I think it's just plain disrespect

This is going to be a rant, so bear with me.

Have you ever been to meetings where the meeting was supposed to start a particular time, but people arrive a LOT later than they were supposed to? I know this happens predominantly in India, so my apologies to someone from outside this country who is reading this. But if you have interacted with Indians in general, you would know what I am talking about.

This all stems from an incident that happened last week which really got under my skin. I obviously cannot narrate the details of the event, but it bothered me nonetheless. I meant to post sooner, but hey, I have people wasting my time, so...

There have been times when a meeting starts a few HOURS after it was originally scheduled and all this while, one is just sitting there twiddling one's thumbs. Now I've been working for quite a few years now and should be fairly inoculated to this behaviour, but I'm NOT! I still get riled up over people not sticking to the time they commit to.

And the crux of the matter is this: Indians have no respect for anyone else's time except their own. They have this distinct feeling that only what THEY are doing is of paramount importance and everything else can wait. What they fail to understand is that EVERYONE is doing exactly that. That's why you see the traffic in chaos...everyone is in a hurry to get where they are going and inevitably cause a delay for everyone.

Earlier, I used to think that we Indians are short on patience. That this impatience drives our behaviour in traffic as well as places where you are expected to queue up. Naturally everyone wants to get their work done as quickly as possible, so has to be impatience, right?

Wrong!

It's sheer disrespect for the other person. "I don't care what you think, I think this way and I'm going for it". That's why we see Indians breaking queues (if they even exist), invade people's personal spaces without realising, talk out of turn, cut people off, etc etc etc.

And there lies my point. being late for something is DISRESPECTFUL to the other person. It is a blatant way of saying "I don't respect you and your time. Your time has no value for me!"

People think punctuality is a good character trait to have...and it is - don't get me wrong - it most definitely is, but not for the reasons you would think. Punctuality means that you are willing to make an effort to stick to a commitment you made, but more importantly, it conveys that you respect the other person and his/her time to not want to waste it by making them wait.

We all have a limited few seconds on this glorious planet. Is there any point in wasting them in some waiting room or some conference room or some phone call or a traffic jam? Instead, if we just respected the other person and their time and their right, as much as yours, to exist on this planet, then we would be a much better country.

It sure as hell won't change overnight, but it has to start somewhere. Change always starts with one, and I for one am going to make it a point to let people know how I feel when they abuse my time.

End Rant!

Language barriers

I know I make it a point not to blog about work stuff, but I just had to talk about this.

I was recently in Bangkok for a business meeting and while a lot of people there understand English, it is not the preferred language of communication. Of course, that would be Thai. There's also the extremely polite "Sawasdeekaaa" with the end sound dragged out and the joined hands welcome that everyone gets.

Now, as an outsider, it becomes a bit difficult to convey everything one has to say to be effective. Especially for me where my play on words helps me to inject some humor in the proceedings. So needless to say, communication becomes a bit of a problem. There are whole parts of the meeting where an entire conversation can happen in rapid fire and then we get a summary of what just transpired. So we end up losing a lot of information. Not to mention the possible jokes at our expense which our local counterparts are too polite to tell us (I'm guessing).

I had a similar experience when I was in Japan last year. With an added complication. We had to present using a interpreter. Now this was my first experience at that sort of thing, so we have to do a dry run of the presentations or the material with the interpreter so that she could effectively translate it during our meetings. What that also meant was that I could not speak more than two sentences for the most effective translation.

I have to admit...I have a fairly fluid presentation style and I don't plan on what I'm going to say. I just go with the flow based on the audience and the mood they are in. In Japan, I had to completely change my style and now think of the two most impactful sentences which could be translated while the interpreter was working on what I had just said. I completely changed my thinking about presenting in a place where English is not the main language.

But the most amazing thing? I was at an offsite with my team from all across APJC and we were at Bintan in Indonesia for a few days. I was getting to meet with all the great people I had met during my trips to all these regions and spend some time (over drinks, of course) with most of them. Guess what? I had the best time sitting around my Japanese colleagues!

Here I was surrounded by six Japanese gentlemen - some much older than me and some around my age or younger - and there were so many topics of conversation. Of course I had to talk about the absolutely awesome food I had there (Shabo Shabo, I love you) and I would get a question like "Malhar-san, which sauce do you prefer with the Shabo Shabo? Soy or Peanut?" and I would wonder if it was a trick question. I even said so. Cause in my time in Singapore, I had been made aware that people make judgements about your provess (you decide which one) or when you will get married simply by the way you hold your chop sticks! So I didn't want to say I like one or the other that makes me sound ridiculous. But no, all they wanted to know was my palette and choice so that they could recommend more restaurants.

The topic went from Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka and eventually how I "have to" go to Sapporo the next time I'm there. One of my colleagues even volunteered to chaperone me around and take me to the "right" places.

We were having such a great time and laughing so loud that our VP came around wondering what was going on at "the table that's having the most fun".

So there you go folks...languages can be a bit of a deterrent, but the people are just as much fun, as long as you are willing to have some :)

At least take the label off!

Now I see this a lot whenever I travel, especially to the northern part of the country and especially so during the winter months. Almost everyone there is wearing a suit or at least a jacket. And without fail, more than half of them still have the brand label either still in it's pristine condition on the sleeve of the jacket OR hanging on for dear life from that flimsy tack they put in (so that the label can be easily taken off in the first place).

I'm not sure these people realise it, but the label is there just to make it easier to identify the brand in the store. It's not there to be paraded around for the rest of the said jacket's lifetime.

And yet, there's scores of people who do that anyways!

You can see similar evidence at the bottom of formal shoes as well. During meetings, when your co-conspirators in the meeting are sitting in the famous "one leg over the other" pose and pretending to listen, they don't realise that the label for the price is still stuck on there.

Maybe they want me to know that they are into expensive shoes, maybe they just forgot, maybe it's like the label on the jacket sleeve all over again! They just won't take it off.

Do us all a favor, will you guys?

Rip it off, Puleeeeeze!

Not exactly a resolution, but...

Ho hum! New year and all that, so there's talk of any (if at all) new resolutions for the year going forward. Now I'm not in the habit of making resolutions (as I'm already at superHD resolution), so I'm not going to get into that conversation, but I noticed that I haven't been doing what I used to do a lot a few years ago.

And that is blogging!

There was a time when I would have at least a post a day, of things that I noticed that day, the weird things that happened to me, the rants against some moronic things, or simply to vent how I was feeling. And I noticed that somewhere around 2007-2008, my blogging frequency took a nose dive. There have been a few intermittent posts now and then, but my attempts to cover my North Europe trip also ended up being half baked (with only half the trip documented).

So the effort for the new year is to blog more often. At least once a week if that's even possible.

So here's to a new day. A new beginning. A fresh start.

Wish everyone a happy new year and may it be so much better than the last!

Airtel SUCKS!

This is my experience with Airtel...and it has not been good. In fact, it has been terrible. And I need your help to get this experience out in the open. Help me spread the word!

In November of 2011, I started experiencing problems with my Airtel broadband connection. I raised a ticket to get this resolved. After a few weeks of inactivity and my constant follow up, an Airtel engineer came and checked the connection and said it was ok. At that time, it was working correctly (as per Murphy's law) and so I could not do anything about it. A few weeks later, the problem became more pronounced and I raised another service request. This one on the 17th of December. And at this time, I plainly told the Airtel folks that I would not pay the bills until the service was corrected.

The problem turned out to be that the DSL modem was hanging every now and then and so the broadband connection would also hang. The service engineer acknowledged the problem, but said that Airtel had changed policies last year where they did not provide replacement modems any more and that I would have to buy a new modem.

Now the only way I can use the Airtel broadband service is if there is a DSL modem, which was provided as part of the service when I subscribed for Airtel broadband. Without the modem, I cannot use the service. So I consider the modem as integral to the delivery of the service.

I stood on that principal and requested that the service be made available to me by replacing the modem. After a few weeks of follow up, I was told on the 23rd of Jan that Airtel would not be replacing the modem. In that event, I asked Airtel to cancel the broadband connection and I would clear all the bills save for the broadband charges for the last 2 months since the service was mostly unusable.

On the evening of the 24th of Jan, I got a call from the Customer Retention team of Airtel saying that they consider me a valuable customer and that they would replace the modem for free if I did not discontinue the service. I informed them that I was only disconnecting the service because of modem and that I would have no problems retaining the connection if the problem is resolved. I was told that the problem will be resolved with a free replacement modem in 3 working days.

After more than two months of follow up with Airtel support and after several cases being logged (as documented by the messages I have received from them...the one at the top says they will get back to me after almost 2 months!), I was told that I will not be getting the replacement modem and that my service is being terminated for non payment of bills!!!

You can imagine my surprise when they said that not only is the connection being terminated, I need to settle all outstanding bills, INCLUDING broadband charges for the months where the connection was to be remedied, but wasn't.

I informed Airtel that I will not be paying for a service that was not fixed and so they need to send me detailed bills with only call charges and not a consolidated bill for each month.

Again, after repeated phone calls from Airtel collections people and my repeated requests for a separate bill for call usage, I received an email from Airtel on the 7th of April about the final amount for settlement and mentioning that this was under review by the credit control team of Airtel. My response to them (along with the original mail) is below.

From: Malhar Anaokar <malhar.anaokar@gmail.com>Subject: Re: Outstanding Dues on Your Airtel Account No - 14231243 - Del No - 08040945596_kk
Date: 9 April 2012 10:12:30 AM GMT+05:30
To: Collections.KK@in.airtel.com

I am tired of repeating myself, so I am going to put this in writing once and for all.
I had raised that I am having problems with my broadband connection in December '11. The airtel engineer who visited my house told me that the modem was hanging, was faulty and that it needed to be replaced. However, airtel policy had changed in the last year where replacement modems were not provided and that I needed to procure a new one myself. Since the modem is essential for the delivery of the service and the service cannot be consumed without a modem, I believed that the modem should be provided by Airtel as part of the service. Until my service had been restored to proper working condition, I refused to pay the outstanding dues. Since this was not provided, I finally gave instructions to airtel to discontinue my connection.
I was called by the airtel retention team on the 24th of Jan to tell me that I was a high value customer and that as part of the retention, I would get a replacement modem in the next couple of days. I am attaching a PDF of messages received by me from Airtel (starting 17th of Dec) in which my case was registered and a resolution was promised, but where all that changed was the date for resolution of my problem, but my problem was never resolved.
After several follow ups and no replacement of the modem, I was told in late March that my modem will not be replaced and that my service (phone & broadband) has been discontinued. I was asked to pay the remaining outstanding amount for closure.
Since I had asked for termination of the service a few months ago and I was assured that the modem will be replaced (which it was not) and that my service will be restored to normal (which it was not), I have taken a stand to not pay for the broadband charges since this issue was raised. I am perfectly ok in paying for all the phone calls made.
I was called on the 2nd of April and also on the 5th of April where I was told that a soft copy of the bill for only phone charges will be sent to me by mail post which I can pay for the phone charges and not the broadband charges. I have still not received the bills and instead I have got this message threatening me on further action.
I want to stress that this amount is outstanding NOT because of my inability to pay, but because of AIRTEL'S INABILITY TO RESOLVE AN ISSUE, INABILITY TO LIVE UP TO IT'S COMMITMENT AND INABILITY TO BE A CIVILIZED SERVICE PROVIDER.
My experience with airtel has been pathetic, to say the very least!

Malhar Anaokar

-Malhar
If you have nothing better to do, my dumping ground is at http://totalbakwas.blogspot.com/
"If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, I guess you do have a problem" - Richard Bach

On Sat, Apr 7, 2012 at 4:15 PM, <Collections.KK@in.airtel.com> wrote:
Dear Sir/Madam...
With regard to the above subject we wish to bring to your notice that there
is an amount of Rs. 17636.25 /- outstanding on
your Land line no.- 08040945596_kk , bearing account number 14231243.
Please note this account is under the scrutiny of our credit control team
and Non settlement within 15th Apr - 2012
will force us to initiate further course of action to recover the said
dues.
You can make payments using your Credit Card or Debit card with our online
easy pay option. Kindly log on to
www.airtel.in for more details or walk in to your nearest airtel
relationship center to make the payment.
Please revert your consent for payment assistance by email on
visesh.airtel@gmail.com


Warm regards
Bharti airtel limited

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies and the original message. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure,dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email or any action taken in reliance on this e-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
The recipient acknowledges that Bharti Airtel Limited or its subsidiaries and associated companies(collectively "Bharti Airtel Limited"),are unable to exercise control or ensure or guarantee the integrity of/overthe contents of the information contained in e-mail transmissions and further acknowledges that any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and no binding nature of the message shall be implied or assumed unless the sender does so expressly with due authority of Bharti Airtel Limited. Before opening any attachments please check them for viruses and defects.

As a response to my mail, Paramesh from Airtel sent me the bills Since Nov 2011 until April 2011. Since the connection was terminated near the end of March, the last bill didn't have DSL charges. I used that as the reference to remove DSL charges from the Dec, Jan, Feb bills, but chose to pay for the DSL usage in November as I wanted to be fair as I had used the service and only raised the complaint then. Since the problem remained unresolved from December thro March, I refused to pay for DSL charges.

On the 10th of April, I paid Airtel for charges (minus the DSL charges for Dec, Jan, Feb and March). I was informed that I will get communication that this account is settled.

I received another mail from Airtel threatening legal action if the account is not settled. This is my response:

From: Malhar Anaokar
Subject: Re: Outstanding on your Landline / Broadband No : 08040945596_kk - R3VDate: 12 June 2012 5:00:06 PM GMT+05:30
To: Collections.KK@in.airtel.com
Cc: collections.v@airtelmail.in

It seems that Airtel not only does not care about it's customer, forget retaining them, but also does not read a customer's complaints when written clearly.
As articulated in my mail to Airtel on the 9th of April, here are the problems in chronological order:
1. Problem with Broadband connection raised on 17th of Dec.
2. When called for payment of bill on 25th of Dec, I stressed that I will pay the bill after the problem is rectified
3. Engineer visited home and informed that the DSL modem is faulty. Since Airtel had changed it's policy a year ago, replacement modems would not be provided. I asked how Airtel planned to provide the service without the modem. Only answer given to me was that I have to buy a new modem. I asked that the service be terminated.
4. I was called on the 24th of Jan by people from Airtel Customer Retention team to say that I was a valuable customer and that in this case they would give me a replacement modem as solution to my problem. I accepted that as a solution and said that once the problem was corrected, I would settle all outstanding dues.
5. Over the next month, I kept following up with Airtel on the status of my replacement modem (details of the service request number are below).
6. I was finally informed after 2 months of inactivity from Airtel that the replacement of the modem will not be done and that the service (both my phone connection as well as my broadband) will be disconnected due to non payment of dues.
7. I informed Airtel representatives repeatedly that I will gladly pay the phone dues for the last few months, but will not pay the broadband charges for the last few months as the only reason the service was still active post 23rd Jan is because I was assured by Airtel that my issue will be resolved.
8. I received a mail from Airtel on the 7th of April stating that I had an outstanding of 17k+, but even after repeated requests, I was not told how much the call charges were.
9. I responded to the above mail on the 9th of April (mail attached below) restating my grievances
10. Airtel representative called me to tell me that they cannot segregate the call and broadband charges and asked my how much I would be willing to pay. I asked that the e-bills for the last few months be sent to me.
11. I received an email on the 9th of April from Paramesh.M@in.airtel.com with attachment containing bills from December thro March. The March bill was with with broadband service disconnected.
12. Based on the above bills for 5 months, I calculated my voice usage (plus data usage for December as I had only raised the complaint then) to come to Rs 9750
13. Chq No.885311 drawn on Citibank in favor of Airtel for Rs.9750 was handed to Airtel executive which cleared my bank account on 12th of April
14. I was told that I will get an email confirming that the account is now closed and settled. None such email was received by me.
15. I received a call from Airtel representative several times in the month of April and May (even when I was traveling internationally) to tell me about an outstanding of 7k+ for the land line number which had been disconnected.
16. I received a call from Airtel representative on the 7th of June telling me that if the remainder of the amount is not settled, legal action would be taken.
17. I received an email from Collections.KK@in.airtel.com (to which I am now responding) stating that if the amount is not settled, legal action will be taken.

Let me summarize this in even simple language:
1. I reported my problem to Airtel
2. Airtel committed to me that they will solve my problem
3. Airtel DID NOT solve my problem
4. Airtel is charging me for usage of a service that was not working properly
5. Airtel is threatening legal action for a service they did not provide and for a problem they did not fix.
I want to stress here that in the event I receive legal notice for non payment, I will send all my communications (on the matter with Airtel as well as all the SMS confirmations I have about Airtel promising to fix my problem, but not actually fixing my problem) to the Times of India, the Lokayukta and the Consumer Court as well as publish this information on prominent blogs and social networks.
Instead of apologizing to a long standing customer for not providing the service as promised to him, Airtel has resorted to threatening it's customers with legal action. Is this what Airtel meant when they sent me this mail informing me that I am a Platinum customer?

After repeated calls and my repeated emails to them (just like the above), I received this on the 19th of June!

From: Collections.KK@in.airtel.com
Subject: Oustanding on your Airtel Landline/Broadband No : 08040945596_kk -RV3Date: 19 June 2012 8:50:42 PM GMT+05:30
To: malhar.anaokar@gmail.com
Cc: Collections.v@airtelmail.in

Dear Sir / Madam,
This is to inform you that there is an outstanding of Rs 7886 /- towards
your airtel landline number 08040945596_kk with a/c # 14231243.
The payment has been not received for the same till date. Hence the case
has been moved to our solicitors and a Lok adalat notice has been initiated
on 28th June 2012 at The Deputy Registrar, Mayo Hall Court Complex near MG
Road Bangalore – 01 on 28th June. Between: 11 am to 4 pm for amicable
settlement of the above mentioned account.
The notice has been dispatched to your billing address. Hence request you
to take the notice and appear in the court on the above mentioned date.
Please ignore the mail if the payment is made.
Note: For any further clarification, feel free to contact:-Mr Ashok on
9880052608
Please do not reply on this e-mail for further communication, mark a mail
to Collections.v@airtelmail.in
THANK YOU
BHARTI  AIRTEL  LTD
This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies and the original message. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure,dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email or any action taken in reliance on this e-mail is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful.
The recipient acknowledges that Bharti Airtel Limited or its subsidiaries and associated companies(collectively "Bharti Airtel Limited"),are unable to exercise control or ensure or guarantee the integrity of/overthe contents of the information contained in e-mail transmissions and further acknowledges that any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and no binding nature of the message shall be implied or assumed unless the sender does so expressly with due authority of Bharti Airtel Limited. Before opening any attachments please check them for viruses and defects.

There you have it! Airtel has sent a notice to me for collection on payment of a service that was not provided. 

Please help me fight this insensitive behavior. Please spread the word. Help me get this to the public's attention! HELP ME!

How to save your aging home theatre

I've been facing this problem for a while, but have been too lazy (as usual) to do anything about it. The problem was brought front and center during a conversation with a friend of mine. Let me explain.

My current home setup has a Cambridge Audio Azur 540 as the receiver, KEF Q-series speakers (two floor stander mains, two bookshelf surrounds and a center), a Wharfdale bottom firing subwoofer, an LG 42" Plasma TV, a Sony DVD player, a Sony PS3, An Apple TV and my Tata Sky+ Cable set top box.

The problem is: My TV (which is 7 years old) has only one HDMI input and my Cambridge Audio (again 7 years old) has no HDMI processing and has only one optical TOSLink input. Do you see where the problem is?

If I want to get surround sound, I need the device (either my DVD player or my PS3 or my Apple TV) to feed it to the Amp over an optical link. Up until a couple of years ago, this was not a problem as the only source capable of playing surround sound was my DVD player. But now I had 3 sources and only one connection into the Amp. The source had become the PS3 (mainly because I have been watching more BluRay content these days), but this solution was not going to be, what's the techie jargon I'm looking for, scalable.

So when my friend bought a new Yamaha amp so that he could have HDMI switching and Airplay and all the nice things that come with it, a thought wormed itself into my mind. I needed a way to make this work without making too much of investment. And that'w where the research started.

Now the solution is so crazily simple, it will make you all laugh.

I got a small device called the ViewHD Matrix HDMI Switch which is this super cool little device. 

It allows four HDMI sources (it supports HDMI 1.3b which means it supports 3D as well) to be connected as sources which can then be displayed on two HDMI displays (one will be your TV and the other can be your HD Projection system...something that's on my shopping list and which should come in a few months). But here's what makes the device special...It has an optical out! So the device filters out the sound from the source's HDMI signal and sends it thro the TOSlink to the Amp! Hurray! My problem solved! I tested it...all my sources can now spit out surround output to my Amp which beautifully reproduces the sound (did I say I love my Amp?)! My setup now plays whatever encoding the source is playing (DTS, THX, Dolby Digital ES or Stereo) natively without making any physical changes! But wait, there's more. 

The cute little device has an audio headphone output port which I can use to hook up my wireless headphones. Hurray!!! Now no matter what I'm watching late night, I can still enjoy the full benefits of sound without waking the house (which i will anyways do when ManU scores a goal)

Simply outstanding! Here's the amazing part...I paid only USD79 for it! That's nothing considering that this little piece of equipment made in China just made my current setup future proof. I can do Airplay (something that I have been doing for a while now, but only in stereo as the output was feeding only the TV), play BluRay rips from my PS3 (with HD Audio) and my DVD player still plays DTS DVDs to my heart's content!

Do I have more? You can bet your a$$ I do.

Now you may have noticed that I have a fair few devices that need to be controlled (and a new one for the ViewHD), so you will not be surprised to hear that I have a Logitech Harmony 700 Universal Remote to make sure that I have only one remote control to use. Unfortunately, the Harmony can't control the PS3 natively as the PS3 works over Bluetooth and not InfraRed. So I got a Logitech adapter for the PS3 which pairs as a controller over BT with the PS3 and then takes IR instructions from the Harmony! Sweet?

There's more!

But that's for another post :)

Keep waiting for that...hehehehehehe

Lapkook

Day 8 

Swedish massage is like Mysore Masala Dosa! Anyone who has gone to a dosa wala in Mumbai, he would get a concoction called Mysore Masala Dosa, which is not a bad thing to eat, but there is one problem with it. It's origins are not from Mysore. Imagine my surprise when I didn't find any Swedish Massage parlors in a place that it was supposed to have originated from! I would have thought there would be one on every street corner (ala Thai Massage in Thailand). Obviously I was wrong!!! 

First things first, we had to finish packing as the train to Narvik was later today. After cramming all the photography equipment we had carried between the 2 bags, we headed down for the same crappy free breakfast the hotel had to offer. We took the time to wash a few of the essentials in the common use Washer and Dryer the hotel had in the basement. And then it was time for the massage...which was ok ok at best. Nothing like the Swedish Massage I was expecting when I landed in Sweden.

Post checkout we headed to Centraalen where we realized that there was a storage locker crisis...we couldn't get a single decent free one. So while Praveen went to get our seats confirmed, I waited like a stalker to see if a locker opens up...which it did after about 30 minutes. We piled our stuff into that lone locker and then headed for some inner glove shopping at new intersport store. There was some sort of promotion happening in the store next to it, so there was a long queue that had formed with people just waiting to get in, despite the face that it was it's snowing outside, but that's normal for them I guess.

Around the back of the Pizza hut (where veggie lunch was possible for my partner in crime) we went, searching for Naturkompaniet which makes awesome cold weather gear, but the wind trousers were way too expensive, so I decided to ignore buying them and take my chances. Pizza take away was the only option for food in the train journey as we had to get going, but we were distracted by the Candy store bang opposite the Pizza Hut. So tons of candy shopping was done for the kids. Now the only thing left to buy was a few bottles of beer, so we would have to head to System Bolagade, knowing that we had to rush back to empty our locker locker. We realized that apparently u can buy booze & carry it on the train, but u can't drink it on the train...very different from our experience between Amsterdam & Copenhagen. Decide to ignore.

It was time to call my little princess to tell her that it's snowing & that I'm leaving for Narvik. After a lot of running around trying to get in time for the train, we reached Platform 4, bogey 14, seats 83 & 84. This time we didn't have the entire bogey to ourselves. We were seated with a gentleman from Kiruna, this huge guy who was a management executive, but who in his past life used to have snow mobile tours. It was an interesting series of conversations with him which ranged from his visits around the country, his hilarity at me being cold even in the train and finally his description of Raindeer blood soup (lapkook). That somehow didn't kill my appetite and I decided to dig into the take away pizza around 9ish

The next day, we would be at out destination. Spirits were high and it took me a while to drop off. But eventually, it was time to say good night!

Sambo

Day 7

The early morning brought me in touch with an old college buddy. Spoke to Dr. Dang and agreed to meet somewhere in the evening. Realized that there was a Thai massage place right opposite to the hotel, wo went there to check it out. They accepted only cash (which was a little bit of a problem cause neither of us was carrying too much of currency). So that was something we had to push to the back of our heads for now. 

After a relatively crappy breakfast at the hotel (it was included in the price, so we didn't want to spend outside for food), we headed to Slansen. As we walked from the train station, it was difficult to think of anything else other than how COLD the place was. We decided to take the ferry ride around the place and bought a couple tickets from the self help vending machine, only to realize that we paid for ferry by mistake...it was already covered in our train pass :(

The ferry ride was nothing to write home about and the sky was too overcast to shoot anything, so we decided to head back to Gamla Staan and walk around the place where the King's palace stands. Had it not been for the really dull grey sky, the pix might even have been nice! But all the walking around only got us feeling colder which meant we had to get into train station just for warmth. The good part about that was that the station we did get into was themed like a green grotto, so it was interesting to see how they had made up the place.

Now we had decided that we would visit every single Hard Rock Cafe (both of us have a penchant of collecting T-shirts with the logo and the place which has a HRC), so we headed to Centralen and asked for directions to HRC. We were told to go to the Rat station (Seriously!), but lo and behold, we actually were a short walk from the station to HRC. After a hearty meal and quite a few Euros spent on memorabilia (I got my John Lennon caricature charity band there as well), we headed back to Gamla Staan hoping that the skies would have mercifully relented.

What happened next was unbelievable! We walked along the side of the cathedral where the Royal couple had gotten married and onto the water reservoir behind it. As we were walking there, another lady (a tourist) was also walking around the same place. There was a lot of ice on the steps and in a tiny clearing, she was standing looking out towards the setting Sun. And as she stood there for some time, her shadow fell into the spot where the snow had melted a bit and so you could see it. This resulted in what I consider my best shot of the trip so far (and probably of my short photography career, if career is even the right word). 

Super elated with this achievement, but still cognizant of the super cold around us, we decide to head back, mainly cause Dr Dang hadn't called me yet on when to meet. Thinking that the meeting is off, we got into a train to head back only to get a call from Dang suggesting we meet him at Centralen. Supreme confusion reigned on where to meet as Centralen has way too many exits. So finally we met near the Ice Bar at the Nordic hotel. They told us that the slot is only available in 25min at 1915, so we waited around  discussing Dr Dang's Tromso visit and how he took great pictures of the Aurora.

When our turn was called, we were ushered into a place where we were given warm parkas which had gloves hanging off them and then asked to walk into this super cold refrigerator. Of course taking our cameras out and shooting meant that the gloves would have to come off. So after trying to take a few pix of a place where the entire room is made up of ice (a truly awesome place), we gave up and decided to just enjoy our drink out of the ice glass.

We couldn't stay there for long, plus the cold sure drove up the hunger. So we scouted around to find Sala Thai which sounded great for dinner. The conversation over dinner was pretty surreal, what with us discussing  Swedish relationships, Food habits, cross cultural interactions. Dr Dang sure livened it up for us.

Then it was the Tunnelbana back to Midsommerkransen and the long walk back to the hotel. The debate before we left the train station was whether we need to go for a massage tomorrow or not, cause that would decide whether we needed to withdraw money or not. Finally the decision was to go for it and so we wanted to avoid the long walk back just to draw cash. 

I was super excited to get back to the hotel to upload today's pix, mainly to see how my "greatest yet" pic had come out. It sure didn't disappoint!!!

On that high, it was a good day today and time to say good night!

Train Conversations

Day 6

The day started with the obviously first thing to do. The iPhone 4 was unlocked so that we could use it while in Copenhagen (the phone had come with a prepaid number with a bit of value). The net was down, then came up again and then wend down again, so activation of the phone was turning out to be a bit of a challenge. So we used the time it took for the net to stabilize to pack our stuff.

Once the net was a bit stable, the iphone was activated and we proceeded for checkout. Naturally, now the iPhone was acquired, it needed a cover and a screen protector, so back we were to the Apple store for some iPhone cover shopping. Now we had a train journey to look forward to, heading to Stockholm, so we made a beeline for Central Station, stopping only briefly at the McD to get a lunch to go. We catch the 11:39am train (as we had planned) with connection at 12:37pm from Lund and the plan was to eat lunch in the train. That's when the plan went off the tracks.

The train stopped at Hyllie and then just stayed there for a while. At first, it sounded like a great thing for smokers as they could enjoy a couple of smokes on the platform, but later it was announced that the train was having electric problems and that there was no way forward. We had to get out of the station to catch a bus to Lund, an additional unwarranted expenses of SEK 24 per head just so bus #170 would take us thro the city streets of Hyllie, the expressway connecting Hyllie and Lund & finally Lund station. 

We got confirmed space for the train leaving at 1445. All thoughts of food had been lost due to the train mixup, so we stepped into the coffee shop across from the train station. After a wonderful coffee and a banana muffin, we made our way to the train which left at 1500...wow a delay of 15mins. On the platform, we met Catherine and struck up a tiny conversation, mainly about her being a local and we so unbelievably not local. When the train arrived, we ended up sitting in same space as Catherine, joined by another older lady. The lady was going on and on talking to Catherine, something about Beatrice Potter. I slept for a bit and then woke up to find Praveen in conversation with the two ladies. All of us had a nice conversation with the older lady giving me a few recommendations for books that are traditionally Swedish that I can carry back for my little princess. The scenery rushing by the window was gorgeous as we saw snowed out landscapes bathed in sunlight.

We reached Stockholm at 19:45pm, said our goodbyes, exchanged numbers with Catherine and then parted ways. Our first priority was to book seat reservations for the train to Narvik...since the whole trip had been planned around that part and it would be a shame if we came all this way to find out there were no seats for us on the train. We also bought the Stockholm metro tickets, called our hotel and figured out that we had to take Fruengen line and get out at Midsommerkransen (I called it the Mid-Summer-Nights-Dream) station. After we landed at our designated station, we still had to call the hotel as there were no signs. We were told to take a left out of station and then continue a long walk under two expressway flyovers to reach the hotel. This looked more like a B&B rather than a hotel and so obviously there was no one at the counter and we had to ring the bell. After we checked in, we figured out that the place had no food. Lucky we carrying some, but just to make sure, we bought chocolate bars and coke and then proceeded to the room. It's a small room with tiny beds, but when we're on a shoe string budget, you take what you get! 

A couple of shots of the Absolut left over from the earlier train journey to sooth the snooze button and we were at the end of a relatively unproductive day, the first since we got on the trip. Hoping for tomorrow to make up for today. 

Good night. 

Thanx to the Mermaid

Day 5

I woke up with my phone ringing. I can write about this now, but could not have had I posted this earlier. The call was to let me know that Cisco had just sent me my offer letter post all the interviews that had been conducted. Yippee! The day had started in the right fashion. All I was hoping was that the offer was a good one. Now I couldn't wait for this blasted train to get to Copenhagen.

We were really going through Germany now. The train was rushing past signs announcing Dusseldorf, Bremen, Hamburg, Rutborg. That's when the Danish Immigration folks got on the train...and boy did my passport throw them off.

Firstly, my passport (having been issued outside of India) does not have the markings that are usually found on the bottom of the main ID page. Secondly, it was an Indian passport which was issued in another country. And thirdly, the Dutch embassy in India had given me a 2 year multiple entry tourist visa. It was this final point that had the Immigration folks completely baffled! They kept checking the passport and wondering how I had gotten a VISA with that kind of validity. My passport went up and down the aisles of the train bogey (with me following it dutifully) until they finally decided I was legit and they let us be. It is only after that did I go for my morning dump in peace!

We landed at Copenhagen 2 minutes ahead of schedule rather than the 6 minutes we were supposed to be behind. Despite the rerouting, the train had made up time somewhere and got us where we wanted on time. First order of business was to call the hotel and check where it was. That was Praveen's task. My job was to get some currency converted. After a little local currency had found it's way into our pockets, we took a train to Vesterport and walked the small distance to the Best Western and checked in.

My first order of business was to get onto the WiFi and check my mail for my offer letter. So Praveen was deputed to the bathroom for a shower while I perused the document. All was well, so I had a smile on my face which I was certain would follow me the whole day :) The hot shower only made the day better!

Leaving the hotel, we were greeted with a gorgeous site! The weather was perfect for photography and immediately the cameras came out. Here are a few that we snapped right away.

This last one is an HDR shot of the Centraal Station with the Sun setting behind it

Praveen wanted to pick up gloves for the cold, so we went glove shopping. That was right next to an Apple store where we found out that another store would be able to sell Praveen the iPhone 4 without a contract. The price sounded right for him, so we called up that place from the Apple store itself, took directions and then realized we had to hurry. That meant it was going to be a quick lunch, so we headed into HRC - which was right across the street - to grab a bite and we left the shopping at HRC for later.


Then we headed to the Central Station to catch a train to Islev where the store was. It was quite a long walk, but the weather was a gorgeous blend of cold air and harsh Sun, so I didn't exactly mind it. Got some nice pix along the way. Here are a few:

As is prevalent everywhere in Europe, Graffiti at the Islev Railway Station

After taking possession of the iPhone 4 (Praveen grinning from ear to ear and seriously resisting the temptation to take the phone out of the box), we headed for Nyhavn so that we could take a canal tour ride. A few more pix on the way:

After we landed at Nyhavn, we discovered the tours were not operating and that the harbour was frozen. That felt convenient as it felt like the time was right for a drink. A lovely bar right by the harbour provided both the external and internal warmth we so longed!

Across the harbour from the Bar where we were warming ourselves up a bit

HDR Shot of the bar with the Bar Maid :)

Sunset on a frozen harbour

We decided that Ameliaborg was right behind us and so a visit to the Little Mermaid seemed like an obvious decision to make. It would be cold tho. We would have to brace ourselves! Ameliaborg provided some nice pix, one of which is right below.

But we still had a long way to go and we were losing light pretty quickly. So on we went...and stumbled into some of best pictures of the trip! The colours were so good that we didn't mind the fact that we were having trouble pressing the shutter...it was that cold! And boy, was the wind blowing cold air from the Arctic circle. But at the end of the day, I got some gorgeous pix and wasn't that the intent of the trip in the first place? So no complaints.

It looks like the Chimneys are colouring the sky

The water is frozen!

Finally as we ran out of light and body warmth, we decided that it was better for our survival if we took a cab. It was going to be the most expensive cab rides we had ever taken, but at least we would survive to tell the story. After clicking pictures in sub zero temperatures for close to an hour, I would need to put my hands in a microwave oven for a few minutes to thaw them. The 95 Danish Kroner spent on the cab were a small price to pay to avoid frost bite!

So back to the hotel, a warm water soak to bring my core body temperature back to normal and then we were off to the Hard Rock Cafe for a beer (Tuborg Gould) and some food (onion rings). The guy waiting on us at the the HRC store (Wally) kept on talking about his time in India and how much he enjoyed staying there and how he dreams of going back. He kept going right up to the point where we had finished our shopping and were about to sit down for food. Nonetheless, it was a great conversation.

Now we had to hunt for an Indian restaurant as Praveen was fed up of eating bread based food for the last few days. A walk that led us all the way around the Tivoli Gardens perimeter and brought us right back to the HRC then led us to a street close to Vesterport station where we did find an Indian restaurant with fairly intricate decor. We were so pooped, we decided to take away the food to the hotel and eat there. Praveen wanted the Dal to be made extra hot, a decision he would later regret after he started eating when we got back.

Today had been a tiring, but good day. A lot of walking, very very cold, but some good pix. Tomorrow would be another great day (hopefully).

Good night!

Who is John Gall?

Preamble: I know it's been a while since I posted on this topic...call me lazy or pretty much anything else you want, but somewhere in the middle I just lost interest in writing anything at all. Now I think I should at least finish the series and who knows... I might start writing all over again. You're good luck might just be running out :D

Day 4

Aah, the day where we would walk around with our cameras and shoot all the things we scouted had finally arrived. It was also our last day in Amsterdam, so we had to get those shots. But first things first: we had to check out. Thankfully, the hotel had a fairly large luggage room where we could leave our packed stuff and head out. Packing our stuff was a whole different affair. After the impending acquisition of tulip bulbs and a bunch of Amsterdam souvenirs, our bags were only going to get bigger and bulkier.

And then there was the Anne Frank poster that I had picked up for my little girl. This was going to be really tricky. Anne was going to have to come all over Northern Europe with me and make it back to India in relatively decent shape. Wow, did I chose a mountain to climb on that one!

Ok, so after we left our luggage (and Anne) at the hotel, we were off to Centraal Station to book our berths for the evening train to Copenhagen. We were hoping that it would be relatively easy given that it was a Monday morning and that most people who had come to Amsterdam to enjoy their weekends would have left by now. Berths booked, we headed out to Daam and then on to the Apple store I had seen yesterday so that Praveen could pick up his iPhone 4. Pity they were out of stock and backed up for another 3 weeks after they got deliveries. So a lemon on that front.

But the walk was the same one I took yesterday to go to the Anne Frank Haus and so there were a few places for some nice pix. Unfortunately, the skies were overcast and so really bad lighting from a photography perspective, but lovely weather for a walk. The walk took us to Konigsplien where we headed straight for the flower market. Both of us picked up a few tulip bud packets and walked all the way back talking about how we were going to try and plant these back home in India and were going to be successful.

While we were shopping for refrigerator magnets and the like, we saw this:

I almost pee'd my pants watching it! So funny!

After a bunch of shopping done, it was time to take care of some other business. Food. So we were back to our favorite place in Amsterdam. Leidseplien! Looking around for places that serve veggie food for my partner in crime, we finally settled for Reyndors and Boy! were we glad. It was wonderful food for the both of us. Once our hunger had been sated, it was time to shoot Leidseplien in all it's overcast glory. We would have to use some serious techniques to be able to shoot it. Thankfully, we didn't have any techniques, so we would have to do with whatever we could. You be the best judge.

Now that our photographic urges had been sated, we had to rush back and leave so that we could catch our train to Copenhagen. Since the journey was overnight, we needed to arrange for food and some liquids that made the journey easier. So where can we find it? Thus started the hunt for Red October (Vodka). Walked around Hobben'straat and walked into a store called Dirk where we picked up some Chakna and stuff called De Reitjer which is stuff the Dutch use to sprinkle on their breakfast. I thought my little princess would like that very much. But no alcohol in that store. Asked a bunch of places and finally figured out that we would strike gold at a store called Gall and Gall which was at the Dam.

So we picked up the baggage from the hotel, got into a tram, landed up at Centraal Station where Praveen stayed with the bags and I headed towards the site of the Gall. Picked up an Absolut (€16.50) and then realized...we had not gotten anything to eat. Luckily, there are lots of food joints at the Dam. The McD there didn't have the Grount (veggie) burger for Praveen, so that option was out. So the only option left was Subway. Picked up a veggi footlong (with everything) for Praveen and a Meatball footlong for me. Then it was off to the races as I dashed towards Centraal Station. I reached just in time for us to put the luggage away and settle in as the train moved away.

I put up my Kodak zx3 on my Joby GorillaPod so that I could record our conversations during the journey. It would be hilarious to watch it sometime later in life. While I was putting it up, the Ticket Checker came in, verified our tickets and then updated us that there was an accident up ahead so the train was being rerouted and there would be a delay of a whole SIX MINUTES! Can you believe that? He told us about a delay of 6 minutes! How cool is that?

As soon as he was out of earshot, out came the Absolut with Coke Zero and Sprite. Unfortunately both of us didn't realize that we have accidentally picked up sweet popcorn, so that was a bit of a bummer. But since we had some Haldiram Bhujia left (thanx to Praveen), we were ok.

Sometime around 10pm, we polished off our footlong sandwiches and prepared for the first Immigration check. That was at Emrich where the nice folks of Germany welcomed us and bid adieu on our journey forward. The last town I remember seeing was Dartmond as I fell asleep awaiting new adventures for the next day.

Good Night!

Beda Gracht

Day 3

By the time I woke up, disorientation had definitely set in. This was the third different place I was waking up in in the last 3 days. It was going to be more of the same for the next week and a half. Despite sleeping at close to 4am, we were both up at around 9am, desperate to not let daylight go to waste.

We realized that we had not booked the room at the HEM hotel where the package included breakfast. For €12.50 per person, the breakfast was working to be quite expensive for someone traveling on a shoe string budget. But after facing starvation in the midst of gluttony of so many varieties, there was an urgent need for food in the body, that is if we wanted to avoid fainting in the cold. Breakfast was what you would see in any hotel: scrambled eggs, sausages, fruits, yogurt and assorted meats to stack your plate with. Believe me when I tell you that I made sure I ate my €12.50s worth. We made sure we inquired about leaving our luggage at the hotel the next day so that we would not have to suffer the craziness of check out time.

Then it was back to the Westlandgracht tram station and we were back to Leidseplien. All traces of the madness from last night had been removed and the place didn't look like a combination of a football party, a Vegas casino and a Columbian drug lord's harem any more. Today we had decided not to carry any cameras with us. I had been to Amsterdam before and so just wanted to relive the experience again. Pictures could wait until tomorrow after I had scoped the spots. Today was about walking around. And that is what we started with.

We walked to Koningsplien and the flower market. It was so interesting to see such vibrant colours and finally see the tulips that we had missed in The Hague the previous day. There were also a lot of the souvenir stores that you see everywhere in Amsterdam. I saw a couple of things I liked, but had to keep in mind the space I had in my luggage, not to mention the space that was growing with my wallet emptying faster than anticipated. The walk moved towards Rembrandtplien after we heard the chime of the clock tower announcing it was 2pm. Aah, what a sweet, melodious sound! But we quickly tired of Rembrandtplien and we were both curious to see stuff that was highlighted on the tourist map we were carrying. Again and again, the red light area would pop up on the map as if it was drawing us, so we tried to figure out where we were on the map and see if we can find it. Looked like we had to take a tram, which we did. After about 15 minutes on the tram, we realized that we were heading the wrong way, so the best way was to get back to either Daam or Leidseplien. We let chance decide. From the number of the tram that came first, it had to be Dam. Worked out well for us, cause we had landed about 50 meters from where we wanted to go.

It was a strange experience for me, what with all these scantily clad women making lewd gestures towards you and beckoning you to "come hither" so that they can relieve you of the heavy burden of money you carry around with you. What was also amazing was to see them all in one line, them displaying their wares in tiny windows. It almost made me laugh out loud, but I was quite successful in keeping my chortle down.

All this walking had made me thirsty (read beer time), so we headed into a british pub and had these large glasses of beer while staring across a canal at another set of quite pretty women displaying their flat tummies and surgically enhanced assets to prospective customers. Every once in a while, one or the other  would find success in ensnaring a helpless hormonal tourist and the curtain would close on that window. The weather meant that I did not have to wear too many layers and not zip up, so the beer and the entertainment across the street was just what the doctor told me not to do :D

But this entertainment kind of gets old on you rather quickly and the next destination was the Anne Frank Huis (that's how the Dutch spell the "ow" sound - with something that to me sounds like a "ooee"). This too was close to Daam, and so only a short walk towards Princengracht. While walking toward it, I noticed the Apple store (Praveen wanted to buy the iPhone 4 since his iPhone had conked off), but it was closed for Sunday (Lordag as they would say it).

I was greeted at entrance to the Anne Frank Huis with a big queue, at least 50 people trying to get in. And I later realized the number of people allowed in was based on the number of people leaving the Huis. I waited for my turn (not something I enjoy doing in the cold, but the weather was more my type, so I didn't mind), paid my €8.50 as entrance fee, picked up an information booklet and then proceeded to see what the fuss was about. A disclaimer here: I have read only a little bit of "The Diary of a Little Girl" and so was unfamiliar with a lot of her quotes. But I must say, I was blown away by the experience. How the secret annexe where they hid for so many months was so tiny, how the entrance to the hideaway was behind a bookcase which had been built specifically for that purpose so that it could open. But mostly, it was about the depth of this little girl's thoughts that blew me away. I was so glad my daughter asked me to come for this tour. It was definitely worth it! I bought a poster of Anne Frank for my daughter as a souvenir from the place and I'm quite sure I want to get her here one day so that she can experience what I experienced.

On the walk back to Daam, I was in a pensive mood, thinking about all the atrocities committed against the Jewish people during the Holocaust. How an entire country went mad. We can all blame Hitler for the crimes, and I know that monster deserves it, but an entire country was complicit in committing those crimes. Something terrible must have happened to make normal decent people turn to badly against a race of people and to treat them this way.

It was close to 4pm and my tummy had started to rumble a bit. Back to Leidseplien we went, and this time to the Hard Rock Cafe where we were quite certain we would get veggie food for Praveen. The Aussie stewardess made us comfortable at the table, chatted about how she loved being in Amsterdam and then brought us freshly brewed Heineken while we waited for our food.

There's a canal running right by the HRC (that's where the photo is taken from) and there were ducks and trash (surely from the night before) floating around toward some unknown destination. It was cold enough to not want to be out without our jackets and so back in we went, this time our food had already reached our table. After eating and feeling quite content, we headed to the HRC store to pick up souvenirs of our visit there. Praveen and I both have a penchant for collecting HRC shirts from all the places we have visited, but I already had an HRC shirt from there from my previous trip, so I passed.

By the time we were done, we struck up a conversation about the possibility to go to Rotterdam. It meant that we would probably get there by 8pm (not the best time to go to a European city on a Sunday) and we were ill-prepared for information on the destination. So we decided to give it a pass. More walking around and then we headed to the hotel unsure whether we wanted to have dinner or not.

At around 9ish, Praveen was feeling hungry, so we headed on the #2 tram line looking for an Indian restaurant (Praveen wanted to eat some dal chaval) and we ended up at this place called Moti Mahal. A crappy dinner later, we were both standing at the tram station cursing Indian restaurants for not living up to the standards of food we as Indians are so used to.

Back to the hotel it was, to recharge our phone / camera / laptop batteries, not to mention our own batteries as well. It had been a fairly laid back day with relatively few things actually done, but a lot of places seen which were prime candidates for photos. That would be tomorrow.

Right now, it was slumber time!

A useful detour

Day 2

Man, did I sleep well! I went to sleep on one side and woke up exactly that way. No dreams, no tossing and turning. Just a clean uninterrupted sleep...after soooooo many days. I woke up completely refreshed and charged up. Praveen had been up a lot earlier (he had trouble sleeping) and so was the first to head for the shower while I talked to his aunt and cousin. Like every other place on earth, the early morning TV programs were dominated by the Home Shopping Network. We spent quite a bit of time bitching about the programming.

Shower and thermals later, I had a "Dutch" breakfast of round toast sprinkled with De Reitjer, a dutch speciality which comes in quite a few flavors and varieties. It was so nice, I thought my daughter would love it and so was keen on picking it up at some supermarket before I left Amsterdam.

In last night's dinner table conversation, a few very interesting places had come up, especially one called "Panorama Mesdag" where the elders in the house were of the opinion that it was a fantastic thing to see and the younger ladies in the house thought that it BLOWS! We wanted to see which side we would fall on and so this one was first on the list. As we drove towards it, Uncle realized that today might be the day of the big Marathon and that a few roads might get closed for it. Turned out that it was going to be on another day, so we would have a pretty easy ride.

We parked around the corner from Panorama Mesdag and the first thing one would notice was these lovely flowers growing in random places on the grass. They all looked so gorgeous and made for some great shots. I think I clicked at least 20 just standing there :) Here's a sample:

Panorama Mesdag turned out to be quite a revelation! After walking into what looked like a museum, we walked up a narrow staircase and were stunned. We were standing on a platform which overlooked the ocean on one side and a city landscape on the other. It took us a while to realize that it was a painting! As we walked up the stairs, the landscape walked toward us, just like it would in a real setting. The effect was mesmerizing. To further enhance the effect, the platform built in the center had real sand around it that sloped down towards the painting and the colour of the sand was matched to the colour of the sand in the painting. There were ambient sounds that made me feel like I was near the ocean, what with the sound of waves crashing on the beach and the calls of the sea gulls.

The painting is 10m high and 120m in width, mounted in a perfect circle to give the illusion of watching the actual scene. What was amazing was that Herr Mesdag and his team took a mere 4 months to paint the whole thing. What's also amazing is that this work of art took 10 years to restore and come to it's current state. I would definitely recommend anyone visiting The Hague to have a look at this place. It was a truly absorbing experience.

From here, we walked to the UN International Court of justice. It was of course closed and therefore we could not have a look inside at the places where international disputes are settled. The building itself looked like an old church, but for the weather wane on top instead of a cross.

Near the entrance is the World Peace Flame. Surrounding it are rocks that have come from more than 150 countries. It was nice to see that the Indian representative (something that looks like a Shiv Ling) was front and center in the arrangement.

From here, we headed to Madurodam, a place for all things miniature. I marveled at the attention to detail in each building and structure built there, but that sort of gets old and we quickly tired of that place. We could have lived without having seen this.

What was coming next was exciting. We wanted to see the tulip fields and, while we were told that we were a couple of weeks too early, we wanted to try our luck and see if we could spot the things that inspired Van Gogh. We drove beyond Lisse and a few other place to see if we could catch a glimpse. It turned out to be a wild tulip chase and we had to eventually give up. At this point, we decided we should get some peptone in our bodies and stopped at a McD on the way.

What this little tulip chase had done for us was that it ensured we would be reaching our next destination, Kinderdijk, just around sunset. This was working out perfectly for us. Apart from the little episode of Praveen leaving his phone at the McD but realizing it before we left, we were headed for Kinderdijk (pronounced Kin-durh-da-eek) and on reaching that place, it did not disappoint!

The Dutch have preserved this little patch to showcase the old way of moving water between canals. The area had more than 10 windmills which presented a perfect place to take pictures with the sun setting behind them. This is where Praveen and I went shutter crazy! I can't even remember how many images I have taken at this spot. If only the skies were a bit clearer, we would have had some postcard variety shots. But I'm not complaining. I still got some great shots!

What was interesting to know was that the position of the blades of the windmill signaled from afar important events like the birth or death concerning the owners of the mill. You could also see if a mill was operational or not from afar. That was quite farsighted and a novel idea, I thought.

We were lucky enough to be at Kinderdijk the day they had opened for the season, but were late by 5 minutes to see the insides of a wind mill. When we arrived, one mill was clearly operational, but by the time we got to it, it had stopped moving it's blades. Damn you, punctual Europeans! Only then did we realize that we were 5 minutes past the 5:30pm closing time. Oh well! At least we had photos!

After a full day of taking some great shots, Praveen and I were quite happy on the journey back. We also saw an overhead bridge built specifically for cycles so that they could cross the busy crisscross of highways. This was definitely a country obsessed with bicycles. And it showed in the shapes of the legs of most women there :)

Back home, a quick dinner and a family photo and we were off to our next destination. Uncle was kind enough to drop us to the train station despite being tired from chaperoning us all day. Thanx to him, we had a great day! Now we were on the train heading towards Amsterdam, one of my favorite places in the world. My last vacation there (with Shesh) was still vivid in my mind. We landed at Centraal Station (pronounced Stah-soon) and took Tram #2 to Westlandgracht and a short walk later, we were at HEM Hotel. It was quite late in the night, but we had crossed Leidseplien, my favorite place in Amsterdam, on our way to the hotel and we had seen the throngs having fun on a saturday night. We hadn't landed into Amsterdam to sit in a hotel room. Leidseplien was just a few tram stops away and the cold was not going to stop us getting there.

People having a ball, drinking lots of alcohol and then passing out, either thro over consumption of alcohol or drugs looked like the norm at Leidseplien. We had landed late in the night, so no food was being served, so we topped up calories by consuming copious amounts of beer. Watching people around was the fun part. What was great was to see the Amsterdam police putting people into cabs so that they reached home safely after a night of debauchery. That was a nice gesture and only cemented my view of Amsterdam being the best place in world to have a good time.

We dragged our butts back to the hotel around 3am and, thanx to the beer consumed, dropped into the lap of slumber.

Today had been a good day!