Another Bengaluru trip

This evening I fly into Bengaluru for some work related conference. I am not carrying the heavy laptop, instead choosing to opt for my android mobile for emails / browsing. Since I do not have a SIM card in the device, I will have to rely on the WiFi connectivity instead. Usually, many conference venues, airports, and hotels have a WiFi connectivity. I hope this works out. Will post back the results here.

Update: This idea is working out quite well. WiFi access at Mumbai airport, accommodation, as well as at the venue. Good riddance to heavy laptops?

Update 2: I reached Mumbai late on Thursday evening (10th November). Like I mentioned in the earlier update, the idea of using the Android phone worked very well. Apart from the free WiFi access mentioned above, there was also free WiFi access available at Bangalore International Airport, except that the one at Bangalore restricted free access for 45 minutes. If more access was required, one was supposed  to buy additional access from online or some counter at the airport. I did not bother to buy additional time.

In hindsight, all one does is to check and reply to emails. All of this can be done easily today using a smart phone. Of course, typing long memos / documents is a pain, and obviously, one will also not have access to a development environment, but in a short trip such as this where a majority of the time is spent in attending the conference talks, this is hardly a priority.

Thoughts of a car finally hit the brain

After years of not wanting to own a car, thoughts of have now started emerging in my brain. All these years I couldn't even differentiate between the various models. But a learning session with a co-worker now makes sure that I know a Maruti Swift from a Hyundai i10, or for that matter what is a VXI, ZXI or a VDI.

One of the things I realized I was missing out was on being able to travel with family on weekends. That meant that I was missing out on visiting places on the outskirts of Mumbai. I am also close to being convinced that the Maruti Swift is a broad compact car (it has the same width as a Maruti Swift Dzire) which means it can accommodate 5 people with ease.

I have driven extensively in the USA, including dense cities such as Boston. This experience also includes a 10 hour drive from Massachusetts to Akron, Ohio. I was not sure whether I could drive in the crazy Mumbai traffic. But if the intention is to drive on the weekends, then this is not that big a problem. Plus a realization that if others could, why couldn't I.

I am also clear that the first car should be a pre-owned car - one that should be ready to receive scratches and dents - a common experience for a new driver in Mumbai.

Exciting weekend at XThrill

Last weekend, I had an enjoyable and unique experience at Lavasa's XThrill. There were a lot of activities that included accommodation in tents (air-conditioned). Other experiences included trekking, rappelling, and rowing across a lake. Not to mention the lovely weather.

Back from Goa

A vacation to Goa with the family was a good way to end the Diwali festival this year. There was precious little to do while in Goa. Temples, churches, and beaches are the best way to describe Goa. And since I've been to Goa many times earlier, these places no longer beckoned. Instead, a quiet vacation at the company's holiday home was planned. Of course, 5 full days of not doing anything would bore any city dweller because of the habit of leading a fast-paced life. So, almost each morning and evening there were visits to specific locations, returning within 3 hours back to the holiday home.

I had thought of trying out some of the activities at the H2O water sports center. Some of the activities that interested me were the under-water walk, the glass bottom boat ride, and the dolphin cruise. Unfortunately, it seemed that they had not yet received licenses to start operations after the rainy season (during which the activities are closed). Fortunately, there were other places where the dolphin cruise was on. And, although it was nothing compared to whale spotting near Boston in the icy climate, it was still one of the better things that we did in Goa.

Other activities included a visit to the local science center; this had the usual stuff like at Mumbai (some displays not in working condition), but it had also had a short 3D film screening on underwater creatures. The river cruise on the Mandovi was boring (partly because I had been on it during earlier visits).

Other disappointments included not getting to visit the Dudhsagar waterfalls and other wildlife sanctuaries around Goa, and not being able to travel the scenic Konkan Railway route by train (no tickets available).

Train related pics from Sweden

Finally, I managed to get some pics of trains / sites in Sweden. Here they are:

Stockholm Centralen station	A long-distance SJ train passes over a high viaduct close to Södertälje Syd
An empty SL local train rake waits at Södertälje Centrum for departure to Gnesta	The 08:05 SL local arrives at Södertälje Centrum to take daily commuters to Märsta via Stockholm Centralen. Commuters unhurriedly board the SL local at Södertälje Centrum
A very sleek-looking SL local arrives from the Stockholm side to Södertälje Centrum	A close-up of the SL local

Good to be back in India...

Last week I returned to India after about 7 weeks of stay in freezing Sweden. Of course, over that period, one did tend to get used to the cold. I had made a mental list of food items to be eaten...all those that were missed during my stay in Sweden.

But it is so unusually hot in Mumbai that it feels like going from the deep freezer straight to the oven. But that is life...the grass always seems to be greener on the other side!

Work, work, and more work...

Its a pity that work is taking away all the time. At the workplace, I have a lovely view of 2 railway lines passing a few kilometres away. One is used for the local Sotckholm (SL) traffic, whereas the other line, is on a high viaduct (remember Konkan railway?), and caters to the long distance traffic (SJ). Numerous trains pass around each day, including goods trains carrying ship containers. There are even double decker trains with a dull grey livery. Every now and then, a WAG7 like locomotive hauls some passenger trains. At other times, a WDS4-type shunter (similar to the ones at CLA and BA), is seen hauling a small goods train.

Its a pity that its been 4 weeks at the workplace, and I have not a picture of a train / loco to share. Hopefully, in the next few weeks...

Rawa, at last...

As mentioned in an earlier post, I was dying to get my hands on rawa.

Finally, after searching many English to Swedish online dictionaries, found out that rawa (semolina) is called "Mannagryn" in Swedish. Sounding it off to the Swedish guys at the workplace confirmed that it is indeed the same thing we were looking for, and that it is readily available at the local grocers'.



Yesterday, I finally found it lying on the shelves among the other "flour" items. Today's breakfast was thus "vegetable upma". And, it did seem to relieve the monotony of having bread for breakfast each morning.

The routine stuff...

Nothing new, except the routine stuff. I have now fairly settled down to a routine in Sweden, and counting the weeks for the return to India. As usual, the thing I miss the most is the food. However, with a good supply of masalas and spices from India, at least there is the good fortune of cooking several things Indian.

The usual disasters happened: In a non-English-speaking country, such things are bound to happen. It was difficult to know one thing from the other in the supermarkets / grocery stores. Luckily, we learn by experience...so the mistakes are not repeated. At this stage, it seems that the thing I need most is "besan" (gram flour), "rava" (semolina), and "sabudana". These things could have added more variety to the things one can prepare.

The very first mistake was in the choice of milk. It was not very clear what was milk, since in the milk section, most products included "mjölk" (pronounced, "myolk") in the name of the products. So, there was "Filmjölk", "Mellanmjölk", "Mjölk", etc. I chose "Filmjölk" by just a random guess. It turned out to be something else.

The next challenge was to get curds (also known as "yogurt" in some parts). Purchased something that was labelled an "yogurt", but turned out that it was not suitable for cooking. It wasn't the Indian curd that we are used to. It had a very thin texture, and felt very slimy like mucous.

The very recent mistake included buying 2 packets of something that looked like rawa. Since "vit" was included in the name, it somehow conveyed the feeling that it was something from wheat. Wrong choice. Turned out that "vitlök pulverized" is "garlic power". While I tried preparing "upma" from it, the result was a very salty thing that resembled upma, but tasted of nothing but strong garlic. No wonder it was kept in the spices section.

The best thing to do is probably to ask around, but not many locals would know what "gram flour" is, and while we did take advice from the locals about curds, it turned out to be not what we were used to in India.

A few weeks in Sweden...

I arrived to an extremely cold (-10 degrees C) welcome in Sweden on the 7th January. The plan is to be here for a few weeks. Lets see how things pass by...and if I get to visit the Krishna temple nearby (www.krishna.se).

Its always a bit of a pain arriving for a few weeks in a new place away from home. One of the most boring and tiresome part is the packing. One needs to consider ones needs and pack up everything that may be useful, and at the same time, worry about not exceeding the 20kg limit that most airlines have in flights from India to Europe. All this just means that one spends a lot of time deciding and packing things, and traveling "heavy", which I have started hating.

The first day in Sweden was so cold when we ventured out for some shopping of daily items in the local grocery supermart (Willy's). It was so cold while waiting for the buses, that my toes became numb from the snow. I was worried I may have suffered from frost-bite, though I do not know what it feels like when that happens. Luckily, it was nothing long-lasting. The next day saw me wearing 2 socks, but still it was quite cold. The same day, I purchased a shoe insole (a special one) to keep out the cold. The weather has since become a little better, but the insole probably helped too.

Will keep this blog updated from time to time, and with pics.

Back from a trip to the South

Just got back from a trip to the South...the trip was mainly for attending a ceremony in the family. After a gap of many years, I got to travel on long-distance trains. We traveled by Chalukya from DR to DWR (Dharwad - the station code still reflects the old name "Dharwar") and back. From DWR, we traveled to MYS (Mysore) and back. The journeys were quite pleasant...although the trains ran about 0.5 hr to 1 hr behind schedule.

The most disappointing thing about the trip was about having missed the opportunity to visit the UBL (Hubli) diesel loco shed - which is about 0.5 hr from DWR. WDP/Gs roamed freely on this section and it was nice to see so many of them.

The other significant thing about the trip was that the DWR-MYS journey must've had at least 50 W/Ls...so the loco was honking quite frequently.

The Chalukya from DR to YPR was hauled by (surprise!) a micro-processor-controlled Pune WDG3A Shakti.

A Lord Vitthal temple in Kerala!!!

This may come as a surprise to many, but here is the image of one that I visited when in Kerala. This one is in a place called "Kayankulam". Notice the black board with Malayalam messages whereas the text in Devnagiri above states the name of the temple.

Back from LNL

I am back after a refreshing break (holiday) at LNL (Lonavala). It was raining in LNL so there was not much of a sight-seeing done (most of LNL has anyways been already seen)...just lazing around and doing nothing...not even thinking of work. Rainy season (or just there after) is the best season to visit LNL and because of the rains, LNL wore a fresh green and unpolluted look. The clouds (and mist) had engulfed KAD (Khandala)...even in the afternoon, traveling on the roads of KAD was proving to be quite difficult due to poor visibility beyond a few metres. Its always been like that and this time too it was not different.

A trip to LNL would not have been complete without a visit to the railway station. So, there we were at the LNL station checking out how delayed the trains were to / from Mumbai (since TV channels were busy broadcasting all day how life in Mumbai was paralysed from the first rains of the season). It was quite interesting to note that most trains were hauled by KYN WCGs...only CR knows what happened to the KYN WCAMs, although I did spot one train with a KYN WCAM3. All trains coming into LNL on their way to PUNE had at least 2 or 3 WCG bankers (pushing the trains from behind up the ghats). These were detached at LNL and sent back (light) to KJT (Karjat) from where they were attached in the first place.

Of course, LNL and chikki go hand-in-hand. It is not clear to me how LNL got itself entangled into this chikki business...neither peanut plantations nor jaggery or sugarcane grow anywhere near LNL. Still, chikkis had to be bought and one had to choose from Maganlal, Rupam, Navratna, and many others.

We decided it would be better if we returned by road (instead of the 1008) since trains were reportedly being halted at CLA because of waterlogging. While returning, at SNPD (Sanpada), we had a flat tyre and apart from that, there were no major incidents. It was clear that the new expressway was making travel faster...much faster. For example, it took us only 0.5 hour from LNL to Khopoli and another 20 minutes later, we were at Panvel. So, in about an hour's time we had reached Vashi from LNL...that is a real improvement over the past, when journeys through the ghats were cumbersome and slow (not to mention the traffic jams because of broken axles of trucks and other heavy vehicles).

And, while at LNL, we stayed at Swiss Resorts. It is supposed to part of the chain that owns the famous Rajdhani group of restaurants. Though the rooms were comparatively cleaner, the food was quite standard and nothing great about it. One gets a feeling that maybe the hotel may be on its wane now...

Apart from that, nothing much in LNL...now that its started to rain, more Mumbaikars will head to their favorite monsoon weekend location...LNL.

Off to LNL

Looks like the trip to UBL (Hubli) will have to wait. I am proceeding today for a short holiday to LNL (Lonavala). While going, I'll be going by the Cool Cab service (from DDR) and while returning, it would be through the 1008 Deccan Express.

I'll be staying at some hotel that I've never stayed before...hopefully, it is good. Reviews after I get back to Mumbai.

Back from Paris

After a series of Bon jour and Merci, I finally reached India just after the 0 hour on Saturday morning. It could've been one of the flawless and no nonsensical trips had it not been for a silly error on the part of the person booking the ticket. Some guy had me booked for the 12th of April, instead of the 17th of March.

I had reserved the 16th evening for some sight seeing and shopping (things for others). Instead, when I took a look at the ticket (for seeking confirmation from the airline), I realised that it was for the 12th of April. These e-tickets can be so damn confusing what with no alignment in the columns of data. (There were 3 dates for the same flight: 17th March, 12th April and 14th April. The "real" flight date was 12th April). As a result of the panic-inducing-like situation, I had to spend time trying to call up people and try to hunt on the Internet for a clue as to when the "real" booking was.

I had a class on Saturday afternoon and Eiffel was no major reason to miss it. That was the reason why I wanted to take the flight on Friday itself. The end result was that it was so late that we just ended up going to an Indian restaurant called "Palais De Vandan". No Eiffel, no Mona Lisa, no museums, no other sight seeing.

I had to get up at 3 a.m. in the wee hours of Friday morning to get across the call to get our guys to change the date. That's how the trip went. Maybe next time there is enough time.

On the other hand, I had breakfast on most mornings at the "Maison Internationale" restaurant (a variety of croissants, cafe au lait and orange jus). Dinner on all 3 nights were eaten out - 2 at Indian restaurants and 1 at Pizza Hut. Lunch on all 3 days was at the workplace - and it was with a lot of variety (including something for the veggies).

Since there was no hotel accomodation available near the workplace, I had to put up at the Maison de l'Inde. That is some sort of a hostel for Indian students at the "Cite Universitaire". Looking back, it was quite an okay place (for the price).

3 nigths in Paris

Starting from yesterday, I'll be spending 3 nights in Paris (on a "business" trip). So, this post is from Paris. Because of unavailability of rooms in hotels close to the workplace, I am staying in a hostel ("Cite Universitaire"). The hostel has Wi-Fi in the campus...so this post is over the Wi-Fi.

I travel by the RER Line B (which is like a "local train") to some place and then take a bus to commute to the workplace.