today's Crush

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Have you ever catch eyes with someone random and exchanged tiny little tickle smile in the corner of your (big)mouth... and all the background vision, sound vanishes and you just wanted to keep following them instead of wherever you are suppose to go(like work).. have you!? then you know what iam talking about..

the usual daily commute, walk-train- transfer to another train.. from home to work. like it is always. but today-- Iam guessing this someone lives somewhere in my near neighborhood and working somewhere near my work place.. shared the walk to the stations, and train riding.. all the way thru. its not that she was drop dead gorgeous.. she is very simple looking smartly dressed(salwar) indian gal.. may be its the salwar.. If I happen to see her tomorrow should I say hey?.. even with the risk of making myself look like an idiot..!!


and today fb's status: why on earth everyone is walking very slowwww from underground/MRT to work... come on people, MOVE it.. show some energy in the morning..

such is the paradox in life.. all that tiny little excitement overcome by daily rage..

Birthday, Unplugged

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yet another year pass by and yet another birthday with full of surprises...

As I mentioned, I relocated recently so I had not much plans for my Bday. But it was a pleasant surprise how it turned to be. last minute thought to go for a drink with friend from work. called another friend to join. but he had other plans. so I joined him with no idea where and with whom.. couple of hours later, i was sitting among group folks all random strangers surprising me with one small piece of cake cutting at 12am.. that's how day started.. not bad right!) came back house at 3am. phone calls woke me up at 7:30. around 11am friend invited over for home made lunch. she made rasgulla for me.. the yummeee kind. then lazy afternoon after heavy food, we watched HBO movies - nothing in common & city slickers (both I recommend). around 7pm, the only planned activity of the day- standup comedy with few friends. watching Ted Alexandro live, now twice is awesome.

also I happen to know the organize since I was one of the regulars, he surprised with shout-out from the stage for my birthday. I still dont know how he knows. may be one of friend I was with, she must have told him. turns out another audience member was also celebrating her birthday. show was great fun. then we continued the night with crawling thru city's finest.. so that ended my another 24hrs of exciting, surprises..



One small piece of cake with 3candles to blew,
pizza drinks fondue.
as I woke up by morning dew,
phone calls from loved ones in queue.
with all strength that I drew
from the many exciting years that flew,
I realized people how are blessed like me are very few.
As I get ready for another year with dreams to pursue,
cheers to all the old things and new.

Stereotypes..I(dont)fit-in

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I got tagged in facebook for stereotypes which I dont fit-in..

(un)intentionally i try to stay away from stereotypes(fitting-into and also tagging others). Iam typical in that sense- i feel sometime that iam very very different, diverse, yada yada yada.. then i read the poster on my desk "you are unique like everyone else".. anyways- list from top of the mind..:

- I am always so very happy to let the women drive me around for the entire road trip. done that manytimes..

- I have 8pair of shoes.. may be 8 is not too much but that's right some men like shoes too..

- I can walk mindlessly for hours long thru the malls..window shopping(as long as I dont pay)))

- I always wanted to be couple of years older(atleast until now)

- I am not much an intellact or creative then the other guy but I can convince better..

- I always think, there will be a distortion btw what I know, what I will be able to say, and what people will then understand

- when a friend say "life is hard", I always ask "compare to what!" and almost everytime that is not the words they are looking for.

- temptations & emotions will always interfere with our sense of truth, reality & sanity

- almost no stereotypes are broken. we just move from one to another..

Soooo much has happened..

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Yes Iam still alive and so is this blog. so much has happened since I was here last.
In chronologically order..: after my wonderfully georgia trip-
Roamed in Rome.. (title thanks to suggestion from an sweet-soul).., I had spent one summer month in rome, very very hot, half naked rome and too many tourists. but still very nice. I manage to meetup with some wonderful, interesting folks. out n about with my new found buddies, testing all possible italian foods, drinks, talking about all shift under the sun.. and all in the name of "the family"(bank's team)). ya, that has become the stand line.. "all for the family". felt i was part of italian mafia family.. unplanned visit to Vatican, I had audience with pop. while it was nice to say that but it wasn't good facebook status message. I had to clarify that it wasn't very "personal"..;) [/no offense pls..]

faced with yet another relocation in life.. but before, last week in luxembourg, the place has grown on me.. (no i didnt cry))i did felt nostalgic when i was packing my bags. kissing good bye(for now) to friends. for many reason- this past 2yrs has been interesting and luxembourg did played its part...for all the contact & friends i made & for all the new experiences..
took a brief break in london. wow, not many place is so wonderful as london under the sun. I dont know for some reason, London always feel like second home. I was relocating to far east and far away from europe which was my home for past 5yrs.. so it was good bye for now trip to all friends in london.. and to london itself.
couple of weeks break at home.. visited home sweet home..it was very short but memorable for few reasons...
-- wonderful date with two & half women. universe played one wonderful trick to get me in contact with these cheerful souls. I met and continued the conversation as if I knew them for ages.. actually, I do know them for age may be not in conversation way. homemade wine.. my receipe & their hardwork.. yummee.. isn't that lovely gift.

-- then another date with another sweet well-wisher..
-- warming for my investments..
-- adding kgs (like I always do when i go home...;/ and now my BMI moved to overweight category..;(
yada yada yada....

relocation from one tiny country to another.. Landed in Singapore: oh boy.. what a change.. things couldn't be any different... for indians singapore should feel like home but I had culture shock.. took sometime to get used to things here.. finding house: singapore is very organized and easy to get settled but i have to say of all the places I moved to, it was here I find it difficult to fix an apartment. may be Iam biased or may be its still fresh in my memory but It wasn't easy and it isn't cheap. finally, I did manage to find wonderful apartment at river side.
and with some already known names, faces finding my feet in new place was made easier... and one recent weekend- frnd living in melborne transited via singapore..stayed in Marina Sands Bay. wow.. awesome place to stay.. very nice poool.. on 57th floor.. 500$/night is worth it and it was very pleasant to catchup with my mate..

otherwise, manage to hook up with some lovely friends(of friends).. that kept some weekends busy in exploring the places (bars/pubs/clubs/restaurants,/..).. and stumble upon nice hippie crowd(from CSurf) and standup open mike event 1st wed. of every month..by comedy club asia. very nice gig. (if you in singapore, would strongly recommend that). got connected to natural loving walking/hiking group & photowalks group. hope to go whenever timepermits.
and with effect to build healthy lifestyle, embarked on some interesting experiences. cycling my new found love.. singapore has wonderful long bike tracks along the coast. it was very activity to bike for couple of hours.. 25km..hope to do that regularly. dragon boat riding: another new found love. joined a team and practice every weekend..hoping to participant in River Regatta competition in Oct. ya hoping..

past couple of months had been exciting, many first/new things, 'if only' /interesting moments.. (like the past 30yrs..;)

wondering around - in Georgia

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I had 3weeks of excitement traveling around Georgia. I had no idea & expectation about Tbilisi and its surrounding. All I knew was the recent war between Georgia and Russia. I landed there to find country very similar to India. no traffic rules, pot holes, nice people, religions, great food…my god, food is awesome & cheap (do try Georgian cuisine).

My friend decided to join me for 5day long weekend. Tbilisi is relatively small city so we would walk most to places and taxi was cheap anyways. During week days, dinner was at nice Georgian restaurants recommended by lonely planet. Till Friday evening 9pm we had no fixed plans for the weekend. All came together in last minute. Found one nice english speaking guide to drive us around. We went on roadtrip to the country side of Georgian. Sighnagi beautiful hill-town, Telavi wine region, vardzia caves close to Turkey & Armenia border, Caucasus Mountains valley, which I should say is stunningly beautiful. Georgian wine is nice. Interesting very old churches, cave mountains,… many things to see and do. Unfortunate we couldn’t do adventure sports, since May is still too early we were told. Georgian is orthodox country and one of the first countries to become Christian. ofcourse during USSR days, religion was practiced in secret. Second language is used to be Russian but these day many young people are learning English as second language. I never had any language problem.

Some interesting highlights:
• Indian movies are big in Georgian. Most people mention the (old) hindi movie names and actor/actress names. one TV channel (India Tv)show Indian movies & drama 24x7 with Russian voice over. (and taxi drivers all they want to talk about is how good hindi movies are and how good looking georgian girls are,)
• People are very very friendly, everywhere I go.. in underground train, street corner while walking, etc… some people walk up and ask where I am from, talk about india, movies, etc.. offer to help, offer for drinks,.. not just once but this happened many times during my stay. Meet two guys who offer me to take me around places and took me drinks and meet nice wonderful & her cousins for drinks,.. had fun time with those folks.
• Many Indian students are studying medicine in Tbilisi. I meet one such student, a boy(Mr.D) from my hometown. He is been there for almost 4years and had interesting stories about life in Tbilisi, others students & their background, their hopes & straggles. Hearing those stories only make me to appreciate my life even more. D was explain how he miss home sometime but he doesn’t think he ever go back to india and live there because he is gay (and actually he can’t even live in Georgia forever). He is lovely kind soul, interesting fellow, took me around places and to nice Georgian restaurant will live Georgian music & dance. He was sharing his experience of travelling to Iran and talking about people in Iran so kind and generous. So many offered him place to stay, food… for free. Thanks to couchsurfing.org , which is how he pinged me too.
• Took intercity bus ride to Gori, joseph stalin hometown. Bus ride in itself is an experience. And I noticed Stalin still have some sympathizers. And his old house, his train coach, is part of museum where I could sit in the his chair & his bed… and take picture. Ofcourse it was not allowed but I charmed tour guide lady to take my pictures. she said, since I came all the way from India and she never had Indian tourists there before, She will allow me to take picture sitting in stalin chair..:) I noticed for stalin’s 70th birthday, gift was sent from India. it’s a writing on rice. Its no surprise museum was bad maintained (by Georgian govt.) and you can’t fail to notice many young couples sitting in many corners of the museum complex and on the step of stalin’s old house and making out.
• I hitch-hiked. Yap I did.;D) exciting fun. Should I say anymore..;) I thought only mini-skirts blondes will get rides. But thank god I was wrong. Some kind souls gave me the left. I had no plans or destination; I went in the direction I got ride. And landed in beautiful little historical town Gardabani.

And Unfortunate I would not go to Azerbaijan, Armenia, so near yet so far. If I had to find a word to describe my trip…its Excitement.

wondering around - part 2

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One of the recent sunny weekend day, went out for my usual walk. Two strangers stopped me and said something in French. I replied, I can understand French very well. Man(rather the boy) said ‘we are American student here on exchange program to spread the message of God’. Only then I noticed badge on his shirt “Jesus is our god…”. my initially thought- oh boy, this is not going to end well. Almost immediately, I said sorry boys you are wasting time with me because I am an atheists and he asked –“what’s you are point in life?” my reply- I am going for move-n-pick ice-cream now and that’s my point in life… to have good ice cream. I laughed and moved away before he could reply.

Well, I am not an atheist. I just wanted to run away and don’t want to have comparative analysis on Hinduism & Christian or any religion. Belief is such a personal thing. I believe that it is impossible to know anything about God and its a social invention because the belief that this life is all there is would be psychologically unacceptable or unimaginable. I call myself an agnostic because I do not consider it is ever possible to know the nature of God. If a God exists, which may but can not be proven because by the very nature of what a God is, that being is beyond our ability to comprehend and always will be.

Anyways, I was curious about that loaded question-- what is the point in life? kept wondering.. still wondering..

wondering around - part 1

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As mentioned ( land of music) I did the trip to Austria. Onward Night Train journey introduced me to follow traveler. Yet another random meetup, an interesting travel companion & I decided to explore the place together.

Unplanned day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia. City is pleasant surprise with very interesting sculptures at almost every corner of old town. Walked around on grey day but unfortunately couldn’t catch ferry back to Vienna. while train journey is quicker but i thought ferry ride could have been more interesting.

Vienna – everywhere its all about Mozart. OK I get it Mozart… is important man for western classical music but Vienna is certainly more than Mozart. I was very curious to find about Sigmund Freud and It wasn’t very easy to find any trace. And ofcourse, many locals talked about another popular Austrian-american - Arnold Schwarzenegger. :) And thing which I don’t know before – Graffiti started in vienna. Street art were found in many place and my favorites are at kirchengasse, donaukanal, nashmarkt, burggasse, beritegasse,..

Next stop Salzburg- woke up late, walked up to festung fortress- nice view of the city. Came down, had nice food, relaxing in local café, reading a book. ‘Hello mr’ a voice from behind. Old man asked if am I a tourists!...that was the start of interesting hour long conversation about the city, history, india,.. he offered to play chess on the giant chess board painted onto the ground in old town. I won..oh ya I did.;) afternoon, sound music tour.. that’s a must in Salzburg. Another interesting fact which I didn’t know before- sound of music movie is not popular in Austria.. they have their own (original story) german version of trapp family.
Salzburg Street music


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And OK, Yes I am Indian but cricket does not excite me anymore. but I have to say this IPL T20 season somehow got me. I couldn’t help but to watch last two matches played by my hometown team and cheer for their victory in finals.
now, I heard Indian cricket team went out of world champions with very very poor performance. my message to Indian cricket fan: GET OVER IT.

Let’s start talking

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Growing up I was introvert, shy boy. While I was comfortable starting conversation with some people from common forum (school, university, work place…) but I didn’t feel comfortable among strangers and self-confidence wasn’t my USP. Like most Indians, we don’t always talk to strangers especially to opposite gender. We just look at them from distance and keep wondering should we talk or not.

Somewhere along my journey that got changed slowly. I always had great interest in travelling and I did travel all my life… family summer trip to various parts of India very couple of years from Kashmir to Andaman Islands and I started travelling very early in my career as well but before 6 or 7yrs ago I was relatively new to backpacking experience. I used to share my place-to-visit list, plan trips and would request friends to come along.

Once Me & friend of mine made trip to Romania. This was before Romania was part EU/schengen. He planned the trip and I tagged along. We flew into Bucharest and took train to Brasov. One impressive charming young girl and another gloriously beautiful young girl was sitting opposite to us. And If it’s like in the movies then boy would start talking to the girl and sooner or later song/dance would happen. But we were just two Indian boys still not sure how to start the conversation. 10mins into the journey, the girls started talking to each other in Romanian and we boy was still busy looking at them and imagine song/dance in our heads. 20mins into the journey, one girl saw my friend reading a newspaper. she asked if she would take look. Ofcourse he wasn’t going to deny it. within like 2/3mins later, she returned the paper back. Curious us asked why! and started talking to the gals. Turns out the girls weren’t travelling together. They were strangers to each others. This girl couldn’t even read English well. She asked for the newspaper just to start the conversations with us. so the Charming girl was a teacher(girl sitting left in the photo above) traveling back home and beautiful girl was model(girl sitting right) in Paris. Yes :) 30mins into the conversation, she started showing her portfolio book with all these great photos of her. The girls told us- what to do, where to go, what not to do, etc… by the end of the train ride, we exchanged our contact details. My friend & I kept wondering, admiring how impressive these girls started the conversation with strangers/boys and how we boys suck at it. After wonderful day trip around Brasov, we reached our hostel and noticed we share the hostel room with two young girls from Scotland doing backpacking trip. We are quick earners now we knew how to start a conversations. So started talking- our travel plans, their travel plans, good pubs nearby, etc... And that’s how I started my conversations with strangers.

This experience wasn’t about boys talking to gals. But It was about young Indian boy feeling comfortable with myself to make connects with any strangers regardless of nationality, gender… and making life experience more adventures, interesting & diverse. Since then I was never dependent of any of my friends to travel along because I realized world of full of yet-to-be-friends.

We appreciate our families & buddies for adding colors to our life but we tend to over look those souls who visit us just for brief period- during a trip, in a pub, in hotel/hostels, ticket queues, follow traveler. My life is full of those interesting people, fabulous moments and I am a better person because of them, you, all of you. I will not say thank you since there is no need for thanks & sorry among friends. right!?;)

Idea or Reality?

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I wonder is it just me or we people fall in love with idea of things rather than reality of things. !?

Music: Chicken soup for the soul

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Recently I wrote about how I don't like habits turning into additions, but their are few exceptions to that rule. Music is one of the them. I don't know how? from when? but its been part of DNA. I always like to expose myself to new genre, musicians, language. Growing up- radio was my main source. Late night FM used to play very nice songs and that's how I got introduced to many artists specially in English. I used to lock myself in the room and record cassettes from FM-radio. I didn't learn hindi at school, I learnt it by watching some very interesting DD serials and music...(big thanks to Gulzar, KishoreKumar, M.Rafi,) 

And my hometown is big on Indian classical music. December is music festival season and Its getting bigger & better every year. When I was little- for couple of years may be, my dad used to get seasonal pass for Music Academy concerts. That's when I realized the magic of Live performance. Since then I try not miss any opportunity to watch live performance. Over the years, I watched countless performances live bands/musicians from east, west..classical, opera, jazz, fusion, some great orchestra,.. Watching Live always makes me wonder why am I not blessed with such talent to play musical instrument. And I always wished somehow magically, I woke up one day then I can play guitar(because Iam lazy to learn & practice).

My habit rather addiction for finding new music continued. with few interesting friends we share playlist. that is another source. then came youtube & iTunes.. african, arabic, persian, etc....wonderful music of the world became accessible. and my additions of digg for new music continues... I bookmark some of my finds at youtube playlist

my recent fav: Karsh Kale, Rahul Sharma, Imogen Heap, Anais Mitchell, Faithless, Oceanlab,..

Share your playlist.

Its one of those days

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I got hooked Imogen Heap music. I found out that she is touring europe and visiting Luxembourg just couple of week before. Managed to get tickets & saw her Live. Opening act was by American singer Back Ted N Ted - Ryan. He was good. but when Imogen perform its like watching- birth of music. she is great, making wonderful tunes from anything & everything on the stage.

View all

Get your own

Watch her interview & music

And that's just start of my weekend.. I didn't had any plans for the weekend. After wonderful music night on friday, slept late woke up late on saturday. Cooked myself nice bruch. It was a cloudy day, went for long walk. I got last minute message from a friend that old movies are been played in local theatre and if I would be interested to join her. checked the timing & surprised to find Cinema Paradiso was showing. No brainier. Someone was explaining about this movie but now I can't recollect with whom I had this conventions. anyways, Movie was nice. finished at 10. meet another friend, went to local music bar watched live performance from 2 indie bands from UK- HomeLife and Savoy Grand.

Another wonderful day,weekend..one that I had no plans for. Well, turns out my plan was- to be surprised.

Its one of those days...

Interesting start

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Year so far: 2010 had interesting start with mixed emotions. Now visiting my beloved city, which I call it second home(London). During past month, big part of my attention was about thinking thru how & where next 11months should be. Hope the months ahead would evolve to shape my thoughts more clearly.

Backlog: I did complete 20books in 2009 but I was so lazy to update book review blog. I should do back dated update…I should. I should.

Addiction: I have some impulsive habits and when I feel its becomes addiction then I test myself to check if I can live without it. I thought I was addicted to TV so when I relocated to new place, I didn’t buy TV. For almost 5+yrs I don’t have TV but I did watch some favorite shows via www. I don’t feel the need for TV. Because of that I could spend more time reading & writing. Fewdays back I thought I am addicted to facebook. so tested myself and again I manage to avoid log-in for week without hurting my brain-cells. Hip hip.. so I can live without facebook(If I have too..))
Now I know, I am addicted to internet.. rest is fine.

And ya, someone had time & interest to publish what I have to say—at webneetech

Me in 2009

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Thanks to Suicide Hotline and Enigmatic Rantings, I landed on
Final week of 2009 @ Sunday Stealing

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Tattoo

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Not really.

3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
with friends.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes

5. What countries did you visit?
Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, UK, Switzerland, India, etc...

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
hmm..Probably relocation.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
3rd weekend of July..spent lovely weekend in Bangalore with a friend.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
9. What was your biggest failure?
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing major.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
my DSLR Camera & Pair of rings for parents on Dad's 60th birthday.

12. Where did most of your money go?
Travel, phonecalls, investments,..

13. What song will always remind you of 2009?
MJ's songs for obvious reasons and for very different personal reasons..
Citizen Cope - Son's Gonna Rise
(Telugu) Anand - Nuvvena
(Hindi) Laaga Chunari Mein Daag

14. What do you wish you'd done more of?
calls

15. What do you wish you'd done less of?
eating

16. What was your favourite TV program?
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No.

18. What was the best book you read?
House of Stairs, Life of Pi,

19. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Tracy Chapman, Thirteen Sense, Citizen cope,...and more.

20. What was your favorite film of this year?
District 9, Hangover,..

21. What did you do on your birthday?
home party with friend celebrating me becoming wiser

22. What kept you sane?
Optimism

23. Who did you miss?
will always miss the friend who lost during the year.

24. Who was the best new person you met?
many of them..folks from Alicante needs specially mentioning.

25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
Do as little as possible, and that unwillingly, for it is better to receive a slight reprimand than to perform an arduous task. The corollary to this is that an awful lot of life’s problems solve themselves if you leave them be.;)

May this new year bring many opportunities to your way,
to explore every joy of life &
may your resolutions for the days ahead stay firm,
turning all your dreams into reality
and all your efforts into great achievements.
Happy New Year to you & your loved ones.

Never a year like 2009 (american news summarized)

Adiós 2009, Year that was..

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As I remember, reflect & readthru 2009 from the edge of it-- I see no major health issues, my wealth continues its up trend, job is Ok not great but anyway nothing so worst to complain but this year made its mark with few emotional scars. Even with my optimistic nature, I have to say objectively this year isn't all that I hoped for.

Personally, 2008 is the year with so much news about marriage, new born,.. but largely news of 2009 has been about breakups, divorces, separations, death. But in the Mist of confusions, complications, hardships, sorrows, net weight gain(+3kg.;()..I had made some cherishing memories & experiences which will last forever.

My trend of traveling to few corners of earth and stepping into few uncharted experiences continued in 2009 may be more so then in the past.

when I readthru some of my blogs, even as early in march'2009 I have seen this year to be more confusing.
http://iamyuva.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/thats-what-happened/

Its been the year, of moving from old to new. I mean orkut to facebook..;)
I had a tattoo..;) had to be high point..;)
http://iamyuva.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/tattooed/

my Travel adventure continues-- had to be one of highlight of the year.... south west France road-trip, trip to Nordic countries, etc..
http://iamyuva.wordpress.com/tag/travel/

Luck had its way in linking me up with few interesting people and also broking those links. sometime just breaking the soft-link but sometime even the hard-link(out of touch). Nevertheless, those souls added interesting colour to my life.
Thanks to all those & big sorry to some of those, if my action caused any hurtful feeling. Although I dont regret much of it, my Intention was never to hurt anyone. Its probably the act of destiny (so don't blame me)).
And my lasting tribute to my grandma & lovely friend who passed away this year. My world was made better because of their presence and had many many joyfully moments with them. May your soul rest in peace and I am sure you would be my guard angle.
http://iamyuva.wordpress.com/tag/Journal/

I would like to believe that I have become more wiser. apart from people who I shared my conversations and time with, its also thanks to TEDtalks, speeches, books, documentaries, etc..
http://iamyuva.wordpress.com/tag/defined/

And network of blogger had increased to new heights. I made remote connections to folks across the global and I had opportunities to meet few of them in person. for those who I haven't met yet, I am coming soon..life is long and world is small.
Thanks to you all ladies & gentlemen for being here and for making my world bigger & better.

Wish you all Happy 2010 & beyond.

Song for the mood.

while I was away- part 3

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Weekend before the last, I made trip to Alicante, Spain to catch-up with a friend. I don’t know much about the place. but I thought its good excuse to visit another place in lovely spain. If you don’t know already, I am totally biased towards anything & everything about Spain, my first love.

Alicante,is little coastal town. european commission being the biggest employer, which is were my friend works. I say little but its bigger than luxembourg.;) place to see- castle on top the mountain and nice view on a clear day overlooking the beach one side and city on the other. it was close to 20degrees in mid-november. loved it. Spain like greece typical mediterranean culture, people having dinner at 11pm going out to pubs/bars at 1am..and some bars are opened only at 3:30am. needless to say about crazy night outs. less said the better.;) what's more wonderful..is the interesting people I meet.

friday night..meet Mar, who couldn't speak english..but she kept the conversation with some translation help from my friend. That’s very nice of her. one of many things what I like about Spain & Spanish people...even without the language they always try to be inclusive. their kindness to be immigrates (not just high-skilled but everyone) and their general awareness of the world..very good..

saturday dinner & sunday lunch was at friend's friend place. german guy & france guy was the host us and hooked up with very deserve group..age, nationality, et..food= asian food. they cooked chinese & korean food. host is travelers. they work 6month save money and travel for 9months. asia is their favorite destination..it was nice to take about their travel experience..

I so wish, I could be as content and as free flying bird like them.

while I was away - part 2

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....
wanting to fly with angels wings.
wasn't to be this time, atleast just yet..

while I was away - part 1

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ok..not sure you care about it, but thought I should update the journal.

almost 4weeks back, I went on 9days road trip in south west France with a friend and wanted to write about the experience but it’s so beyond words I kept postponing to post. And I don’t want to write about place to see, things to do since I can’t do better job than folks at lonely plant, tripadvisor, virtualtourists.

Our whole trip was constructed & executed under a week. often the best trips are those which was arranged in last minute. after couple of mail exchanges, me & my friend finalized route map and after couple of hours call time, we finalized hotel bookings. that's it, all done. off we went.

start point- Bordeaux airport, that's were me & my friend met. hired citroen C2, off we go... on the way, we wanted to buy some stuff. we saw carefour and with all the excitement without knowing, we were driving on walking area..;) trip started on perfect note. Our tom-tom(GPRS) name was rooth (its a she..although its driving direction device..;) I am told its because of her voice and so we named our car James(he) just to give her(rooth) some excitement about the trip.

first stop- saint emillion, checked into to big hotel(with not so big rooms..setting the expectation for the whole trip). had nice dinner with local wine.. walking around in moon light was good fun. next day we visited vineyard Chateau La Couspaude run by friend-of-friend's...understanding wine making processes, tasting merlot red,..fabulous and touring underworld chruch.

mr.nice vineyard guy recommended a pitshop at st.Pardon to watch waves from sea thru river famous among local surfers. but we waited for almost an hour but no waves to be seen. we moved out. it seems wave wasn't that big anyways.


next- Cognac,. another tiny town and nice hotel. next day- turned out to be the best experience. via some random friend’s connection, we got royal tour of Hennessey cognac house. Understanding cognac blending process and seeing vintage(1900, 1934, 1800..)ya, 1800 vintage(and best is yet to come.) Met Mr. Maurice Hennessey family member of Richard Hennessey, he explained us history Hennessey ads and talking about Hennessey business during french revolutions & world wars. he took us to Hennessey guest house(/wonderful castle) for very nice lunch and signed off with Fine Cognac bottle/gift bag. off to next destination with evening cafe stop at Brantome.

next stop- Périgueux another tiny town. interesting story here is- McD is banned in the city(which I think is good). and we met another random local friend(of a friend..of a friend). snowing us around and making fun of our sense of architecture (names & brands). Had nice dinner with some strange conversations about capitalism v socialism, life's expectations, how much money required for retirement. needless to say some misunderstanding & assumptions, finally all got clarified.

Next day- based on his recommendation we did pitstops visiting toute la grotte de Lascaux, cave paints of pre-historic men. Well another excitement was- gas was running out. James(our car) had Gas for 80kms, we found one gas stations but I said we can re-fill in next one. And then, heart was beating little/tiny bit faster..wishing & hoping to find gas stations. and we finally did found one after 73km..;)

next day- heading towards Rocamadour. road was blocked due to construction work. But Instead of finding alternate route, I did the brave Indian act, just moved the block sign and drive thru to reach our destinations.;) our stopover was Rocamadour, lovely hilly town.

next was long driving day..visiting Toulouse and reaching Biarritz, another beautiful coastal town. evening we decided to give james(our car)rest. walked sea side. had sangria watching surfers...after nice dinner & drinks. we thought we could walk back to hotel. but ofcourse it had to happen..we got lost..;) called a friend in london to google us the directions..we ended-up in local bar and asked the guy to call taxi for us..;) safely reaching the hotel.

next day..trip to san Sebastian Spanish town of Basque country. most of the day was washed way. so we ended-up having nice Spanish lunch with sangria and ice cream in the rain.
on the way back to biarritz, pit stop at St Jean de Luz bought tasting famous macarons at Maison Adam.

next day- relaxing breakfast at biarittz. pit stop to dune du plya - largest sand dune in Europe. Thankfully no rain so we could have good view from the top and did sand surfing to get down.

reaching our next stop-over at arcachon, another nice coastal retirement town(translation= full of old people). We did long walk in the beach and had nice dinner & wine.
next day..to chateau doisy-daene, a family run classified vineyard(run by friend of..a friend). tasting nice sweet white sauternes..2009 vintage straight from barrel.

Day ended in Bordeaux- it was good bye time to james after 1820km drive. kissed good bye to my friend..

I spent the night walking around Bordeaux city center and took train to Paris next day early morning to met another friend. she recently relocated back to Paris from Luxembourg. so my final day- walking around in streets of Paris. wonderful lunch, watching street artists, evening at Basilique du Sacre Coeur, sitting in steps listening to street musicians who were taking turns to amuse the crowd with lovely guitar music.

Ofcourse I just don't have enough words to explain some of the stranger conversations, episodes, highlights of our trip…like our quest for pharmacy and then finding in very place when we don’t need one, my friend’s addiction to cheese, foie-gras..;), saying “please thanks woof” all the time to every other(mocking english politeness), my music awareness enhanced with introduction of Citizen cope, above & beyond, oceanlab, thirteen Senses, etc...

one of the best travel week of my life came to an end. all good things should end. by product is- exciting memory to cherish.

Wiser Me..

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Today is my day to shine
yet another year older
Hopefully more wiser
Strange, we grow up trying to make older sooner then we should
But as the years slowly pass on by
we might hope to be younger to do more of what we wish.
Today will be the day
I am a year older
Glad I am, since I enjoy being a man then a boy

Happy Birthday to wonderful me !)



***look back updates***
Lyrics of Barbra Streisand's can you tell the moment?

another year to come...

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Birthdays comes and goes in every year
but few remains with us as golden memories
Its a special day to celebrate with loved ones
although, the years carry our age away
every aged year brings happiness

C have been blown off to say good bye to old year
and then the cakes is cut to say welcome to new age
The birthday song sung to forget the world
and the birthday wishes keep pouring to live more

Dine and cakes are served unlimited
Music to remember unforgettable day
'Happy Birthday To You' that is last words that we hear
from each and everyone and again the drums are silent
for another year to come.

my Personality (Un)Defined...

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thanks to nithya, I happen to take some questions at blogthings.. I know, this is crap and very automatic and not sure how much of it is true. but its fun and seems to be close enough..;-p

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion. You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party. Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences. But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

Your Blogging Type is Artistic and Passionate

You see your blog as the ultimate personal expression - and work hard to make it great. One moment you may be working on a new dramatic design for your blog... And the next, you're passionately writing about your pet causes. Your blog is very important - and you're careful about who you share it with.

You Are Very Happy

Your life is totally together, and you enjoy every day. And you don't need a quiz to tell you that! You know how to find pleasure in the little things... And even when life isn't so great, you have a good sense of perspective.