The best way to enjoy a trip is to begin the trip with less preparation. I mean, less planning but an open mind to take things as they come. However, it is important to be well informed. For example, you can convert local currency to US Dollars, buy an international mobile SIM card, pre-plan all the places you want to visit and even book a vehicle in advance. Or, you can do none of this at all. I would suggest the latter. This way your trip will be much more exciting and might turn out to be an unforgettable one. Beauty of life lies in the suspense hidden in the next second, isn't it?
Chennai to Colombo was just an hour of uneventful journey. But the fact that I was in a different country within just 60 minutes of travel started sinking in as soon as I disembarked the flight and strolled in to the airport. The Visa process was too simple and took just a couple of minutes. Next, I needed local currency. The official at the Thomas Cook Forex counter gave me a surprise look when I asked him if I could exchange some Indian Rupees for Sri Lankan Rupees. "No Indian Rupee sir. Only US Dollar. Or Euro. Or Pound..". It became evident that Indian rupee is of no value outside Indian border. I had to call up my guest house and inform my arrival there but I didn't have a phone. I had gladly switched off my mobile phone the moment I got in to flight at Chennai knowing that this SIM is of no use abroad. Nobody can call me for 5 days. But even I couldn't call anybody. I somehow needed to get a local sim card which I could use till I was there. There was a counter selling local Sim cards but they wouldn't accept credit cards or any currency other than SLR. So, I had to go out of the airport, draw cash from any ATM, come back in to the airport (thanks to the tough-looking-but-not-too-strict airport officials) and buy the sim card.
I, and my 2 friends who traveled with me, started feeling very hungry. But outside airport there was only a tiny restaurant with menu only in Sinhalese. It was a small place, kind of workers' mess. There were vegetarian buns, thankfully, but every inch of the place had the smell of fish. Just outside the hotel there was a pick up point from where the government operates free bus service, to drop people at the nearest bus station. The Bandaranayake International airport is at Katunayake, about 35 km north of Colombo city. Many tourists prefer to stay at a place called Negombo, which is just under 10 km north of the airport, where hotels and guest houses are plenty and are very cheap compared to Colombo. From the nearby bus station we took a local bus to reach Negombo. By the time we neared Negombo it started raining. An awesome welcome to us in to the tiny island nation.
A quick Tuk-Tuk (our Auto rickshaw) ride costing 200 SLR helped us get to our guest house at Lewis place, which is just across the beach. They say, behind every hotel there is a beach in that place :) . The route from airport to Negombo reminded me of Kerala. The place, trees, even the rain, was just like Kerala. But Lewis place was very much like Goa. Many foreigners, hotels serving European cuisines, beach, etc. So, we decided to stroll along the beach, look around Negombo and spend the evening leisurely.
(To be contd..)
--S--
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Sri Lanka: Prologue
The original plan was to travel Sri Lanka for 9 days, covering half the country, moving from place to place using only public transport, preferably trains. I had always been a fan of trains. Ever since I read Paul Theroux's "The Ghost Train to the Eastern Star" I'd been dreaming of taking the coastal train from Galle to Colombo, just as Paul Theroux did. So my plan was to spend a couple of days in Colombo, move on to Kandy by the Inter City Express train, stay there and visit places around it like Polonnaruwa, Dambulla, etc, then go to Nuwara Eliya - a pleasant hill station, proceed further to Galle or Hambantota. Finally, I would fulfill my dream by catching the coastal train to Colombo from Galle.
I had informed my vacation plan to my manager nearly 6 weeks in advance, booked my return flights and guest houses to stay. I reminded my manager a week in advance about my planned vacation the week after. But things started turning against me that week. Work was increasing and my bosses wouldn't let me go even for a day. Some tough negotiations and angry stares and frustrated arguments later I was "permitted" to take 2 days leave and the 3rd day as uninformed sick leave. I bit my teeth and altered my plan. It cost me my dream. Shrinking the trip from 9 to 5 days would mean I would lose money I spent for my return flight and some guest houses. But the biggest loss would be Galle. I would not be able to take the Galle-Colombo coastal train at all. Probably I would not even be able to hop on to the Colombo - Kandy ICE as well.
Despite such upsets it turned out to be a fantastic trip with a lot of learning about a culture which is so close yet so far from that of mine. Learning was not just in terms of culture, but political, ethnic, lingual and religious. Buddhism is the magnet that drew me towards Sri Lanka, the center of Theravada Buddhism. I always imagined Buddhist monks will be meditating all the time, thinking only of Buddha and nothing else. I discovered how wrong I was when couple of years ago I accidentally came across a Tibetan movie called "Phorpa" (directed by a Tibetan Lama by name Khyentse Norbu) and later on visited the Namdroling Monastery in Coorg recently. I saw hundreds of little monks playing cricket and football behind the monastery. It was a lovely sight. In the 5 days I will spend in Sri Lanka I will probably learn a lot more about this peace-loving religion.
Let the journey begin...
--S--
I had informed my vacation plan to my manager nearly 6 weeks in advance, booked my return flights and guest houses to stay. I reminded my manager a week in advance about my planned vacation the week after. But things started turning against me that week. Work was increasing and my bosses wouldn't let me go even for a day. Some tough negotiations and angry stares and frustrated arguments later I was "permitted" to take 2 days leave and the 3rd day as uninformed sick leave. I bit my teeth and altered my plan. It cost me my dream. Shrinking the trip from 9 to 5 days would mean I would lose money I spent for my return flight and some guest houses. But the biggest loss would be Galle. I would not be able to take the Galle-Colombo coastal train at all. Probably I would not even be able to hop on to the Colombo - Kandy ICE as well.
Despite such upsets it turned out to be a fantastic trip with a lot of learning about a culture which is so close yet so far from that of mine. Learning was not just in terms of culture, but political, ethnic, lingual and religious. Buddhism is the magnet that drew me towards Sri Lanka, the center of Theravada Buddhism. I always imagined Buddhist monks will be meditating all the time, thinking only of Buddha and nothing else. I discovered how wrong I was when couple of years ago I accidentally came across a Tibetan movie called "Phorpa" (directed by a Tibetan Lama by name Khyentse Norbu) and later on visited the Namdroling Monastery in Coorg recently. I saw hundreds of little monks playing cricket and football behind the monastery. It was a lovely sight. In the 5 days I will spend in Sri Lanka I will probably learn a lot more about this peace-loving religion.
Let the journey begin...
--S--
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
To ESCAPE from Cellphone
Most of the times you choose the movie you want to watch. Sometimes the movie chooses you. Sometimes the movie you watch would fit perfectly to your mood, so perfectly, that you can draw some ideas out of it. Whether you build on those ideas or not, is secondary. Under an extremely irritated work environment and stressful time, which might go on endlessly, that I took this day off from work, switched off my mobile phone and escaped to watch a movie alone.
Coming to think of mobile phones I feel I have got Telephon-o-phobia of late. How would you fell if your work condition is such that you might get phone call any time? That too I'm not in public service. I'm not a doctor. I'm not in call-center business, to be getting calls at odd times. I'm not a stock broker and late nights are not when markets function. Shit happens. Even the thought of being without a mobile phone is so liberating. World would look so beautiful with lots of sparrows instead of tall cellphone towers. World would sound so pleasing to your ears when birds chirp, instead of cellphones scream.
Taking just my wallet and NO mobile phone, smelling freedom in the air, I jumped in to some bus, not having decided which theater to go or what movie to watch. When you are unsure of what to watch and you have plenty of time in hand, 'Express Avenue - Escape Cinemas' is the right place to be. Of all the movies, I chose "Zindago Na Milegi Dobara". Dil Chahta Hai is one of my all-time favorite films, and I liked Rock On too. So I decided to watch ZNMD for Farhan Akhtar without much thought. I don't understand Hindi that well but one needn't know Hindi that well to watch Hin-glish movies nowadays. The movie was thoroughly entertaining, impressive and helped me get out of my bad mood. It was DCH-like. It was RockOn-like. And it was in parts like Spanish government's advertisement film. But who cares! It had some stunning visuals, nice music and its own good moments.
In a scene when Hrithik keeps getting phone calls from his work place in London, while driving in Spain, Farhan (ZNMD's version of DCH's Saif Ali khan) grabs his mobile phone and throws it out! How I wish someone does that to me! I can only switch off my phone for today but have to switch it on tomorrow again. How painful. It was like a signal to me, asking me to throw away cellphone and feel liberated. Not just about cellphone, but the entire movie was like that. Like asking me to throw all nonsense and jump out and do what my heart says. Very much like Paulo Coelho says in 'The Alchemist' - "Look out for signals around you, there will be clues around". Very few films have mad me feel this way. "Into the wild" being the most prominent and the most influential of them. "Bucket list", the next. And "The motorcycle diaries". Purposeless travels, but very meaningful ones. That's exactly what I like the most.
--S--
Coming to think of mobile phones I feel I have got Telephon-o-phobia of late. How would you fell if your work condition is such that you might get phone call any time? That too I'm not in public service. I'm not a doctor. I'm not in call-center business, to be getting calls at odd times. I'm not a stock broker and late nights are not when markets function. Shit happens. Even the thought of being without a mobile phone is so liberating. World would look so beautiful with lots of sparrows instead of tall cellphone towers. World would sound so pleasing to your ears when birds chirp, instead of cellphones scream.
Taking just my wallet and NO mobile phone, smelling freedom in the air, I jumped in to some bus, not having decided which theater to go or what movie to watch. When you are unsure of what to watch and you have plenty of time in hand, 'Express Avenue - Escape Cinemas' is the right place to be. Of all the movies, I chose "Zindago Na Milegi Dobara". Dil Chahta Hai is one of my all-time favorite films, and I liked Rock On too. So I decided to watch ZNMD for Farhan Akhtar without much thought. I don't understand Hindi that well but one needn't know Hindi that well to watch Hin-glish movies nowadays. The movie was thoroughly entertaining, impressive and helped me get out of my bad mood. It was DCH-like. It was RockOn-like. And it was in parts like Spanish government's advertisement film. But who cares! It had some stunning visuals, nice music and its own good moments.
In a scene when Hrithik keeps getting phone calls from his work place in London, while driving in Spain, Farhan (ZNMD's version of DCH's Saif Ali khan) grabs his mobile phone and throws it out! How I wish someone does that to me! I can only switch off my phone for today but have to switch it on tomorrow again. How painful. It was like a signal to me, asking me to throw away cellphone and feel liberated. Not just about cellphone, but the entire movie was like that. Like asking me to throw all nonsense and jump out and do what my heart says. Very much like Paulo Coelho says in 'The Alchemist' - "Look out for signals around you, there will be clues around". Very few films have mad me feel this way. "Into the wild" being the most prominent and the most influential of them. "Bucket list", the next. And "The motorcycle diaries". Purposeless travels, but very meaningful ones. That's exactly what I like the most.
--S--
Monday, January 17, 2011
Subramanya Bharathiyar & the Wachowski brothers (or) How Bharathiyar saw the Matrix!
Its pretty interesting when thoughts interlink, one idea connects to another, making a correlation of totally unrelated stuffs.
Subramanya Bharathi, one of the greatest poets of India who wrote in Tamil, wrote this poem - "Nirpathuve, nadappathuve, parappathuve..". This is one of his best poems according to me. This song also comes in his Tamil movie biography "Bharathi" (produced by my favorite Tamil writer Sujatha, on behalf of Media Dreams pvt. Ltd.). Watch this beautiful song with Ilayaraja's music here.
Bharathiyar addresses all the animals, birds, trees and in general, the Nature, and questions the very existence of all of them. He doubts if everything that his eyes see, everything he listens, even what he thinks, are all nothing but imagination. That which does not exist. He feels everything around him is like the oasis. Appears to be real but does not really exist. He suspects that the whole world could be an illusion. Ultimately, in a highly philosophical tone, he doubts his own existence is just a dream. He doesn't believe he belongs to this world in which his feet arr firmly set. Or at least, appears to be set.
Several decades later, in far future, while working as an underworld hacker-programmer, Neo got the same doubt. He doubted the world in which he lives. He 'felt' he did not belong here. It was only after Morpheus opened his eyes up that he realized he was inside a fictional, programmed, unreal world of The Matrix. The Wachowski brothers who created the Matrix franchise have thought along the same lines as Subramanya Bharathi. No denying the fact that the core idea is one of the basic theories in Hindu philosophy. But this comparison seems interesting (for me!). You might find it ridiculous but I see some logic in this. In case you still find it ridiculous and want to hit me you can't do that. Because of the simple fact that it is not "the me" who wrote this, which is simply because I don't exist. And you can't hit me also because you don't exist too.
Hello, non-existing, fictional, fellow dreamer!
--S--
Subramanya Bharathi, one of the greatest poets of India who wrote in Tamil, wrote this poem - "Nirpathuve, nadappathuve, parappathuve..". This is one of his best poems according to me. This song also comes in his Tamil movie biography "Bharathi" (produced by my favorite Tamil writer Sujatha, on behalf of Media Dreams pvt. Ltd.). Watch this beautiful song with Ilayaraja's music here.
Bharathiyar addresses all the animals, birds, trees and in general, the Nature, and questions the very existence of all of them. He doubts if everything that his eyes see, everything he listens, even what he thinks, are all nothing but imagination. That which does not exist. He feels everything around him is like the oasis. Appears to be real but does not really exist. He suspects that the whole world could be an illusion. Ultimately, in a highly philosophical tone, he doubts his own existence is just a dream. He doesn't believe he belongs to this world in which his feet arr firmly set. Or at least, appears to be set.
Several decades later, in far future, while working as an underworld hacker-programmer, Neo got the same doubt. He doubted the world in which he lives. He 'felt' he did not belong here. It was only after Morpheus opened his eyes up that he realized he was inside a fictional, programmed, unreal world of The Matrix. The Wachowski brothers who created the Matrix franchise have thought along the same lines as Subramanya Bharathi. No denying the fact that the core idea is one of the basic theories in Hindu philosophy. But this comparison seems interesting (for me!). You might find it ridiculous but I see some logic in this. In case you still find it ridiculous and want to hit me you can't do that. Because of the simple fact that it is not "the me" who wrote this, which is simply because I don't exist. And you can't hit me also because you don't exist too.
Hello, non-existing, fictional, fellow dreamer!
--S--
7 hours adventure! - Part 4 - The End
The waitress at the McD asssured she has "Cheese burger" which was vegetarian for her, but not for me. When I enquired her about the ingredients I found out it was not vegetarian! I had to settle for French fries. We were laughing thinking of Vijay's "vegetarian" friends who'd been taking this Cheese burger for weeks by then.
Though it was only around 3-3.30 pm it was starting to get pretty dark already. Since we had to return to the cruise at 5 pm, not even a minute late, we decided to move towards the nearest Tunnelbana. That was when Vijay gave that idea (which could've cost us dearly). He suggested we visit his university which was "just on our way" to the port. We hesitated but decided to give a try. What is life without adventure!
His university was pretty good and we got busy clicking some photographs in front of everything that was visible there. Even the closed doors and fallen bicycles.
Minutes ticked away so fast that by the time we realized we were getting late, we were well behind our schedule. As we were accustomed to running in dense snow, which has been our "most favorite mode of transport" since our departure from my house @ Helsinki, we started sprinting towards nearest the Tunnelbana again.
Murphy's law got proved once again. If something has to go wrong, it will. And it did. Unusually, the metro train in our route got delayed. Though it was only by few minutes, those final moments were precious for us. I was a bit optimistic when we were in a similar situation only a day ago, but this time I was perspiring. It was a diffferent country, different situation.
When we ran just like Jack of Titanic, once again, rushed in to our cabin, took a sip of Redbull and witnessed the slow departure of the vessel from the port, we still couldn't believe how we made it. Vijay was so kind he ran along with us all the way from the metro station under the earth till the boarding point. This trip was so tiring and adventurous that I was so sleepy on the last lap to my house from Helsinki port.
Though I could see very little of Stockholm, Sweden, these few hours will remain in my memory as solid as the rocky ice of that December Scandinavian sea, until old age like summer melts and takes it away from me drop by drop.
-The End-
--S--
Though it was only around 3-3.30 pm it was starting to get pretty dark already. Since we had to return to the cruise at 5 pm, not even a minute late, we decided to move towards the nearest Tunnelbana. That was when Vijay gave that idea (which could've cost us dearly). He suggested we visit his university which was "just on our way" to the port. We hesitated but decided to give a try. What is life without adventure!
His university was pretty good and we got busy clicking some photographs in front of everything that was visible there. Even the closed doors and fallen bicycles.
Minutes ticked away so fast that by the time we realized we were getting late, we were well behind our schedule. As we were accustomed to running in dense snow, which has been our "most favorite mode of transport" since our departure from my house @ Helsinki, we started sprinting towards nearest the Tunnelbana again.
Murphy's law got proved once again. If something has to go wrong, it will. And it did. Unusually, the metro train in our route got delayed. Though it was only by few minutes, those final moments were precious for us. I was a bit optimistic when we were in a similar situation only a day ago, but this time I was perspiring. It was a diffferent country, different situation.
When we ran just like Jack of Titanic, once again, rushed in to our cabin, took a sip of Redbull and witnessed the slow departure of the vessel from the port, we still couldn't believe how we made it. Vijay was so kind he ran along with us all the way from the metro station under the earth till the boarding point. This trip was so tiring and adventurous that I was so sleepy on the last lap to my house from Helsinki port.
Though I could see very little of Stockholm, Sweden, these few hours will remain in my memory as solid as the rocky ice of that December Scandinavian sea, until old age like summer melts and takes it away from me drop by drop.
-The End-
--S--
Thursday, January 6, 2011
7 hours adventure! - Part 3
What I thought would be a "short while" took much longer than that! Reasons being X-mas, New year and holidays :)
I mention 7 hours in the title because I was inside Sweden, in the city of Stockholm for just 7 hours. And adventure is not what anyone would normally imagine. No heroics. No tiger chased me in some deep interior forest. And I didn't climb any mountain. What made the entire trip adventurous was the time constraint I had. It was 10 AM when I left the cruise and set my foot on this amazing country which has given us Ingmar Bergman, Björn Borg, the Ericsson and Alfred Nobel! My return cruise was to leave Stockholm for Helsinki @ 5 PM the same day. So I had just 7 hours to see all that I want to. I did manage to see a lot. Or I should say, "experience" a lot. And yes, I did struggle (as usual) to catch my cruise in the evening, which made this trip very memorable :)
Before I move on I must tell something about the setting. The temperature was close to double digit in the negative. Dense snowfall had painted the city pure white. Whiter than the purest white I had ever seen. (Helsinki streets were filled with snow too, but it didn't seem so clean then.) And it was just a week before Christmas, and so it was celebration mood everywhere. All this together gave me a dreamy feel. If you are a fan of the Potter series you can relate it to how Mr. Potter felt during his first visit to the Hogsmeade village! This is the closest and the best comparison I can imagine. :)
My short stay at this foreign city was made comfortable and easy by my friend from college and later colleague at workplace - Vijay, without whom I wouldn't have seen as much as I did. He made the trip cheerful, unforgettable and exciting, not just for me, but also to my 2 friends (Athi & Anto) who came with me from Helsinki. Vijay even brought us his friends' travel cards so that we need not waste some Swedish Kroons (which we exchanged for Euros inside the cruise middle of that Nordic sea!!). He met us near a "Tunnelbana" which is the Swedish term for Stockholm metro stations, and we headed straight to the old town area. From my previous visit to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, I learned that the best place to visit in a European city is its old town area. The new, urban areas of all the cities have no distinction. They all look the same. Shopping malls, McD, clubs, etc.
The first couple of hours were spent in roaming around the old town area (called "Gamla Stan"), looking at the narrow streets decorated for Christmas, petty souvenir shops, Churches, etc. We saw the Royal palace where the guards changed duty at the hour (Sweden follows Constitutional/Parliamentary monarchy). Then we saw the Swedish parliament. While we were clicking some photographs in front of it we saw a lady come out of a room, lock it and drive away in her car. Vijay joked she could even be a member of the parliament! We were told, the MPs there are very simple (should I mention 'unlike ours'?).
We then moved to a small junction which seemed like some market place, with several souvenir shops, lots of pigeons, buildings painted in many interesting colors, Christmas gift shops, etc. Those tiny streets led me to the Nobel Museum which houses lots of information about the life and inventions of Alfred Nobel. I also remember seeing his Will regarding the Nobel prize awards. That one hour spent there was definitely worth it.
When I came out of the museum it was quite different than how it was an hour earlier. There were lots of kids, playing with a Santa, and someone was arranging mikes and speakers. Within few minutes the cute little kids starting singing some songs, should be Christmas choirs I guess, which was lovely!
By this time we started feeling hungry. Being a 'strict' vegetarian I don't expect to get veg food everywhere. During such trips I prepare myself to mange with just some chocolate bars and energy drinks. Those are enough for me to keep myself active. But still, at that time we felt it necessary to eat something. Vijay said the local McD serves Veg burger, which I didn't believe. We decided to try my luck and started marching towards the McDonalds without knowing that I would remain hungry throughout the remaining of the day. :(
(To be contd..)
--S--
I mention 7 hours in the title because I was inside Sweden, in the city of Stockholm for just 7 hours. And adventure is not what anyone would normally imagine. No heroics. No tiger chased me in some deep interior forest. And I didn't climb any mountain. What made the entire trip adventurous was the time constraint I had. It was 10 AM when I left the cruise and set my foot on this amazing country which has given us Ingmar Bergman, Björn Borg, the Ericsson and Alfred Nobel! My return cruise was to leave Stockholm for Helsinki @ 5 PM the same day. So I had just 7 hours to see all that I want to. I did manage to see a lot. Or I should say, "experience" a lot. And yes, I did struggle (as usual) to catch my cruise in the evening, which made this trip very memorable :)
Before I move on I must tell something about the setting. The temperature was close to double digit in the negative. Dense snowfall had painted the city pure white. Whiter than the purest white I had ever seen. (Helsinki streets were filled with snow too, but it didn't seem so clean then.) And it was just a week before Christmas, and so it was celebration mood everywhere. All this together gave me a dreamy feel. If you are a fan of the Potter series you can relate it to how Mr. Potter felt during his first visit to the Hogsmeade village! This is the closest and the best comparison I can imagine. :)
My short stay at this foreign city was made comfortable and easy by my friend from college and later colleague at workplace - Vijay, without whom I wouldn't have seen as much as I did. He made the trip cheerful, unforgettable and exciting, not just for me, but also to my 2 friends (Athi & Anto) who came with me from Helsinki. Vijay even brought us his friends' travel cards so that we need not waste some Swedish Kroons (which we exchanged for Euros inside the cruise middle of that Nordic sea!!). He met us near a "Tunnelbana" which is the Swedish term for Stockholm metro stations, and we headed straight to the old town area. From my previous visit to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, I learned that the best place to visit in a European city is its old town area. The new, urban areas of all the cities have no distinction. They all look the same. Shopping malls, McD, clubs, etc.
The first couple of hours were spent in roaming around the old town area (called "Gamla Stan"), looking at the narrow streets decorated for Christmas, petty souvenir shops, Churches, etc. We saw the Royal palace where the guards changed duty at the hour (Sweden follows Constitutional/Parliamentary monarchy). Then we saw the Swedish parliament. While we were clicking some photographs in front of it we saw a lady come out of a room, lock it and drive away in her car. Vijay joked she could even be a member of the parliament! We were told, the MPs there are very simple (should I mention 'unlike ours'?).
We then moved to a small junction which seemed like some market place, with several souvenir shops, lots of pigeons, buildings painted in many interesting colors, Christmas gift shops, etc. Those tiny streets led me to the Nobel Museum which houses lots of information about the life and inventions of Alfred Nobel. I also remember seeing his Will regarding the Nobel prize awards. That one hour spent there was definitely worth it.
When I came out of the museum it was quite different than how it was an hour earlier. There were lots of kids, playing with a Santa, and someone was arranging mikes and speakers. Within few minutes the cute little kids starting singing some songs, should be Christmas choirs I guess, which was lovely!
By this time we started feeling hungry. Being a 'strict' vegetarian I don't expect to get veg food everywhere. During such trips I prepare myself to mange with just some chocolate bars and energy drinks. Those are enough for me to keep myself active. But still, at that time we felt it necessary to eat something. Vijay said the local McD serves Veg burger, which I didn't believe. We decided to try my luck and started marching towards the McDonalds without knowing that I would remain hungry throughout the remaining of the day. :(
(To be contd..)
--S--
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