Aaapa Khabar..

From Sahara to Scotland

Tired from my trip last week i had planned for a lazy weekend in Bangalore doing all but nothing.But the Jing Bang had diff plans.. the Jing Bang includes the crazy bunch of Gujjus including me,Payal,Rachita,Mihir,Priya,Jayasvi,Kruti,Sheetal and Appi. they had decided for a trip to Coorg while i was still dreaming for a lazy weekend in Bangalore....I didnt mind cauz a change from Sahara desert to Coorg,The Scotland of India,would always be pleasant...we hire a qualis and it was decided to take of at 6 on the sat mornin..

Knowing my friends i woke up around 5.30 and was ready by 6.15 .. was joined by Mihir around same time at my place.. still no clue about the girls.. we decided to hav some breakfast.. finally the girls woke up and we started at around 7.45 from Bangalore to Coorg.. Our driver Umesh turned out to be a big fan oh Himesh Reshimiya and he didnt spare us for a single moment durin the trip from Himesh's Suroor..Still early mornin a long way to go ..everyone tryin to make up for their last night's sleep..i usually cant sleep while travellin so was accompanyin the driver..

Finally after a few stops on the way we made it to our destination Kabbe Holidays in Kakkabe,Coorg.It took us some time to scratch out way from Virajpet To Kabbe holidays which was situated right midst of the beautiful Kabbe hills..completely secluded from the rest of the world ..it promised to be a ideal weekend for me..Dilip our host at Kabbe Holidays turned out to be a splendid host.. we were greeted with Coffee and some home made cookies as soon as we reached ther..Later we had out lunch some Rajma and Chappatis ..
the plan was freshen up and explore the Kabbe hills and later the water falls down the valley..Dilip guided us with the trek up the Kabbe Hills...it took us around 30-40 mins goin uphill ..
and the view awaitin us at the top was truly amazin..beautiful green pastures ..low lyin clouds all seemed picture perfect..we sat cracked few jokes .. actaully many on Payal.. ;-) and started comin downhill.. by the time we came down another round of coffee was waitin for us.. we had some and then again Dilip guided us to the waterfalls..the water level was not tht much high . but was enuf to scare me.. still
i managed to venture a bit in the waters.. took some courage as the water was quite cold.. we played for some time near the falls till it started drizzlin.. and we ran back for some shelter to our cottage..no point runnin away from water though as we were supposed to go for white water rafting in KAvery :-( ..

Sun had set and a perfect evening was awating us.. we were provided a bootle of home made gooseberry wine .. we sipped and danced as the dinner was gettin ready for us.. after all the trekkin and walkin all ppl wanted was food.. dinner awaited us.. i got my share coorgie chicken and i made sure not a single piece was left .. :-) ..post lunch everyone lazed around .. played few games cracked few jokes till around 1 in the mornin .. and one by one ppl slept.. Early mornin had to wake up arounf 6.30 to go for raftin.. keepin our reputation we all managed to get up and get ready by 8.30 in the mornin..breakfast was awatin for us on the dining table... everyone grabbed whtever tehey cud.. and we left for Dubare elephant kamp, Madikeri Cauvery river for rafting.. It took us more than an hour to reahc ther.. we had already booked a raft last evenin with the help of Dilip.. we were charged 700 bucks for a long run of around 12 kms downhill .. 8 ppl on a raft with lifejackets and helmets on.. 6 of us rowin..took a lot of toll.. many times the calls from the trainer "Left Forward" and "Right Forward" ended up in deaf ears.. best part was when we jumped into the water and floated on our backs.. i was shiverin by the time we climbed back to our rafts as the water was freezin cold...the ride was quite excitin wiht many rapids on the way..had a lot of fun having water fights with other rafts..and racing with them... in all a great experience..took us around 3 hours to cover the distance with no major hiccups.. :-)

Next stop was KushalNagar,Golden Temple,Bylekuppe is the second largest Tibetan settlement outside Tibet, complete with a Tibetan monastery with 7,000 monks, a Tibetan village and a flea market.Amazing architecture ,beautiful colors , Huge idol of lord Buddha and beautiful paintngs on the wall a photgraphers paradise.. we spent around 2 hours exploring the place..till we got back to our Car and our Mr Umesh Reshmiya with more Suroor on our way back to Bangalore.... As if all the fun was not over the Jing bang on the way back found a small fair happening next to the highway..we again took a break ..while everyone enjoyed the rides in the fair.. i sipped a cup of tea with Umesh.. Finally after ther was no more ride left we moved on towards bangalore.. Reahced bangalore around 12 in the night.. A wonderful trip.. and ideal weeekend stop Coorg from Bangalore.. Must Visit!!

Accomodation : http://www.kabbeholidays.com
Round trip : Approx 800 Kms
Cost : Rs 2200 per head(Includeing Accomodation,food,Booze,Rafting,Transportation and Misc)

Human trafficking .. the great kabutarbazi..

Mauritania,Africa... if u would call Afirca the dark continent.. i would call Mauritania the lost country...situated in the western sahara on the shores of Atlantics..sandwiched betweeen Senegal and Morrocco.. this country had already given me some amazin stories to remember.. but i never knew that on my way back to India.. i would get an opportunity to get on hand exp to one of the sad n rather mysterious cases of Human trafficking.... From Asia to Europe Via Africa.. from the Medditeranian to Spain..

My route from Mauritania was via Casablanca and Dubai..I generally need to wait for around 10 hours to get my next connecting flight from Casablanca to Dubai..Sitting at the Casablanca Airport can get a lil frustrating..knowing you don hav much to do ther.. and u wont find many Indians to chat around with..Luckliy i found a guy who looked to me like an Indian.. i was already getting bored .. thought i would approach him.. still not sure whether he was an Indian.. i asked him in English .. if he was from India.. got a strange look from him .. later he responded in urdu sayin,"betho yaar,koi apni jaban samazne wala to mila"...i guessed it he was from Pakistan.. for me this was the first time meetin any gentleman from Pak.. i felt a lil akward initially but later opened up nicely..immidiately i shifted my dialect from english to Hinda.. was missin spealin hindi in Mauritania since days..had a very healthy chat with him i should say.. he was suprised to hear stories about me and India.. and that i was travellin for my company..i was also givin all the gyan i should say.. later i went to meet one of the policeman at the airport who knew me from my last visit at the airport.. pronounicing me as Mr.India.. he introduced me to a person sayin he is also your brother.. the other guy seemed a thin quite guy with his shades on..i shaked hands with him .. and got to knw he was from Bangladesh.. gr8 .. i started feelin the air.. India,Pak n Bangladeshi all together.. i introduced him with the paki guy and then the stories begun..

The Bangladeshi started unfoldin his bag of stories.. i was shocked to knw tht he had been in Mali for more than 2 years doin nothin.. he had been brought by an agent frm bangladesh and had promised him an entry in Spain or rather europe... the bangla had reached Mali with 15 other guys, a valid passport and some money .. as soon as he reached Mali the Agent he said started changin colors.. or i shud say showing his orignal colors.. the agent took all their passport and Money and dumped these ppl to some village in Mali.. regularly he used to visit them ...showin hopes of reachin Spain.. oneday he made it clear to themm .. they were supposed to Reach morrocco through the desert route and then from the coast catch a ferry and enter the univiting gateway to Europe through the medditerenean sea..the way seems easy to write for me .. but for ppl who knw the Sahar desert..might realise this could turn out to be very deadly.. and it was as per the Bangla guy.. On his way he had seen many Indians,pakis and bangladeshis loose their life.. leavin their family completely without anythin behind..not even their dead body .. which used to be burried in the sands of Sahara.. forever.. on his way in the desert,.. the bangla guy had survived for 15 days without food and water.. his stomach got rotten and he had to do a major operation to be done in Mali.. which cost him 40,000 Rs.. the cost was taken care by all the indian , paki and bangladeshi brothers.. acc to him a jeep would go thorugh the desert carrying around 20-25 ppl with no spaced to breathe forget space to move.. u were supposed to sit like this for contuos 10 -12 hours.. he waould say.. any complain and the driver wud shoot u.. many even got paralysed sittin in this manner according to him.. one of such jeeps ended up in a crossfire from the Morrocon army .. a bullet went right through the petrol tank.. and many got roasted immidiately.. he himself had burried 7 such roasted bodies of his Indian brohters he said.. because in the middle of the desert one could not give flame to them .. such was the shortage of water that they were even ready to drink each others urine,, rahter than dyin thirsty..All this and many had happened during his 2 years tenure in Mali. tryin for Spain.. for many other friends of his.. it was more than 4-5 years tryin to reach spain.. according to him Nasseeb-Luck was the factor.. Luckily for him he was back to his senses.. 2years of suffering was enuf for him.. he had decided to go back .. he carried someone else's passport and ticket..

The Morroccon Airport officials wont stop him from going back with someone elses' passport .. he happily told me.. " bhai koi airport trouble like nahin karta" if they dont allow me to go back.. they need to keep mw in their country ..which they would never do.. and he was right.. the policeman sittin next was there to make sure.. that the bangla guy leaves his country.. May be in Bangladesh he'll land up in Jail but he was ready for that..All the whilw the Paki was hearing all this.. and he had told me he was leaving to Senegal to meet his fren... later the bangladesshi told me when we were alone tht the paki was also tryin his luck for Spain.. "Mein usko dekhte hi pehchan gaya tha.. "candidly he said..may be he was right ..

Hope the bagla had reached back home and is with his family.. the story was quite scary for me at first. but later i realised it was very common for many other Indians,Pakis and Bangladeshis falling for some Agent.. all he cares for is money.. the future the famlily and the lives of such ppl has no value for them... On the ending note - i would say or rather jus hope the authorities realise the situation and stops the bussiness of human trafficking ..

Mauritania Food Stop

Well here goes the food stop in Mauritania.. Hotel Park ..serves lebanese
cuiseine.. 10 steps away from my appartment...a slow and very cozy place..
not to forget always empty :-)..
i always prefer to have take-aways from here..
Attached you'll find my catch for yesterday night..Poissone Grille..Well not
poison.. this one was as good as Amrut.... leads u to Nirvana..Fish Grill !!
A much needed break from my daily doses of Poulet(chicken) grill and our
very own 2 minutes Maggi Noodles..and it was a wonderful break too...Fresh
from the evening market held after fishermen arrive at 5 in the eve from
their latest venture in the Atlantics..Am sure my Mallu friends hav started
smackin their lips by now..The pic does not give a clear pic of the size of
the fish.. but the lemon u see in the pic was good as the oranges we get
back home..don wanna bore u with much literature...leavin u with the pic of
the same ..


Cheers..

A Soft State!!

Have recently been following a lot of articles regarding the 11/7 Mumbai blasts..the political drama and mumbai spirits surrounding the same incidence..

Here is one of them,the author writes about the politics being played around following the attacks on Mumbai..


Govern or get out, BJP tells UPA
Rajeev Ranjan Roy | New Delhi
The Pioneer
July 13, 2006

"In a blistering attack on the Centre for compromising
national security, the main Opposition Bharatiya
Janata Party on Wednesday told the United Progressive
Alliance Government to either "govern or get out" in
the interest of the nation and the people.

Taking stock of the internal security scenario in the
aftermath of the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai trains
and the deteriorating situation in Jammu and Kashmir,
the BJP passed a strongly worded resolution at the
meeting of the party's national office-bearers on
Wednesday, stating, "Govern or get out. It must choose
between the vote and India."

Referring to the "soft approach" of the Centre in
tackling the problem of terrorism, the BJP accused the
Government of not doing enough to ensure that
Pakistan's territory was not abused for exporting
terrorism to India. "India has become a soft state
under the UPA's two-years rule," the resolution said...."

Its a typical oppostion statement made by BJP,tryin to take advantage of the status quo.

This is the Same BJP we are talkin about that ruled India in 1999.The head of Jaish, Maulana Masood Azhar, was released by the Government of India on December 31, 1999 along with Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in exchange for passengers of an Indian Airlines plane that had been hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan.Subsequently, Sheikh was convicted of the brutal murder of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl and Maulana Azhar became a vocal critic of the US presence in Pakistan.The same so called "Soft approach" from the BJP.They didnt have any critic within BJP opposin their soft state approach.They could have taken a stand in 1999 and taken some strict actions..they had all the chance when the plane was in Chandiagarh..I mean how many would dare to hijack of say a country like ISrael..nobody dares.. we could hav changed in 1999..but than politics is not an easy game..Also the IA hijack was not a single case..The parliment attack,the AKshrdham attack..many came at the time our very own BJP was in power..
The above views does not mean the congress has been less guilty..the hav failed to take their chances and stand out ..take a very tough stand . i mean the people of India are not be taken granted..
I'm not tryin to make any political point here.. but this is the way our country has been.. always been...the britishers came looted our country for many decades..before that the moghals had come from outside and ruled us for ages...India has always been a soft state..No party,no King is better,so i feel BJP shud really not make such statements..and may be help in a more constructive way..


and we still wake up the next day,wash our face and as if nothin has happened.. the same thing happened to Mumbai..the trains were full next day .. the buses were full next day .. and Mumbai was back on its feet the papers said..the things are normal!!I have ready many mails and articles praising the spirit of mumbai..chanting Majrooh Sultanpuri's words ..aye dil hai mushkil jeena yahan zara hatke zara bachke ye hai bambai meri jaan ..but does Mumbai or Mumbaikar really have any other option ...but to wake up and leave for work next day..it has nothing to do with pride or resilience .
It is a mere question of hunger that drives them. such are the high standards of competition and survival that they are left with no time ..Let the administration not bask in this 'glory' that things are all normal. ...Can things be normal for the families of the over 200 dead ever?..Mumbai will be back on its feet but these families will never be..India has to stand up against such mayhem.. and try to build up an image a strong one....Every Indian shud proudly be able to say "Nobody hurts my motherland and goes away with it"..India shud strike back!! a few lakh rupees for the dead is not enough a price for lost Indian honour.........

Beach Sabah .. Nouakachott

My First weekend in Nouakachott.. not many things to do.. decided to visit one of the beaches..made plans with my driver Mouhjeb .. he was supposed to pick me up between 4 and 5 in the eve.. as per the plans he was ther to pick me up around 4.40 PM..we picked his family on the way... they were quite welcomin to me ... and greeted me sayin "Sallam walle ku" ... hav watched a few feroz Khan movies .. so me to replied back in arabic sayin "walla ku assalm" and "sabah".. not sure which one would be











appropriate.. neways off we were to the beach .. a 10 kms drive to the beach.. makes u feel like ur on ur way to DUmas(a surati wud immediately relate to this one.).. this was my first drive through the city.. and i candidly started noticing varied things happenin around the city .. ney fool would make out which sports is followed here. its foolball everywher... u c the ronaldo,zidane,lampard and the pele's of Mauritania showcaing their skills as we drove thru the open roads of Noukachott..

Mauritania has 800 kms long strech of sea coast along the Atlantic Ocean.And as a result fising is one of the main incomes for the country...

Finally after a short drive we reached our destination..The Sabah Hotel.. it was a beach resort..we parked and i had my first glimpse of the Atlantics.. not quite the same as the Arabian sea back home.. the water here are quite naughty.. u can easily make it out seing the bouncy waves and the fizz made by them along the strech.. Not quite a baywatch scene.. less crowded , a mix of europian tourists and the locals..i shud say the right no.. aclean beach... the beautiful sands and the fresh waters... and ideal combination to sit n relax..hav a stroll on the beach..makes u calm n forget everythin..Mauritania may not be one the ideal tourist locations.. but these undiscovered beaches along the Atlantics makes it an tempting place to visit for many french and other europian tourists during the summers...i had a quiet walk down the beach .. clickin pictures offcourse.. wanderin on the beach for a while i reached one of the local fishermen's village .. long bright colored boats parked in a line .. ready to conquer the waves.. along side was a big fish - market .. fresh catch directly from the sea up for sale.. and it really looked temptin..

Still anxious and discoverin new things along the beach n clickin pictures i never realised how far i had walked down.. Mouhjeb was shoutin me to come back..soon i realized the same and started to depart..

It was a lovely experience and i hope to many such experiences in Mauritania...ending the note with few pics i captured along the beach Sabah...!!

NoukaChott a place to be..

Noukachott



"Noukachott" in the local arabic language means a place where winds meet..havent faced these winds as yet but it sure can get dusty and temperatures can really soar up durin the
afternoon .. the heat and the dust reminds me of my good old days in ahemedabad..


So wht is it tht this place makes me miss about bangalore... lets c..


the traffic.. well u really don miss the bangalore traffic...the city is situated right in
the midst of western Sahara... driving a 2 wheeler..is takin up some challenge.. i've never


seen so many mercedes and toyotas in my life .. all 60's and 70's model though.. it gives a
very rusty look to the city... but still the traffic discipline is much better than many
cities in India..


About thie attire .. the almost cover thier whole body to protect themselves from the heat


and dust..gives them a cool gypsy kinda look..its not jus the traditional look here though..
the punks from the brigades can be easily made out here.. thnx to the hip hop culture..


And u can never miss the MNC's from bangalore.. u get coke everywher u


go..nokia,Motorola,philps are buzzwords here..


And the fanatic brazil supporters u find them everywhere n anywhere...

Last but not the least.. its anybody's guess wht the person in the pic is singin.. reggae??


.. not really .. he singin a song from Govinda.. yeah .... suprisingly.. Amitab
bacchan,Mithun Chokkrobathy and Govinda are knwn to each n every person here!!


so if ya guys think Bangalore is full.. Noukachott's a place to be :-) ..
Cheers!!

Bon Voyage!!

2nd July 7.00 Pm ,Bangalore,India.

Its 7 in the evening have to catch a flight at 11 and still havent started packing.well lets not panic.Have everythin ready but just need to dump it in the bag.The checklist goes like this Passport,Visa,Tickets,Forex,Clothes,Medicinesn blah blah blah except for me..i had never realised i was about to leave for 20 days all alone to some country called Mauritania no one had ever heard about...Everythin had happened so fast i never got time to think on it..neyways all i knew i had to go..At th back of my mind was the England vs Portogal Semili final which was happenin as and when i was packin my bags..i managed to pack everythin in time,had my dinner and get ready to leave for airport..Mihir,Doctor(HArdik) and Rachita were ther to drop me at the airport..Made a final call at home talked to Mom n Dad ..n left for the Airport..

On my way to airport my bike got caught by police.. :-( it has a registration of Guj and the police was in no hurry to lemme leave for the Airport.. somehow managed to leave him aside n reach the airport T about 10 PM . .1 hour before the flight.. went to the Jet Airways counter.. to realise that my flight to Bombay was 90 mins late... so wud reach bombay only by 3 in the mornin..i was a lil confused as my connectin flight for dubai was at 4.30 AM .. neways Mihir and Rachita were ther to cool me down.. spent some nice time with them watchin the Eng-Por Match..though Eng lost in the penalties,this cud be the worst start to my trip,i managed to get a kick for my trip sittin n chattin with both of them.. as good as sittin in a ccday or our fav place The Beach..

finally i asked them to leave at 12.15 Am and went for my security check...after the technical lag,the flight had arrived frm hyd and was about to leave for bombay.. there were 7 passengers havin the same connecting flight to Dubai from bombay.. Jet arrival staff in Bombay was waiting for us to help us in the Transit...Finally took off in the jet flight.. one of the most scariest flights i've been through.. a small jet having 2 propellers each side.. did gimme some jitters.. neways i planned to sleep for 2 hours and take some rest..met a Madu(marwadi) guy in the flight.. he was travellin to Jaipur n was workin for some textile firm..which intersted me the reason being my roots from Surat and my dad works in textiles as well.. spent some gud time chatting with him..at around 3.00 Am in the mornin i cud c the curvatute of Marine drive as my flight was descending..As usual in mumbai was pouring.. and felt some gud heart beats as the propeller jet was landing .. landed and picked up my luggage .. and ran for the cab that was supposed to take us to the international terminal..Jet had been really helpful in helping us in the same.. reached the international terminal at around 3.30 AM ..one hour before my flight time. as expected the Emirates counter was waiting for us to arrive.. and the check in from ther on was smooth and quick.. no major hiccups.. the official at the immigration was totally amuzed listening to my final destination noukachott,Mauritania...few questions n answers and i got a green sign from him.. the flight had been delayed for 30 mins..so got some time to catch my breath before the final boarding announcement was made..while sittin n waitin.. i discovered a small group of children dressed as if they hav just completed an english premiere leauge match .. bundle of energy they were talking about the last quater finale match between Brazil n France.. i had missed the match while i was in the flight.. so i was carefully listening to their words.. n tryin to get the final score of the match ,, was really happy to knw tht history repeated itself.. France defeated brazil 1-0 thanks to henry's goal.. made me feel touch better after england's loss earlier.. later found out that the same group of children was goin for to England to attnd some football camp..nice to hear that too.. really wud like to see Indian football improving....The final boarding announcement was made and i joined the queue..

The flight took off at about 5.00 AM in the morning from Mumbai...the warm welcome frm the crew of Emirates made me feel a touch comfy ;-) .. got a seat next to the window and the no one sitting next to me.. though it was just some 3.5 hours journey it i enjoyed making myself comfortable ocuupyin both the seats..was a lil sleepy but scrathced a while on the TV screen in front of me .. found FRIENDS on one of the channels... the episode where Monica fights it put for the Wedding dress..later put on some lounge music .. n never realized when i closed my eyes.. i think the hostess did wake me up for some food... had some fruits and retired again.. next when i woke up we were about to reach Dubai.. could make out the desert from the sky above ...the roads seemed like snakes making their way through the sand..heard another announcement but wait a min.. wht are they speakin .. Arabic?? a quick realization boy u r no more in India.. :-0 .. as the flight was about to land..i could see the beautiful airport of Dubai.. it was a very long aiport.. and Rohit(my manager) had warned me to rush things ther..i had to catch another flight to Casablanca in about 1.5 hours.. i started preparing for the same..


As soon as the crew wished me sayonara..i entered the airport all confused n lost.. didnt knw which way to transit.. kept on following the signs of "transit" .. after walkin for say 10 mins continuos... a good exercise after 2 flights..i reached the security check for the transit..found the officials at the dubai airport a lil strict and rude..we were all asked to remove our shoes,jackets,mobile,wallet,belt.. evrythin was scanned.. and for guys who knw me.. i wear a terribly low waist jeans always a size + then normal.. was really funny the way i was carryin my jeans..laughin n talkin to my self.. nice to get such light moments after the such a hectic travellin schedule..finally cleared the security and rushed to gate no 7.. right at the other end of the airport.. again a long march .. but this time around exploring the airport n a whole range of ppl at this airport..it was sure an amazin sight.. so many diff ppl.. all talkin diff languages .. an new and first exp of this kind for me .. it was really amuzing...finally after walkin for 10-15 mins i reached the the gate n checked in..

sat ther and imagining how my next destination Casablanca would be.. didt get much time as we were quicky asked to board the flight...againt the emirates crew as warm as u wud expect them to be.. It was goin to be a long flight 9 hours .. the longest i hav travelled since my last trip to hyderabad in a bus before 4 months..this time around i was accompanied by an old lady goin to Casablanca.. the only 2 words i understood from her was "Sallam walle ko" and "Shukriya" .. though i found her really sweet.. all the while i was watchin IceAge-Meltdown she was watchin the same n njoyin almost all the type of cartoon she sud find.. i slept for almost 2 hours as soon as the flight took off.. scratched the TV again and found the Brazil vs France match i had missed.. wathced the same till i saw henry scoring the all imp goal of his life.. literally kickin the favs Brazil out of the tournament..again slept for a while listening to my fav lounge music..really freaked on the same.. still 3 hours more to landing and the it nevers seemed to end.. was having juice throughout my flights .. food was somehow not looking tht welcoming.. till i got some yummy chicken roasted ..really enjoyed it..by now i was gettin a lil frustrated.. countin cities.. tunis gone algiers gone and casablanca to come.. before i freaked out the announcement was made.. again in Arabic.. the flight started to decend.. and cud make out pathces of brown n green land... this is supposed to be the city of Casablanca the exotic capitol of Morrocco..it was around 12.50 PM local time and my next flight was after 11.50 PM so i was in no hurry at all this time..the flight landed and i got down.. it was very sunny .. so i got d chance to put on my new Aviators i had bought just before leavin bangalore.. 8-) !!

The Casablanca airport was small n decent.. quickly realised my inability to understand french..reached the transit and found a decent place to sleep .. met a policeman inquired with him about my flight... he seemed a nice guy and was really happy to knw tht i was an Indian..tried to say namashkar to me and started talkin Sharukh khan ..he never knw i hated sharukh khan .. still i was in a way happy with the kinda popolarity he enjoyed even in Morrocco..about 10 hours at the aiport was goin to be tough.. somehow i managed to sleep for sometime... when i woke up i explored the duty free shops at the airport..walked 3-4 times the strech of the casablanca airport..already staretd thinking about a warm bed waitin for me at Noukchott .. still atleast 9-10 hours away..Later on issued my boarin pass at 8.00 PM..met an Indian guy who was travellin to Noukchott as well.. had a coffee with him n chatted with him for about n hour n more..entered the boardin gate one hour before the flight.. and was again amazed to c ppl njoyin a bollywood movie Kuch na kaho.. bollywood sure had reached places...Finally the flight was announced and i found a cozy corner and jus laid down .. didnt wake up for food or drinks nothin.. slept a strech 3 hours..finally the much awaited last announcement was made... was about to reach Noukchott..2.30 AM local time..But sadly after a long trip all my excitement of reachin my final destination was gone..the flight landed and i entered the airport.. the scenes were chaotic as expected..was looking for Mouhjeb my driver who was supposed to carry my
VISA..he found me rahter than me findin him.. thankin him a lot.. i reached the official and got my VISA done..draggin myself with the luggage..reached the car..to mu suprise a Mercedes..yeah but don build hopes its jus an old 60s model..almost everyone in Noukchott owns one..thanks to Moujheb finally reached my apartment..arranged a few things and slept.. slept like i never slept before...
k finally i reached the much talked about destination Noukchott..will write more as soon as i wakeup!! till den chao n sleepwell..cauz i knw this blog without pics will make u do tht!!

Let the Soccer GODS continue..

So it took these exiting moments from the WC FIFA 2006 for me to start writing again.It has been great following the world cup this time around.



The 2nd round is over .. the next stage is on from friday..
The best match course in the second round by far was Argentina and Mexico the south american clash....Mexico leadin with the effort of Marquez.. but Crespo gets the equaliser in no time.. the match goes thru the extra time only to see the best goal till date in this world cup by Rodriguez.. Argentina cruz thru to meet Germany who easily defeated the Swedes in the second round.

The England Equador match promised to be a good one.. With Sven Errikson tryin different combinations with the linw ups.. the English team still does not look settled..it tool another bend by none other than Beckham to book England a place in the quaters..England really missin the nevvile and strugglin to find a good replacement for him..

The most eventful 2nd round match offcourse was Netherlands and Portugal..
4 red cards and 16 yellow cards.. the referee was on fire.. each team started with 11
players each but ended with jus 9..Maniche's goal was the decidin factor.. to a much eventful macth wher less football was played in the second half..Portugal going thru but with atlesat 3 players down for the next match..

The first match yesterday .. Brazil vs Brazil many say.. cauz Ghana play so much alike brazil.. the Cammeroon of this WC Ghana shocked everyone by defeatin the Cz Rep and knocking out the US.. booked a place in the next round only to meet the might Brazilians.. Brazil with Robiniho on the bench still looks 200% .. Early minitues of the match and Ronaldo breaks the record of Muller becomin the highest goal scorer ever in the history of WC . not a mean achievement....post tht goal Ghana played some wonderful football.. their passin was amazin .. threatned dida .. but the only thing they lacked throughout the match was finishin.. As both the teams were playin so attackin football it was a really open game.. many chances to counter attack.. and Brazil are so good at tht.. eventually the match ended at 3-0 to brazil. but i dare say if it wud hav been some other team Ghana cud hav pullled a suprise.. No worries as they went down in a Blaze of Glory!!Cheers to them!!

By the time next match started.. i was very sleepy.. but tried to motivate myself . cauz it appeared to be a gr8 match the europian giants france and spain..spain the undeachiervers at the WC and France tryin to put behind the dismal performace in the first round.. Some nacky feelin inside me was tellin france is gonna upset spain.. Henry and Zidane were due since long..well managed to follow the first half.. France took the lead but spain came back with the penalty... first half was enuf .. i had to attend a meetin in the mornin .. in the mornin though was really happy to knw tht france came thru.. leads to very interstin Quater-final Brazil vs France...france with 98 final victory behind them wud make BRazil wary!!

Over all a gr8 line up for the quater finals..

Germany vs Argentina

For me ney team tht defeats Germany at home will take the cup..

Italy vs Ukraine

Italy wud like to score early and sit back as usual..

England vs Portugal

My heart is with England.. Rooney lampart are due for Goals and Deco and Costinha will be missed dearly by Portugal.. Ronalda might not play as well..

Brazil vs France

a replay of the 98 final.. who knws it might jus happen..


Next Friday and Saturday full of action !!

And let the Soccer Gods play again!!

The Soccer Gods!!

Finally the day has arrived. The stars have come
down to earth. The biggest show on earth, The
FIFA World Cup 2006, is happening in Germany.
The next few weeks are going to be exciting.
Thirty two teams fi ghting for glory and there is no second
place here! The football
giants Brazil, Argentina, Germany,
Italy, England, fi ghting
it out. And how can we forget
the minnows. Ivory Coast,
Angola,Trinidad and Tobago,
Japan and South Korea will be
showcasing their skills.
Football has always been the most followed game
throughout the world. It’s a game of the masses. It’s
about skills, speed, aggresion and passion for the game.
Some have it all and some don’t. Some rise to the occasion
and many falter. While the Baggios’and Kahn’s
missed to make a name for themselves in the previous fi -
nales, the Maradonas, the Ronaldos and the Zidanes have
made a name for themselves in the history. They are the
GODS of Soccer.
Who is going to rise to the occasion this time around?
On paper, Brazil looks undeafeatable. Undoubtedly the
Number One team, with players like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho,
Adriano and Carlos, it would be a crime not to consider
them as favorites. One should never
underestimate the home team. Germany
would love to forget last years’ defeat in
the fi nal and rise this time around. They
have made an excellent start to the tournament
against Costa Rica. Argentina
looked great in their fi rst outing against
Ivory Coast. So did Mexico against Iran.
European giants like Italy, Spain and
Portugal can make it big any day. Czech
Republic till date has looked the best
team in this tournament.

Their 3-0 win
over a tough opponent USA was a great
team performance and it included the brilliance of Rososky.
And last but not the least my favorite team England.
Not an impressive start against Paraguay but Beckham’s
team is not here just to make numbers. Rooney,Owen,Cr
ouch,Gerrad,Ferdinand and Lampart have a lot to prove
to their English fans.
Let’s sit back and enjoy the greatest show on earth. Let
the soccer GODS play!!!

Monday Blues!!!

Hi ,

Jus woke up from one of the most relaxing weekends since my vacation back home..Was workin since the last 13 days... so had decided to rest both saturday n sunday..
It was not as if i wasted my weekend.. tried to learn somethin about my Sony DSC P150 digi cam...Tried to learn a bit about Shutter speeds.. n experimented a lot.. joined a group called Bangalore Shutter Bugs on FlickR.com .. its all bout the photoblogs..every week they hav a theme .. members post the pics they hav clicked n the winner is choosen.. Last week theme was "Blue" and this week its "Divine" am lookin for good pics on the theme..Tryin to develop this new interest in photography n till now it has been very excitin..
Also went shoppin friday with Brijesh(My Roomie).. ended up buyin a pink half sleeves shirt from fabindia.. wearin it at the office today..

Yeah n talkin about today .. I don knw y we need to come to office after such a relaxin weekend. it has bee n very dull n borin todya at the office.. hope someone cheers up the mood by Mid-day..
Anyways posting some pics i clicked this weekend .. experimented with diff shutter speeds...

Lets get some coffee

Hi ther..
Jus returned from SSL(Subex Systems)..with a long schedule of trainin for may be 2 more months..
May be it was just the kind of mood which inspired us for a coffee..
so we followed our instincts went upstairs to get some coffee... jus to find the coffee guy was havin his lunch .. so we would hav to wait.. so we waited .. n her are some pics we chillin at our cafe upstairs..until Sumantha caught us relaxin.. hope u like the pics !!

I'm Hobbes Wht bout u??

Hey There..

Check out the link to determine which calvin n hobbes character u r

http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=3304&first=yes

I scored as Hobbes.




You are Hobbes! Resourceful, laid back, optimistic, understanding, and able to put up with Calvin on a day-to-day basis. You are the best type of friend, someone who you can get in fights with and look at comic books with, someone who will send prank letter to you through the amil and someone who leds over cliffs with you. What more could anyone ask for?

Calvin 86%

Hobbes 86%

Susie 75%

Mrs. Wormwood 50%

Mom and Dad 43%

Really wht more can i ask for !!
iRock!!

Working on Sunday ..Gotta hav a nice lunch ...

Hello ..
Starting a rigorous training session..
No weekends off..
Were workin this Sat as well as sunday..
Do decided to treat ourselves for lunch..
Went to a Pizza hut outlet .. close to our pics..
Had a nice time .. ;-)

Postin some pics..

Back n confused

hi guys ..
back in bangalore but more than a lil confused..
but its natural for me to behave like this.. whenever i come back from SUrat..
usually take a week or more to settle down ..
in fact coming back is the worst part after havin such a nice time ..
ALmost been a week.. hav don nothin ..
Started my Oracle trainin this thursday and will continue till mon includin sat and sun..
and after tht we go to Subex Systems for furhther training..
Hav not even passed the 100kg bag to vivek(don ask me who he is)..i brought from Surat.. every evenin i plan to go and give the bag but at the end of the day i jus give up..i plan again this evenin tp give the bag..lets c how it goes..
Anyways one of the good things i've been doin since 2 days was tring to solve this KlueLess quiz by IRIS, IIM Indore...
http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris/irising/klueLess.asp
I could almost not sleep for 2 days... only after completin all 30 stages did i slept well..
Its one the most amzin sets of puzzles i've ever solved and am proud of myself as i hav completed them .
Also forgot to tell u guys.. hav bought a new frame for myself.. its dark black .. n i look a complete geek .. but i really like it.. a new year new look for me..Will post a pic soon..
Also waitin for Rang De BAsanti to release.. i really think i'm gonna like it.. has gr8 music and a youth kinda appeal to it.
Won't be celebratin uttrayan this time around.. i think this is my first Utrryan outside Surat.. so no flyin kites this time..
Also Missin Palak and murtaza's bday .. hav to get a gift for both of them.. and rachita's gift is also pendin.. hav to call parinda. hav to find a house for ratty in bangalore.. hav to continue my Oracle trainin..woh hav lots of things pendin.. so i feel i should get back to work..

and post all the junk later...

Confessions of my confused mind..

njoy ur Utrayyan guys !!