KOLKATA'S SCIENCE CITY

Having made a list of places to be visited last night,i thought i had things in place. There wasn't any particular plan made for the day.So mom and i decided to go to 'Science City' as a lot of other places were closed today.(Monday being a holiday for them).
I wasn't too sure of the interest factor for adults in the science city but still wanted to go.Well,there is no age to enjoy the marvels of science.Just as we were entering,i saw some irritated teachers trying hard to control the kids and making them stand in a line.For a moment i got reminded of my school picnic days when each student was assigned a picnic partner and asked to hold their hand. 'Both of you have to be together everywhere and don't leave each other's hands',is what the teacher instructed us loud and clear.

We first made our way to a museum kind called 'Evolution of life'.This museum had figures of dinosaurs,early man,wild animals etc. The special effects and sound is what made it really interesting and scary at times too.

Next on the list was 'Dynamotion'.This is a really fun place where a lot of science concepts like reflection of light,Visualization of sound etc are all depicted practically through some device setup.Its indeed a very good place for the students to learn and take more interest in the magic of science. We were running short of time and decided to go to one amongst the three major attractions here.The must see's of this place are 'Space Theatre' ;'3D show' and 'Time Machine'. I had seen a lot of posters all along the way depicting the movie to be screened here and hence was really excited to experience this first.There is no screen in the theatre,rather it is made in such a way that it appears as though we are watching a movie in space.Like a 3D film, some of the movements in the movie make you feel as though you are with them.
'Mystery of the Blue Nile ' , the epic story of the first expedition down the world's greatest and deadliest river.

“The Nile is the most magnificent river in the world. No other river can compare. And no other river in the world is as closely associated with a particular culture and society as is the Nile. Without the Nile there would be no Egypt, no pharaohs, no pyramids.”

--Pasquale Scaturro, Expedition leader

The story revolves around two intrepid explorers who set out to conquer all 3260 miles of the world's greatest river in a single descent from its source in the Ethiopian Highlands to the  Mediterranean Sea.
For 114 days, the explorers and their crew faced nearly in-surmountable challenges as they made their way down the Blue Nile and Nile river in two rafts and a kayak, traversing three countries in some of the world’s remotest regions. Deadly crocodiles and hippos, the world’s most dangerous rapids, armed bandits, AK-47-toting militia, blinding sandstorms, exposure to malaria, and the relentless heat of the fierce desert sun are just some of the obstacles they faced. 
MYSTERY OF THE NILE brings the expedition’s bold voyage to life with unmistakable realism.It is a movie you'd be happy of having watched it. If all this excitement is on one side,then a feeling of giddiness and nausea are on the other side.If you are little weak hearted kinds(which i am at certain times),then u just wanna go home and hit the bed. Well,we decided to do just that thinking we'd cover the remaining some other time.I love technology and the marvels it has done to the human kind are amazing.Going to science City has been a different experience in itself. I loved and enjoyed every bit of what i saw.
I spent the rest of the afternoon at home watching movies and reading some old magazines.
With only 6 days of my stay left here,and a lot of places yet to be covered, its gonna be a yet another eventful day tomorrow.
[My head is still spinning after the 'Space Theatre' show.]


Time to hit the bed now.
SHUBH RATRI !!!

KOLKATA TRAVEL SERIES

How does it feel when you wake up to the golden rays of the sun falling over your face and trying to tell you to get up and get going? I experienced just that this beautiful Sunday morning. There was no agenda in terms of sight seeing set for the day.Since dad had to go to a Golf Tournament,mom and me decided to go shopping.Having heard so much about New market, we decided to go there. This market is the closest to Fort William. Today being Sunday, a lot of shops were closed and we had to feast our eyes and mouth (read bargaining) to some  street shopping.

 Jute bags have always fascinated me and i was happy to have spotted them as soon as i got down from the car.That was it.I had to go and buy one.To begin with,i selected only one bag and without much bargaining,bought it too.The next shop was 'Shree Leathers',another popular name i had heard from many of my bengali friends. For once,mom was on a shopping spree ( and i was really happy).She bought a handbag and 2 pairs of footware. The 2 things that caught my attention on the road were the colorful accessories and leather bags. I decided to buy them later.

While coming back home i  saw some hand drawn carts.This is perhaps the only city in India which still uses these  as mode of transportation.Sad but these cart pullers have no other go or maybe i were wrong.When asked they said they liked what they did.The smile on their face is retained even after a hard day's work.Some of life's greatest lessons are drawn from everyday simple people like the cart pullers.As luck would have it,i spotted the trams not once but thrice.Having read about these in school,there was some kind of thrill in seeing them.

Bibliophile is the word i always use to describe dad and me. To reinforce this,dad and i went shopping again in the evening,this time only for books.I thought people used trolleys only in supermarkets like Spencers and Big Bazaar but this city certainly has some pleasant surprises cropping up every now and then. For the first time ever,i saw people buying a trolley full of books.These fully loaded trolleys were certainly a treat to my eyes this evening.I was impressed yet again with the people here.

While returning we went for a drive on the newly constructed Vidya sagar Setu.Constructed by Gammon India,this bridge i was told was built to ease the traffic off the Hooghly bridge.It is also the largest cable stayed brigde in India and resembles 'The Golden Gate' bridge of San Fransisco.Well to me it seemed perfect for those long drives.

We came back home rathet early as dad had an important call to attend.I got time to catch up on my reading and read more about Kolkata. My list of places to be visited is ready for the week.

P.S : Apart from the trams,Kolkata also a 'Buggy ride' to offer.With cool breeze blowing over your faces,it is indeed delightful to experience this and i still need to.

The 'Maidan' ,a very famous landmark in Kolkata is right opposite Fort William. I have never seen so many different gropus of people playing cricket on a single yet very huge ground as much as i have seen here.

I have always associated Hyderabad with the never ending traffic woes.In places where the rider himself doesn't wear a helmet,it was rather surprising to see even the pillion rider with a helmet here.Well,i am impressed yet again.

I end the day with a lot of things in mind.Have a lot of places to visit,shopping to be done,a live cricket match to be watched and loadz of pics to be clicked(My Camera has been lazing around for too long now) and more but only in a week's time.I am sure i'll have a lot of memories to carry back home.With this,i sign off for the day!!!

'CITY OF JOY'............. TRAVEL DIARY

Travelling and packing go hand in hand but i enjoy only the former.The latter is unavoidable though. Always remember, when you don't like something ,you end up doing that most of the time is what i had heard from many people.Infact i ve seen  it coming true ;thanks to the my travelling in Dec and Jan.

All of us looked forward to the summer vacations in school but college life never gave us a chance to experience relaxation in summer and plan vacations.Well,the last leg of my college life had something else in store.Starting December 2010,i got a chance to live my hobby again...the way i like it( minus the packing part).

Months : Dec '10 and Jan '11

Places Visited : Amravati, Sangamner, Nashik, Aurangabad and Hyderabad

Come March and i was sure of some real fun in store. This time i had decided to experience and explore the 'City of Joy'.Little did i know that my journey would start on a different note. Ok...so here goes the list.

1. The accelerator of the cab in which we (read mom and me) were travelling broke as soon as we came on to the main road.

2. I have always loved the crispy dosas at the Hyd airport but thanks to our cab repair; we managed to reach just in time.So no time for dosas or even  a quick glance at Landmark.

3.I tried my hands at the soft drink vending machine and ended up waiting there for  help as the note i had inserted  got stuck badly.

If all this was not enough.......

4. I was very hungry and decided to eat 'Potato sticks' being offered in the Indigo menu but to my luck it was only thing that not available with them.

5.Since i wasn't feeling sleepy.i decided to buy a magazine but they were also not available( and only today ) as i was told.

The only option left now was to sleep which i did try but to no use.:(

The saving grace was the pilot who announced that we'd be reaching kolkata 20 mins beforethe scheduled arrival  as the 'Tail wind' was very strong today. Thankgod!!!.....things were going  good  atleast somewhere.

This is my second visit to kolkata ...the first being when i was 3 years old. Yellow taxis were the first ones to have caught my attention .People had good traffic sense when compared to the unruly ones of Hyd.In the entire drive of 40 mins,i loved and enjoyed  the calmness of the city.

We are staying at Fort William which is really beautiful.Victoria Memorial and Eden Garden are at a stone's throw from this place. I do plan to watch atleast one match live in the coming few days. :)

The actual sight seeing would start from tomorrow and then i'd have a lot of pics to put up and describe the city in  a better way.

Till then................Its Goodnite.

Sweet dreamzzzzz........

Yawn......Zzzzzzzzzz

Romba Nandri------ Vidhya, Sonika

Do we really need an occasion to celebrate?The answer is loud and clear.Its a big 'NO'. True to it, we started our  get together series starting today. Let me first introduce our hosts for the evening who really ensured that we went home contended and craving for more.

Vidhya aka our Host 1

Sonika aka Host 2

The time for 'Lets all cook together' was decided as 6pm but i couldn't make it on time and managed to reach there only arnd 7.45pm. There was already a lot of activity going on in the kitchen.From cutting vegetables to stirring the dal for sambhar to creating the perfect playlist for the evening,everyone seemed involved. Well, u must be wondering what i had been doing then? I just kept asking Vidhya to give me work but i was successful only after 20 mins when she handed me some veggies to be chopped. 

The menu was decided. Two chutneys along with sambhar and as many dosas as we could eat.The entire preparation of the dinner looked very temtpting and it became difficult to control our hunger.

Time : 9pm

Status : Chutneys -Ready

              Sambhar-Ready

              Dosas - work in progress

Finally after 2 hrs of resisting our taste buds, the moment came for which we had been waiting  hrs.Hot,crispy dosas were served to us  by another lovely host,Sonika-who ensured that our plates were never empty. Tasty food along with some really good music made me love the moment even more. There was only one thing missing and my friends know it very well...(right Gunjan,Bhawna and Rini???)

After ensuring that we were full,Our hosts had a dosa eating competition  and like India-England match,this also resulted in a tie with both of them having tried really hard to have the last few bites.That was some good work btw,Vidhya and Sonika. How can any dinner be complete without the dessert? Round,delicious gulabjamuns made their way onto our bowls next and we couldn't have asked for more.

Dear Vidhya and Sonika,

Thankyou for the delicious dinner.We lovingly enjoyed it.Had a wonderful time at your place.You guys were  indeed the perfect hostesses for the evening and we look forward to more of such ones.

THE KARMIC FRIENDSHIP

Although this post is one day late,i would still like to write  something about 'My Karmic Friend'-Ruchira on her B'day.
The story began in the month of March 2009 when we added each other in Orkut as the future classmates.The discussions mostly revolved around Hyderabad,Army life( as both of us are the 'Fauji Kids') and some assignments ofcourse.We knew quite a lot about each other much before we actually met in person.The seeds of friendship were sown very early indeed.
Date :  June 7th 2009
Place :  Girls Hostel, SBS
Occasion : First day in Hostel

I saw a small girl dressed in a yellow Tee and Jeans,standing and talking over the phone.I had just returned after registering at the hostel office.I recognized her in the first instance( her curls had now taken the shape of straight hair).We were really excited on seeing each other and started talking like old friends meeting after years.I guess our  connectivity had already become strong(thanks to the social Networking).She had won hearts from the first day itself when she dressed up as a beautiful traditional bengali girl.(Our Bong Beauty).Then came the time for  the Presentations and Auditorium sessions and most of the times we ended up sitting together.She was the 'Handwriting expert' of the college then and must admit that she analyzed it very well.

As time passed,we never got the chance to sit and talk everyday. Some small talks near the water cooler or the washroom is all we  could manage ( right Ruch?) .There were days when i used to go to her room to get a book or take some pics but never came back before 3-4 hours.( Our talks never seemed to end).
From the parties in the college to the Goa Trip,we ensured to be in the same frame most of the times.Both of us are  photo freaks and given a chance we can keep smiling for the camera all day long. From the cluster friends in hostel,we soon became block friends ( Yes! unknowingly,we had taken flats in the same block).

Ruchira Sinha, was one of the first friends i had  made even before coming  to Pune.Over these 2 years,we ve shared some really good moments, all worth cherishing for a very long time.
Shez Smart,
Shez Stylish,
Shez talented,
Shez talkative,
Shez a friend ,you are happy to be with.

Dear Ruch,


                                    Happy B'day.
       Wish you loadz of success for a wonderful year ahead.

Necessity is the mother of invention

I would not call myself an expert at cooking but its still manageable. Leaving the likes of Maggi and Sandwiches aside; i can still cook some simple dishes.

Yesterday i added a feather to my culinary skills.Having got bored of making Upma and Poha almost every other day;i decided to mak  stuffed paranthas. I must admit that i have really been bad at making rotis all these years.Their shapes and sizes were so  tempting that only i  felt  like eating them.

Okkie....Raddish ( Muli) paranthas is what i had to make. I was totally charged up and it was high time i had learned to make anything of this kind. After the first one,it was really hard to believe if i'd actually made that.One after the other and wow...i finally ended up making 3 and they had come out so well.Good shape and size to be precise.This moment surely called for a photo and some rounds of SMS's to my friends.I had to share this  achievement of mine.

NOT BAD AT ALL.....

'HERE I AM' WITH THE 'SUMMER OF 69'.....

Bryan Adams had been in air since the last 2 months.From advertisements in newspapers to hoardings,he found a mention everywhere.Having heard just 3 of his songs,i personally had never been a fan of his.Hence i had not been too keen on attending the concert. A day before the concert,we were told that our college would be taking us all there ,FREE.Yes! like any other Indian,i  love the word FREE and so it was decided that i was going there. Having never attended a live concert, i actually started looking forward to the event,only for the sheer experience.' As they say,life is too short to miss out on such things.

 The day started on a bright note and i was sure of something good happening. We were asked to report at 2.30P.M at the college. For a moment i thought i had entered a college fest.They were colors all round(4 ofcourse) and the excitement in the air was palpable.You must be wondering about the colors? Each institute had been given new t-shirts of different colors .From shades of blue to purple to grey,the new identities of each institute looked supercool.I also rushed to take mine before they could run out of stock.These moments of uniformity certainly demanded some photos and by default,my hand went inside my bag to fetch my faithful companion of 2 years,my sony cybershot camera.
The series of photographs that we clicked took atleast 40 mins of our time and before we could realize of having stood for almost 2 hrs,we were asked to board the bus.The juniors were already seated and so we thought we had to stand and travel. Infact,we were ready to do that. Here i would like to make a special mention to some of the juniors present in that bus who got up to give their seat to the seniors. Although a gesture like this seems very small but sometimes they are important just to re instill the rapport you share with the juniors. The 1 hr entertainment in the bus was very refreshing. From Anvaiye Anvaiye to Paan Baras wala, all the genres of music  had been covered well.

Welcome to Amanora....a beautiful township located in Magarpatta. I tried to capture some glimpses of it but the security personnel didn't allow me to stand at any place for a long time.We were not aware of outside eatables not been taken in. At the security check,we were either asked to eat all that we had or throw them away.Thankfully i didn't have too many of the eatables except some toffees which i distributed amongst the crowd standing there.One scene which really disturbed me here was the behavior of a girl with one of the security personnel. Like everyone else she was also asked to keep her eatables outside.She took out her packet of chips and threw it on the security guard and shouted at him. I really wanted to take the same packet and throw it at her face. I wonder what thrill  people get out of shouting at a security guard or a watchman or a driver. These people afterall are doing their duty and it is important to respect them for whatever they are doing. Oh! i forgot to mention that we were all given a sling bag each at the counter as a souvenir of the concert.

It was 6PM and the show had just stared. Two RJ's of Radio Mirchi,one from Pune and the other frm Mumbai were the compeers for the evening.I loved their style and enthusiam.It does take a confident yet connecting voice to host a show infront of almost 25000 people. Reva Rathore,daughter of noted singer Roop kumar Rathore enthralled the audience with'Miley Sur Mera Tumhara'a  tribute to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. I had goosebumps at the end of her performance.This is one of those songs that we have all grown up with. Next on the menu was a fashion show. Models like Aditi Govitrikar,Inder Bajwa,Shawar Ali,Anchal kumar and Zulfi Sayyed walked down the ramp dressed in chic casuals.To me fashion show appeared to be a total timepaas coz only the crowd in zone 10,000 would have enjoyed it.For the others it was hardly visible.A rock band from Pune came and played next. The crowd showed that they had paid to hear only Bryan Adams and no one else. There was  no enthusiasm or cheering for this band while they were performing. The pre concert entertainers got over in an hour and now the wait was for 'The Man' to arrive.After much realistic suspense,one of India's fav rock star made a grand entry.There was all the reason for the crowd to go mad.

Even at 51,Bryan Adams looked killing.His charm had already spread and i stood totally impressed.He played a lot of popular numbers and with each one  his enthusiasm only kept on increasing. 'Here I Am, Summer of 69, 18 till i die and Back to you' were the numbers i enjoyed the most. 
From jumping every now and then to giving him flying kisses,there were fans of all kinds.For one song,he selected one girl from the audience to sing along with him. I swear,everyone in the audience must have been jealous of that girl.To me her purpose of buying a 10,000 Rs ticket had been achieved. She did come across as a true fan as one could see the unadulterated joy of meeting her' man of the moment.' The audience couldn't have asked for more as he kept on singing continuously for almost 2 hours.The show got over at 10.30 and it was time to go back. Having never been a fan of his,i still wanted to hear him more.Unknowingly, i had started admiring him.Perhaps i had become one of his latest fans and realized the magic of 'Bryan Adams'.

This post would be incomplete without a mention to our very dear Bala Sir who made this possible.

Thankyou sir for this wonderful and memorable experience.It was truly once in a lifetime kinds.I will cherish this all though my life.