Visit to the Memory Stick Town!

Kingston is a name that I have heard only in reference to memory sticks or thumb drives, or USB drives or Pen drives as the janta calls them... an opportunity to visit the place with that name had a different sort of excitement for me... I was feeling very similar when I went to Cherokee too!!!

An evening flight to Detroit and a connection to Syracuse and a 2.5 hours drive to Kingston later I was in the city last saturday! Thankfully the weather was bright and sunny throughout and was warm enough to roam around in a sweatshirt!!!

Kingston has nothing to do with the brand, I guess, and there is not much you can do in the town... You can be in Jail, it has a biiiig correction centre, or you could be in the Queens University, or you could be working in one of the local market places in the city! Pretty laid back, and a relaxed place to be in, with its own set of excitements too I am sure!

The rest below, along with the pictures...

The change of driver pit-stop some 20 miles before the US-Canadian Border. I was driving Jas's Shwanda so far!!! I love that white car... it is so similar to my palio!

We reached Jas's new apartment late afternoon, and after some amazing Chai, with chips and Bananabread Cake, went to the downtown to walk around the place...

There is something very very attractive about old stone buildings with veins all over them. In summers the entire walls can be hidden behind the leaves, but because of this being fall time, there were only veins and some last few leaves... and the red of the leaves against the grey of the walls made a very beautiful sight!

And then we walked towards the downtown...

Being a Saturday here was a farmer's market. Most farmer's markets in the US and Canada sell fresh produce from the farms, Jewelery, Handmade Soaps and other handmade stuff... We bought some dry flowers from Diane (the picture below). Mostly I was attracted to the Dodge Van she had and then noticed the flowers too! It was a 1978 Dodge rescue van, and Diane did mention her fondness for the vehicle in the few minutes of conversation we had with her.

While walking past the city hall, we heard some nice music and thought was it was coming from some speakers in a restaurant, but later realised that it was band of 3 young boys who were playing their songs in a small arrangement. We also picked up a few maple leaves of different colors to make some artwork at Jas's apartment with the leaves!

While walking back, I noticed this shop selling interesting stuff and had a very interesting board outside... They had a shower gel dispenser in the shape of a nose :P, and fart candies, and masks, and puzzles, and riddles and what not... I also bought a small puzzle myself and have been trying to figure out what to do with it for a while now :/

Leaves in Kingston had these strange black dots on them... and only those leaves which had the fall colors. Not sure why, but it was both spooky and interesting to notice! Like the mark of death, as Jas's colleague Al says!

I also saw one of the best beautiful sunsets in a very long time at the Lake Ontario that evening!!!

We finally called it a day as it was dark and getting real cold! Came back home, had some mind blowing dinner (Thanks Jas!!!!), saw Step Brothers and crashed! It was a nice day!

The next day we had to leave Kingston by 1 to catch my flight back... and because I woke up pretty late, there was not much we could do... So we hung around the apartment, while I took a few photographs...

The drive between Kingston and Syracuse has two interesting things, the border, and two very beautiful bridges over Lake Ontario through a place called 1000 Islands! yes... I was excited to be passing through this place, after knowing the 1000 Islands dressing for a long time! Its like I am seeing things which I have known only as objects so far! Its a feeling that I cannot express...

My flight from Syracuse was delayed by an hour, and that made me miss my connection to Milwaukee. I enjoyed my complimentary stay in Holiday Inn, Newark that night, and took the first flight out on Monday. Though I had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, I was still ok.

In short, this weekend turned out to be very relaxed, de-stressing and refreshing.

One more to the list of memorable trips I have made! Thank you Jas! thank you Uncle!

And I almost forgot... last weekend was the first time, I signed some of my work! A huge moment of satisfaction for me as a photographer!!!!

and today, Jas gave Diane two prints as well!!! :) I am glad!


Life is Good!!!!

चाय की दुकान की रसोई

मस्तम मूंग की दाल बनाने की विधि -

एक कटोरी दाल लीजिये! उसको ठीक से धोकर, प्रेशर कुकर में डाल दीजिये!
दो कटोरी पानी, थोडा सा नमक और हल्दी दाल कर, एक सीटी आने तक माध्यम आंच पर रखिये!

एक सीटी के बाद गैस पर से हटा दीजिये...और भाप निकलने तक इंतज़ार कीजिये! फिर प्रेशर कुकर का ढक्कन हटा कर, धीमी आंच पर दल को पकने दीजिये!

एक बड़ा प्याज लीजिये और उसके छोटे छोटे छोटे छोटे टुकड़े कर लीजिये! थोडी सी ताज़ी अदरक और लहसुन लेकर उसके भी छोटे छोटे छोटे छोटे टुकड़े कर लीजिये! एक बर्नर पर भारी तले का कोई बर्तन लेकर थोडा सा तेल या घी गरम कर लीजिये...तेल गरम होने पर थोडा सा जीरा दाल कर भूनिए! कुछ ५ सेकंड बाद प्याज दाल दीजिये! और फिर कुछ देर में अदरक और लहसुन भी डालिए! थोडा भून-ने के बाद हरी मिर्च के कुछ टुकड़े भी डालिए!

थोडा सा गरम मसाला डालिए और कुछ देर भूनिए! प्याज भूरी हो जाने पर, उबलती हुई दाल में डालिए... स्वादानुसार नमक डालिए| १० मिनट तक पकाइए! १५ या २० मिनट भी पका सकते हैं...

दाल को सूंघ कर देखिये... अच्छी खुशबू आ रही हो तो ज़रा सी चख कर देखिये! नहीं आ रही हो तो भी चख कर देखिये! और मसाला या नमक ठीक करिए!!!

२०-३० मिनट में मस्त दाल तैयार!!!!

ताज़ी रोटी या परांठे के साथ परोसिये!!! और ऐश कीजिये| मज़ा आए तो ठीक, ना आए तो दो दिन बाद फिर से कोशिश कीजिये!

At the elevator doors!

It was 6 in the evening...

He pressed the button for the lobby....

She pressed the button for the 12th floor....

Her elevator door opened first... She spoke with a sparkle in her voice,"I Win, but you are going the right way"

Li'il did she know, it was his last day at work... he was asked to leave!

so what is it?

Confidence is not about speaking of things that you know a lot about, confidence is being able to speak about things you don't have a clue of!

मोजा-दस्तूर

नौकरी धंदे पर तरक्की की कार्यनीति बनाने के लिए कुछ विचार :

अपने से वरिष्ठ पदाधिकारी की मेज़ में अपने पुराने मोज़े रख दें. रोज़ सुबह दफ्तर जाकर वही मोज़े पहने औरध्यान रखें के उनको धोएं नहीं! यदि आप दफ्तर में बहुत ज्यादा समय व्यतीत कर रहे हैं और आपके मोज़े में सेबदबू आने लगी है, तो आपने उच्चतर पदाधिकारी को इसकी सूचना आपके बदबूदार मोज़े से मिल जायेगी

इस परिस्थिति में दो बातें हो सकती हैं

१. या तो आपको तरक्की मिलेगी

२. या फिर आपका बॉस आपको साबुन खरीदने के लिए कहेगा!

तरक्की मिली तो ठीक, यहीं साबुन खरीदने की बात आये तो अपनी आर्थिक स्थिति का वास्ता देकर अपने घर कीखस्ता हालत का बखान करके तरक्की पाने की कोशिश करें

इस परिस्थिति में दो बातें हो सकती हैं

१. या तो आपको तरक्की मिलेगी

२. या फिर आपका बॉस आपको दफ्तर से बहार जाने के लिए बोलेगा

तरक्की मिली तो ठीक, यदि बहार जाने की बात आये तो चुपचाप चले जायें! और अपने मोजा-दस्तूर चालू रखें. कुछ दिनों में परेशान होकर आपका बॉस इस समस्या को हल करने का प्रयत्न करेगा!

इस परिस्थिति में दो बातें हो सकती हैं

१. या तो आपको तरक्की मिलेगी

२. या आपका बॉस ही नौकरी छोड़ कर चला जायेगा!

तरक्की मिली तो ठीक, बॉस ने नौकरी छोड़ी, तो कम से कम बॉस तो नया मिलेगा! कहते हैं न भागते भूत की तोलंगोटी बहुत!

बोलो राधे श्याम राधे श्याम!

The large and small!

I have been able to experience a few extremes with my stay in the US, and I really like that fact...

Things that I could only imagine, or maybe not, were there in front of my eyes!

Talking about large ...

Being the country with more than 9 times zones all territories considered

Niagara which has close to about 561000 litres of water flowing down per second

Being able to drive the distance between New Delhi and Kanya Kumari over a long weekend

and the other extreme... small...

What would you call a 40 seater bus which makes awfully loud sound and can fly? no points for guessing that it’s called an aeroplane and this size is very popular for short distances in the states... my flight from Syracuse was a CRJ200 Bombardier Regional Jet with a seating capacity of 50 (2 pilots, 1 crew member, 42 passenger seats - 9 rows of 4 seats each, and 1 of 6 , I am not sure where are the other seats) and if this was small, there was another flight which had only 3 seats in a row, more rows though, and just enough headroom for me to stand properly... now the good part about these flights is that they have a good amount of legroom, and if you are not taller than 6ft you should be able to stretch your legs all the way... the bad part is that you might have to move around if the plane is empty to distribute the weight for a take off!!! It’s a plane, I understand a bit of the weight balance and aerodynamics but still found it amusing when I was asked to move the first time :D

I think these planes make more sense to fly low traffic routes in India instead of the large Boeings or Airbuses. I wonder why they use large aircrafts all the time.

Taking about sizes, here is something for you to read and think about...



"On a diagram of the solar system to scale, with Earth reduced to about the diameter of a pea, Jupiter would be over a thousand feet away and Pluto would be a mile and a half distant (and about the size of a bacterium, so you wouldn't be able to see it anyway). One the same scale, Proxima Centauri, our nearest star, would be almost ten thousand miles away. Even if you shrank down everything so that Jupiter was as small as the period at the end of this sentence, and Pluto was no bigger than a molecule, Pluto would still be over thirty-five feet away. (Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything)"

And speaking of distances and history... some distances do get covered in due course of time and some milestones do become history... one of such is about to happen shortly while I am writing this!

बोलो राधे श्याम राधे श्याम

शुक्रवार का था इंतज़ार
हफ्ता बीता
और आ गए सरकार

खरीदी उड़ने वाली चिड़िया की टिकेट
डाला झोले में सामान
जा रहे हैं सहर से बाहर करने थोडी मस्ती
ऊपर वाला हैं हम पर मेहरबान

बोलो राधे श्याम राधे श्याम !!!!

A girl A boy and A planet

"I am a star, a rock star", she said!

"Maybe more than that, maybe a real star", he said.

"And I am out of this world", she said

"Maybe then you need to have a place to stay outside this world too", he said

"I think so too", she said

"Maybe I will make a planet for you, and you could stay there", he said

"Fantastic", she said

"And I will name it after you", he said

"No name it after yourself", she said

"Kabhi ghar ke upar contractor ya architect ka naam dekha hai likha hua? tere naam par hona chahiye naam.", he said

"Rahega na tu thekedaar aur architect hi... tujhe artist nahin ban-na lagta hai kabhi. Ghonchu", she said

“umm… umm… hmm…. Arre par… agar… magar… “,he said and mumbled

“Michelangelo ka kaam kahin bhi rahe, Michelangelo hi kehlaata hai”, she said

“Baat to sahi hai teri! Seekhna padega”, he said

“Chal ab planet bana aur naam rakh”, she said

“Par main naam phir bhi tere upar hi rakhunga”, he said

“achcha achcha ghonchu”, she said

So he spent the days and weeks and months making a planet for her, and when it was ready, he spent days on the name… what could the name be!!! What was it that was the most important for him about her for her about him for them about this and what not…

He finally decided that her planet would be called “Fiducia”

and the people on her planet would be called Fiducians,

He never knew if she liked the name or not, but when he told her about the names, she said “Love you!”, and he said “Love you too”, and she said “As if you have a choice!”

Hold on

Say the truth, the way it should be said
but hold on to your immediate reactions
check if the words are worth it, or the person is worth it, or is the time right!

Also, keep your distance from the people
1. who are judgmental and like to jump to conclusions
2. who tend to swing like pendulums with their actions/words/feelings/emotions

right place right time

Got a comment on one of the photographs that I posted on Flickr yesterday… The photograph is from Kanha, a weeklong getaway in Madhya Pradesh last year in March. The comment says, “u r always at right place at right time with right gear :) “ and I have been thinking about it since I read it… my reaction to this comment was “Or let’s say there is something right about every place every time where I end up being! :) ” Too philosophical, maybe impractical too, but something inside me has started believing in that very strongly for a while now! Let me put my Positive thinker hat on and write the rest of this post… no one needs to agree to anything that I say (though personally I want everyone to agree with everything that I say, every time I say it, but that’s a different matter)

Had a unexpected break after I wrote the first paragraph and on second thoughts, I am just letting the gyan session go! Till the time I have brighter side algorithms figured out right for myself, I should be fine!!!

On a completely unrelated note, how many of you have heard the “Sunder Kand” of Tulsi Ramayan? Well, more popularly known as the RamCharitmanas! I love to listen to it, can’t make out even 10% of what is being said, and that when my Nani (mother’s mother) remembers almost all of it, my parents understand it fully. I might work on getting the Sundar Kand of Ramcharitmanas here on Chai ki Dukaan sometime in future!! Some of the reasons why I like listening to it are, the voice of Mukesh, the classical music and instruments, and the unexplainable peace that I get from it!

Krazy and Korrect

At least that's what the latest on blogthings says about me!!! I am pretty glad to read it too!

You may not have long hair or a closet full of tie-dye, but you definitely dance to the beat of your own drum. (And you may even play the drum as well.) You are a true free spirit. You don't let yourself be weighed down by rules and expectations. You are creative, philosophical, and caring. You want everyone to have a better life. For you, the worst thing in the world is being stuck in some rat race. You rather be broke than have to wear a suit every day.

It might not be what I am, but it is for sure what I am getting to be!

• Rules suffocate me
• Expectations irritate me
• Creativity excites me
• Philosophy catches my attention
• Care strengthens me (but I decide who I want it from; any non-asked for care is suffocating)
• I want people to have better life... some while being around me, and some will have it better by just getting out of my face :D
• Rat Race... yea! I know how that feels
• And suits! Well... I have a lovely black jacket, but I have not worn in over an year! Just do not feel like it!

Mission Mountains! Accomplished beyond expectations!

Our affair started way back in 1999 when I had gone to Shimla for the first time... I was preparing for MCA and Shimla University offered one of the nicer courses at that time! Tough exam! I knew we would meet, but I never knew how much of affection would develop in this first visit... Looks like something magical happened, and I have been in Love with mountains since!

My love for mountains has taken me places, all around the north of India from small hills to the world's highest pass at 18380 ft... from short weekend trips to 4 day long roadtrip all around Uttaranchal, from short hikes to day long treks in the lap of mountains, to the highlands in Scotland, to Smokey Mountains in USA and finally to the famous Rockies!!!

I flew to Calgary, Alberta on the 27th of August and headed out to the Rockies on 28th morning. Jas had planned the trip and all I had asked her for was that I want to see the mountains; the rest she could plan the way she'd like!

We were to drive on the TransCanada highway#1 mostly and have nightstops in Jasper and Banff, two lovely towns in the hearts of Jasper and Banff National Parks.


View Larger Map

We were in no rush to reach anywhere, and because it was summer time, the days were longer with the sunsetting somewhere around 9 in the evening so even if we left late, we would have enough sunlight to drive around in!

The morning was chilly, and had that sweet wintery feel to it! I like that! And the photograph above is my first photograph of the trip! To Canada and the Rockies!

We were to drive approximately 400kms on the first day with a few pit stops and the few unscheduled ones... Driving around in the US and Canada can be very boring, however this drive was very different! I was at awe looking at the mountains, the sheer size and beauty of them! Though they really do not compare to the Himalayas, the ability to drive smoothly without worrying too much about the hairping bends and sharp turns (The max speed for most of the highway was marked at 90 or 100 kmph). Jas was to drive through the first hour or two in the plains and then hand over the steering to me!

This is from our second unscheduled stop! Jas suddenly realised that we wanted to stop and took a sharp right to move to the parking area! We must have surprised the RV guy next to us for sure, but not enough to be honked at! good for us! The turquoise color that you see in the background is a small river.

Our first scheduled stop was the guest center for Athabasca Glacier! I have seen and been on snow capped mountains, I have walked on small glaciers too, but this was something beyond my imagination. Athabasca Glacier is one of the 6 tongues of the Columbia Ice Fields, and after a short bus drive, and then a drive in the Ice-explorer later, I was standing on the Athabasca Glacier... Length 6 kms, Width 1 kms, and the place where I was standing was close to about 300 meters thick ICE !!! Unimaginable!!!

One of the first few buses that used to take visitors to the Glacier!

This is the surface of the glacier!

The area in which visitors can walk around is marked, and it is strongly advised not to go beyond that area!!! The Vehicle in the picture is a limited edition Ice Explorer custom made for these tours by a company in Calgary. The only other place where you see these vehicles is Antarctica! 6 wheel drive with a top speed of 10 kmph, tires about 5ft in diameter, with an air pressure of 6psi

The blue arrow in the above picture is the another Ice Explorer. This should give you a faint idea of how large this glacier is!

Our next stop was supposed to be a fall, but we somehow missed the turn, and moved on towards Athabasca Falls... This was not too big a waterfall, but the flow and color of water is what made this special for me! The fall, over the years, has carved a deep canyon in the area before the water moved to a much calmer river!

Our final destination for the day was Jasper, a small town some 400kms from where we had started! What a day it was for me! I had driven through one of the most scenic highways in Canada, experienced the might of nature in Glaciers, and Ice Fields, witnessed marvels of machines, and enjoyed the painting like views throughout the drive!

Late evening in Jasper

We checked into our hotel Tonquin Inn, at Jasper, and moved out for a walk and dinner soon after... A decent Italian restaurant is what we chose for dinner, and walked back. The very relaxed town and the vibes in it were really helpful in relaxing the mind and body that evening!!!

The next morning started with ease... and more importantly with TEA :)

Yeah yea! it says Mr. Coffee but look carefully, it has a tea bag inside!

A family out on bikes and cycling around the area!!!

We did not really have a plan for the day, except that we were to drive back to Banff, and go to two lakes in that area! Jas asked the reception and got directions to a not so long hike. So we drove to the Old Fort Point and started out hike! It turned out to be a 2 hour hike instead of what we were told, but once we reached the top, we saw some breathtaking views of the surrounding area! Also a reminder of the fact that being fit is important! Enjoy some pictures from the hike below.

The map that we were following for the hike :P

This is from the highest point of the trail 1 that we followed! You could walk straight down with extreme care and reach down fast, or take the longer route from around the hills! We chose to take the safer way down!

We drove back to Jasper and towards the Pyramid Lake, where we hiked for a few kilometers again...

Pyramid Lake, a few kilometres away from Jasper

And after having our to-go Subway Subs, we started driving back towards Banff

We drove straight to Lake Moraine near Banff. The drive to Lake Moraine was the steepest so far and I simply loved that stretch!!! I think if I had rate where I love driving, it would be driving uphill that comes on the top spot!!! there is a thrill that I get out of driving up! The color of Lake Moraine is something worth noticing because of all the Rock Salt deposits!!! It can go from blue to turquoise to dark green! beautiful!!!!

It was getting dark by the time we had reached Lake Moraine, so we dropped the idea of going to Lake Louise and drove to Banff!!!

The drive was pretty uneventful except that the GPS decided to take us to an incorrect location in Banff, and we were almost stranded in the middle of nowhere because it was not ready to take us where we wanted to go! We tried a couple of tricks and finally reached our hotel, after tricking the GPS into taking us to a wrong address and following our instincts and some help from there :)

The next morning we drove straight to Lake Louise from Banff...

Lake Louise Photographs!

This trip was something that made me realize how incorrectly I have been using the term backpacking so far! Also found a tea-shop :)

This is Lake Moraine!

Isn't the image second from the top on this board of a man drinking? and kid referring to something else? I named this sign "Bevda Baap"! In reality this is the sign of a view-point!

We drove back to Banff, and then took the Banff Gondola up to the Sulphur Mountain! This day was particularly crowded because of students from some international convention were also there...

After we reached the top, Jas insisted that we hike to a mountain top nearby because of the amazing views it had! We did! what you see in the picture above if the visitor center for the Gondolas on the top of Sulpher Mountain.

The weather observatory

The Mount Randle from the observatory!

Banff, a golf course near Banff, Athabasca River, and the Tunnel Mountain.

We started back towards Calgary after a quick lunch at a Greek Restaurant in downtown Banff, and reached back in good time! We thought that we got a ticket as well on this trip, but looks like we did! Maybe the cop uncle could not get a picture of the license plate :P

And the trip ended with another wire-frame shot, this time of a setting sun!!!!


Ta Ta Canada... looking forward to be there again soon!