Edmonton: A biking haven

A Summer in NY

When the tourists were sprawling through the reading room of the New York public library, I slowly moved my book with contempt of being disturbed during my reading time.  I think the best feeling that you get when you visit a place is the sense of belonging. Just three months into my New York life, I was already feeling as if I belonged here. I was no more awe struck looking at the Grand Central terminal, nor taking selfies at the Times square - New York is part of my everyday life now. This city in a short time made me fall in love with it over and over.

In June when I landed in NY, I was already missing LA. The crowded streets, even more crowded subways and the filthy pavements made me miss the serene Westwood and UCLA campus. I thought I would never like this place, but little did I know how things were going to change. New York had set plans for me the very next weekend. Craving for some Masala Dosa, I left to Saravana bhavan early on the Sunday of my first weekend in NY. While returning I found a large set of barricades being kept in Fifth Avenue. I was about to witness a famous Gay pride walk in addition to a celebrity spotting in Ian  Mckellen.

The next weekend I set off to Princeton with a friend of mine. The old buildings in the Princeton campus gave it a feel of visiting a European village. 

Battle Monument

Central Park

 In evenings, I made sure to go for Jogging in the River side park. This big stretch near Hudson River used to be my favorite hangout place in the evening after a hectic day at internship. 96^th street and Riverside Park has many summer activities with many cultural events during the weekend.

The week after the July 4^th, I decided to travel to DC to meet Sreya and her Husband Arun. We were meeting after two long years. Though gossip was our main action item for my visit, we found time to do a quick trip to war memorial and Memorial park.

The gorgeous looking Sreya

Lincoln memorial

 Next weekend, after spending my day at the NY public library, I quickly went to stand in line for Shakespeare in Park.  Every summer, the Delacorte Theater in Central park hosts plays written by Shakespeare and played by experts in the field. NY surprised me when I got to know that this is a free event. The play was really good and in a way, this made me book my first Broadway show Phantom of the Opera.

Cymbeline @ Delacorte Theater

 My next big plan was when I saw the ticket for sale ad for US open. As the schedule is not out until the day of play, I took a big shot and booked my ticket for second round evening session. Though I couldn’t see the master (read Roger Federer) playing, I was happy that I could see nerve-cracking first round matches of both Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray.
 

The next big thing that was awaiting me in the next weekend was a Smokies trip. The long weekend with an additional leave gave us four days at Smokies. 

Our tent at Cades cove

Southern Lunch on the way to Smokies

On the way to Cligmans Dome

Pavan, Gobind, GT and me at Clingmans

Trekking in Smokies

Pavan entertaining us on our second day camp in Jack Rabbit

My last weekend in NY turned out to be an interesting weekend when Akshaya San, visited me from DC. It felt really good to do a final wrap-up of visiting all the important places in NY. While taking him to different places in NY, I could sense that I belonged at NY. The Friday that Akshaya visited, we spent the entire night roaming around NYC. We visited all the major places after the clock ticked 12 in the morning. We roamed around until we saw dawn crack in the horizon. That was my first night out in many years. 

The mandatory selfie at Times Square with Akshaya

The three months in NY will remain as the most eventful time of my life. Remembering the lines from ‘The perks of being a wall flower’, “This moment will just be another story someday” but at this point I am living this moment and I love it and will miss it.

Melancholy X'mas

I used to hate it when
                my mom used to poke me for midnight mass on X’mas eve
I used to hate it when
                the cold bites deep down to my bone.
I used to hate it when
                I had to wait for the mass to end to taste the chicken curry
I used to hate it when
                the crackers burst all night interrupting my sleep

I used to hate it when
                I was forced to go along with the X’mas carol
I used to hate it when
                my brother made me do all the menial job for the crib
I used to hate it when
                my dad snored after the afternoon meal interrupting my X’mas movie
I used to hate it when
                my mom sends me off to give X’mas cake to neighbors

I used to hate it when
                few of my cousins get delayed for the X’mas night party
I used to hate it when
                no one cared about the games that I have put a lot of thoughts in.
I used to hate it when
                everyone leaves when all I could think was how to make them stay for couple more minutes
I used to hate it when
                everyone left with a smile and I am the only one with a sad face.

Now I miss all these……

A Fall in LA

You all look really great! The program coordinator at UCLA was being very vocal about it during the photo shoot. I remember searching in vain in the mirror on that morning to find some signs of handsomeness. May be that’s just an American way of saying nice about anything and everything. Also I was not expecting her to say that “You all look great! Except you Feeebin” But I have seen many Americans greeting each other saying you look amazing/great/nice even though the other person looks as if he/she  just got out of bed. The key point here is that Americans are generally very courteous. Any random person you come across in the street will smile at you and greet you with a Hi or How is it going? They walk away as if they know the answer. After all, in America everything is great so what negative answer do you expect?

I started my exploration in the very first week, with Hollywood walk of fame and Santa Monica beach. UCLA had organized thanksgiving program in which I was invited to dine with an alumni from UCLA for thanksgiving dinner. They prepared a wonderful dinner for me and we had a highly intellectual discussion during the dinner. I had to use all my current affairs reading to be involved in the discussion.  This was little strange for me as my family usually discuss people and movies during our dinner time. 

At Hollywood walk of fame

The happening street of Santa Monica

Mr Clark and Family at Thanksgiving

For the next two weeks, I joined the UCLA hiking club for two different treks. One was at Devil’s Punch Bowl which was relatively easy. The next one at Santa Paula waterfall was highly adventurous as we had to do some rock climbing where a loose step could lead to a fall as deep as 20m below. The effort was completely worth it as we reached the natural pool at the end of the trek. I consider this as one of the toughest treks that I embarked upon, that too with a history of five shoulder dislocations.

First Trek @ Devils Punch Bowl

Second Trek @ Santa Paula. The toughest part

Santa Paula Pool

Enjoying a natural slider

The finals week came soon. I couldn't wait for the final night mischiefs that me and my roommates had planned. (I am leaving this to reader's imagination) In this excitement I finished my exam with half time remaining and went to the Jenss step to enjoy a cool sunset. The very next day we left for a trek to Hollywood sign trail. I extended this trek further to conquer Chahuenga peak as my friends returned back. At the end of it I visited the Bat cave famous from the Batman TV show in 1960’s

View from Janss step

With Roomies at Hollwood trail

Getting photo bombed @Chaheunga Peak

My impression of the entertainment capital of the world has been great so far. This vibrant city has a lot to offer and I am patiently waiting for more and more wonderful experiences.

Why people are awesome

I happened to think a lot these days, which is very unusual with me as I have very limited thoughts, and I have found that people are genuinely good irrespective of the belief they follow or irrespective of the race they are in. I felt that people have a natural inclination to help others which might be more related to genetics than the bible saying “Thou shall love thy neighbors”. I don’t think anyone who helps a complete stranger thinks that he is increasing his chance to the “Heavenly abode” or “Moksha” while involved in the act. I was trying to recollect few of the incidents where a complete stranger helped me without expecting anything in return. Here is my list.

First: I was eighteen years old and had just got my driving license. During some family function, I was asked to go and get my cousin who was coming from Bangalore to a particular place. This place was around 40 Km from my home and I had to travel through the ghat sections and narrow roads. This was my first trip alone after getting my driving license and to be frank, I was scared about travelling alone through the secluded area. Just some 15 Km from my home, my tires got punctured. I didn’t notice it and an auto driver who was overtaking me shouted at me. I stopped the car and got out; I didn’t have any clue on how to change the tires. Just as I was worried and was staring at the jacks in the car dickey, the auto driver who warned about my punctured tire came back. He said that he noticed that I was alone and he thought he could probably help me with this. In the next five minutes he replaced the tyres, with me just playing the role of supervisor. I didn’t even have the courtesy to say thanks or give a gracious smile. I was just happy that I could get my work done without moving a little finger. As he drove away, the ungracious little jerk that was me sped away just to manipulate the story later as an adventurous experience to my cousins.

Second: I was on a bike trip with my friend to Hampi. It was almost midnight and we were still 60 Km away from Hampi. We decided to stay the night at Bellary and leave to Hampi on the next day. I was driving and my friend was the pillion rider. I missed one Hump completely and this made the bike to skid. I could still balance the bike and myself and the bike were safe. But my friend lost the balance and he fell to the road. He suffered a bruise on face and small other injuries. As it was pitch dark, we were left with only the lights coming from the vehicles passing by. A person came in jeep and stopped near to us. He offered to help us. We were really skeptical about him. He told us that he doesn’t expect anything in return and was just doing this because someone helped him sometime back. We were still skeptical. He told he will take us to hospital or atleast help us in finding a decent hotel. First he took us to a small mess where my friend could clean up his wounds and he asked few of his friends who were studying nursing to help us get first aid. He was trying hard to help us and we were trying to wade him away thinking he was looking for monetary benefits. We never paid him, but thanked him a lot and exchanged numbers in case he came to Bangalore. I recently deleted his number while I was cleaning my contacts.

Myself and injured Vishnu at Hampi

Third: I was 2 min late to catch my Bus to my native and the bus had left in the busy Bangalore traffic. As I had the number of the conductor I called him up. He asked me to get into an auto and come to some hospital bus stop. I got into an auto and asked the auto driver to speak to the driver. They both spoke and the auto driver got to know the exact location where I was asked to go. He took me through the heavy Bangalore traffic. As we were moving through the traffic, I realized that I did not have enough money to pay the auto driver. I had a couple of ten rupee notes and 17 one rupee coins. I remained silent as I thought if I tell the auto driver about this he might not take me to my destination. He was a skilled driver and he used all his driving experience to reach the destination in time.  As I got out I told him I don’t have enough money with me and handed over couple of ten rupee and the 17 one rupee coin. I told him I will be back to Bangalore on Monday and then hand him the remaining money. I exchanged my phone number and also gave my driving license as a security to him. On the Monday after that I called him up and he came near to my office where I paid him the remaining money. To add to that there was another stranger in the bus, who was sitting beside me, after hearing my small adventure felt pity for me and offered to buy me dinner when the bus stopped in a remote location with no ATM’s around for dinner.

I am sure that everyone who read this will have many more and even better experiences than what I had. I was also cheated once when I was trying to help a stranger. Also I was given a ferocious look by a big bosomed lady when she mistook my signal to switch of the lights of her motor bike. But these setbacks doesn’t make me stop and I contribute in my own way in doing small things which might help the stranger without expecting my name to be written in “The book of life”

Famosa Diary

I was good at dumb charades, but my talent did not stand a chance before the two Taiwanese receptionists. I tried my luck again. Wheeere eeese daaaa BUS STOP????  During this question I was acting as if I was driving a Bus and leaned forward as I pressed the break. After this I pointed to earth and gestured my hand as if asking where. The two receptionist started looking at my feet and later nodded in sync conveying that they didn't understand a thing what I said. I had no clue what was so confusing about it. It is just two words BUS and STOP. They could easily understand credit card and Taxi but not BUS STOP. No Place for common man I guess.

I was in the second day of my Business trip to Taiwan. Actually I was there to debug an issue reported by a customer, but hell yeah business trip sounds more cool.  After coming back from office, I was planning to catch a bus to the nearest metro station so that I can catch a glimpse of Taiwan before I leave back to India. Our sales representative/GM in Taiwan was a one good person and gave me a detailed map of Taiwan. I made a list of main thing to be done and Taipei 101 fell first on that list. After my failed effort with the receptionist I strolled out of the Hotel to catch a bus to Yonging, the nearest metro station. I had noted down the Bus number to Yonging but failed to find the Bus stand. To my luck, a Taiwanese girl came to help me and pointed to direction and told BUS STOP. I bowed my head in the Japanese style conveying my thanks but she had disappeared before I finish my stretching.

In Taiwan they have a single card which can be used to travel in Metro and the Bus even to buy groceries from Seven Eleven and Family Mart. I reached the main metro station. The well lit streets look like a series of Vittal Mallya Road in Bangalore. I could see people renting out cycles from the metro station. As I love walking I decided to walk through the main streets in Taipei city. At a distance I could see Taipei 101, the second tallest building in Asia, only behind the great Burj Dubai. It was a flood of famous Brands inside the Taipei 101. Most of the lone wolves who enter a posh mall have three main activities to do.

1.       Take a selfie

2.       Ask someone to take a portrait of yours

3.       Curse all the arrogant women who do not spare a second look to your handsome face.

After finishing of the ritual, I called it a day and returned to my hotel.

The Selfie

Inside Taipei 101

The next day I decided to visit Longshan temple, a Buddhist temple located at the not so posh area of Taipei city. I got down at Longshan temple metro station. The streets in Taipei are well marked and it is very easy to find direction to most places especially tourist place. After watching the ritual in the temple I decided to walk around. It was not long before I saw place which are impoverished and smell like feet. There were homeless people lying on the pavements and smoking cigarette. There was a night market nearby which sold many food items especially crabs, snakes and other sea creatures. I saw a shop selling sex toys in the night market, but was chased away when I tried to take a photograph. The night markets especially Shilin Night market is well known for its late night shopping centers. These places have exotic dishes like juice made of frog eggs, stinky shrimp fry etc. Mc Donald’s was the official food sponsor for my trip. A malayali christiani who likes tapioca and beef curry will be very much happy with the Big Mac and the French fries at the Mc D.

Longshan Temple

As I wanted to visit geo thermal valley and my main plan for the Taiwan trip was to finish of the business related issues, I slogged on Wednesday, but made sure to visit the secretariat and other main building in Taipei. I also decided to do a bit of window shopping to get some stuffs back home. I took some snaps of bags and shared it to my techie mother who figured out how to use Google hangout in no time. Thursday morning I woke up very early and caught the first bus to the Metro station.

Food served at the Shilin Night market

Geo Thermal valley

The Thermal valley opens at 9 and closes at 5. I reached there at 8 30. I had taken an extra pair of dress, in case I decide to take bath in the hot springs. Thermal valley was a different experience as I could see the water boiling and Sulphur fumes rising from the water. The main pool is very hot and the temperature is near to 100 degree Celsius. In downstream there are hotels which offer people at a nominal rate to take bath in the not so hot natural hot springs. I decided not to take bath. My size zero body figure is something which I would not want to expose in a public (yea both men and women) hot spring.

Friday was the swan song day, the issue was fixed, everyone was happy. The General Manager/ Sales representative took me out for lunch as promised. He made me eat god knows what. I remember eating a cooked jelly fish, shrimp fry and sushi. I tried by best not to puke. That night I went for a massive shopping. I bought enough stuff so that I can go home without any complaints. While returning back to Hotel with loads of stuff in my hand, an old woman gave me a helping hand. She knew a little bit English. I told about all the places I visited. By then I had got acquainted with the driver of the last bus. He had helped me earlier in finding my Hotel. I asked the old women to convey my thanks to the driver and tell him that I am leaving back tomorrow. I got down at my stop and walked slowly ahead.  As the bus was catching up with me, the driver stopped very near  to me. He opened the door and gave me a salute.

With Chaucer Kuo, the GM in Taiwan

The food Taiwanese savored and I gulped 

The next day morning after the buffet breakfast a Taxi was arranged by the Hotel to drop me to airport. I had packed all my stuffs already. The receptionists were giving me a warm smile though intermittently watching my feet. I got into the taxi, there was some Chinese melody playing. As the car started, I started feeling nostalgic about the last one week. The awesome places I visited, the awesome people I met right from the GM with all maps, the receptionist who thought something funny has happened with my feet, the girl who showed me the direction to bus stop, the hardworking customers, the old women who helped me with the luggage, the driver who gave me an warm salute. As the car speeded away, I asked the driver to increase the volume and leaned back on the seat to enjoy the final moments in Famosa.

Tribute to the Master

I know I will read this post again and again through out my life. Thank you cricinfo for summing up all the memories.

"Friends please settle down, I'll get more emotional! It's hard to believe my wonderful journey is coming to an end. I've a list of names to thank. The first is my father, who passed away in 1999. Without his guidance I wouldn't be standing in front of you. he said 'chase your dreams, don't give up, the path will be difficult.' I miss him today. My mom, I don't know how she managed a naughty child like me. She just prayed and prayed from the day I started playing the game. For four years I stayed with my uncle and aunt when in school, they treated me like their own son. My eldest brother Nitin doesn't like to talk ,much but he said, whatever you do, I know you will give 100%. My first cricket bat was presented to me by my sister Savita. She still continues to fast while I bat. Ajit my brother - We have lived this dream together, he sacrificed his career for me, he took me to Achrekar sir first. Even last night he called me to discuss my dismissal. Even when I'm not playing we will still be discussing technique. If that hadn't happened, I would have been a lesser cricketer.

"The most beautiful thing happened to me when I met Anjali in 1990. I know that being a doctor there was a big career in front of her. But she decides that I should continue playing and she took care of the children. Thanks for bearing with me for all the nonsense I've said (Anjali wipes tears). Then the two precious diamonds of my life Sara and Arjun. I've missed out on several birthdays, holidays. I know for 14-16 years I've not spent enough time with you. But I promise you I will spend the next 16.

"My inlaws - I've discussed several things with them. The most important thing they did was allow me to marry Anjali. In the last 24 years my friends have made terrific contributions. They have been with me while I was stressed. They have been with me even at 3am when I was injured. Thanks for being there for me.

"My career started when I was 11. I was extremely delighted to see Achrekar sir in the stands. I used to ride on his scooter and play two matches a day. Sir took me along to make sure I played. On a lighter note, Sir never said 'well played' because he didn't want me to be complacent. You can push your luck now, Sir, since I'm not playing cricker anymore.

"I started my career here in Mumbai. I remember landing from NZ at 4am and playing a Ranji game the next day. The BCCI was fantastic from my debut. Thanks to the selectors. You were right with me making sure my treatment was taken care of.

"Thanks to all the senior cricketers who have played with me. We see on the screen Rahul, VVS, Sourav, Anil who is not here. All the coaches. I know when MS presented the 200th Test cap, I had a message to the team - I said we are all so proud to be representing the nation. I hope to continue to serve the nation with dignity. I have full faith that you will serve the country in the right spirit.

I will be failing in my duty if I didn't thank the doctors who have kept me fit. Given the injuries I have suffered. They have treated me in odd hours.

My dear friend the late Mark Mascarenhas. I miss him. My current management team WSG, for continuing what Mark has done. Someone who has worked closely with me for 14 years is my friend Vinod Nayudu.

"The media has backed me a lot, since my school days. Even today. Thank you. Thanks to the photographers for capturing those moments.

"I know my speech has become long. I want to thank people who have flown in from different parts of the world. I want to thank my fans from the bottom of my heart. "Sachin, Sachin" will reverberate in my ears till I stop breathing." (Followed by loud cheers).

The crowd wants more. Sachin has handed back the mic. We haven't seen the last of him here surely.

Sudhir Kumar Gautam, by far his biggest fan, waves the tri-colour. Sachin may not have mentioned his name, but he holds a special place in his heart, you can be sure.

Sachin gets together for a huddle with his family. I'm sure he is preparing for a lap of honour around Wankhede.

And the walk start. Sachin waves the tricolour, his wife and kids next to him and his team-mates behind. It's a leisurely walk but the photographers are clamoring in front of him. It's an army.

Now the special moment. Kohli and Dhoni haul him up on their shoulders! He continues to wave the flag. Memories of April 2, 2011, when India lifted the World Cup right here at the Wankhede.

The entourage slowly complete the lap. The chants of "Saachiin Saachiin" will never cease.

The lap's done. Sachin's back on his feet. People surround him. If you look closely, somewhere in the middle you might spot him. Small in stature maybe, but he has the cricket world at his feet now.

He walks across to the pitch in solitude and bends and touches it, one last time. Anjali said in an interview earlier today that she had never actually seen him do it before until his last Ranji game. He has done it now at the Wankhede, his nursery, for a worldwide television audience and the capacity crowd here at the stadium.

The great man walks up the stairs of the pavilion. Thank you for the memories, Sachin!