In Remembrance of Jagjit Singh

I have never written a note in remembrance of anybody. But I owe this one to Jagjit Sir, a master of Ghazal music in his own right. Whenever somebody asked me what kind of music I liked most and who my favourite singer was, I would say Ghazals and Jagjit Singh without thinking twice.

Many of us, including me, find music an immense source of solace and peace, especially during our happiest and most difficult of times. I remember the time when I was a teenager and had my first crush. "Hosh walon ko khabar kya" by Jagjit Sir always put a smile on my face, no matter how often I listened to it. And then the time in college when I was going through one of the most emotionally taxing phases of my life. "Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho" and "kahin door(adaptation by Jagjit Sir of the original number from Anand)" helped me find peace when it was most scarce. Even today, there is hardly a week that goes by without listening to his songs. In some ways, his music has helped shape part of who I am today.

Music is a source of inspiration in our lives. But it takes a gifted musician like Jagjit Sir to make one realize that. I always thought I would some day go to one of his live performances. But I cldn't for one reason or the other. Now, I would be lying if I say I am deeply saddened by his death. I didn't know him personally and so I will not dare to pretend that I am anywhere as sad as his family or friends are right now.

But I will certainly miss him. Rest in peace Jagjit Sir.

Stranger in Madison

It’s been a couple of weeks since I arrived in the United States, Madison, the capital of the state of Wisconsin and home to the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin, to be specific. I would be lying if I say that I did not know what to expect since I have already been to the US before, as a tourist. But it is very different being a resident; it feels different. As a tourist, I always had that sense of hurry in my steps, trying to maximize the “throughput” – the number of “touristy” places covered in a given amount of time. Being a resident brings a sense of calmness, that ability to walk along any random street not caring where it might lead you, well, at least as long as you have a GPS to accompany you.

The other day I was walking on the lakeshore path along lake Mendota, past the undergrad dorms and the UW hospitals until darkness had its way and I had to cut my journey short. I was intending to walk until the university housing – Eagle Heights. It was very beautiful, to say the least. Well, it might get too boring walking alone too often. But I plan to do it at least once a month. It offers a wonderful setting for self-introspection, something which I value very much. Most of my friends must be wondering why I haven’t uploaded pictures of the city yet. Well, it’s just that I don’t want to act like a tourist in my home; yes, this place might be my home for the next few years.

I find Americans quite friendly. Many of them greet me while walking on the streets, well, not in the University area, but at those random residential quarters I wander to every now and then. They may not really mean it, but it is a nice habit, makes one feel glad. I hope to be able to make some American friends in this city. It might take a while given my shy demeanor. But I will try.

There are some challenges ahead of me. The word “funding” might sum it up. All in all, I have had a great fortnight at Madison, something I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life.

Carrefour

Most of you must be wondering what the heck Carrefour means.....actually, even I have no idea.....but it’s the name of a chain of supermarkets in France....and now you must be wondering, “what in the name of crap is this guy doing blogging about a damn supermarket”.....well....I guess my boredom is the culprit....it’s making me blog about all and sundry that exists in the mess that my brain is.....

But, actually, to me it’s not such a weird thing to blog about.....I loved that place, the supermarket, for reasons that even I can’t make sense of.....I remember the first time I went to Carrefour.....it was late at night and was the last sunday before Christmas....guess that was the only reason it was open on a Sunday....somebody had suggested that we visit the place before Christmas, for there might be a sale out there.....did he really think Indians were cheap enough to not let any sale go by?.....so there we were, sitting on the bus to the supermarket.....

There was a tiny little glitch....we only had enquired about which bus to take, but forgot to ask where to get down....on the way, one of us suggested it might already have passed......we got down at the bus station “la village” and looked around....we might as well have got down at a crematorium, there wasn’t a soul to ask around....we then spotted a map of the bus which we had just de-embarked....a few stops ahead, actually the last stop, was a place called “centre commercial la vatine”.....I guessed it meant the commercial centre of a suburb called la vatine....so we waited for the next bus, and got down at la vatine....and VOILA ,there it was......CARREFOUR....

The car parking area of that place seemed to be bigger than the market itself..... I cursed this one fact, for we had to walk all the way to the entrance in the -7 degree temperature....damn it was freezing....the first thing I saw when I got inside was this huge SUV parked right at the entrance...I was like, I hope we came to the right place.....actually we did...it was indeed a supermarket, to be exact, a hypermarket.....they even had cars there for display......that place was one of the most beautiful things I had witnessed in the 7 days of my French sojourn...the Christmas decorations gave it a festive look and it was awesome...

I went to that place every week for the next six months.....every Friday evening, to be exact, with religious consistency.....but I never bought much there...it wasn’t as cheap as the other supermarket, E-leclerc at Saint Sever, where I went for my normal weekly shopping on saturdays.....well there wasn’t much difference between the two....I guess I saved two euros every week goin to E-leclerc instead of Carrefour....and two euros was, actually, a big deal for me :P.....another reason for going to E-leclerc was that it was located in the city centre and I could have a little walk through the centre ville on a nice sunny Saturday morning before I actually went shopping....my friends used to laugh at me going to Carrefour every Friday even when I had nothing to buy.....but that’s me, half the things I do don’t make sense to anybody else :P.....actually they don’t even make sense to myself....but who cares...I like spending hours at a supermarket looking at stuff I am never gonna buy....I like walking miles along the bus route even when I have an unlimited travel bus pass....

I remember one of the last few times I went to Carrefour.....it was just days before I was to come back to India.....a friend of mine had her birthday soon and I wanted to buy a little gift for her....she’s more like my baby sister....so I went to the kid’s section to get her something.....all it took to gear down my over enthusiasm was to look at the tiny little price tag stuck to one of the teddy bear’s neck....I then looked at other price tags...they might as well have stuck diamonds instead of eyes to the teddy bear.....I bid a final farewell to that section and went to the more traditional gift section of the market.....I found a cute pink diary with a dancing Disney princess printed on it.....obviously my eyes went to the price tag before they could be allowed to admire the princess.....cheap enough, cute enough, small enough, I thought.....and bought it....the whole process from deciding to buy a gift and actually buying it took more than one visit to Carrefour.....I guess it wasn’t really because I was being selective, it was actually more so because I kinda needed more reasons to visit the place on days other than Fridays :P......

There are so many stories, so much to write about my visits to Carrefour......but then this page would become more of a journal than a blog....but rest assured, you would get to read many more weird blogs about my experiences J

So until then..... Arrivederci !....

Days of my life: Residence Du Bois, Mont Saint Aignan

Right around this time last year, I had found a new place to waste myself at the end of every long, cold day....a place where I began each day of those six unforgettable months in Rouen......it was a student accomodation, actually a hostel, to put it in more Indian sounding terms.....whatever u do, wherever u go, at the end of the day, all u wld want, is to go crash on ur own sweet bed......and wake up at a place most familiar to you....to me, room B02 at Pavillon Poussin, Residence Du Bois was that place.....

My experiences at Du Bois are countless....some of them make me smile, some that make me angry and some which I can't, in my right mind, share in this blog :)......one of the most awesome things about the place was that it was co-ed...there isnt any boys hostel, girls hostel kind of fundas there...u got common showers, common kitchen, common recreational areas n everything.....n thats something I really admire about people in the west....they dont feel the need to keep guys n gals isolated from each other, the way we do here in India, for god knows what reason......anyway......

One of the most awesome things to happen was my room to be just next to the kitchen....that gave me an oppurtunity to befriend a lot of ppl there....I remember this girl...Justine....who I talked to a couple of times while we were cooking....u know I had this standard line made up whenever I wanted to strike up a conversation with anybody new who I met in the kitchen.....que'ce tu cuisine?...not sure i spelled it right, though it means what are u cooking......it was like really difficult to talk to her....when i asked her 'parler vous anglais' (do u speak english), she smiled and said NO...and then added, 'un peu' (a little).....she was nice and tried all the english she knew to strike up a decent conversation....I guess she was the only french who spoke less english than the amount of French I spoke :).....so it was me taking the initiative, and I tried to strike up a conversation in French!!!!....i sucked at french, but she sucked more at English.....damnnn it was so much fun having no choice but to speak in French......actually thats the best way to learn any foreign language, you must have no choice but to speak it...unfortunately we never had such good luck, as most people knew pretty good english....but then I soon exhausted all my french vocab and sentences with Justine...the next time onwards, all we did was smile and nod at each other, quitely cook our dinner, say bon appetite and go back to our rooms...it sucked, for I really wanted to talk to her, she was cute :)...but it wasnt possible, unless I had a pocket translator or somethin :)......if I had enough money to spare, I surely would have bought one.....

I also remember playing a game with some of the guys.....two ppl sit opposite to each other with an empty and open beer bottle in between with an upturned cap placed on top of it....and each of the two ppl had a full beer bottle with them and a lot of caps....so one had to take alternate chances to hit the cap placed on the bottle with another cap, and a miss meant a sip from ur beer.....a hit meant no sip...so the one who finished his/her bottle first was the loser :)....it was an awesome game, the only glitch being I almost vomitted the beer out on my very first sip.....it tasted horrible....alcohol always tasted eeeeewwwwww to me...I wonder why in the name of crap do people drink such an aweful tasting thing....watever....i moved out of the game and somebody else took my place....and it was no less fun just standing by and watching those guys gulping down beer after beer, getting wasted....ya it was fun.....at that time I remember seeing one girl coming out of the common showers and walking towards her room...she had a towel on her which covered most of her, thigh up....there was this guy who whistled at her and said she looked sexy....she smiled, gently slapped him on the cheek and went inside her room....in India, it wld pretty much amount to eve teasing I guess :)....but it was all cool there.....it wasnt big deal at all....and I realized that actually it wasnt a big deal......i think one of the most positive things in the western world is that their society isnt so desperate about categorizing everything as right or wrong...they give everybody their freedom....there is this 'what the hell, whats the big deal' kinda of attitude....and I realize its very important for any society.....

And then there were those awesome friday night parties that they used to have....around 10-20 ppl used to cramp themselves up in one of the 22 sqfeet rooms and drink and sing all night long....I remember the songs they used to sing, or rather shout....pi-pi-pi-pi-pi po-po-po-po-po....I cld hear their voices even with my door shut and my room being 2 floors below theirs :)......damn it was all such an awesome experience..... I also remember this girl, eloise, who used to live next door but never talked to us....while in the kitchen, her face had that 'I dont want to talk to u, so dont even try' kind of an expression....I dont know whether it was becoz she was shy and didnt like talking to foreigners....but she was one of the coldest ppl I knew in the hostel....once, almost at the end of my intern there, I did try to talk to her.....I was suprised that she actually smiled and said 'bon appetite'....I then realized that her problem was that her english was very poor, and she was a little shy.....and that was the reason why she never talked to us....there was also this guy, Paul...when he first told us his name, he pronounced it as Pearl...I was like, what the hell kinda of girly name is that......later I realized thats how u pronounce Paul in French :)......Last but not the least, I can never forget Nizar.....I need a whole new blog to write about him :)......which I ll surely do some other day.....

So until then... a bientôt.....

Days of my life: First Day at ESIGELEC

Its almost midnight on sunday and I ve got a whole week of work ahead of me.....but I feel wide awake...so instead of tryin to sleep and keep rolling on my bed, I thought I would rather do somethin else..and this is what my "something else" is :P.....

I wrote bout the first day in my last blog.......the next day was my first day at the college....lemme tell u that it was one of the most eventful and longest days of my soujorn in Rouen......so this blog is gonna be pretty huge :P.....I must say the most difficult part of that day, actually any winter day there in Rouen, was pulling myself out of the cozy blanket and walk upto the wash basin....really it was so cold that I used to spend a good 15-20 minutes sitting up on my bed with the blanket pulled over my head, rubbing my hands together, basically tryin to energize myself to start the day....its pretty analogous to warming up your car before u cld start it :P.....so there I was..... up and ready to go....with my three friends, to ESIGELEC....there was a bus stop outside the residence and as we were told by shehnaz, we had to take bus no 8 to "theatre des arts" bus stop in centre ville(the city centre of Rouen).....actually our residence was located in Mont Saint Aignan, a suburb around Rouen, and ESIGELEC was located at another suburb, "Saint Etienne Du Rouvray" at the other end of the city centre.....so it was a good 12-13 km from our residence...we got down at theatre des arts and looked around for the tram station...we had to take the tram headed towards "technopole" from there....just as we were looking for the tram station, we saw the TCAR office there...it was the office of the transport department...shehnaz had told us that we should make a monthly transport pass as soon as possible....the pass cost 26euros/month and entitled us to unlimited travel...thats pretty cheap consideing a 1hour valid ticket cost 1.4euros and we had to travel almost for 2hours everyday.....so u get the picture....we went inside and asked around bout the pass...we managed to find an english speaking employee there who handed us a form, which was in french, and asked us to fill it up, attach our passport copy and a couple of photos, and pay 33.6 euors......we obviously cldnt fill the form up....so we took it and headed for the college....

When we reached the technopole station, my first impression was....how the hell could some place be so lifeless....the whole suburb seemed too picture perfect....trees lined both sides of the tram track, followed by a single lane road on either side.....there was this beautiful park just before we reached technopole....but during the major part of my journey, I could actually find more people inside the train than outside......thats pretty weird for anybody coming for India I guess....anyway, we reached the college and asked around for Mme Helene Vincent, the international relations assistant, whom we were supposed to meet....we met her at her office and she told us that our profs werent available at the moment and she had to complete some formalities for us....so she took our passport copies, photos, etcetc and asked us to come back around lunch.....which was still 3hrs away....we were all very hungry and wondered where n more importantly, what to eat....the cafeteria at the college apparently was only operational for two hours at lunch time....so we decided to go back to the city centre (we had got our TCAR forms filled up by Mme Helene).....what followed was the most interesting n memorable part of the day :P......

We had run into a weird problem now....none of us had any change with us to pay for the tram...and on trams, unlike the buses, you cant buy tickets from the driver....u either need the TCAR pass or u need to buy tickets from the automatic vending machines located at each station....and the machines accepted only coins....and we didnt have enough of coins considering it was our first day and when u exchange currency, u never get coins..the minimum denomination u get is 5euro banknote.....so we decided that we wld walk along the tram line, find the nearest shop where we cld eat somethin or somehow get some change....and then buy tram tickets.....I think we had to walk three tram stops before we cld find a post office at "Ernest Renan" tram stop, where the employee gave me change for 5euros...he was very reluctant, but he did give me change...then when he saw that three of my other friends wanted it too, he rudely refused....well....it wasnt a very good first impression about the people in france...anyway....so the change I had got still wasnt enough to buy tickets for all four of us..so we walked on...we soon found a bakery shop...it was a boulangerie(thats what they call bakery shops in french)...we bought some croissants and I cld finally feel my stomach giving a sigh of relief.....i remember paying 2.4euros for those 4 croissants...I cant believe I still remember such minute details :P...

So we reached the city centre where my three friends completed all formalities to get their TCAR passes issued....I, unfortunately, had brought photographs just enough for the formalities at ESIGELEC....rest of the photos were in my room back at the residence....I wondered if I should pay 4euros to get new passport photos clicked and printed at the photo machine nearby......well it was just my first day and I didnt have the heart to spend so much money unnecessarily...so we went back to the college...we met our profs there....one of the profs, Monsieur Jeanne Ertaud, showed us our desks......I dont remember what his name spelled like exactly.....thats what's so weird bout the french language.....in english, you just have to know what some word or a name sounds like.....in french, what some word sounds like is sometimes absolutely different from what its spelled like...anyway....so then he offered to drop us at the residence in his car.....we told him that it would be better if he could drop us at centre ville....my friends wanted to roam around the city centre....meanwhile I had told Monsiuer Ertaud about my photograph problem....he said I shldnt think so much bout the money, it was just 4euros after all....while we were having this conversation, I think I may have said something inappropriate...for his attitude towards me suddenly seemed to have turned cold the next day onwards....I wondered for many days after that what I may have said that was so inappropriate...may be it was the way I said something..anyway, at least he wasnt the prof who was gonna supervise my project..I was glad bout that...

So he dropped us at the centre ville....now the mathematical part of me suddenly sprang alive...it was 5pm and the TCAR office would close around 6....if I had to get my pass that day itself, then I would have to go to my room and come back within an hour....the residence was around 25min by bus one way....and a single 1.4euro ticket wld give me an hour of unlimited travel...so I boarded bus no 8, bought a ticket, reached my residence, ran the hell out of myself from the bus stop to the room, took the photographs, took the bus back....and finally managed to get my TCAR pass just before the office closed......god it was such a great feeling when I finaly got that bus pass....actually every little thing that day seemed to be of such great importance.....now I cld roam about anywhere in the city without worrying bout fares or the 1hour validity shit.....it was dark by now and I wondered where my friends were.....

It was christmas, it was a beautiful tuesday evening, and it was Europe......I felt as if I cldnt ask anything more from life....those beautiful rennaisance buidings doting the centre ville....the notre dame church bells tonging...the seine river flowing right through the city centre...it was all so picture perfect, it was all sooooo Europe....it always had been a dream for me to walk through a European city......it was a wonderful feeling.....I stopped at a small shop and bought some croissants n some other stuff for dinner....

It wasnt even 5minutes after I reached my room that Aayush knocked on my door.....he was beaming, and he said they had managed to get a SIM card !!!.....you cant imagine how happy I felt...now I could talk to my parents!!....it was a great feeling....there was only 5euros talktime on the phone....and each minute of call to India was I think more than 1euro....so Aayush called his parents and told them to give this number to our parents.....

So that was about one of my longest n most memorable days in Rouen :)......I realize this blog is horribly huge.....it took me an hour to type this down.....just imagine how long that day must have been......

Days of my Life: First Day in Rouen

Its been almost an year since I had first arrived in France.....and I remember my first day there like yesterday.....its saturday and i guess its my joblessness thats making me write this blog :)

I, along with my three friends, arrived at the Charles de Gaulle(CDG) airport in Paris on the 15th of december at around 6 in the morning.......the institute where we were gonna do our intern had arranged for a cab to take us to Rouen, around 2-3hours by road....the cab driver knew absolutely no english, neither did we know any french beyond bonjour and bonsoir......it took a lot of gesturing for him to make us understand that the cab was parked on the ground level and we were on the first level.....he put us n our luggage in the elevator, pressed '0' and ran down the stairs, for there was no space left in the lift....I remember those initial few minutes when we had to walk out of the air conditioned airport and lodge ourselves in the cab.....damnnn it was cold....we threw the luggage and ourselves inside the cab as quick as we could and took off.....I can never forget that ride....excitement was searing through me like nothing I had experienced ever before...

We arrived at our residence, Residence du Bois, at around 9 or 10 am....there was this girl from the college who had come to receive us...her name was shehnaz....she was from morocco I think, if my memory is serving me right....she showed us our rooms, told us about having to change the bedsheets every two weeks at the laundry desk, what password to enter to open the main gate, how to operate the laundry machines, where to find drinking water, which bus to take the next day to reach college, blahblah....after she left we all took turns to call up our parents and inform them that we had reached......we only had one 300rs calling card that I had bought at the airtel desk just before boarding the airplane at Delhi Airport..... and there wasnt much talktime in it considering the rate was like almost 70-80 euro-cents/minute and 300rs doesnt count for so much when you divide it by 65.....

For lunch, we made ourselves a few maggi packets we had got from home, before heading for the bed.....we were all tired like hell after the long journey.....I remember feeling really homesick those initial few hours when I was sitting alone in my room....I was a stranger in a foreign land, and I didnt even speak the language.....the chilly cold outside was only making things worse.....I was really blueish those few hours........after, we realized we had to get something to eat for the night, and we had no idea where the nearest grocery shop was.....we had to ask around....my room was just next to the common kitchen and I heard some girls chatting away there.....feeling a little sheepish and shy, I went up to them and asked if they spoke english....there was a unisonous 'NO' from them which left me feeling foolish for a moment....then suddenly one of them said 'Yes I speak english, can I help you?'......I cant describe how happy and relieved I felt....her name was Marrie....she was studying agriculture at some university near the residence....ESITPA was the name I think.....(you must be wondering why I am stressing on specifics here...the thing is...I don't really wanna forget anything, even the specifics...so I am just blogging it down....)......we went to her room and she drew a map showing where we were and where exactly the grocery store was located.....she was my first friend there in France......I never really talked much to her after that.....I was shy...I shldnt have been....but anyway...we went out and bought ourselves some bread, eggs, milk and fruit juice....basically some stuff to keep us alive to see the morning light the next day :)....

The next day was our first day at the college, ESIGELEC, and it was no less exciting and memorable than the previous one :).......I ll write about it in my next blog.....

Au Revoir !!

A Week in Rouen

It’s been only 3 months since I came back from France, but it already seems so far in the past. It seems a whole world away from where I am now, in the silicon valley of India, Bangalore. It actually is a whole world away. A typical day there in France started with me struggling to let go of the blanket. Damn, it was cold. It took a lot of willpower to get out of those blankets. Then I used to cook stuff for breakfast, not ‘cooking’ in the real sense, just used to heat up some milk in the microwave and serve it with cornflakes, followed up with some fruits. Then, I used to have a wash and rush to the bus stop to catch the 8:17 am bus from right outside my residence at Mont Saint Aignan. I remember the time like it was just yesterday. After all, I spent six months trying to rush up stuff to meet that 8:17 deadline. Not that there were no more buses. Just that if I could take that bus, I generally could catch the connecting Tram from Rouen City Centre to my College, on the run. The travelling took around an hour but it was never boring. All it took to not get bored was to look out the window. France is Beautiful. Particularly, small towns like Rouen and its suburbs.

After spending the day at the institute, I used to come back to my room at around 7pm. This time, I actually did do some ‘cooking’. Rajma Chawal, Chole Chawal and Chicken Curry were a few of the delicacies we, Aayush and myself, tried our hands on. Sudarshan was a vegetarian, and we mostly cooked Chicken, so he used to do his own cooking. Sometimes it felt irritating having to cut the vegetables, chicken, heating up the oil and cook, but mostly it was fun. Our fourth Musketeer, Neogi, used to peek in and ask if we needed any help. Though mostly he appeared at a time when we were almost finished cooking and the only thing left for him to do was to serve himself the food. He maintained that time consistency throughout the six monthsJ. But still, he was the one who did the dish washing later. Then, we used to watch ‘Friends’ over the dinner. I guess I saw most of the ten seasons of Friends, during our dinner time. I will never forget those days.

Almost all weekdays went the same way, until Friday. Friday was the one day I eagerly waited for. It may sound a little stupid, but I loved to visit the Supermarket, Carrefour, on every Friday, with a religious consistency. I loved it out there. The fact that you could buy everything you can think of buying, under the same roof, amazed me. I used to travel from the College to Carrefour every Friday, and these two were the two extremes of the City Transportation Network. It took more than an hour to reach Carrefour. I just used to go around the place with such amazement in my eyes, though I never really had much money on me to buy anything. Carrefour was the place where I bought some food stuff, meant especially for the weekend, like strawberries, frozen and cooked chicken pieces which you just had to heat up in the microwave and eat. It was kind of costly, so I could do that only on weekends. Then, on Saturdays, I used to go to another supermarket, Saint Sever, in the city centre to buy food stuff for the next week. It was cheaper, not so exotic, and perfect for students like us, who were always looking for bargains. There was this particular brand called Eco+, which was the cheapest in the market. You could find Eco+ branded bread, jam, clothes, anything. The quality wasn’t so great, but it was good enough. The Seine River was on the way to Saint Sever. I used to get down the bus at Rouen Gare and instead of taking the tram to the supermarket; I used to walk to the market, through the city centre. I loved doing that, after all you can’t find so many people at the same place at the same time, anywhere and anytime else in the entire city. And on Sundays, everything in the city except the buses and trams was closed, so I did nothing much but eat and sleep. That was how I spent almost every week there in France. I really miss all that sometimes.

A long night in Paris

Its been a long time since I last blogged......I guess it was mostly because I didnt seem to have the mood to sit my ass down and pen down an experience.....I also found it a little difficult to find an impressive enough topic to write on.....and today it suddenly popped up in my mind and here I go!!...

It was back in april, in France, when me and my friend siddharth travelled to Lyon from Rouen......I guess not many would be familiar with the French city of Lyon......its located in the middle of France and serves as the headquaters of the International Police also known as the interpol.....me and sid took a train to paris from rouen on a saturday evening, roamed about paris until midnight, spent the night at our friends place and started out for lyon next morning...both of us had booked tickets separately, so we had to take different trains from Paris to Lyon and back....the thing is.... he had booked his tickets earlier for about 70 euros, which is quite a bargain since it bought us a return ticket right from Rouen to Lyon......and I, having booked a week later, managed to get the tickets at the same price but for different timings........Eurail is not like Indian Railways, its more like the flight scenario in India, the earlier u book the cheaper the ticket is.....and prices also vary according to the train timings.......

So we reached lyon around noon and roamed the city....bad luck it had to rain that day.....but it cldnt stop us from roaming about carefree in the pelting rain, we didnt care if we caught cold the next day, after all we planned this journey almost 2months before and spent so much money........and so by nightfall we came back to the railway station.....I had to take a train that started from lyon at 11pm and reached paris at around 1am....1am is the time when the eurail service stops and the next train to rouen was at 7am in the morning.....sid had a different plan, he had booked tickets for a 6am train from lyon to paris and then onwards to rouen.....so he had to spend the night at Lyon Gare(railway station) and I had to do the same at Gare de lyon in Paris.....but our genius plan to spend the night at the gares backfired......

Once I reached gare de lyon in paris, I was asked by the station authorities to move out of the station as it was to be closed from 1am till 5am......I had to move out and found myself standing in the middle of the night on the huge portio of one of the oldest and biggest Gare's in Paris in the centre of the city.....having absolutely nowhere to go......I must say that I was a little scared....spending a night on the streets in a foreign country without even knowing the city or the language was pretty intimidating....and being alone made it worse......but then.....out of nowhere.....came the sense of adventure......and I dare say......I wasnt afraid anymore.....instead it was replaced by a sense of euphoria.....something I rarely have experienced before....here I was....alone in one of the biggest cities in Europe with the prospect of having to spend the night alone on the streets......

I had read about the Noctilien bus service in paris....... its a bus network that serves the city from 1am till 5am when the normal mode of transportation like the Metro, Bus and RER is shut down....one particular bus moves in a circular clockwise direction covering the four major Gares in paris....gare de lyon, gare de nord, gare st lazare and gare montparnasse.....another bus made the anticlockwise trip.......so I deemed it better and safer to sit in the bus in the AC and keep going round and round the city of paris rather than roaming the streets in the cold......

It was an absolutely exhilarating experience.....what I did would freak my parents out if they ever came to know of it.........its, I accept, a very stupid thing to do.....any other person might have looked for a hotel to spend the night....but when have I ever denied myself being stupid sometimes......I remember taking the bus that did the anticlockwise trip from gare de lyon.....it went around the city of paris, not only covering the four railway stations but also most of the important monuments of paris....like the concord, eiffel tower, champs elysees, the famous moulin rouge located on pigalle street.....pigalle is one of the most conspicuous streets in paris.......I remember the busdriver stopping the bus at gare montparnasse on every roundtrip and asking us to get down from the bus....then he closed all the doors and went out of the bus.....and in around 15min, another driver used to take charge and open the bus doors again and we had to take a new ticket again....each round trip was around 1 hour.....it was really funny having to go out of the bus, knowing fully well that I was going to get back up anyway......I also remember the police stopping the bus at the same spot everytime near gare de nord on every roundtrip and checking if we had purchased tickets....a policeman even recognized me on the third roundtrip and smiled......i guess he understood what i was trying to do....because most of the other people on the bus were actually doing the same thing......but because of completely different reasons.....they looked poor...i guess they didnt have a place to sleep and probably had no money for a hotel.....i felt sorry for them, and realized that India is not the only place where you find poverty......

By the time it came down to the last round trip, I was exhausted to the core.....having walked all day in lyon and having been up all night in the bus had exhausted me completely.....it was getting very difficult not to fall asleep right where I sat.....after every two minutes my eyes used to shut and my body gave way to sleep.....and I jerked myself up everytime....because I knew that if I didnt stay awake, I might miss my train to rouen......so finally at around 5:30am, I got down from the bus at Gare St Lazare.....waited for an hour for the train to rouen.....I am sure I looked miserable while waiting for the train....i deliberately didnt sit down because I knew i would fall asleep right away.....god I must have looked so miserable......I reached rouen at around 8am on monday morning....sid later told me he too had to spend the night outside the gare in lyon...

It was an experience which would be deemed utter stupidity by most people.....some people might also say that it might have been dangerous.....but the thing is....there are some things that you will never have the courage or heart to do once you are older....because there might come a time when ur life might not just be urs anymore.....you might have responsibilities thrust upon you.....responsibility of a family of ur own.....and so, till then, I feel there is no harm in being a little stupid sometimes.....

Days of My Life

Yesterday night, just before I was going to sleep, I realized that thousands of miles away from where I am now, some people are packing their bags and going someplace else, still thousands of miles away from where I am. Logically, it makes no sense for it to bother me. But when has life been so logical? It never has. At least not with me. I am talking about my friends at VIT, my university in India. Most of them have completed their term at university and are now going back home, forever. It makes me sad. I have been away from VIT for almost six months now, but I have never felt away from it. It never bothered me that I wasnt at the place I spent the most wonderful days of my life. But now it does. Because somehow the presence of my friends at VIT made me feel connected to it. It doesnt anymore. Three weeks from now I will be back in India and would probably be at VIT a week later. Those buildings, those gardens, those restaurants, everything would be the same. Just that its me who would be the stranger.

I have spent the best days of my life at VIT. I have had good days and bad ones. And if given a chance I would like to go back to those days, even the bad ones, if only I were given a chance to go back in time. VIT has made me a better person in many ways. It has taught me a lot of lessons in life. There have been days I have been happier than ever before or after in my life, but there have also been days when I wondered why God has to be so cruel to me. But I appreciate each of those moments, both happy and sad ones. VIT is where I fell in Love for the first time, or at least I thought I did. That was one of the most profound experiences, in a positive sense. VIT is where I have made some of the best friends I have today. And I appreciate that more than anything else. There was once a time when I thought socializing and friendship is something I might never have in my life. VIT changed that forever. How can I ever forget that? I still may not be that good at socializing because of being a little shy but my life at VIT has taught me never to regret something that even your best cannot achieve. You can never be better than your best. All you can do is to try. In short, it has taught me to be nice to myself.

There is a famous saying, that the only thing constant in life is CHANGE. I have never had the heart to accept it. But soon, I may not really have a choice.

iDNiGHT

I always crave for something new, something unique, something that makes sense or sometimes not at all. iDNiGHT was one of those somethings. It’s administered by a company called iDTGV which is independent from SNCF, the French leg of the Eurail operations. iDTGV operates two kinds of train with three different ambiences, or so they call it. One of such trains is called iDTGV and the other is iDNiGHT.  iDTGV is similar to the conventional TGV in terms of the speed which touches almost 300kmph. I travelled by iDNiGHT, the third ambience designed by iDTGV. It’s an overnight train operating between cities separated by at least 600-700km like Paris-Nice, Paris-Marseille, Paris-Toulouse, etc. It’s a double deck train operating at an approximate speed of 100-150kmph. I travelled by iDNiGHT from Paris to Nice on a Saturday, luckily. It has a disco cum bar cum lounge on board. Two compartments are dedicated for that. One for the bar & disco and other for a lounge for people who like to have a quite time with their drinks and if they are lucky enough, with their partners. It took 10hrs for the train to reach Nice and I must say it was one of my most memorable train journeys ever.

After spending an hour or two at my seat, I decided to check out the disco/bar on board. I went with one of my friends. We were actually 8people travelling together, but a majority of them were pretty content dozing off in their seats. I have seen discos and bars before but none of them compared to the one on board. The way the train rocked when running at full speed was what made the experience different from conventional discos. I sat at one corner of the compartment where I could see the whole place from. Soon, it was swarmed by people, drinking and dancing. I, not being too much of a dancing and drinking type, was quite content being the cameraman for the occasion. I had my handy cam on me and was recording the whole thing. It was a lot of fun and I guess the handy cam somehow excited the people. They were all cheering and waving at it. For a short while, I too danced a bit.

I observed a lot of people on board that night. I hardly had anything else to do. Sleep was a luxury for people who had a bed instead of a non-reclining seat to crash into. There were a couple of Moroccan girls at the disco. They were call centre employees and were on their way to Marseille. One of them was very outgoing and I guess she danced all the way to Marseille without a break.  The other one was a little shy and spent most of her time cheering her friend on. There was also this other girl who did her best to blurt out all the English she had ever learnt to ask me where I was headed to. Later I found out that she was the bartender. I figured that out when she promptly threw my friend’s beer into the dustbin. Drinks not bought in the bar weren’t allowed, she said, with a smile on her face. But apart from that she was very friendly. I should have guessed she was the bartender from her costume and warned my friend but whatever.....he was in too jolly a mood to care about a 50cent beer.

There was also this lady, who must have been around 40, having a good time on board. She was another person who I guess didn’t bother to check out her actual seat even once during the entire night. One girl I remember most vividly was the one who probably spent the least time in the disco. She was with her boyfriend who was kind of having a hard time convincing her to dance. She was a little shy and was like really cuteJ...... (I hope her boyfriend’s eyes don’t get anywhere near this blog).....

The train reached Marseille at around 5am and it rolled further along the Mediterranean Sea passing cities like Cannes, St Raphael and finally arrived at Nice at around 9am, our destination....it was just 12hours before we took the same train back to Paris on sunday night....

Paris

I hadn’t been outside Rouen since I came to France 4months back. .......and so the two day trip to Paris and Nice was a very welcome break from the monotony of Rouen.....my trip begun with an hour long journey from Rouen to Paris St Lazare........it might seem funny but since the day I saw DDLJ, one of Shahrukh’s most memorable films, I always wanted to see Europe, to travel by Eurail and probably even meet my cinneritaJ.....lol.....so here I was travelling in Eurail to the city of lights....it’s hard to explain how excited I felt....I felt like a little kid being taken to the circus for the first time in his life......I cldnt stop staring outside the window, I cldnt stop remembering all the days I spent dreaming that one day I’ll be zipping across Europe in Eurail, I cldnt stop remembering DDLJ....

An hour later we arrived at Paris St Lazare station and the image of Paris I had in my mind cldn’t be farther from the one right in front of my eyes. Paris is sometimes called the most romantic city in the world......they say famous painters and poets flocked to Paris in the past.....well it might have been true centuries back but talking about the present, I am pretty sure those painters would rather go to New Delhi than come to Paris. I was in Paris for just one day, but that one day was enough to make me realize that Paris is not part of MY Europe.

The most important part of any city is not its monuments, museums or the public transport, it’s the trust and helpfulness you see in people’s eyes and manners that really matters. In the metro I saw a young couple sitting by the door with the women sitting just beside the door with a handbag on her lap.....she had both her hands on it.....and as if that wasn’t enough, I saw her boyfriend/husband whatever covering both her hands and the bag with his hands too......he was scared somebody might steal the bag.....he saw everybody coming in and out of the metro with eyes full of suspicion and distrust.....I am sure they had their bag stolen before....you could easily guess that if you looked at the man’s eyes long enough......

And then in another metro station, there was this man with his family who was trying to take his bulky luggage across the narrow entry points in Parisian Subways...he was finding it very difficult...I was standing just behind him and I took a step forward to help him out with it.....but as soon as he saw me take a step towards his bag, he suddenly turned towards me and put his hands on his luggage as if I was trying to steal his bag......finally he managed to take his bag across.....and then I too went across and he gave me a good hard look, as if trying to decide whether his instinct that I was a thief was right or not....I hope to god that he chose the later......not for my sake......but for the sake of any remaining trust that might be left in the city......

I saw the Eiffel tower, Notre dame and a few other places in Paris.......they were beautiful.....but none of them could make up for the treasures the city had lost on the way to modernization.....today Paris is the most populous city in Europe.....and I guess it has lost a lot on the way of becoming one.....

I came back to Rouen two days later........with the calmness in the faces of people, beautiful little houses perched on the mountains, little children playing in the mostly empty metro......Rouen accentuated everything Paris had lost and it hadn’t....later in the day when I was crossing the road, I saw a car coming towards me and I waited for it to pass by....the lady driving the car stopped it and gently waved her hand asking me to cross....she had a smile on her face....I never loved the city more......and that day I realized I had already seen the best of Europe right here in Rouen......and I cldnt stop humming ‘Tujhe Dekha to ye jana sanam’......

la petite fille

I usually travel for around 2hours everyday to n fro my university......its pretty far from my residence......u might think its pretty boring to have to sit in the metrobus for 2hrs everyday.....I have been in this city for 3months now and I ve NEVER felt bored travelling.....in fact its the most beautiful and refreshing part of my day.....

we all find one thing or the other beautiful, amazing, motivating,etc.......its the same with me.....to me, the most beautiful part of my day is when I see a little babygirl.....it doesnt matter what she's doing where and when I see her.......there is nothing I find more beautiful......there have been a lot of days since I came to france that I felt a little sad, a little lonely.....but when I see a little babygirl.....I cant stop blushing and hoping to take her in my arms and play with her.....it doesnt matter how sad I feel.....this is one joy that nothing can take away from me......

In the morning while I was coming by the metrobus, I saw a little girl with her dad walking on the street.....when she saw a lamppost, she pivotted herself around it.....when she saw a telephone booth, she banged at the buttons as if expecting something to pop out....and everytime, her dad(who apparantly seemed to be in a hurry) tried to pull her away and make her keep walking.....but she never let him hold on to her for too long.....she was so busy exploring the wonderful world around her....and then in the metrobus there was this little girl with her mother who stared at everyone who came into the bus with a beautiful smile on her face, expecting them to swipe their magnetic card against the ticketing machine and listen to the wonderful sound it made......when I swiped my card, I looked at her....and she gave me that wonderful smile I can never forget......

I look at myself and wonder if I ever had that kind of innocence.......I then realize that probably I did......but I lost it somewhere along the way growing up.....people say that we become more mature, more capable as we grow older....but can we ever grow more innocent?....can we ever trust and smile at a stranger like the little girl did?.....we all need a reason to trust a complete stranger........but that little girl needed a reason why not to.....can you ever reason that out?.....

Shisha

Last night I smoked for the first time in my life.....well I really didnt plan to do it.....my moroccan friend just invited me over to go to this shisha parlour and I just said ok....I wanted to try it....I just wanted to know wats so special about it that its so famous......

So it was like midnight when we reached the place(the bus had broken down on the way, so had to walk almost a kilometer to reach the place).....but it was fun walking the streets, window shopping on the way to the parlour at the dead of night.......it was very crowded but we managed to find a place......it was not very different from a pub if you talk about the music....may be just a little less noisy......and there was smoke all over the place......there was this girl sitting across to me staring at somethin.....at first I thought she was staring at me...but apparently she wasnt.....she kinda had just lost herself to the shisha she was smoking.......she was sitting in the same position staring in the same direction almost for around an hour......and there was this african dude who kept making so much smoke that I had to wonder if he had somehow caught fire inside.......seriously......he made this thick long puff of smoke which seemed to fill his entire face........I spent more time observing people than smoking my shisha......after all thats what I went there to do.....to understand why people wanted to smoke it......... not why I shld or shldnt smoke.....and then I kinda guessed why most people did it......I suppose they just do it to lose themselves......in the smoke, in the music, in their own thoughts......my friend told me that if you smoke a lot of shisha it gets to your head and then u feel really light......something like what alcohol does to you......

I didnt smoke much....I didnt really like it.....it kinda felt choky from inside......but for like just 5min, I felt really light....as if nothing mattered anymore....and then as soon as the first random thought hit my mind the lightness went away and I was back into the real world......it was quite an experience......

We also had this arabic and so called Indian tea at the parlour......it was nowhere close to our indian tea......it was just hot water with mint leaves and lemon thrown into it......but the container they served it in felt really royal......they served it in this alladin ka chirag kind of a container.....I felt kinda royal sipping the tea which really was effectively just hot water....and we paid 4euros for that......wuffff.......

It was a memorable experience and its now a precious memory......a new lesson about life.....about people....and about myself....an year ago I wld never even think of smoking shisha...... but now.....I am evolving......I am discovering myself......and in a good way.....because I know I will never smoke it again.....I knew it even before I started smoking.....because to me, life is about discovering.......yourself.......the world around you......and everything that makes the people around you do what they do..... 

night at the local pub

I went to a pub here in rouen recently..... I really wanted to because I had never been to one before. ....I dont drink but I still wanted to know why people like pubbing and drinking and I wanted to know it first hand........ well recently I ve discovered that its good to try out new things until it doesnt hurt anybody else or make you lose control of yourself.....so thats why I dont like drinking.....but everybody should try everything at least once in their lives.......well forget everybody else....I ve decided to do it!!......

I ve tasted wine on the flight and beer at the pub and I find both of them HORRIBLE....our good old pepsi coke r so much more better!!......and I m never gonna drink them ever again...but I am so glad I ve tried them out.....now I know first hand why I dont like them!!.....now that doesnt mean I should also kill somebody to know how it feels like.....well common sense prevails on that one:)......

I went to the pub n we were the first people to enter at around 9pm...well it was a little embarrasing to be sitting there alone because most people only came around midnight.....I tried my hand at dancing too but I didnt like it......its not really my cup of tea:).....I discovered I m so much more comfortable sitting on the sofa n watching other people drink and dance......its so much fun just sitting, sipping your soft drink n watching people dance around.......everything was overpriced there but I wanted to try something new......I bought a beer costing 5euros....it was the cheapest stuff I could find....damn! u get the same stuff outside for 1euro..........it tasted horrible and had to give more than half the beer to my friend......

There have been a few changes to my mindset since I came to France and I think its for the better. In India I would never even think of drinking but now I realize one should never despise something without even doing it once......I despise wine,beer n all kinds of hard drinks but I am glad I despise them first hand:).......I am so looking forward to my next sojour to a club or pub.......well its pretty costly so I guess once a month would be possible.....hope so.....

my first lesson

I believe that most things in life happen for a reason. It doesnt matter whether you consider that thing as good or bad......... because its not the merit of that thing which is important but its the way you digest those things that counts......wondering wat the hell I am talking about??.....well let me tell you a small story.....

In my last blog, I talked about that girl-fake emailID stuff.....let me take that story one step ahead.....

It had almost been a month since the day I told that girl about my stupidity...you must be wondering why the hell I dont mention her name.....well i suppose i dont have the copyrights yet to do that......I hardly talk to her now.....but still its good manners to respect people's privacy......lets call her X for the moment...so I hardly talked to X during the month as i thought she must really hate me for what I had done(though an year later she told me that she didnt talk to me because she thought it was me who hated her!!)......

It was the day when we got our maths answer sheets........X as always was among the toppers.....when i got my paper I cldnt believe my eyes....i scored 28/100...i was bloody expecting around 60!!......now dont think I had always been a maths wizard and top scored every damn exam....I always scored around 60 or 70......neither more nor less....I didnt even open the paper and gave it back to the teacher to retotal it.....I was so sure I cldnt fail......after an hour or so the teacher sent my paper back with a girl guneet.....she was kind of my rival in marks/exams.....we both always scored similar marks in our ''own range''......I suppose you know what I mean........in school we have different ranges for different kind of people.....my range was 60-70 marks and I never even cared about people who scored more than that.....my competition was only with people in my range:)......I know it sounds so stupid now but those days we were just kids caring about stupid little things....so she had this strange smile on her face....I cldnt decipher it exactly but I guessed I had passed and she was just happy for me.....I looked at the paper and got the biggest shock of my life....there was a totalling mistake allright....but I still failed.....i got 32 instead of 28.....as if it mattered......and for an instant I soooooo hated guneet....

I dont know what happened that moment but I actually put my head on the table and just cried.....it was embarrasing and horrible....but I just cldnt stop the tears.....and everything about the stuff with X and gunnet and everything else were washed away with those tears.....all I knew was that I was gonna change things.....I didnt know how and how much time it would take..but I knew I was going to mobilise everything I had to do it......

An year later, I was one of the maths toppers at both my school and tution centre in the class 10th board exams.....

I still have that 32/100 answer sheet and I hope I could preserve it forever......

It reminds me how important failures are in life, how not to ignore them and how to cherish them......

my most memorable summer at VIT

Its about last summer, the term end examinations were over and I was one of the few people staying back before the placements started....needless to say I was feeling horrible at the beginning, having to bear the thought that I had to spend 3 weeks all alone with none of my friends around me....I had to complete 6 weeks of industrial training before the next semester began and I was still 4 weeks short....and with the placements in the middle of the summer, I cldnt go home and do my remaining weeks....I had to be back for placements anyway...so the only choice I had was to do my internship in VIT itself.....at TIFAC-CORE.....I had shifted to E block for the summer, for that was the place reserved for students wishing to stay back during the vacations.....I lived in E in my first year too, I kinda of liked it better than H block....things were going on well, though boring, till then.....

I had a very unauspicious beginning.....one day before my training was gonna start, Sandeep Sir(the then co-ordinator of interns at TIFAC) informed me that the internship program stood cancelled.....apparantely our then dean Dr Raina struck a very bright thought at the last minute that TIFAC was not really an industry and so our interships wont be accepted.....we tried to convince him but to no avail.....so after 2 days I had just given up and decided to get a fake certificate for 4 weeks from somewhere....it was too late to apply for internships anywhere else....it was a very hard thing to do because I am kinda of a person who hates doing such things .....but I had no choice....

So I went to see sandeep sir to tell him I was going back home....I had even booked flight tickets....he told me that there still might be a chance to do my intern at TIFAC as my internship might be accepted by the next dean Dr Alex who was about to replace Dr Raina in a few months and well before I wld have my review....so he asked me if I wanted to take that risk.....and I said OK.....logically, getting that fake certificate wld have been so much more easier but I wanted to take the risk....at least I would learn something at TIFAC even if my intern doesnt get accpeted.....and so the most memorable summer began!!........

Sandeep sir told me that there was this new microcontroller available at TIFAC which nobody really knew or understood and they were looking for somebody to take it up as a study project so that the faculty too could learn something about it while guiding me.....its called PowerPC.....but he said I would have to work really hard to make any kind of progress in 4 weeks.....having nothing else to do in my room I used to stay at TIFAC from 9 in the morning till 7 or 8pm.....sometimes I even used to have dinner with Sandeep Sir at food court....it was so much fun....I never had time to feel lonely....sometimes I did feel lonely but it wasnt really big deal.....I used to reach my hostel late night around 8 or 9, have dinner and fall asleep.....then in the morning I used to get up at 6am and go for a little walk after breakfast in mess....I came back and prepared my report for my work previous day, before I started my day at TIFAC...never before did I have so much fun working on something......

And I loved the people at TIFAC, they were so friendly with me. I felt like being at home at TIFAC. ...Sandeep Sir used to tell me that if I keep working hard I shouldnt have any problems getting into a core company like bosch, delphi or freescale......he used to tell that twice or thrice every week to keep me motivated.....and it worked!....everytime he said bosch, my heart used to leap up!!....he himself had done his final project at bosch and he told me how it was like.....it made me so want to get into bosch or some other similar company......

3 weeks later we had TCS visiting our campus for placements......I was one of the 1075 students who got through.....it was really late night when the results were announced and people were parting all around me....I was sitting in my room digesting what had just happened...I just got a 25K rs job right after I finished college...I was supposed to feel excited but I didnt.....I was so full of dreams about a core company that TCS just didnt seem good enough for me.....I told myself that I deserved something far better and I promised that I will work however much it takes to get something better....even if it meant going for an off campus interview after college...

1 month later, on july 18th Delphi visited our campus and I got through......it was one of the most wonderful days of my entire life....it was almost midnight when the results were announced at the PAT conference hall and it was raining outside....I still remember standing at the T junction b/w anna audi, main building and centurian bank with my arms open, looking up at the sky, getting completely drenched in rain in my formal clothes......I hope I dont sound like bragging away... but I really felt I deserved what I got that day.....and I thanked God for that......the first person I called up was Sandeep Sir......I ll never forget that night....I never possibly can....it was the end of the most memorable summer of my entire life.......

living out a dream!!

Its official now.....I ve decided to try my hand at blogging.....I was wondering for quite a while whether or not I should blog...I ve always been too personal about my stuff n too shy to let them out in the open....but now I ve decided to give it a shot...what the heck!!....

I am in France right now in a beautiful little town called Rouen, an hour away from Paris. I am glad I am not in paris....the sheer number of people, cars, the noise simply freaks me out!!.....5 months back I had absolutely no idea I was going to be here....no idea I would get my chance at living out a dream so soon!!.....Guess I was very lucky.......I always wanted to 'live' in another country for a few months at least(not out of my parents money of course).....and at most....I am Indian with all my heart wanting to spend most of my life in India with my family.....but I want to see new places, to discover the culture, may be even try to learn their language if possible(right now I am making a horrible attempt at learning french...I hardly find time to concentrate on learning it!!..i am trying nonetheless:)......

Life here is far more organized and comfortable than it is in India......life here goes by the minute.....everyday I catch the 8:02am bus to the nearest metro station and the 8:17 metro to reach the college at exactly 8:55.....you can never imagine this kind of punctuality in India...another thing I ve observed here is the sincerity with which people do their work....be it the supermarket cashier, guards, police, or anybody doing any job for that matter......there is a lot we can learn from people here.....well i suppose I should save some stuff for my next blog

Au Revoir!!