Ye !
Summer fun for kids at the Millennium Park, Chicago!
Photograph taken in Aug’08
While I agree to the thought that a nation’s and its people’s interest should be kept in mind when you are outsourcing or buying, I feel the “barter” system is something that we have lived with for ages… someone somewhere has a different skill and someone here has a different one.. both utilize it for a mutual benefit !!!
I have also been thinking that people who went on spending money like crazy, when they did not have any to pay up their credit card bills, must be the people who have played an important role in companies going bankrupt by purchasing dieing financial firms and dead assets… (Correct me someone if I am wrong here) and who gets thrown out first? The people who come from outside and save like crazy (another extreme, and I fail to understand why suddenly most desi’s talk about how much they are able to save when they are in US; sorry digressing from the topic)
umm.. but that was it, I guess about the “America use only American” point of view…
Our second point on today’s discussion is the Lok Sabha Elections… I am hoping and wishing and sincerely hoping and wishing that the people who had stood up for a cause after the Bombay Incident make a difference in these Lok Sabha Elections !!! AMEN to that ! this is a wonderful opportunity to bring the change a lot of us started to talk about !
I hope we elect people who
– can make a difference in the country like Shiela Dikshit made to Delhi in the last few years (I personally feel that Delhi has changed from what it was 10 years ago, for both good and bad, but mostly good)
– can make a difference in the country like Lalu did to Indian Railways (I can see and feel the difference in IR which has happened in recent past, mostly because of improved audit mechanisms and accountability and privatization playing and important role)
– can lead the nation and bring it on top like Mayawati did to her party in the last assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh (The BSP won the elections single handedly in UP, with Mayawati leading the pack and playing her cards very carefully. While she has always and continues to advocate the lower casts fiercely, she made sure that her candidates were a right mix from all communities)
– focus on what is the USP of the country like governments did in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttaranchal (These three states I feel have understood that tourism is the key for them when it comes to revenue and the efforts to promote tourism are more than obvious… The lovely roads in these states, the availability of information, and a slight change in the attitude is something that you can notice if you have been visiting for a while)
I feel we have to move ahead of the manifestos that focus more on luring people to vote for a party instead of value they add to the country, move ahead of religion and see the country as one unit, focus on sustainability and ……………….. sorry… enough of this…
Oh and I just recalled… there were two major campaigns the Lead India and Teach India… can someone help me know what happened to them… I am not aware of the current status… I know a few friends did register in the Teach India campaign but not sure what happened from there…
but at the back of our minds we knew there was much to see, and much to go to… so we kinda picked up some pace and go ready around 1130 hrs and had our breakfast at a Haldiram types restaurant just outside our hotel !!!
Oh, yes ! I am back to finishing off my MP travelogue 🙂
Here are the first few parts if you have missed them :
Delhi – Kanha
Kanha and around
Kanha to Bhopal
We wanted to go to Bhojpur, had heard nice things about it, a 1000 year old incomplete temple, world’s tallest Shivling etc etc and we also wanted to go to Ujjain… ok I wanted to go to Ujjain (I feel some connection with Shiva and hence all the Jyotirlings come into the list of places I feel good about; and the Shivling @ Ujjain happens to be called MahaKaal too)
Talked to a few people and found out that there was an intercity express to Ujjain from Bhopal at 1700 hrs and will take 4 hours to reach Ujjain…
Now this made perfect sense, we could take an auto, go to Bhojpur come back, pack our bags and leave for Ujjain… come back to Bhopal tomorrow and take it from there… super..
So after talking to a few Autowallahs, and doing some bit of not to successfull bargaining we agreed to give the guy 270 bucks to take us to Bhojpur ( around 25 kms away from Bhopal) and bring us back…
The drive was fine, the sun not too strong and once we were out of the city between the farms it actually became must pleasent !!! I realised how much Wheat MP must be producing looking at the wast span of the golden fields all around !!! lovely view it was… Did stop at a few places to enjoy the calm and finally reached Bhojpur…
The temple is massive, and was my second stop next to the river Betwa (The first being Orccha), and we were surprised at the size of the Shivling too… no wonder !
We spent a good couple of hours at the temple before we decided to move back to Bhopal and catch the train !!!
The return journey was equally nice and we did manage to reach the station on time too, rather before time… I remember buying the tickets and then coming out of the station to eat something… how could we not…
So this time… we had rasmalai, some other local mithai, some tea, and some cold drinks, not in this order though 🙂
Soon enough the train journey started again, this time a different flavor… General Coach, Wooden Benches, not too crowded though 🙂
did take us close to about 4 hours, but enjoyed every minute of it… talked to people, took pictures, got a small lesson on gun management from a Railway Policeman too 🙂
We reached Ujjain around 2100 hrs and checked into a hotel near the station only… Learnt that the Bhasm Aarti starts at 0500 hrs in the morning and we should be in the temple by 0400 hrs to get a decent view !!!
Now this meant a quick dinner and sleeping without much talking !!! And that happened too !!!
More to follow…
Some Data now..
Bhopal – Bhojpur : 25 kms
Auto fare : about 250-350 bucks depending on how you bargain…
What to do in Bhojpur : Nothing 🙂 just sit back and relax
Train for Ujjain from Bhopal : Intercity Express @ 1700 hrs everyday
Fare : 50 rs. for the General Class, You can take that ticket and enter the reserved compartment too where the ticket can be upgraded for about Rs. 17 for that coach… the difference is better seats only !!!
Thank God I have it now..
my new iOMEGA 500GB external drive ensures that I have the space that I need… now I can click on RAW without a problem and keep my pictures in the drive…
Thanks Tushar for getting it for me !
and lots more been happening…
later… may be !!!
So I am a monkey… or a Chimpanzee I guess
Why????
Because…
~ Maya Didi is very very sure that I am one…
~ I think I am one…
~ I like climbing trees…
~ I crave for attention.. and make strange noises about it at times 🙂
~ and when I don’t get it… I can throw stones or whatever I can lay my hands on… running around my cage like a crazy.. umm Chimp…
~ I don’t like being caged too 🙂 and i keep pulling at the bars to get out…
~ Some Chimps oops… friends call me Cute.. though I don’t see a reason why someone has to call me cute… ugh.. i am NOT CUTE….
~ I can be as silent as I can be, at times when you least expected it…
~ I can make a lot of noise when you really don’t want to hear anything…
~ I can sing and dance like a Chimp too, though my hands don’t really reach my knees 🙂
oh…
and more often than not… I am happy with a few nice people around me… I don’t need a lot of chimps to make me happy 🙂 I want my chimp friends to be around…
and this is how I can be when I am at my chimpiest besht :
You realize that you are being a leech, you back off and someone “now” realizes that you should get the attention… funny…
And this happens only after the critical balance is lost, which was never met… wish there were come CTRL Z buttons in real life too…
On the other hand, I am thankful there are none, because I have a strong faith in the fact that while you think there is something going wrong.. there is something else which is only getting better !!!
like my days in London… After I have shifted to london, I have been busy.. with friends, walking around, talking, taking pictures, buying stuff, and clicking with the stuff I bought… very interesting…
Last Saturday, the shopkeeper even offered me a Lens Reviewer Job… he gives me a new lens.. i use it, and review it and post the review… Very interesting, though it requires me to study a bit which I would soon…
Some of the other non CTRL-Z moments, minutes, hours were spent over the last two weeks that involved walking around some parts of London in no hurry…
Went to the O2 Arena last weekend, and this weekend walking around Covent Gardens, Trafalgar Square (for Chinese New Year Celebrations) and British Museum ( yes, yet again :); its high time I dump this blog with loads of pictures from there…soon)
I have a li’il too much to write about and that is making writing difficult so the best way out is to leave right now with loads of pictures… enjoy London the way I am doing…
Some pictures from a visit to O2 Arena…
The day starts with a ring… and the ring tone is…. Pehla Nasha Pehla Khumar 🙂 I pickup the phone & I cannot beleive my ears… Chinki called up 🙂 i was so shocked to hear her voice after so many days that i just did not know what to speak and how to speak… though managed to ask her how she was doing.. how were things… was she taking care of herself or not… and then after 3 minutes and 12 seconds we hung up… and then came the thoughts…. soooooooooo many of them… things that i had to ask her.. things that i had to tell…. and i was like.. Prashant beta.. you are such a dodo… and i was kinda feeling bad about not being able to talk to her properly for so many days.. but it was for sure such a wonderful feeling to get that call.. what a perfect start to the weekend…the voice that i had been missing for so many days…
hey thanks Chinki for that call…
So about two hours later… i decide to call up.. and this time it was her turn to get surprised… hehehehehe.. life is good… after short talk which made me feel soooooooooooo better.. not because this time i could talk about all the things that came to my mind after the morning’s call.. but because i could talk.. that feeling was and is great !!! i can keep smiling.. and somehow my “call centre” training is helping here during all these conversations… what we were taught is to imagine what our customer is going thru when we are on the call with him/her. Try to visualise the person.. and i think we all do it.. when we are not able to see the person we are talking to rather communicating with.. we tend to think what that person is doing.. what is (s)he looking like… what is the kinda place (s)he is in and so on….
dunnno what i am writiing.. but it was great talking to you chinki.. thanks again…