of different buildings hosting a planetarium, an Opera house, an oceanographic park and a Science museum. The buildings were awesome and captivating. With artificial water bodies surrounding the buildings, the place had a distinctly modern feel to it and fitted the bill of a Science city. Next we went to the Valencia Cathedral , which many people believe is holds the Holy Grail . Yes, the very same Holy grail about which all the big fuss was created in the book “ The Da Vinci Code” . Never knew that finding the holy grail was so easy. Board a flight to Valencia, go to the cathedral and lo the Holy Grail is there for you. But we were late in getting there and so we missed catching a glimpse of the Holy Grail. Later in the day, finding our hostel for the night turned out to be more tougher than finding the grail , as we spent more than an hour trying to get to our hostel. Ironically the hostel was quite near to where we had started out first. Lesson: people of Valencia not to be trusted with giving directions. Thanks to them we were on the road going in circles and having an extended trip around the city.

Next morning we were on our way back to Madrid, back to where we started our trip. I had a flight back to Sweden in the evening and by night i was at my apartment in rainy and wet Gothenburg uploading pics. It was an eventful trip , covering so many places over a period of 9 days and having a fun time all around. For me , Spain was the best part of this Summer.

Madrid and Segovia : Kicking off the trip.

The first thing that struck me as I landed at Madrid , at well past midnight that July night , was the weather. There was this sort of heat which hit me as I came out of he airport which I have only previously experienced in Bombay and Madras. There was this night breeze which was anything but chilly. It only reminds you that you in a very hot place and gives you an indication of what is to come during the day. Though the feel of summer was refreshing compared to the damp rainy setting of Gothenburg, soon things went sour. A cab driver duped me by charging me extra for the trip from the airport to the hostel. Since I had landed at 0030 and the options of public transport had died out. He used the tried and tested method of a doctored meter. It doesn’t take a genius to dupe me I suppose, ol Pietro( that’s his name) walked away with some extra bucks. And I thought such things happened only in my part of the world. Its alive and kicking in Europe as well. So people , be careful of these smooth talking cabbies of Madrid.

The rest of the gang were only arriving the next day and so there was not much activity happening on the first day. Me and Kamal went to Puerta de Sol , which is the heart of the city and walked around the place. Checked out the famous statue of the Bear and the Madrono tree. Puerta del sol is regarded as the Kilometer zero , the centre of Spain form which all distances are calculated. I had not heard much of the statue and it is a good thing that this statue is not hyped up , because , if it had been , it would have ranked along with the statue of the Pissing boy in Brussels and the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen as the most hyped and equally disappointing tourist attractions. So go without any expectations, take a few photographs of the bear and tick off your list.
Because of some confusions with flight arrivals and cancellations, we had to travel to the airport twice to pick up the friends and so by evening I was an expert in the Madrid metro and the Barajas airport layout. Either I get to spend nights in airports because I miss flights or my flights get cancelled, or I get to loiter around airports waiting for people. The patron saint of airports has got a grudge against me. By evening , the rest of the party arrived and it was time to kick off the Spanish Summer. And we kicked it off with a wild night in the pubs of Madrid. The hostel we stayed in organized a pub crawl and we went pub hopping from one place to the other, drowning a few drinks and dancing away the whole night. By the time we got back to the hostel it was almost the wee hours of the morning. It was quite a start to the trip.

The first place we chose to visit the next day was the SANTIAGO BERNEBAU. you could have given me a thousand other options and places to visit but I was not going to miss the chance to visit the home of REAL MADRID and pay my respects. We went up to to the top tier to get a magnificent view of the playing field of the Galacticos. It was an unreal feeling to be there and looking down into the field. The images of all the superstars over the years ran in my head. And later I got a chance to see their images for real , at the Real Madrid musuem. All the trophies the club has won over the years , the maximum for any club in the world , were on display. Pictures of famous victories and of legendary players adorned the museum. After which we got down to the ground level. We are of course not allowed to step into the grass, standing one feet away from the field is as close we get. But the tunnel, the dug out and the visiting team’s locker room were within bounds . The press room and the Real madrid store also was visited to round off an exhaustive trip to the Bernebau.

After a long lunch break , we visited the Retiro park. A sprawling and beautiful green lung in the centre of the city. Officially known as the Parque del Buen Retiro , this park was initially the site of a royal palace, now a favored retreat for the citizens of Madrid. The lush green pathways and ample open spaces are ideal for a break. There is a large artificial pond in the centre of the park and people were seen on paddle boats enjoying a ride. The park looked a perfect place to relax on a nice summer afternoon and that is what we did.

Next morning the road trip kicked off. Hiring a 8 seater Volkswagen Sharan from the Avis office in airport we set out for Santander, up on the Northern coast with a stopover planned at Segovia. With confusions over the right exits to take and getting used to the different way of driving (which Sid, I must say adapted very quickly to , unlike me who struggled throughout) we went off track and gave up on going to Segovia. But luckily we found a state highway to Segovia and quickly changed back to the original plans and must say it was indeed a lucky break , for Segovia is a place not to be missed.

Segovia is a UN world heritage city , which retains a lot of buildings from the Roman era. The most famous sights in Segovia would be the Roman aqua duct dating back to the 1st or 2nd century BC and the Alcazar castle, which sorts of towers over the entire countryside. The castle is also famous as the inspiration for Walt Disney to create his Cinderella castle. The city is itself is a quaint mix of the old and the new. The narrow pathways retaining the history of the olden days is dotted with souvenir shops and cafes. The church of Vera Cruz and the cathedral of Segovia are other famous attractions of Segovia. Located just one hour away from Madrid , Segovia is easily accessible as well and so anybody planning a trip to Madrid should definitely be covering this wonderful ancient town.

From Segovia , we set forth to Santander , and as the journey progressed so did the scenery of the country side. The parched, brown rolling plains , gave way to rocky mountains , which as we climbed higher soon became mist covered and even chilly at one point and we were wondering if we were going to a wrong Santander.. a Santander in the hills and not on the beach. Soon we reached the plains again and it was a world away from the dry and bare landscape of Madrid. It was lush green all over ,with an overcast grayish sky. And yes we were in the right Santander, on the coast.

Summer in Spain - Barcelona.

Smile, you are in Spain - said the promos. And smile we did...and much more. It was a week of glorious sunshine, action packed cities, beautiful beaches, long hours on the road and the blissful joy of spending time with friends who matter the most. We covered a lot of cities in the 9 days that we spent in Spain. This blog is about that wonderful city... the most non- Spanish of all Spanish cities... Barcelona We drove into Barcelona from Bilbao. For those who are aware of Spain’s geography, this would raise an eyebrow or two. Bilbao is located in the North coast on the Bay of Biscay, while Barca is on the opposite end on the Mediterranean. We had a car, the roads were good and in a small matter of 6 hours we reached the outskirts of Barcelona. As with every other city we had a slight struggle in finding the right entry points into the city and ended up on a different route compared to what we had in our Viamichelin.com printouts. But as luck would have it, the wrong route took us right to the doorsteps of the hostel we had booked.

Soon, it was time to hit the city voted many a time as the Best city in the World. We decided to first check out one of the famed beaches of Barca – The Barceloneta. Because this seemed to be one of the most popular and also our hostel for the next 2 days was located right on the Barceloneta. The promenade leading to the beach was lined with restaurants and shops and there was no dearth of tourists and locals along the stretch. The beach in itself was a slight disappointment; it looked too small, too crowded and dirty. As Sid said, it looked like Mumbai’s Juhu beach. Maybe we had come at the wrong time, it was late evening and the place represented the leftovers of a long sunny day. We ended day one with a typical Spanish seafood meal. Paella was the order of the day and the ones among us who really love seafood had an enjoyable experience.

Day 2 in Barcelona was tourism day. It was the day to check out all the to tourist hot spots. We started our day at Las Ramblas, considered the most famous street in Barcelona. The Ramblas is a wide tree lined avenue for the pedestrians and which is dotted with shops and street performers. Also you have lots of restaurants, markets and hostels on either side. After spending some time walking up and down the Ramblas we decided to hop onto one of the hop on- hop off buses and check out the city. While reading about Barca, we had come across quite a lot about Gaudi, a famed architect whose name it seemed was linked to all the important places to visit in Barca. The most famous of his works is the Sagrada Familia, a church that is 100 years and more in the making and still unfinished. This was one of Gaudi’s grandest projects which hit a roadblock after his death in the 20s and since then the construction has been going on at a snails pace. The facade is an imposing structure with many large towers stretching into the sky and also a few giant cranes working around them. It was a bizarre sight. One has heard of pre historic sites, modern high rises and various other pieces of architecture as tourist spots. First time I saw an under construction site being photographed round the clock. We decided against going inside the Sagrada familia, not just because one of us thought that the insides would be full of cement and bricks. Next stop was another of Gaudi s creations. The Parc Guell. The Parc is located atop a hill and it was originally part of a plan to build a self containing city on the city s outskirts. But the plan flopped and Gaudi converted it to the Parc and filled it with his typical architectural elements. The terrace atop the central building at the Parc gives a good view of the city and the blue sea at a distance.

After the Parc Guell we traveled towards the Nou camp - the home of FC Barcelona. Since we had already visited the Santiago Bernabeu, we skipped the Nou camp. We reached the Montjuic area, in which is located the various venues of the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. This also is located on a hill called Mt.Montjuic. We passed by the Olympic stadium, the Palau Nacional and coming down the hill touched the Christopher Columbus monument. We took a full trip on the bus and got back to the Placa Cataluña. After a few games of Dumb Charades in the square and some play acting from Hindi movies and more walking around Ramblas it was time for dinner and head back to the hostel but not yet time to call it a day. We played more dumb charades by the beach and followed it by walks around the Barceloneta till 4 am.

Next day we split up. The ones who could swim headed out to the sea, while people like me who can’t wade in the water went out to check more of the city. Two of us headed out towards Mount Montjuic. It seemed not too far away on the map and we didn’t mind a short walk. But what we didn’t know was that the sun will beat down with such ferocity and that the hill was not that small after all. After a back breaking climb, huffing and puffing we reached the Military Museum. From there to the top of the hill we took the cable car. The view from atop the Mount was brilliant. The vast city stretched out in front of us. A maze of buildings on one side and the bluest of blue Mediterranean on the other side. We walked further down and reached the Olympic complex. Entry was free and we could go in and catch a glimpse of the setting for the 92 games. I searched out and managed to see the Cauldron into which the Archer Antonio Rebollo most famously fired an arrow to light the Olympic flame. There is also a museum, the media centre, the aquatic complex and many other buildings nearby. We descended on the other side of the hill into the Palau Nacional. We had walked for almost 3 hours and needless to say we were tired.

In the afternoon, having our Spanish friend Pablo as our guide, we headed out of city to the outskirts to a beautiful, clean and vast beach called Gava. It was a picture perfect beach, what I had come to expect basis the photos and videos you see on TV and net about Mediterranean beaches. Blue water, whitish sands, clean and large, colorful umbrellas and people enjoying the sun and sand. The setting was too inviting to be missed out and I kept aside my apprehensions and took a plunge in the Sea. After an hour or so of frolicking in the sea, we relaxed in the beach for a while and then returned to Barcelona. We rounded off the visit to the city with another Spanish dinner. It was 3 well spent days.

Barca has everything... beaches, parks, pubs, tourist spots, vibrant night life, an electric atmosphere, shopping centers, malls, landmarks and what not. No wonder it is called one of the best cities in the world.

Getting back to Tennis.

Dedicated to Novak Djokovic and Radek Stepanek... for bringing Tennis back to me.

I used to be an avid Tennis fan. One of my earliest recollections of sports on TV , apart from the 1987 cricket world cup, is watching Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg battle it out in three back to back finals in Wimbledon in the late eighties. Throughout the 90s i had followed every single Grand slam event with religious passion and discussions in school during lunch recess used to be dedicated to debates ranging from Agassi vs Sampras and Steffi vs Seles.

But over the last many years , I thought that Tennis has started to get boring. I felt that it did not have the intensity and passion , it could not keep me glued on for its entire duration of play. I found it one dimensional. I may not be justified but then i blame what many call the greatest tennis player ever for taking my interest away from the game. Roger Federer the fedex has won 11 grand slam titles in the last 5 years. Reached the last 9 grand slam finals , been world number one since 2004 and by the time he retires he would have every record in the game. His game is a treat to watch no doubt, but then i dont want to watch one way traffic.

In the nineties Pete Sampras also dominated the game like how Federer is doing now. He won Wimbledon 7 times in 8 years and ended with 14 Slams. But the key difference between the Sampras era and the Federer domination has been the players on the other side of the net. Sample the rivals that Sampras had.... Agassi, Becker, Courier, Rafter, Ivanisevic, Chang and dangerous floaters like Cedric Pioline , Todd Martin etc. . And the rivals that Federer has .. Nadal , Roddick , Hewitt, Davydenko, Blake ,Safin.... ! Doesnt really measure up to the previous list does it ?

Most of Sampras's victories in the finals also have been very one sided. But the quality of the other players of that era was such that it dished out so many wonderful Tennis matches in the early and latter stages of a tournament. Rafter and Agassi played three back to back wimbledon Semi Finals. Agassi and Becker had a great rivalry going. The Sampras - Courier Quarter final in 95 Australian Open was the stuff of legends. The Ivanisevic - Rafter 2001 final is the greatest tennis match i have watched. An unknown Petr Korda defeated Sampras in the US open and also won a Grand slam. Compare that to the current state of affairs, Safin always misfires , Hewitt runs and runs but does not go the distance , Roddick i fear will end up a one slam wonder. Nadal the great hope is the King of clay but he has not really challenged Federer anywhere else , maybe except for this years Wimbledon final.

Where is the fun, where is the unpredictability , where is the joy of watching a 5 set no holds barred humdinger of a game ??

And then , I watched this match on TV today. Radek Stepanek ( who ?) vs Novak Djokovic , seeded 3rd ( seed 3 but no grand slam finals yet , leave alone a slam) . A second round match at the US open. An upcoming star of the game against a journey man pro who is doomed to always play the supporting role and make an early exit in the scheme of things. And what a match it turned out to be. A 5 setter with all the twists, turns , drama and intensity that makes the sport such a crowd puller. The beauty of the game is that it doesnt have a fixed schedule of play at the end of which whoever leads or has scored more wins. The match is over only after the last act is enacted, only after the last point is won and till someone wins it , the game is always open. And this was one such match , where none of the players belived they could lose and did not yield an inch. Every set went the distance, every point was played as if their life depended on it. There were thrilling rallies galore, breathtaking passing shots and overhead winners, sweet volleys and rugged baseline plays. Aces, winners, tense tie breaks and crucial errors. There was passion, there was pride , on view were two fighters giving all that they had.

As the 5th set tie break started, the game was almost 4 and a half hours old and the score was 7-6 6-7 7-5 5-7. Nothing to choose between. Both the players were cramping up but none of them threw the towel down. This is one of those matches where you dont have a loser. At the end of the match when the tie breaker was decided , and as the players embraced , one could feel the emotions they were going through and the respect each one has gained in the others view and in the larger audience's mind.

This was Tennis i grew up watching . Maybe i should get back to following the game. It still serves up such magical matches.

Taking Stock of STOCKHOLM

Stockholm - the capital of Sweden , also calls itself the capital of Scandinavia. And with good reason. It is the biggest of all the Nordic cities, perhaps the most famous and also it gets the most visitors .And after spending a weekend there , I would say that it is the most beautiful as well.

I left Gothenburg on a Friday evening and as always I seemed to be hitting a city with lots to see and only a couple of days.

Since I reached late on Friday evening, there was no time for sight seeing. After a customary McDonalds dinner ( while on tour, its always junk food) me and Priya checked in at our dorm at the hostel we were booked for the weekend. Priya is a telecom engineer, talk to her about mobile phones and stuff she gets excited. So I was subjected to some valuable information about the difference between 3G and 4G while on the Stockholm metro towards our hostel . I also got admonished for possessing a Stone age model mobile handset. Stone age in the world of mobile phones in 2005. Goodness.

Saturday morning. The First stop was the Royal palace. A majestic looking building ,the Palace was indeed a wonderful sight. The visit of the Chinese Premier that day meant that most parts of the royal palace was out of bounds for us . Not sticking around there , we moved towards Gamla Stan - the old city. Advertised as one of the largest well preserved medieval settings in Europe, Gamla Stan had very typical cobbled streets, narrow alleys and medieval architecture buildings. .Right in the middle of Gamla Stan is located the NOBEL museum. The museum , which was disappointingly small , holds a few interesting pieces of display though. It contains the set of patents registered by Alfred Nobel , a replica of his last will and testament , as well as various items used by Nobel laureates over the year. Notable among them was a cycle used by Amartya Sen., and a writing slate used by Rabindranath tagore. The museum has a small theatre which keeps playing small 10 minute clips about the various Nobel laureates. The museum is a good visit, though you should enter without any big expectations.

Next stop was another museum. And this was unlike any other museum that I had seen anywhere before. The VASA museum is situated on the island of Djugarden, a 10 minute ride on the ferry from Gamlastan. The VASA was a Swedish warship that sank on her maiden voyage in the 1600s. After 333 years under the sea , the VASA was raised in the 1961 and then part by part, painstakingly put together. The museum now holds the almost fully restored VASA in all her majesty. The sight of the warship standing almost at 8 levels from the ground to her top most part , located inside the cavernous museum was breathtaking. An interesting point was that , if the VASA had sunk in any other sea in the world other than the Baltic, the wood would have been destroyed in the 300 years under water. But the Baltic sea being free from the shipworm Teredo navalis had not impacted the VASA s remains underwater. The musuem also has a mini theatre which runs a documentary about the VASA, and various displays and artifacts from the ship. THE VASA museum is a must visit if you are planning a trip to Stockholm.

Later in the evening , we visited the ABSOLUT ICE BAR. The bar’s claim to fame being the fact that it is made entirely of ice. The chairs, the tables, the glasses, the walls are made of ice. But the size of the bar itself was a slight disappointment. It was just one small room with a lot of ice furniture. As you enter u are given a long overcoat and gloves and you enter the ice bar feeling like an Eskimo. The drinks are costly and barring the last slot of the day at 9 45 pm, for the rest of the day one needs a prior appointment as well as only 45 minutes time inside the bar. Nevertheless the ice bar is cool experience. Pun intended.

Next day it was time to check The Stockholm archipelago which consists of 24000 islands. We hopped on to one of the various ferries plying between the capital and these islands. It took an hour and more of sailing to reach the island of Vaxholm and along the way we could see an incredible number of small islands , creeks and summer houses nestled on these islands. The farthest islands are about 3 hours by ferry. These islands are ideal getaways from the hustle and bustle of a city life. These are not places for a “ few photos and one more place off my must visit list “ type tourist. They are for the more relaxed , time in hand types who would like to stay a few days and enjoy the quiet , un spoilt and peaceful timelessness on offer. We walked around the beautiful island and I thought that everybody either seemed to be eating or sunbathing or swimming. Relaxed was the word.

The last stop before winding up the trip was the city hall - Famous as the place where the annual Nobel banquet is held every December. Located along the water front the city hall is a tall and imposing structure made out of 8 million red bricks. The Nobel banquet is held in the blue hall , which incidentally is not blue but rather red in color, apparently because the architect had a change of mind and decided to continue with red bricks and not paint them blue.

As I took the train back to Gothenburg, there was this familiar feeling inside me of maybe having spent a little less time than what would ideally be required to do justice to its sights and sounds..!

Deconstructing Rajini ? Don't bother !

Sivaji gives TN an unseasonal festival. Rajini's Sivaji mania grips US. Sivaji takes Delhi by storm. Every Rajini film is a holiday. Gods take a backseat. Fans offer prayers.

These are just a few of the headlines that I had seen on a few news portals that I am able to recall. There has been so much of Sivaji and Rajini on the mainstream media back home in India over the last few weeks that keeping track of the number of stories is impossible. The below are some news that come off the top of my head now.

Policemen brought in to control crowds.. in Kaula lampur. A report says that the faithful fans are ready to watch the movie standing, they just want to watch. And this happened not in Chennai but in Columbus, Ohio. The movie has been released in 5 theatres in Toronto An IT company booked an entire show in a Bangalore multiplex for its employees ..paying 67 thousand rupees. A special 10 am show was screened in view of the huge demand , at Richmond, VA. Entire first week sold out in Dubai. 4000 plus tickets sold out in Bay area. Sivaji relasing in two theatres each in Sydney and Melbourne.

Even if half of what has been written is true, then this undoubtedly is the most hyped and reported / written about movie in recent times. The kind of craze , frenzy, excitement that this man’s movies generate is just beyond belief and comprehension.

There have been a lot of people who have been asking how did this 58 year old now bald, dark and ordinary looking man become the most loved , adulated and worshipped ( !) icon of our times. How come he has fans cutting across every possible division in the society? People wonder how is he able to have this effect on the audience. How was he able to win over the Japanese ? How come this reclusive, reticent, extremely modest and humble person transform into the epitome of style on the screen. ? Why is the day of his movie release celebrated like the most important festival of the year. How come even if his movies carries below average reports it can do business worth 50 crores. How, why , how ??

And then they also give answers - style, punch lines, dialogue delivery, mannerisms, action, comedy, crazy fans, hero worshipping culture of the Tamilians and a whole lot of other reasons.

I can only say that there is no point in spending too much time on trying to deconstruct Rajini and the excitement he creates. There is no logic, reason, explanation or method to the mania, madness and mayhem that is generated when his movie releases. Those who want to find answers and pin down the euphoria to written down reasons and causes, can try and continue on the quest. While the rest of us fans, will continue to rejoice ,be happy and be thankful to the man for bringing us so much excitement and joy.

Rajini. Don't bother to find reason . Its magic.

Things i miss - the A to Z of Chennai.

When you move from your home to a new place , there are always thing that you leave behind and things that you miss. The below is a list , from A to Z , of things that i miss from Chennai. The list is mainly influenced by what used to be my work routine - office life, sales calls, public transport, weekend outings and the like. Here is an A to Z of things i miss ..

A – Autorickshaws. I had written an entire blog about them. It is but natural that they are on top of the list.

B – Burma Bazaar DVD shops. 6 movies in one DVD for 30 bucks.. ! Lord of the rings and The matrix for less than one dollar. Long live piracy.

C – Cinema posters on the walls. My daily dose of movies. Chandramukhi is reaching 800 days. Would miss that poster.

D – Dum breaks. Giving company to others during their smoke breaks. The best office gossip and inside information is exchanged during such breaks.

E – ECR . Beaches, restaurants, movies, traffic jam, mamool vangum cops , un- potholed roads.

F – Footboard travel on the Tambaram - Beach local train.

G - Goods trains. Counting the number of wagons in them as they chug past in the next track has been a favourite rail travel pastime from childhood.

H - Hoardings - Huge , life size and colouful. Especially now since, Sivaji hoardings i belive are all over Chennai.

I - Iyers. Their Tamil, their English, their Tamil mixed with English ,their food, their tradition, their navarathri kollu sundal , not to mention the iyer girls.

J - Juice kadais ( shops) which mushroom automatically during the summer months.

K – Kutty samosa at the shop next to office. 4 pieces in one packet . The filler between breakfast and lunch for me and Vinay.

L - Lunch time in MAA office . Veg sappadu , Vetti pechu , veen vambu. ( veg food, idle talk, mischevious banter)

M - Madras Tamil and all those slangs and phrases unique to my city.

N - Nungambakkam High road. 5 star hotels, over priced coffee shops , budget restaurants, branded apparel showrooms, roadside shops, clients etc etc.

O – O.C book reading at crosswords and landmark.

P - Ponnuswamy hotel chicken biryani. There was none better. period.

Q - Right from the days of playing "name -place- animal -things" in school, finding words in Q is a problem for me. The trend continues. You could wonder why i didnt mention Queues, but Queing for everything seems a national pastime here in Sweden.

R - Rendu chakkara vandi ( two wheelers- bikes, mopeds, scooters) . My fav vehicle for travel. It can poondhufy thru any traffic jam.

S – Sales calls. ..tholula pai, kazhuthula tie, vai fulla poi. ( roughly translated as .. a bag hanging from shoulders, a tie around ur neck , mouth full of lies )

T –. Traffic policemen ( fondly called mamas) . You ve gotta give it to them. Tough job it is , to stand in the heat amidst all the noise, pollution and reckless drivers.

U - Uchi veyil . 40 deg heat at 90 percent humidity. Prefer that to snow capped dark winters at -10 deg.

V – Valmiki nagar beach. Sentimental place - not for me - but for the one in my gang who had the all important car. So the only beach we go to

W - Water packets. Chilled water for 1 rupee. Best used for washing your face before stepping into a clients office.

X - Oh come on ! You expect me to come up with something in X when i cant find one in Q.

Y - Yelai pottu sappadu..... banana leaves as plates for serving food .especially the ones at Murugan idlys and Saravana bhavan. It enhances the taste of the food, i tell you.

Z – Zara . Pub un-cultured chennai s stand alone argument.