Coucou! Ca va?

By Murali

Day out in Moscow

Tried exploring Moscow over the weekend and to my own suprise - I was successful. Took inputs from my colleagues about the Moscow metro and though, I didn't understand the cyrillic characters, I still managed to find my way through.

For the intial few mins, was having agarophobia. Was unable to decipher the cyrillic names. However, with the help of the locals, I got into the correct trains. Put myself on two tours

- Kremlin tour - takes you inside Kremlin and

- The City tour - bus ride which takes you around the city.

Both tours were very good. Moscow center is gorgeous and full of rich history. Apparently, the wedding season in Moscow starts after the 40 days fast for Lent (which is now - also Russians celebrate Easter(orthodox Easter) one week after the 'regular' easter), so, saw brides/grooms in weddding costumes all over Moscow - be it the Red Square, Victory Park, Moscow University, wherever! Weddings, I am told, happens only on weekends and sometimes, around 1500 newly wed come to the Red Square over the weekend. Apparently, the first Sunday after Easter is called 'Krasnaya Gorka' in Russia - a day that promises, according to the Russians, an eternal bond of matrimony.

Photo links :

Moscow - Apr '09

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By Murali

Mockba
Well, that is how Moscow is written in Russian and pronounced 'Moskva'. That's the learning in my first week here at Moscow. Thanks to cyrillic/english character comparison in Moscow guides. Yet to explore the place - would be doing so this weekend.

Sometimes, I can't help but feel that it's a 'Truman show' happening here for me at Moscow. Wake up at the same time, have the same breakfast ( not too many veg options) - infact, when I call 'Room service' the lady says ' Oh yes sir, I know what you'll have for breakfast', have a pick up taxi at 11 (most of the times its the same taxi driver), pass by the hotel receptionist who says the customary "Good morning", try to engage in some conversation with the taxi driver, keep looking out of the taxi window trying to identify the way(though we always take the same route, I always tend to find it new everyday), say hi to the russian colleagues, go for lunch at 15h00 sharp and have the same dish (again very few veggie options), try to engage in conversations with the russians colleagues, have a taxi back at 8, hot shower in the evening, have the same dinner(no more mentioning about the kinda food I get) , watch CNN and eurosport(watch the Sheffield Snooker championship) on TV ( only english channels) till about 12 in the night and hit the bed - AND this over and again for 5 consecutive days. Woah - the story of my life in the past week.

Nevertheless, with the weather getting better - from 2deg C few days back, it has gone up to 12 deg C today. Expected to go to 20 on Monday. Can I ask for anythign better?Also, I've booked myself on a Kremlin tour for the weekend. So, looking forward to it. Will have to see how many times I miss my way in the Metros. My cyrillic learning has still not been that quick. Though I've taken a lot of guidance and tips from my colleagues, it remains to be seen as to how I put them all into action and execute them :-)

Some interesting facts about Russia :

- The country has 9 timezones

- There is a train from Moscow to Biejing that has a 6-day journey time.

- There is another train which goes all over Russia and takes 7 days.

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By Murali

@Moscow

On a 'business' jaunt to Moscow for 2 weeks. Remains to be seen how the next two weeks pass by.

Have the following weeks to see the place. Luckily the weather is not bad 10 deg in the morning and around 0 deg C in the nights. Apparently, my hotel is in the middle of the city and so, all the good locations are nearby. Normally, I plan out what to do in such trips. Having come alone, am yet to look up even a Moscow map.

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By Murali

More travel..
After moving to B'lore, I've been hitting the roads pretty often. Karnataka is a good place for tourism, especially after I've been hunting for good spots in zero-tourist-locations-in-AP. December - had been to Chikmagallur and in Jan - to Coorg/Nagerhole.

Chikmagallur, a small town overlooking the western ghats, is a calm and serene place and good for a weekend trip. We climbed up mountain peaks, drove through coffee plantations (ofcourse had lovely coffee) and basked in the lakes. First ever time I actually got to see a coffee plant and also got to know a little bit about the coffee history. The best part of the trip was the homestay we stayed in (http://www.thippanahallihomestay.com/) - again a first time experience for me(in an Indian homestay). Food was great as was the hospitality of the hosts.

Coorg - most of us would consider this name synonymous to coffee - lives up true to its name. You see coffee plantations all over. We stayed in a 'jungle resort' (http://www.bethelestate.com/) in the thick Nagerhole jungles. No lights in the night - evenings, the lights would be turned on for a couple of hours using the generator. We slept in tents and nights were pitch-dark with only the stars emanating some light. Ofcourse, we did hear the scary noises of who-knows-which-creature in the nights. Food - we were pampered with too many sinful-starters and great food. Add bonfire to this - was a fantabulous experience. After a couple of days in the jungle, we got in touch with mankind again. Drove to Talacauvery - was very disappointing. This place is supposed to be origin of river Cauvery - ironically though, there is no river/fall or source. Apparently, there is a small pond, which is considered to be the source. History has it that a natural spring here feeds water to Cauvery constantly. Drive from there towards B'lore and you'll hit KushalNagar. This place has a 'Golden Buddisht Temple' - lovely temple. Everyone who goes to Coorg does visit this place.

Overall, both these trip were rejevunating and coffee-licious :-) Attaching a few snaps .....

Buddhist temple - Kushal Nagar

Lovely tea estates - the only one is 'coffee' Coorg

Our jungle resort

Muliyangiri peak - Chikmagalur

Coffee - raw and ripe - unlike the usual hot and cold ;)

Lake placid in Chikmagalur

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By Murali

Adios 2008!
Whoa! We finally did bid 'good'(or was it?) bye to 2008. 2008 was as bad as it was good. So much for the news channels to increase their TRPs - 'BREAKING NEWS' was the default marquee on most of the news channel all thru' 2009.

Not looking at the worst(we've had enough of that), let me pen down what I thought were the best sporting moments of 2008 :
- Topping the list was UNDOUBTEDLY the riveting five-setter between Federer and Nadal at Wimbeldon '08. Phew! What a match. I guess my blood pressure would have varied the most during this 5 hour period. For those of you who had seen this, 'THAT BACKHAND WINNER'(from Federer) to save a matchpoint in the fourth set will be etched in memory for ever.
- Bindra winning the olympic gold - no doubts there
- India riding on Sachin's ton to chase at Chennai
- SA halting the Australian juggernaut at Perth

For me personally, I moved from Hyd to Bangalore and that was, by far, the 'best' thing that happened to me in 2008 :-)

After all, life moves on and let's see what 2009 has in store for us. Hopefully, we hear a lot lesser of 'crisis', 'layoffs', 'bailouts' and 'downturns'.

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By Murali

Quoi de neuf?
Well.. whats new? Few months into b'lore and am already having more fun than I thought I
would. Couple of road trips to Mysore, one to Nandi Hills, one to Chennai and a couple of mountain drives in the near future. What more could I ask for ?

Also learnt poker - now, I am looking for a Casino Royale DVD :p - didn't understand anything when I first watched the movie.(Ill)Luck is always with me and my bets are always bad, but atleast, I understand the game now.

Bought a new guitar finally - apparently I am getting better at it - and who said this?- my instructor (he is really being nice to me, isn't he ?). My wife is using more impenetrable ear blocks now, while I play.

Baddy - oh yes.. how did I forget this? I am a frequent visitor to a badminton club nearby. Really good work out this. Let me see how long this continues :p :p

Went to this place called 'Infinitea'(the menu here had more teas than I could ever imagine) - oh wow, the teas here are 'tealicious'. Should have another go at this one shortly.

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By Murali

Bored to B'lored

Just when I was settling down in Hyd, I realised it wasn't to be. Moved to b'lore recently.And why not? Yet another new city. Yet another new place to explore. Boon in one way, bane in another way. The question that I frequented most was - Why Bangalore??????????? Well aware of the traffic situation(read as chaos and pollution on streets), I did take the bold decision of relocating to b'lore.

To my suprise, I guess the city is NOT as horrendous as I had expected. No wonder the traffic situation is bad. But then, the 'quality' of life is certain better. Hyd does get boring after sometime.. But I guess theres a lot more to explore here. Oh well.. No more telugu movies, music and radio.. Well, atleast for that, I am glad I am outta Hyd :-)

So, as I convince myself of the positives(read as overlooking the obvious painpoints) of B'lore, let me hope that this stint in b'lore would be pleasurable ;-)

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By Murali

C-Drive
After 6 months of 'thoughtless' deliberation, I managed to go on a road trip. Srisailam was the destination. The route was reasonably picturesque and I enjoyed my first 'long car drive' in India. Was a good experience. We were a group of 10 and that added to the fun. The weather was the 'sad' part as the Sun was relentless on us. After visiting the Shiva temple, we took a rope way to descend down to the Krishna to hitch a boat ride. We repentedthe decision soon after as we roasted 'high and dry' in this process.

If that was not all with the driving, a couple of days later, we drove down to Chennai from Hyd. That was ONE lonnnnnnnnnng journey. The 730 km route took us about 13 hours (on a SANTRO) to complete. Went thru' the 'mango towns' in AP. So, had a chance to stop for some fresh-out-of-tree-mangoes - indeed was the most 'relishing' part of the journey :-)

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By Murali

Long winter hibernation

After a long winter hibernation, thought I would once again get back to the scribbling ways. Have been wanting to write for a long time, just that my 'eternal' friend never refuses to leave me - read as laziness :-)

So, whats hot now? Ofcourse the weather and the inflation. Both these never tend to die down.
The India 'Paisa' league is eating into most of my evenings, amidst shouts of 'please change the channel' from my spouse. Wish the cheapest team wins - Rajasthan Royals. Can't derive more sadistic pleasure from the fact that the Deccan Chargers are at the bottom. Would be happy if the 'all-hyped' team finishes at the bottom of the table.

Went to one of the ICL matches at Hyderabad - a league that I love. Was fun.

Wierd things happened at work. A couple of colleagues appreciating my dressing sense - oh yes - even I was 'suprised'. A couple of colleagues and I played the guitar in some cultural event at work, we bagged the second place for our performance. Some things are best left uninvestigated :p :p

Let me hope I that continue to pollute the blogosphere more frequently. Ciao!

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By Murali

G-Strings

Have been increasing the noise around my neighbourhood. Reason - have been learning the guitar for the past couple of months.

Still a beginner and trying hard :). This has long been on my 'to-do' list and finally, the unchecked check-box was checked. Also, the guitar lessons are good enough reasons to sneak out of office a lil' early on a couple of week days :-)

As of now, I am adoring playing the "G-strings" - occasionally, I do produce 'music', mind you :-) But it'll be hard identifying the 'music' in-between the cacaphony!

Just to remind myself of the fact that I am learning the guitar, I've started blogging (www.chordsandleads.blogspot.com) exclusively about the same with the notes I've gathered so far.

My mridangam learning lasted for 2 years, let me hope this stays atleast that long !

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