Homecoming et al. December 28, 2006
Posted by Simba in : Wiggles, Travel Bug , 8 commentsIt is amazing how things never turn out the way you want them to but you are just happy with the way they turn out. I always envisioned going away escorted by a bunch of close pals who would mull over how much they will miss me and always dreamt of coming back to a wave of people who would be dying to welcome me back home. Neither of them happened and thank god, it didn’t! I had no plans to fly back this chilly winter but things changed so drastically so fast that I decided to book my flights in a jiffy. Yes, I burnt a big hole in the tiny teeny wallet I carry…and the only person to receive me was my childhood friend whom I woke up rudely in the middle of the night and asked her to rush to the airport. And my love, my favorite city, Mumbai just missed out on me… this time around. Bangalore it is, for me. Hmmph!
It’s been a queasy feeling since I came back home. I don’t mean to be difficult to anyone around me but suddenly feel out of place everywhere I go. Someone asked me how I felt about homecoming, and the only word that came out easily was, “weird”. It is like this feeling of belonging nowhere. I don’t belong there and now, I don’t belong here, that is I transcend in space. Does it happen to all those who have live away for a while? But I was here less than a couple of years ago.
But hopefully this break will do me a whole lot of good. Finally I have gotten around reading a lot of books and spending time doing nothing. I have been running so long and an afternoon with nothing to do is almost like a dream come true. I miss the school, friends and school work almost everyday, it is sucha part of me that I feel bare without the constant running around. And getting to blog in one more interesting thing I can do… so here I am! But of course, trying to get a decent connection for the wordpress page to load is a different ball game on its own! More about life here in my next post.
This post was just a revival post to say, I am alive and kicking.
Sunny Florida August 23, 2006
Posted by Simba in : General, Travel Bug , 2 comments
I have been trying to make this post for sucha long time.. This will be a small post! I am having sucha hard time aligning the pictures. This is the best I can do with my limited time, so bear with me. 
Ok, after the edit, this post looks goooood!!
Almost a year here and I finally managed my first real vacation last week - Universal Studios, Island of Adventure & Sea World, Florida. Yeah, Disney world has to wait for now. The drive was a tad too long close to 10 hrs from here but sure was worth it! I had an amazing time! I haven’t been on any kind of rides for a long time but managed to sit on many of the deadly roller coaster rides and actually survived it! 
I am so proud of myself LOL!
Remember the talking donkey in Shrek… He actually talks soooo much! Some of the best theme rides in Universal Studios were, Back to the Future and the Mummy! Havent laughed & screamed at the same time for a long time now…
Aloha… May 29, 2006
Posted by Simba in : Life Marvels, Travel Bug , 4 commentsI know I havent blogged in a while but these are not the best days of my life and I am trying my best to keep my sanity. I wonder why things should always be black or white, why dont people understand that the grey areas are the ones which give us the hardest time. I hate it when people talk in riddles making themselves look highly intellectual and all knowing…No, I dont intend to be like that! So, I will let that feeling pass and continue my normal blogging.
I came back from GATE last Monday and though I wanted to share so much, I just havent been able to! I was completely sleep deprived on the flight & later, I was so jet lagged and didnt sleep for almost 4 days. After that, I slept so much in order to catch up and it just got all weird. Anyways, almost a week after my return, I am slowly feeling ok. A small review of my tour… Shanghai was the first stop and I realized what a big barrier language is! English will take you nowhere and it is so hard to tell them! And you can guess the time I had trying to get some vegetarian food. The first day, I almost had veg food.. except the last spoon dished out something I hadnt seen in my whole life! Phew! Throughout the tour, something that always amazed me was how understanding people were in any part of the world.. we all may behave differently and talk different languages but there is this common bond between all of us.. something that reaches out to help others! And out there, I had the best Italian icecream, something that makes me grin even now! Yum! We visited 2 companies and I really wished we had gone to visit the Great Wall! The hotel was probably the best during our entire visit. 3 or so days there, we moved to Hong Kong. I had heard so much about foot massages in these places that I almost endangered my dear life in trying to get one! It was scary and let me not write about it and show off my stupidity! Hmmmph!
Hong Kong - I didnt like the city at all, maybe I found myself in the wrong places as I found it really dirty & unclean. And in the middle of it, we also managed to have some decent desi food .. Samosas for lunch!? I had never seen that but who cares.. I cleaned up my plate! The Victoria peak and the Giant Buddha are definitely the must sees. Travelling in the world’s steepest cable car, well, that adds to the fun. We tried so hard to make it to the huge amusement park, Ocean Park but missed it due to a lil bad timing. Ah, next time! I was super impressed by the DHL Super Hub company visit. The night junk cruise, sailin by the Victoria Harbour with the entire city lit up was a great experience.. the much talked about laser show to attract the tourists was a complete let down! We had plenty of free time in Hong Kong and it sure did me a world of good. But during all these days, I didnt feel tired one single day but the minute I got back, it hit me real hard.
I almost didnt want to get to Japan becos it was the last leg of the journey but boy, I fell in love with Tokyo. And I thought NY was a great place.. it still is but Tokyo beats it right, left & centre. I have always considered more homely at Mumbai than in Bangalore maybe becos how active the city is.. Tokyo is exactly that and much more! And the women are the hippest in the world. Trust me. Take my word for that! And also the city is so densely populated that any place you go, you just see so many people.. so many just walkin around all the time, immaterial of the hour of the day. I wanted to learn a foreign language next year and was thinking about Arabic.. ok, keep your grunts to yourself… but now, Japanese seems too good. I would love to work in this city for a while if I ever get a chance. Traditional Japanese meal didnt suit me just fine as it might just be a tad too bland for the Indian within! And seeing the stuff that is available on display .. it just shows how hard it is to impress these guys. They are definitely the most demanding and guess, thats why you get some amazing stuff! Desserts etc on display .. they are just picture perfect.. Getting veg food was a little simpler here, thanks to too much modernization! Visiting Toyota was the biggest fascination for me.. with an entire assembly line with robots! Wow! Then we left to Kyoto…
The last place was kinda a dampener in the whole trip.. there was nothing much to explore and also the feeling that the trip was coming to an end was on everyone’s mind. And almost 15 days after we had left, having some of the best times of our life.. we were ready to come back home and start our lives again! Before I left on this GATE, someone had commented.. Oh, this is sucha expensive thing, a complete waste of money.. LOL, how wrong that person was! As the Chinese proverb goes - “Walking ten thousand miles of world is better than reading ten thousand scrolls of books.” More later…
East is East May 15, 2006
Posted by Simba in : General, Travel Bug , 6 commentsOkai, some people know why I am missing in action these days. This post is a small update for all my blog readers who arent seeing me around, on my blog, on PG or on PGG! Well, thats because I have been travelling and do not have any access to internet. My first best internet time has been today almost 10 days after I left US. I am a part of East Asia GATE tour at Fuqua. Its been an amazing experience throughout. Last year if anyone had told me that I will be seeing so many countries, I swear on the man above, I wouldnt have believed them for a minute!
Spent about a week in Shanghai & Hong Kong. Flew into Tokyo 2 days back and am having a blast! Will be in Japan this week & will fly back on Sunday. So, for the details, you will have to wait for a week to know more about the tour. But for now, enjoy some pics!
