The good news : Budweiser is finally here in India and its being brewed some where very close to Hyderabad. I have seen huge Budweiser hoardings and looks like it is already available in some of the popular pubs such as Touch in Hyderabad where I saw them unload a whole load of Budweiser merchandise. It is surely one of the most popular beers worldwide. I hope that other popular brands like Heineken, Corona and the rest will follow suit. This is truly good news to all my beer-pot-bellied beer guzzling mates :-))
Hic... Hic... Hurray !!!:-)
Trivia: annual Beer consumption in India in the year 2006 was 108 million cases (of 7.8 litres each) whoa !!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
World Environment Day
There is a day dedicated for every popular cause these days. So there has been a AIDS awareness day , a world friendship day, mothers day. Now the latest buzz is that Arjun Singh is coming with The Reservation day :-)). on this day , you will get to hug and make merry with your reserved mates and more reservations will be dished out...... ok jokes and A.S. bashing apart ( which are synonymous! ) , back to the Environment day. Mostly lip service is what is happening to this cause. On the world stage, the developed and developing countries just point fingers at each others to do more. While the developed countries are obviously doing more, the developing countries feel that taking up these initiatives to save the environment in a big way will put a big dent in their GDPs and fragile economies.
In the developed countries, you can see that some initiatives are working. recyclable products are a reality. Alternative fuel research to power automobiles is gaining momentum. the coming decades should surely see us moving away from Gasoline powered automobiles which will help hugely. The developed world has surely woken up to the reality and some sort of paranoia has already set in due to unexpected climate - Drastic measures are the need of the hour. These drastic measures could soon mean that we have to slowly change the way we live our lives !
Back home in India, things go on as usual. Obviously there are bigger things to deal with and am sure that on a list of 100 most important issues to deal with environmental degradation would not even figure on the list ! The effects of environmental degradation are showing up in no small measure
Tigers are becoming extinct from their erstwhile havens in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. mainly because of poaching and deforestation. Floods are a usual thing come rainy season. while some areas experience severe draught while at other places sever floods wreak havoc causing damage to everything.
It is said that the perennial and holy river Ganga will dry up eventually and cease to be perennial. Considering that the Ganga flows through Uttar pradesh and Bihar, which have been seeing inner turmoil for quite some time and development has been on the back burner. The administration has just ignored the environment completely. Industrial waste and sewage pollutes the rivers here. Encroachments on the river banks pollute the rivers further and obstruct the flow.
Only making the rivers a national property and administering them might save the rivers additionally , nationalising the rivers might also avoid the water-wars that happen frequently between states these days.
The urban supposedly developed areas are no better. Here people like parasites have taken up every inch of land to build houses and apartments. trees are cut down every day. Sewage is freely let out to pollute the water bodies are around. there is hardly any waste management done. nothing else can explain the change in climate in Bangalore which has become much warmer than it was say 10 years ago.
The city of Delhi is a good example of what can be achieved, The buses and autos run on CNG a clean and green low emission alternative to gasoline. The expanding metro train system is giving people an alternative to private transport. Delhi can do these more efficiently as it is a city state. In Other states there is an apathy towards the cities, though the cities generate huge amount of revenues in terms of taxes and other sources. Not much of this money goes into the infrastructure and development , leave alone for saving the environment. The governments are usually busy dishing out subsidies at large and thus emptying the state coffers just so that they can be voted back to power in the next elections.
Housing projects are eating up the landscape around Hyderabad, as the metropolis expands, the biggest causalities are open reserve forests and greenery, which are disappearing really fast. Why cant we expand vertically where possible ? I mean constructing a 60 storey building to house thousands of people in a one acre of land is better than occupying 5 acres of land and build several small building and there by laying a "concrete blanket". in the former case, you can at least leave the 4 acres of greenery alone and let it bloom and server us well in the future.
In the developed countries, you can see that some initiatives are working. recyclable products are a reality. Alternative fuel research to power automobiles is gaining momentum. the coming decades should surely see us moving away from Gasoline powered automobiles which will help hugely. The developed world has surely woken up to the reality and some sort of paranoia has already set in due to unexpected climate - Drastic measures are the need of the hour. These drastic measures could soon mean that we have to slowly change the way we live our lives !
Back home in India, things go on as usual. Obviously there are bigger things to deal with and am sure that on a list of 100 most important issues to deal with environmental degradation would not even figure on the list ! The effects of environmental degradation are showing up in no small measure
Tigers are becoming extinct from their erstwhile havens in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. mainly because of poaching and deforestation. Floods are a usual thing come rainy season. while some areas experience severe draught while at other places sever floods wreak havoc causing damage to everything.
It is said that the perennial and holy river Ganga will dry up eventually and cease to be perennial. Considering that the Ganga flows through Uttar pradesh and Bihar, which have been seeing inner turmoil for quite some time and development has been on the back burner. The administration has just ignored the environment completely. Industrial waste and sewage pollutes the rivers here. Encroachments on the river banks pollute the rivers further and obstruct the flow.
Only making the rivers a national property and administering them might save the rivers additionally , nationalising the rivers might also avoid the water-wars that happen frequently between states these days.
The urban supposedly developed areas are no better. Here people like parasites have taken up every inch of land to build houses and apartments. trees are cut down every day. Sewage is freely let out to pollute the water bodies are around. there is hardly any waste management done. nothing else can explain the change in climate in Bangalore which has become much warmer than it was say 10 years ago.
The city of Delhi is a good example of what can be achieved, The buses and autos run on CNG a clean and green low emission alternative to gasoline. The expanding metro train system is giving people an alternative to private transport. Delhi can do these more efficiently as it is a city state. In Other states there is an apathy towards the cities, though the cities generate huge amount of revenues in terms of taxes and other sources. Not much of this money goes into the infrastructure and development , leave alone for saving the environment. The governments are usually busy dishing out subsidies at large and thus emptying the state coffers just so that they can be voted back to power in the next elections.
Housing projects are eating up the landscape around Hyderabad, as the metropolis expands, the biggest causalities are open reserve forests and greenery, which are disappearing really fast. Why cant we expand vertically where possible ? I mean constructing a 60 storey building to house thousands of people in a one acre of land is better than occupying 5 acres of land and build several small building and there by laying a "concrete blanket". in the former case, you can at least leave the 4 acres of greenery alone and let it bloom and server us well in the future.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Traffic
6:45 pm on the office clock,time to call it a day - Its been another pointless day at work. I am not sure where my career is going really. Faintly hoping for a brighter future, I pick up my laptop bag and head for the door. I slide into the driver seat of my car, back it up and head for the cellar opening.
I reach the intersection point on the way back home where i have to make a decision. A steady crowded road which will get me home in about an hour and 20 minutes time or a relatively less crowded road but with a major bottle neck where they are building a new flyover.
I fidget for a while and decide to risk the latter - who knows, if i get through the bottleneck quickly i will be home in less than an hour
till about half a kilometer ahead of the bottleneck , everything seems ok. Then slowly traffic slows down and soon comes to a standstill I just add my self to the end of a long queue. On other days I have seen the Queue move steadily but today its not moving.
I just shutdown the car and wait. The radio keeps playing too many commercials so i switch it off. and then I start watching the scenery and people outside to bide time. The scenery is all filthy concrete, and the people are all around. There are Bikers and autowallas who try to creep through the smallest spaces. Noticing this, I inch ahead to the car in front of me and close the gap so that not even a cycle can sneak through. Its an art i have perfected over the years. Not allowing the other people to wade through the small nooks gives me a bit of sadistic pleasure ; I grin !
I notice the walking pretty lass I overtook a while back - now she is walking past my car. she keeps talking into her mobile and slowly disappears into the labyrinth of cars and automobiles - everybody likes to call pretty lasses :-) . I look at the clock close to - 7:45.I have Been covering inch by inch for almost an hour now. I finally get out of the bottleneck at about 7:55 pm and heaving a huge sigh of relief. still about 45 mins of driving to get to home.
I reach home finally at 8:45 pm. as i lock the car and take the elevator to my flat,I resolve to try a new route the next day :)
I reach the intersection point on the way back home where i have to make a decision. A steady crowded road which will get me home in about an hour and 20 minutes time or a relatively less crowded road but with a major bottle neck where they are building a new flyover.
I fidget for a while and decide to risk the latter - who knows, if i get through the bottleneck quickly i will be home in less than an hour
till about half a kilometer ahead of the bottleneck , everything seems ok. Then slowly traffic slows down and soon comes to a standstill I just add my self to the end of a long queue. On other days I have seen the Queue move steadily but today its not moving.
I just shutdown the car and wait. The radio keeps playing too many commercials so i switch it off. and then I start watching the scenery and people outside to bide time. The scenery is all filthy concrete, and the people are all around. There are Bikers and autowallas who try to creep through the smallest spaces. Noticing this, I inch ahead to the car in front of me and close the gap so that not even a cycle can sneak through. Its an art i have perfected over the years. Not allowing the other people to wade through the small nooks gives me a bit of sadistic pleasure ; I grin !
I notice the walking pretty lass I overtook a while back - now she is walking past my car. she keeps talking into her mobile and slowly disappears into the labyrinth of cars and automobiles - everybody likes to call pretty lasses :-) . I look at the clock close to - 7:45.I have Been covering inch by inch for almost an hour now. I finally get out of the bottleneck at about 7:55 pm and heaving a huge sigh of relief. still about 45 mins of driving to get to home.
I reach home finally at 8:45 pm. as i lock the car and take the elevator to my flat,I resolve to try a new route the next day :)
Monday, May 14, 2007
Trip to Narsapur Forest
I had been there long time ago...in the 1990s, It was with a bunch of friends from Hyderabad University that I had been to Narsapur Reserve Forest. A small undulated forest complete with small hillocks and thick tree cover.The best part is it is within 50-60 km of Hyderabad city.
That trek was an eventful one, we had traveled in a red colored APSRTC bus ...These usually ply to small towns and villages from the city. Having got off the bus, we hit a trek path inside the jungle, then we had got lost before a goat herd bailed us out.. Eventually we found civilisation and also a commute back to the city !
Ever since I came back to Hyderabad, the desire has always been there to explore the forest again. I needed a group. my wife was more than keen enough add to that a group of trekkies at the office and my work team (whom I literaly had to con into coming) and we were ready to go !!
I googled for Narsapur Forest. Very little information could be found on the place on the web. As such Eco tourism is quite scarce in Andhra Pradesh .Still I found a few snippets here and there, my other great source of information was google earth and wikipedia. In wiki someone has clearly marked the forest and you can view satelite images of the forest from way above.
all in all i could summarise that the altitude is 1700-2000 feet. there are some hillocks and lakes inside the forest. it is definitely several square kilometres in area, my guess would be around 25 sq km. All sounded very exciting.
We started on a late saturday morning, group coordination and traffic meant we were very late so a long hike was ruled out. After you cross the jeedimetla industrial area and keep driving for about 40-50 km from the city basically, The forest just springs upon you like a surprise. suddenly the landscape changes into thick trees and wooded landscape on bothsides of the road.
We stopped and aksed a small tea shop owner just before the forest starts on whether the forest could be trekked through. Surprisingly he did not mock at us. he said you could go inside - nothing about naxal hideouts either ! then one of my friends asked him whether they were any animals inside - negative , dont expect to see animals !
There were monkeys - lots of them , and seemed quite naughty. The snacks we were carrying were firmly tucked inside backpacks so no worries. We headed in a North Easternly direction - the compass aiding our direction. The forest was quite thick and soon lots of small thorns were adorned on everyone's jeans and trousers. There are some open spaces and shady spots too inside making it a beautiful hideout place.
You could see several stream paths which had now dried out. This being december, it had not rained in quite some time. But i think it would be a great place to trek in the monsoon times. After treking through for 3 kms or so we decided to turn back and trek . There was a huge hill that me and some others wanted to trek but the majority of us were mostly office couch potatoes with not too much physical activity and doing further hiking would have seriously compromised lunch , so we had to turn back. I reserved the hill hike for my monsoon trek, also made a note to discover the lake in the middle of the jungle during that time !
There are plenty of beautiful birds to spot. We spotted some parakeets . Also we were lucky to spot a mongoose which shied away as soon as it saw us.
We had a tough time getting back to the road , even with the help of the compass - which turned out to be a great boon. Without the compass we would have ended up going in circles forever. By the time all of us got back to the road and our parked cars, we had all earned our lunch at the Dhaba on the way back to the city !
That trek was an eventful one, we had traveled in a red colored APSRTC bus ...These usually ply to small towns and villages from the city. Having got off the bus, we hit a trek path inside the jungle, then we had got lost before a goat herd bailed us out.. Eventually we found civilisation and also a commute back to the city !
Ever since I came back to Hyderabad, the desire has always been there to explore the forest again. I needed a group. my wife was more than keen enough add to that a group of trekkies at the office and my work team (whom I literaly had to con into coming) and we were ready to go !!
I googled for Narsapur Forest. Very little information could be found on the place on the web. As such Eco tourism is quite scarce in Andhra Pradesh .Still I found a few snippets here and there, my other great source of information was google earth and wikipedia. In wiki someone has clearly marked the forest and you can view satelite images of the forest from way above.
all in all i could summarise that the altitude is 1700-2000 feet. there are some hillocks and lakes inside the forest. it is definitely several square kilometres in area, my guess would be around 25 sq km. All sounded very exciting.
We started on a late saturday morning, group coordination and traffic meant we were very late so a long hike was ruled out. After you cross the jeedimetla industrial area and keep driving for about 40-50 km from the city basically, The forest just springs upon you like a surprise. suddenly the landscape changes into thick trees and wooded landscape on bothsides of the road.
We stopped and aksed a small tea shop owner just before the forest starts on whether the forest could be trekked through. Surprisingly he did not mock at us. he said you could go inside - nothing about naxal hideouts either ! then one of my friends asked him whether they were any animals inside - negative , dont expect to see animals !
There were monkeys - lots of them , and seemed quite naughty. The snacks we were carrying were firmly tucked inside backpacks so no worries. We headed in a North Easternly direction - the compass aiding our direction. The forest was quite thick and soon lots of small thorns were adorned on everyone's jeans and trousers. There are some open spaces and shady spots too inside making it a beautiful hideout place.
You could see several stream paths which had now dried out. This being december, it had not rained in quite some time. But i think it would be a great place to trek in the monsoon times. After treking through for 3 kms or so we decided to turn back and trek . There was a huge hill that me and some others wanted to trek but the majority of us were mostly office couch potatoes with not too much physical activity and doing further hiking would have seriously compromised lunch , so we had to turn back. I reserved the hill hike for my monsoon trek, also made a note to discover the lake in the middle of the jungle during that time !
There are plenty of beautiful birds to spot. We spotted some parakeets . Also we were lucky to spot a mongoose which shied away as soon as it saw us.
We had a tough time getting back to the road , even with the help of the compass - which turned out to be a great boon. Without the compass we would have ended up going in circles forever. By the time all of us got back to the road and our parked cars, we had all earned our lunch at the Dhaba on the way back to the city !
Dharnas and Rededication day
The long drive to office is getting longer everyday, Actually the roads are getting worser, most of the roads are being dug up for laying pipes/cables , plugging leaking sewage and may be even treasure hunts too :-).
To add to the woes, there was a demonstration by some SC / ST group asking for equal treatment. They were walking along the narrow road - a sizable group of at least a 100 people,walking obliviously in peak hour so the traffic was all blocked for miles behind them. I am not sure how many supporters they have found their cause, but surely there were lots of cursing commuters who were delayed to work because of the jam.
Also up ahead on the way near necklace road and Khairtabad flyover you can spot huge banners of the Congress government which is giving itself a pat on the back for having completed a successful three years, these 5 years are supposed to be full of illustruous milestones as the news papers advertisements point out.
In numerous huge hoardings, CM YSR can be seen smiling and waving his hand benevolently on all below as the "heavenly angel" like party leaders such as Sonia Gandhi and some state dignitaries look out from small circles above. One conspicous absence is PM Manmohan singh, but then every one knows who is the "real" Prime Minister of the country :-)
To add to the woes, there was a demonstration by some SC / ST group asking for equal treatment. They were walking along the narrow road - a sizable group of at least a 100 people,walking obliviously in peak hour so the traffic was all blocked for miles behind them. I am not sure how many supporters they have found their cause, but surely there were lots of cursing commuters who were delayed to work because of the jam.
Also up ahead on the way near necklace road and Khairtabad flyover you can spot huge banners of the Congress government which is giving itself a pat on the back for having completed a successful three years, these 5 years are supposed to be full of illustruous milestones as the news papers advertisements point out.
In numerous huge hoardings, CM YSR can be seen smiling and waving his hand benevolently on all below as the "heavenly angel" like party leaders such as Sonia Gandhi and some state dignitaries look out from small circles above. One conspicous absence is PM Manmohan singh, but then every one knows who is the "real" Prime Minister of the country :-)
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Ramappa Temple and Pakhal Sanctuary
I have been meaning to write about my travelouge to Warangal for some time now. Warangal itself is a unique proposition in the sense that , it is one of those places which can rank as a decent weekend getaway in the non-summer months from Hyderabad. otherwise, Hyderabad unlike other metros like delhi,mumbai or bangalore does not have any touristy destinations within a 3-4 hour driving distance.
The drive to warangal is via the new National highway , the road is single lane for most part but quite good. however there are very few eateries along the way , there are some so called punjabi dhabas but do not serve authentic punjabi food, these cater mainly to the truck drivers.
the winds of change have breezed through warangal too. you see wider roads, greenery, super markets and small malls in the city. the REC warangal has since long been one of the town's main identities.
We visited the 1000 pillar temple in the evening. the evening lighting elevated the viewing experience, but sadly the temple has for large part is being moved reassembled as its foundation was found to be shaky, so we could not see it in full glory.
The next day we visited pakhal lake which has a sanctuary surrounding it. the lake and the sanctuary are tranquil and looks like an excellent camping place, though it would take some adventurous souls to do this mainly due to the perceived naxal problem in telangana. the sanctuary is supposed to be home to some small animals and even leopards. AP tourism can do something to promote the destination and Eco tourism as there is literally zero infrastructure here to do anything.
Our last stop was the Ramappa temple, this is one of the temples that will leave a lasting impression in your mind. the sculptures are full of ornamental detail and in-fact have withstood centuries of hardship.the local guide gave us a good roundup on how each of the sculpted pieces was constructed and the background involved which was really interesting.
The drive to warangal is via the new National highway , the road is single lane for most part but quite good. however there are very few eateries along the way , there are some so called punjabi dhabas but do not serve authentic punjabi food, these cater mainly to the truck drivers.
the winds of change have breezed through warangal too. you see wider roads, greenery, super markets and small malls in the city. the REC warangal has since long been one of the town's main identities.
We visited the 1000 pillar temple in the evening. the evening lighting elevated the viewing experience, but sadly the temple has for large part is being moved reassembled as its foundation was found to be shaky, so we could not see it in full glory.
The next day we visited pakhal lake which has a sanctuary surrounding it. the lake and the sanctuary are tranquil and looks like an excellent camping place, though it would take some adventurous souls to do this mainly due to the perceived naxal problem in telangana. the sanctuary is supposed to be home to some small animals and even leopards. AP tourism can do something to promote the destination and Eco tourism as there is literally zero infrastructure here to do anything.
Our last stop was the Ramappa temple, this is one of the temples that will leave a lasting impression in your mind. the sculptures are full of ornamental detail and in-fact have withstood centuries of hardship.the local guide gave us a good roundup on how each of the sculpted pieces was constructed and the background involved which was really interesting.
The wold's tallest buldings
Ever since i have visisted Taipei 101, i have been fascinated with tall buildings. Taipei 101 itself is gigantic, and when you are inside the observatory on the 89th floor , it almost feels like you are flying in an airplane. the elevators climb so fast that the change in air pressure affects your ears.
Yesterday i was watching a TV program on Discovery about the new challenger to Taipei 101 which is the Burj Dubai building which will be completed some time next year. they are already building the 124th floor now. The program talks about the inside story and challenges involved in building such a tall structure. concrete is pumped in pipes mixed with silicon gas to allow it to flow almost like water without compromising on strength. GPS devices are used to measure the height of each structure to exacting standards. The pace of construction is fast, they have just taken 2 years to build 124 floors, for such a massive structure that is
really fast. when completed it will be a site to behold with about 160 floors and much taller than the taipei 101 (509m) and the Twin towers in Malaysia (458m).
I wonder when we in india will start constructing such tall structures. Usual pace of construction is so slow that a simple road flyover usually takes 2-3 years and some go on forever and some are stopped midway and just left like that. with land being scarce in India , Vertical space has to be utilized and must be the way to go in the future.
Yesterday i was watching a TV program on Discovery about the new challenger to Taipei 101 which is the Burj Dubai building which will be completed some time next year. they are already building the 124th floor now. The program talks about the inside story and challenges involved in building such a tall structure. concrete is pumped in pipes mixed with silicon gas to allow it to flow almost like water without compromising on strength. GPS devices are used to measure the height of each structure to exacting standards. The pace of construction is fast, they have just taken 2 years to build 124 floors, for such a massive structure that is
really fast. when completed it will be a site to behold with about 160 floors and much taller than the taipei 101 (509m) and the Twin towers in Malaysia (458m).
I wonder when we in india will start constructing such tall structures. Usual pace of construction is so slow that a simple road flyover usually takes 2-3 years and some go on forever and some are stopped midway and just left like that. with land being scarce in India , Vertical space has to be utilized and must be the way to go in the future.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Of Mad MAX and Repeat Trauma
I have never been so Irritated with a particular TV channel. And it seems unfortunate that Sony Set MAX telecasts the cricket Worldcup in India. Their coverage of the event is pathetic. The most horrible part is that the cricket is sidelined to the corner while ADs and gimmickry take centre stage. In good old ESPN/Start sports days which used to host the main cricketing events, the telecast was fantastic, quality of the commenting was a notch above the rest , even though Geoffery Boycott and Navjot Sidhu would often go overboard and mouth repetitive cliche comments. Its another story about those comments becoming part of cricket folklore !
I think SET max have employed the slimiest ugly miserly creatures who don the switch to toggle between advertisements and cricket, and the only money they make is with every millisecond of ad delivered to the viewers.
They try to slip in the ads as soon as the batsman asks the Side-screen to be moved or if the bowler wants a slight field change. Gone are the days when ads used to be shown only between overs. Now its a case of catching a bit of cricket in between the ads.
The commentary is way below par. the best part about Extraaaa innings is Mandira Bedi,who still looks ravishingly pretty and Gorgeous. but she seems like a sad lost creature out there. May be it is Indias early exit,you see very little of her childish exuberation and even little of her unintentionally funny comments :-)
Lets think about this for a minute, SET max is a pay channel, so why should we be allowing them to show us so many ADs ? by viewing them ,the viewers should be getting paid for putting through it and the trauma. Isn't it a good point to ignite a PIL !!!??
I am personally boycotting the following products with immediate effect because of repeat trauma caused by watching the Advertisements endorsing them:
Pepsi Gold - Sick stupid ad with a bunch of silly hoarse sounding adolescents.
Airtel - the ad with the old chap who is visited by his grandson - this one makes me puke - ughhh . its full of old Hindi movie repeat cliche.
Moto Rokr - I hate it more because of the timing . They slip it in between balls when i am watching the score. AB Jr looks cool though but in my memory he is chiseled with head swaying side to side now , he he.
The Santro and Getz ads : for starters they are so long and quite silly. if india is batting and they are showing these ads, you know that sehwag just ended is short stint at the crease :-).
I think SET max have employed the slimiest ugly miserly creatures who don the switch to toggle between advertisements and cricket, and the only money they make is with every millisecond of ad delivered to the viewers.
They try to slip in the ads as soon as the batsman asks the Side-screen to be moved or if the bowler wants a slight field change. Gone are the days when ads used to be shown only between overs. Now its a case of catching a bit of cricket in between the ads.
The commentary is way below par. the best part about Extraaaa innings is Mandira Bedi,who still looks ravishingly pretty and Gorgeous. but she seems like a sad lost creature out there. May be it is Indias early exit,you see very little of her childish exuberation and even little of her unintentionally funny comments :-)
Lets think about this for a minute, SET max is a pay channel, so why should we be allowing them to show us so many ADs ? by viewing them ,the viewers should be getting paid for putting through it and the trauma. Isn't it a good point to ignite a PIL !!!??
I am personally boycotting the following products with immediate effect because of repeat trauma caused by watching the Advertisements endorsing them:
Pepsi Gold - Sick stupid ad with a bunch of silly hoarse sounding adolescents.
Airtel - the ad with the old chap who is visited by his grandson - this one makes me puke - ughhh . its full of old Hindi movie repeat cliche.
Moto Rokr - I hate it more because of the timing . They slip it in between balls when i am watching the score. AB Jr looks cool though but in my memory he is chiseled with head swaying side to side now , he he.
The Santro and Getz ads : for starters they are so long and quite silly. if india is batting and they are showing these ads, you know that sehwag just ended is short stint at the crease :-).
Monday, April 09, 2007
On the shores of the Andaman Sea
Far from the madding crowd
with friends
and the deep blue sea
for company
My 2 bits of firewood into the fire !
Being an ardent cricket fan, I must say the last few weeks have been deeply disappointing. First India's exit from the world cup , then the shocking murder of Bob Woolmer and then the reactions at home to India's loss , BCCIs supposed "sweeping changes" to indian cricket and Greg Chappel's exit from the coache's position.
Things seem hopeless frankly. It seems almost like what happened to india in hockey is happening to cricket. We dont seem to be producing prodiguosly talented cricketers any more , even in the domestic scene, there are not many great cricketers who can push out the existing 11 (which exited the world cup) on merit. After doing some Root cause analysis here and i could come up with several reasons as to why we might not see any drastic improvements for long.
The biggest problem is kids today do not take to cricket or any other sport seriously. there are very few parents who will encourage their children to take up a career in sport. it probably makes more sense to spend the time in IIT coaching or some such usual activity then participate in sport. and truth be told that for a nation as hugely populated as ours , the chance of making it to the national cricket team is 1 in a million.
Let me digress a little ... :-) When i was a kid, I used to live in some suburbs near hyderabad. there were vast tracts of unutilised land. the main road which connected our suburb to the city was about a couple of furlongs away and you could see the road from my house, as most of it was empty. my school used to end about 3:30 pm by the time i was home it used to be 4 pm or so. there was a scramble to change clothes munch something quickly and head into the huge field was our cricket play area , and on a summer day it was almost 3 hours of cricket , till you get bored and the clothes became all dusty. we had the place enough to imitate Waqar Younis's run up to the wicket :-). These days in urban areas, space is a premium in most of the big cities the most you can do is play cricket in your back alley and run the danger always of breaking a few window panes .
Community play grounds are far and few in india in both urban and rural areas; and there are fewer professional coaching places for kids which teach the sport. Cricket unlike a lot of other sports like athletics , needs lot of space and resources to be taught professionally. most of the schools infact do not have proper cricket grounds.
I do not know firsthand about the rural areas, but I think the main issue there is lack of visibility and lack of access to resources such as good coaching schools. Also talented cricketers in the rural areas may find it really dificult to struggle and make a mark to finally make it to the state team. As i dont think there is an efficient system in place to notice and nurture talent. Another thing that i never understand is how the cricketers who play at the club and league level get selected to the state level.
lack of athleticism is one more big reason where we have a huge handicap. Our batsmen seem to be slower between the wickets, our fielders are never too agile, and worst of all we dont have genuine fast bowlers. even the faster bowlers we produce seem to lose their pace and also their way very quickly. its may be our genes, our food habits, but look at srilanka and pakistan ( may be not such a great example at this point ! but atleast they produce good bowlers.) too they are not all that different from us.
Ever gave a thought to how much money ranji cricketers make ? I think its not too great. and may be the club and league cricketers , district cricketers make little or none at all. the point is if the money is not too great at the initial levels, not many would make it their full time activity.
I could go on and on, but its an exercise in futility, after all we are a nation of cricket crazy people how will we ever learn to pour life into cricket again ?!
On second thoughts , may be the time is ripe for Arjun Singh's quota and reservation system to make a grand entry into BCCI .... well that is the wickedest thing that i have ever wished for >:-).
Things seem hopeless frankly. It seems almost like what happened to india in hockey is happening to cricket. We dont seem to be producing prodiguosly talented cricketers any more , even in the domestic scene, there are not many great cricketers who can push out the existing 11 (which exited the world cup) on merit. After doing some Root cause analysis here and i could come up with several reasons as to why we might not see any drastic improvements for long.
The biggest problem is kids today do not take to cricket or any other sport seriously. there are very few parents who will encourage their children to take up a career in sport. it probably makes more sense to spend the time in IIT coaching or some such usual activity then participate in sport. and truth be told that for a nation as hugely populated as ours , the chance of making it to the national cricket team is 1 in a million.
Let me digress a little ... :-) When i was a kid, I used to live in some suburbs near hyderabad. there were vast tracts of unutilised land. the main road which connected our suburb to the city was about a couple of furlongs away and you could see the road from my house, as most of it was empty. my school used to end about 3:30 pm by the time i was home it used to be 4 pm or so. there was a scramble to change clothes munch something quickly and head into the huge field was our cricket play area , and on a summer day it was almost 3 hours of cricket , till you get bored and the clothes became all dusty. we had the place enough to imitate Waqar Younis's run up to the wicket :-). These days in urban areas, space is a premium in most of the big cities the most you can do is play cricket in your back alley and run the danger always of breaking a few window panes .
Community play grounds are far and few in india in both urban and rural areas; and there are fewer professional coaching places for kids which teach the sport. Cricket unlike a lot of other sports like athletics , needs lot of space and resources to be taught professionally. most of the schools infact do not have proper cricket grounds.
I do not know firsthand about the rural areas, but I think the main issue there is lack of visibility and lack of access to resources such as good coaching schools. Also talented cricketers in the rural areas may find it really dificult to struggle and make a mark to finally make it to the state team. As i dont think there is an efficient system in place to notice and nurture talent. Another thing that i never understand is how the cricketers who play at the club and league level get selected to the state level.
lack of athleticism is one more big reason where we have a huge handicap. Our batsmen seem to be slower between the wickets, our fielders are never too agile, and worst of all we dont have genuine fast bowlers. even the faster bowlers we produce seem to lose their pace and also their way very quickly. its may be our genes, our food habits, but look at srilanka and pakistan ( may be not such a great example at this point ! but atleast they produce good bowlers.) too they are not all that different from us.
Ever gave a thought to how much money ranji cricketers make ? I think its not too great. and may be the club and league cricketers , district cricketers make little or none at all. the point is if the money is not too great at the initial levels, not many would make it their full time activity.
I could go on and on, but its an exercise in futility, after all we are a nation of cricket crazy people how will we ever learn to pour life into cricket again ?!
On second thoughts , may be the time is ripe for Arjun Singh's quota and reservation system to make a grand entry into BCCI .... well that is the wickedest thing that i have ever wished for >:-).
Monday, November 27, 2006
Pride and Prejudice
One of my favourite VCD collections that i watch often is the Pride and Prejudice BBC series.
I have ofcourse read the book already , and have even studied an abridged version of the book in my school years. Jane Austen's writing is just amazing. I mean here is a piece of literature , that still sounds so relevant even after nearly 200 years after it was written. I have tried other Jane Austen's writings some of which are quite good but none in the same league as Pride and Prejudice.
What makes this book so enchanting ? probably the romance, and the lines , the dialogues , the letters echanged between the protagonists, and of course the scenic descriptions of the english contry side.
The BBC adaptation of the novel has made it even more memorable. BBC has made some remarkable adpatations of classic novels and this should surely rank amongst the best . ( the others I like being Sherlock Holmes and Great Expectations) Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth fit into the characters of Elizabeth and Darcy respectively just like pieces from a jigsaw puzzle. if their portrayal of the characters is near perfect so are the dialogues almost repeated verbatim from the book such that you never get the feeling that you are watching a condensed version.
The music is melodious too , dominated by the piano and violin orchestras lending a rich experience overall.
This Jane Austen's 18th century novel has remarkably withstood the tides of time and still seems to find new ways of expression. and I think even Bollywood has taken a fancy to it with Aishwarya Rai taking a dig at it. How is this for a list adaptations of the novel:
I have ofcourse read the book already , and have even studied an abridged version of the book in my school years. Jane Austen's writing is just amazing. I mean here is a piece of literature , that still sounds so relevant even after nearly 200 years after it was written. I have tried other Jane Austen's writings some of which are quite good but none in the same league as Pride and Prejudice.
What makes this book so enchanting ? probably the romance, and the lines , the dialogues , the letters echanged between the protagonists, and of course the scenic descriptions of the english contry side.
The BBC adaptation of the novel has made it even more memorable. BBC has made some remarkable adpatations of classic novels and this should surely rank amongst the best . ( the others I like being Sherlock Holmes and Great Expectations) Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth fit into the characters of Elizabeth and Darcy respectively just like pieces from a jigsaw puzzle. if their portrayal of the characters is near perfect so are the dialogues almost repeated verbatim from the book such that you never get the feeling that you are watching a condensed version.
The music is melodious too , dominated by the piano and violin orchestras lending a rich experience overall.
This Jane Austen's 18th century novel has remarkably withstood the tides of time and still seems to find new ways of expression. and I think even Bollywood has taken a fancy to it with Aishwarya Rai taking a dig at it. How is this for a list adaptations of the novel:
- 2005: Kiera knightly's Pride and Prejudice the movie
- 2004: Our desi Aishwarya Rai's Bride and Prejudice or if you prefer the ridiculously titled "Amritsar to LA , Balle Balle"
- 1995: The BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice , starring Jennifer Ehle and Collin Firth - by far the best.
- 199X: Trishna - A Hindi TV serial adaptation of the same story - a decent effort.
- 1813: The original : Pride and Prejudice , the book by Jane Austen
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Trip to Taipei
Business brought me to taipei on a late october evening. Having visited the US and Europe I was not sure what to except but what was pleasantly surprised by how modern and developed this city was. The journey from Tao Youn international airport to our Hotel in the city took about an hour. The freeway system is very developed very much like US with controlled entries and exits and its a pleasure to travel by car.
The next day was a typical business day full of meetings. But in the evening , I had the chance to explore the night markets of Taipei. Taipei also has an efficient train system. we took the underground train to the Gagantan night market.
I forgot to mention that china airlines had already obliged me by by missing my baggage and it also turned out that it was because Indian airlines screwed which sounded like the usual thing to happen anyways :-) . But then as a consequence here i was buying some bare necessities. I could buy a couple of shirts for quite cheap may about a 1000 Indian rupees. The night markets are full of roadside eateries. Some thing told me that this assortment of eateries had contributions from various species of the animal kingdom including the amphibious and reptilian varieties. So I took in the aromas and colours and let it pass by. Fortunately there are plenty of MacDonalds all around Taipei so food is not too much of an issue. The night markets are literally teaming with people you can barely walk and usually you will get pushed from one end to the other. I was surprised to not find even a single indian anywhere in the night market - and then I suppoted one - in the Cell phone shop , checking out some latest models , India as you know is slowly becoming cell phone crazy.
Sunday was the only day which was some what free from work schedule so I made the most of it by visiting the famous land mark - Taipei 101. What can i say abou this marvellous structure !
You can spot it from almost any corner of the city and it has the most amazing view from the 89th floor where there is an observatory , the building is so tall that from the top floors you can actually spot a cloud or two floating below in the lower horizons.
You can read more about it in wikipedia.
The glittering taipei 101 in the evening .... :-))
Taiwan is good for shopping too and you can find a number of swanky malls to pick up the latest and happening stuff in fashion , electronic gizmos and the like. I found the prices to be slightly on the expensive side if you compare it with US or singapore, also beware that voltage in taiwan is usually 110 v so if you are buying a hi-fi system , you will need an appropriate volatage adapter.Never the less, after a considerable amount of window shopping, the only thing that i picked up was an I-Pod nano - need less to say its a sexy gizmo that I have fallen in love with ever since :-)
Nothing too much to write home about that sounds touristy but as i have a keen interest in automobiles , I could not help noticing the number of scooters in taipei the streets are full of them and seems like a fast and easy way to get around the city. There are loads of toyota corolla nd Nissan sentra taxis around. If you are some body in India who is eyeing to buy that "D-Segment" , "luxury car" Corolla , Keep this in mind. Ditto about the Nissan Sentra when it gets introduced in India. But then on the other side , I sa w plenty of Mercedes Benz taxis in Germany So probably my argument doesn't carry much weight after all.
The next day was a typical business day full of meetings. But in the evening , I had the chance to explore the night markets of Taipei. Taipei also has an efficient train system. we took the underground train to the Gagantan night market.
I forgot to mention that china airlines had already obliged me by by missing my baggage and it also turned out that it was because Indian airlines screwed which sounded like the usual thing to happen anyways :-) . But then as a consequence here i was buying some bare necessities. I could buy a couple of shirts for quite cheap may about a 1000 Indian rupees. The night markets are full of roadside eateries. Some thing told me that this assortment of eateries had contributions from various species of the animal kingdom including the amphibious and reptilian varieties. So I took in the aromas and colours and let it pass by. Fortunately there are plenty of MacDonalds all around Taipei so food is not too much of an issue. The night markets are literally teaming with people you can barely walk and usually you will get pushed from one end to the other. I was surprised to not find even a single indian anywhere in the night market - and then I suppoted one - in the Cell phone shop , checking out some latest models , India as you know is slowly becoming cell phone crazy.
Sunday was the only day which was some what free from work schedule so I made the most of it by visiting the famous land mark - Taipei 101. What can i say abou this marvellous structure !
You can spot it from almost any corner of the city and it has the most amazing view from the 89th floor where there is an observatory , the building is so tall that from the top floors you can actually spot a cloud or two floating below in the lower horizons.
You can read more about it in wikipedia.
The glittering taipei 101 in the evening .... :-))
Taiwan is good for shopping too and you can find a number of swanky malls to pick up the latest and happening stuff in fashion , electronic gizmos and the like. I found the prices to be slightly on the expensive side if you compare it with US or singapore, also beware that voltage in taiwan is usually 110 v so if you are buying a hi-fi system , you will need an appropriate volatage adapter.Never the less, after a considerable amount of window shopping, the only thing that i picked up was an I-Pod nano - need less to say its a sexy gizmo that I have fallen in love with ever since :-)
Nothing too much to write home about that sounds touristy but as i have a keen interest in automobiles , I could not help noticing the number of scooters in taipei the streets are full of them and seems like a fast and easy way to get around the city. There are loads of toyota corolla nd Nissan sentra taxis around. If you are some body in India who is eyeing to buy that "D-Segment" , "luxury car" Corolla , Keep this in mind. Ditto about the Nissan Sentra when it gets introduced in India. But then on the other side , I sa w plenty of Mercedes Benz taxis in Germany So probably my argument doesn't carry much weight after all.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
A wild look at traffic jams.
Have you ever wondered why traffic jams happen ? Everytime i am stuck in a traffic jam , i know that either its because of a petty quarrel that broke over on the road because of a small accident , Buffaloes crossing the road, or one of those buses which were made in india just after independence are plying on the road with a full load. hmm , I think these might be valid reasons but I have an insane theory as to why traffic jams happen...
One more suspicious element on my list are the FM radio stations. these people know that car drivers and the like listen to the radio in their cars , and one sure way for upping listenership is to get them stuck in traffic jams so that , while they dish out some sorry music and lame humour between commericials you steel keep listening for want of nothing better to do.
I plan to to wear my detective cloak and eyeglass tonight. Heading out to see how these guys are conspiring togehter to make traffic jams happen , i have a tip off that the preparations start at midnight !
Toodle hoooo
Have you ever noticed how many ad hoardings are there on the roads these days. Huge hoardings selling everything from cell phones and news papers to underwear. Pretty and skimpily clad women with glossy lipstick on 20 feet 30 feet banners sure are a major source of distraction ! distraction or whatever - the folks who put up these banners want people to be looking at them for as long as possible so that the dummies can buy their products. one way to make people look at these banners is to make traffic jams so that the people are rooted to one place and can keep gazing at the billboards. Another party that has lot of vested interests are the gas station guys. these guys sure want you to keep filling as much gas as you can and often. If you are going to be stuck in traffic jams sure you are going to burn more fuel.
One more suspicious element on my list are the FM radio stations. these people know that car drivers and the like listen to the radio in their cars , and one sure way for upping listenership is to get them stuck in traffic jams so that , while they dish out some sorry music and lame humour between commericials you steel keep listening for want of nothing better to do.
I plan to to wear my detective cloak and eyeglass tonight. Heading out to see how these guys are conspiring togehter to make traffic jams happen , i have a tip off that the preparations start at midnight !
Toodle hoooo
Monday, October 23, 2006
Maddening City Scapes - 1
I love our indian cities very dearly. I have had the opportunity to live in the three big southern cities , Chennai , Bangalore and Hyderabad. While all the three cities seem to have their own merits and demerits , I cant help feeling sad for the fact that they are all headed in the same direction and just reflect various stages of neglect and disarray.
The population of these cities is becoming too huge for the infrastructure to handle which is slowly but surely crumbling down. while in some cases, you can see some action being taken to widen and build new roads , new flyovers to ease smoother flow of traffic, the progress on these fronts is just too slow to keep pace with the rapid development in industries such as IT , BPO and Pharma which attact vast populace to relocate to these cities. Once there is such a vast section of upwardly mobile population, retail and hospitality industry has stepped in to cash in too - resulting in a number of spanking new malls sprouting up everywhere.
I do marvel at the developments shopping is a delight with retail customers being spoilt with variety and innovative schemes. New restaurants and hotels offer lots of cuisines to choose from. The night life though still bland is looking to improve too. World class housing projects are coming up everywhere. Private enterprise is flourishing.
All these developments have resulted in more usage of resources such as land , water , power and roads. So much that , i have noticed every 6 months there is almost a 50% increase in traffic jams ! I listen so much more to the radio in my car these days , atleast a couple of hours every day and I seem to be getting used to this kind of life too as is everyone else.
But there sure comes a point when you can no longer ignore the happenings. Just the kind of thing that is happening in bangalore now, where every one is realising that the city's infrastructure has crumbled.
I happen to read a survey of India Today a few months back which was talking about the dismal state of our cities. Most of the cities need thousands of crores of investement pumped into them and that too over a short period of time if any of our cities are even to come close to better offf cities in asia like Bangkok or Shanghai. Note that I dare not compare our cities with Singapore or the western cities which are actually light years ahead in terms of development , infrastructure and civic amenities.
How can we ever get there ? will we ever ?
I hope to see a day where our cities are atleast comparable or boast some of the good things in other world cities.
The population of these cities is becoming too huge for the infrastructure to handle which is slowly but surely crumbling down. while in some cases, you can see some action being taken to widen and build new roads , new flyovers to ease smoother flow of traffic, the progress on these fronts is just too slow to keep pace with the rapid development in industries such as IT , BPO and Pharma which attact vast populace to relocate to these cities. Once there is such a vast section of upwardly mobile population, retail and hospitality industry has stepped in to cash in too - resulting in a number of spanking new malls sprouting up everywhere.
I do marvel at the developments shopping is a delight with retail customers being spoilt with variety and innovative schemes. New restaurants and hotels offer lots of cuisines to choose from. The night life though still bland is looking to improve too. World class housing projects are coming up everywhere. Private enterprise is flourishing.
All these developments have resulted in more usage of resources such as land , water , power and roads. So much that , i have noticed every 6 months there is almost a 50% increase in traffic jams ! I listen so much more to the radio in my car these days , atleast a couple of hours every day and I seem to be getting used to this kind of life too as is everyone else.
But there sure comes a point when you can no longer ignore the happenings. Just the kind of thing that is happening in bangalore now, where every one is realising that the city's infrastructure has crumbled.
I happen to read a survey of India Today a few months back which was talking about the dismal state of our cities. Most of the cities need thousands of crores of investement pumped into them and that too over a short period of time if any of our cities are even to come close to better offf cities in asia like Bangkok or Shanghai. Note that I dare not compare our cities with Singapore or the western cities which are actually light years ahead in terms of development , infrastructure and civic amenities.
How can we ever get there ? will we ever ?
I hope to see a day where our cities are atleast comparable or boast some of the good things in other world cities.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Happy Diwali !
Diwali is a great festival, the biggest of them all truly and I look forward to it every year. The colourful skies, the gifts, the greetings, Everything !. Not to mention the corporate celebrations and corporate gifts these days which add a new flavour to Diwali.
But one thing that I absoltely dread every year is the noise. I have had my peaceful sleep ruined many a time by noisy fire crackers. and the noises are only getting louder year after year. There have been instances where I at 3 am in the morning have laboured from my sleep to plead with these noise makers to choose other stuff to toy with but to no avail - the show had to go on !
One of those Diwali's when i was in Chennai ( which is by the way a city which thrives on these 3'O clock fireworks ) I even drove out of town to nearby pondicherry just to be away from the noise :-)
But there are even more terrified creatures other than me , Pet subjects mostly and dogs in particular. our poor doggy used to find the closest bunker ( bed/sofa underside ) whenever the loud noise crackers used to go off.
The worst part is after diwali , smoke, and litter every where, paper bits sprewn around on the streets and the air reeks of phosporous , sulpher and other chemicals which predominantly make up firecrackers.
If there is one good thing coming out of the whole exercise I think the mosquitoe armies will bite the dust for a few days.
I wish we could continue to celebrate diwali as the festival of lights and not as the festival of noise and pollution :-) . Even as i speak , on this evening, in some house they are just lighting up up the evening lamps allover and the whole city is going to look oh so pretty with the lights lit up !
Let us celebrate Diwali - the festival of lights !
But one thing that I absoltely dread every year is the noise. I have had my peaceful sleep ruined many a time by noisy fire crackers. and the noises are only getting louder year after year. There have been instances where I at 3 am in the morning have laboured from my sleep to plead with these noise makers to choose other stuff to toy with but to no avail - the show had to go on !
One of those Diwali's when i was in Chennai ( which is by the way a city which thrives on these 3'O clock fireworks ) I even drove out of town to nearby pondicherry just to be away from the noise :-)
But there are even more terrified creatures other than me , Pet subjects mostly and dogs in particular. our poor doggy used to find the closest bunker ( bed/sofa underside ) whenever the loud noise crackers used to go off.
The worst part is after diwali , smoke, and litter every where, paper bits sprewn around on the streets and the air reeks of phosporous , sulpher and other chemicals which predominantly make up firecrackers.
If there is one good thing coming out of the whole exercise I think the mosquitoe armies will bite the dust for a few days.
I wish we could continue to celebrate diwali as the festival of lights and not as the festival of noise and pollution :-) . Even as i speak , on this evening, in some house they are just lighting up up the evening lamps allover and the whole city is going to look oh so pretty with the lights lit up !
Let us celebrate Diwali - the festival of lights !
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Melancholy
This picture was taken by me while driving through rural Andhra Pradesh, on the hyderabad bangalore highway.
There is something about Sunsets that is very melancholic to me . On one side the magnificient glory of the Sun and the beauty surrounding it... The marvelous hue , the blue sky now paling into a dark gray. And then as minutes pass the sun slowly fades away - a painful retreat indeed. Unnoticeably the night takes over.
Sunsets are marvelous times to have a drink too and nothing beats the tropical sunsets. But often i link them to goodbyes , and loved ones who go far away.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Of Camels and Magic shows
Our group was entertained by this wily rajasthani magician on a recent outing. He modestly claimed that there is no magic whatso ever in what he was showing us and it was all 'sleight of the hand' or 'Haath ki chamatkaari' as he said.
As things magically appeared and disappeared from no where, we tried really hard to spot whether they were coming /going from the folds on his sleeves or into his colourful turban.
We had to come away very baffled in the end , without learning any tricks of the trade :-)
Meanwhile, there was a camel meant for fun rides close by which was enjoying a short rest in between trips. I had the chance to examine at a close range. I found it to be a gentle animal curiously trying to understand what i was trying to do getting upclose with a camera.
I have never rode a camel , though i have had the amusement of watching people ride it for the first time. they are unusually tall and when they walk, which is usually with swinging up and down motion, you have to hold on to something , lest you suffera 10 feet fall !
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Death Speaks
I am sure this is a popular one and I love retelling it though it is not one of my own. Its an old persian story that also it comes up in one of Archer's own short story books as a preface. Like many Archer stories , the last few lines pack the punch: Enjoy !
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
Welcome to the Inn
Welcome to the Winding Road Inn !
the highway is far away and so is the city
I have lit up a fire to warm up the evening
The music is not too loud either
So relax and have a drink !
I am the Bartender !
Relish the hospitality ,
Enjoy the conversation
there's lots of it around
the highway is far away and so is the city
I have lit up a fire to warm up the evening
The music is not too loud either
So relax and have a drink !
I am the Bartender !
Relish the hospitality ,
Enjoy the conversation
there's lots of it around
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