A Colossal Loss

It is quite a common occurrence nowadays. We all hear of it happening to others, but always we think, "it won't happen to me". But one day, it always does.

If you are wondering at the reason for my despondence, my laptop has crashed! sniff... and it's only been so long since I got it! After providing hours of joy as the only connection with the outside world, the hard disk (or at least a few rogue blocks in it) apparently decided it was time to take leave of its earthly existence and move on.

For those who didn't understand the emotional outpouring above, my laptop is not working anymore. And when you take into account that there are no TV channels (we haven't opted for cable since the "basic" channels don't have English stuff) or radio at home, evenings are about as interesting as sitting in a closed room counting the tiles on the wall (which is actually not far from the current situation).

The slightly good news is that it is still under warranty and so the CustomerCare guys have agreed to replace the disk immediately. The catch is that the warranty is an APAC one and so need to have my lappy in India for the service. So started a whole process of getting someone to take it back to Chennai, arranging for it to be picked up to be sent back home, and then to taken up for service from there. Will worry about getting it back here later!

:(

Reminders of home

Had a couple of incidents the last week that reminded me of home.

First of all, found a shop here where you can get all kinds of South Indian food. Was pleasantly surprised to see frozen porottas, puttu, and even parippuvada(!!), but the kicker was reading the label on the box. Any guesses as to where all this was packed? South Kalamassery!! That's right, a measly 10 mins from my home back in Kochi!!! So I guess if I can't have homemade food, at least I can get food made close to home ;-)

Also got a chance to revisit an old hobby of mine. On the tram ride back spent the entire time right behind the driver observing the way he was driving it, and looking out the front windscreen. Loved doing this (riding up front with the driver) back when I was a kid, but never had the chance to do so ever since I stopped taking the bus to school (and whoever thought of that "women in front" rule in buses back home deserves a kick up his/her backside, IMHO).

It's the small things that bring a smile to your face, I guess :)

What a climax!!!

Consider this: 3 laps to go, Massa leading the race but Hamilton in 5th, looking on course to win the championship.

2 laps to go: Vettel cheekily shoots past Hamilton as a slower car tries to unlap himself, pushing Lewis to 6th and Massa into the championship lead.

Final lap - Massa takes the chequered flag and thinks he's won the championship. But Glock slows down on the final lap allowing both Vettel and Lewis to overtake him, pushing Lewis up into 5th AT THE VERY END OF THE LAP, and the championship goes to Hamilton!!!

What a climax to a wonderfully fought out season, and that too for the second year in a row after the previous edition of the race at Interlagos, where Kimi sneaked through to win from both Alonso and Lewis in a similar situation!

Aah, I love Formula One :)

Antwerp - My new home (temporarily at least)

It’s been nearly 3 months now that I’ve been here at Antwerp/Antwerpen/Anvers, so am quite getting used to the place. I mean when you forget your (only) house key at the local supermarket or get drenched in a sudden shower and then have to sneak in late into the last row at your very first presentation, in damp clothes, it kind of takes away all that “new place” feeling you have initially. It’s been a good 11 weeks though.

The very first day I was here, got up quite early (which is a relative term since I’ve found that most people here turn up at office by 7 am!) for office. But the moment I stepped out of the building I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I mean, people walking around in big black hats and long black coats, with beards and long n curly strands of hair on either side, is not something I was expecting to see in 21st century Europe. It seemed a scene straight out of some movie like The Sound of Music, complete with the girls in long frocks! Have gotten used to this now, I understand there is a large Jewish population here who maintain their traditional way of dressing. Wonderful really, especially when you see the “modernization” taking place in our own way of dressing back in India.

I’ve always heard phrases like “common language”, “language of the world”, etc about English, but that premise doesn’t seem to hold much water here. The local language is Flemish (a form of Dutch), and all writing is only in it (right down to our monthly salary slips!!). Shopping at the supermarket is interesting, with you having to guess the contents of the box from the cover design. Now this is quite tricky when you are a vegetarian! Most packaging though have, very helpfully, additional text in French and/or German.

Am learning to live without an Idiot Box over here, since I understand you don’t get English channels (forget Indian!) unless you opt for the higher end subscriptions. So have to make do with an ordinary 15 Mbps Internet connection :D Miss my regular dose of “Scrubs” or “The Big Bang Theory” though :(

F1 - A Dream Come True

A LOT of people have been reminding me that my blog seems to have died after a good (going by responses received) start, so here goes. This should have been posted here waaay back, but then...


Have long dreamt of going to an F1 race, and finally got the chance! Went to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, and it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

Really, TV does absolutely no justice neither to the speed nor to the sound of the cars! It is rather startling to hear a jet-engine-like sound from such a small piece of machinery! And the track at Spa is built in such a way (part of it is normal roads during off-race periods) that you get really close to the action. The setting too was absolutely stunning, a remote village surrounded by scenic hills. (BTW, from the TV you get no idea of really how much difference there is in elevation around different parts of the circuit. Got to appreciate that as well today!)

Your hair really stands on end as you see all 22 of those cars wrooming by at full throttle. And the way these people downshift at the corners, it sounds like ...well, try to imagine a Bullet bike, increase it's sound thousand-fold, and you still fall short! It really sounds like some kind of chain explosion is taking place! (And in this respect, we all agreed the BMW engines were by far the noisiest).

Really, it was an experience of a lifetime :D

Was really worth all the time, money and effort getting there. Some pics:

Journey to Antwerp - Part 3 - Zurich to Brussels to Antwerp

Zurich airport is quite nice. You get the feeling that everything is well-managed (maybe it's that subconscious feeling you already have, having heard the phrase "Swiss Efficiency" one time too many, I don't know).

Anyway landed there on time at 6:20, and took their underground train to the domestic terminal. No problems at all in clearing the security check there as well, things were moving at a quietly efficient pace there. I couldn't help but notice the stark difference from Mumbai. While in one place there were people shouting all over the place ("Any Thai Airways to Bangkok" a la the Kochi bus conductors' "Aluva Aluva Aluva"), here it was far more peaceful.

Had an interesting sight during take-off from Zurich. It has 3 runways. Exactly as our plane (to Brussels) was taking off from one of them, there was another taking off from a second one, at what seemed like a 60 degree angle to ours. Beautiful sight, seeing the two take off together and then bank in opposite directions. You'd think it was some kind of synchronized show (well, maybe the ATC guys were having some fun :) ).

The final flight from Zurich too was uneventful. Landed at Brussels as scheduled at 7:15, went through Border Control and was out pretty quickly. The way they've put directions in these places, you really have to make an effort to get lost. Was actually wondering if I'd see my check-in luggage, as I'd through-checked it in all the way from Bangalore, with 2 flight changes after that. So was rather relieved to find it sitting neatly on the belt.

Had decided to get a taxi to Antwerp rather than the bus/train options, to avoid the hassle of getting off elsewhere and then dragging the luggage the rest of the distance. The taxi guy was someone I took an immediate liking to. As soon as he got out onto the 6-lane expressway to Antwerp, he moved over to the leftmost lane and floored the pedal to take it all the way up to 140 kmph, and kept it there. After hearing "Nikhil, this is not an F1 car, you know" while crossing 90kmph back home, this was awesome.

Traffic was light, and we made it to Antwerp in good time. Met my new room-mate, with whom I'd only interacted by email before.

I now understand first-hand what the term Jet Lag means. And it doesn't help one bit that it's as bright as day even at 8 in the evening.

From tomorrow, back to work!

Journey to Antwerp - Part 2 - Mumbai to Zurich

So here I am at Mumbai CSI (Chhatrapati Shivaji International, not the T.V series) airport, with about 5 hours till my next flight.

Getting in at the domestic airport, am amazed at how even well thought out systems can be rendered useless by sheer human laziness (or idiocy, you choose). I need to take the airport shuttle to get to the International Terminal, and am handed a ticket with my queue number neatly printed on it, by the information desk. But when the shuttle arrives, I see a mad rush towards it. Inquiring as to which queue was currently boarding, I'm politely told by the staff that the queue number is not being used, anybody can board any shuttle anytime.

Thankfully I'm able to meet Hrishiettan and Nanduettan like I'd promised, and then proceed to the Immigration after check-in. My heart sank on seeing the Immigration queue at Mumbai airport, the queue was so long! But miraculously, it didn't take me more than 15 minutes! The airport itself is in a big mess though, with renovation and construction all over the place. Half the terminal didn't have any air conditioning and was so stuffy. Boarded my plane on time.

My plane took off about half an hour late from Mumbai, though. The flight itself was super smooth, with clear skies all the way through. I though had a terrible headache by time I boarded, and so slept off right after take-off. But the view from the sky at night was simple amazing. In the distance you could see the flashing lights of some other aircraft (there was not a single cloud in the sky, as I mentioned), and on the ground you could trace the various cities and the roads linking them. The in-flight screens showed our current location, so had a very generic idea of what I was looking down on.

Had a hearty breakfast on the Swiss flight, with normal parathas and chana masala! A small disappointment here, tried the Butter supplied alongside the croissants to get a taste of the famous Swiss dairy product, only to find the label read "Made in Wadala, Mumbai". How could Swiss International Airlines do this to me!!!

Got to see the beautiful Swiss alps from the plane, though they were coated in far less snow than I'd expected. Our plane had to make a few holding patterns over Zurich before landing, so got to see the airport and the beautiful Zurich lake from the sky. Landed at Zurich at 6:15 local time.