Coucou! Ca va?: 2009

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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