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Up in the Air – 10 happy moments

Poornima — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 09:54:53 +0000

This is a sequel to my last post. My list of the ten best experiences I had during those trips round the world.

1. Friendly Immigration Staff

Immigration desk is one dreaded moment, where you feel that you are virtually at the dock, teetering between the ship and land. You feel like a person awaiting the judgement in the court. With such thoughts in mind, when I stood at Aus Staff, I loved the way he welcomed me – “Hmm, first time to Australia? You’ll love it here” – with a broad smile. Wow, I felt like I was a visiting dignitary. New Zealand too was great. The staff said they love the Indian Masala! Whoever says Aus are racial should stand at the US immigration; to them we are aliens until we get the stamp of approval! Not just I, even Bill Bryson thinks so.

2. Concerned Airline Staff at Hong Kong

It was my first flight & I did not know the difference between transit & immigration area. A friendly Sri Lankan passenger directed me to the United Airlines counter. She was a concerned mother hen. She showed me the transit boards and asked me to return back to the counter if I couldn’t find the area. I loved the pampering especially when you are travelling alone with no family or friends.

3. Upgraded to a First Class since the Economy was full.

This happened at the LA Airport. The flight was overbooked (don’t ask me how). I had a valid economy ticket to Delhi but there were no seats! The harried lady said that she’ll put me on the flight if there were any cancellations or else they would have to accommodate me on the next flight. Someone in the First Class cancelled and I was upgraded, much to my surprise, without any extra amount!

4. Heavy baggage checked, without any fine.

It was in Frankfurt, the most harried transit stop in the world. My cabin luggage weighed a lot. I would have to shift it to cargo if asked. But the sweet staff person just told me go ahead.

5. Lovely Weather at Los Angeles

Wearing a pink Salwar Kameez , sitting in a window seat of a small plane as the sun shone brightly, it could have been a flight from Mumbai to Bangalore; except that I was flying from LA to San Diego and felt completely at home. That’s the thing about California.

6. Fantastic view of the land below. Worth getting that the window seat.

If you fly from India to Europe in daytime, don’t sleep. Get a window seat – a ring view to the colourful landscape of Europe – the plains, the Alps, the huge lakes. It’s a free National Geographic documentary without the TV.

7. A friendly conversation that cuts the travel monotony.

An old Chinese saying says that a good conversation can cut the travel time(atleast that’s my bad attempt at translation). I have never met a handsome dude, on any flight, who charmed me with mentally stimulating talk, a la romantic novels. But the most memorable conversation was with an uncle whose daughter taught at UCSD, San Diego. His vivid description of UCSD almost made me want to enrol as a student once more.

8. Engrossing movies on long journeys.

I watched a Bond movie, Friends episodes and an interesting French movie on this flight. I was so engrossed that I missed a meal!

9. Widely spaced seats even in Economy so that you can stretch a bit.

This must have been on an US airliner. It was a Boeing. Wonderfully, the economy seats were spaced a wee bit away from the usual ‘packed sardines’ type of model. Believe me when I say even a few inches away is good.

10. Hot Idlis for breakfast on the last mile back home.

It was a long international flight that landed in Mumbai at Midnight. Early next day, I was on a Jet flight from Mumbai to Bangalore. The stewardess brought hot steaming idlis & lovely coconut chutney for breakfast. I was home.

Up in the Air – 10 happy moments

Kalyanam Chaos

Poornima — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:41:19 +0000

(Image Courtesy: Wikimedia.org)

My blog posts had somewhat temporarily stalled. The reason was simple. There was a marriage – my brother-in-law’s – around the corner. I was gently advised not to take up any ‘new work coming my way’, until THE events were over.

In the last few months not a day has passed without a talk about the impending event. My brother-in-law liked this girl and they had finally announced it to the elders. You’d think its simple, but that’s when the ‘Project Wedding’ starts. I have tried to unfold the event’s highlights.

‘First Meeting’: There was the first ‘meeting’ of the ‘other’ family. An event in itself where families assess each other, praise their respective children and the talk invariably turns to setting the date, booking a choultry (marriage hall) etc.

Shopping: Sarees, jewellery, invitations, suits or dresses for everyone in the family and the cousins, relations etc were painstakingly chosen over the next few weeks. It takes quite a bit of financial juggling to go on such sprees – especially if you have made wise investments and do not want to break a fixed deposit even if the ‘Gold rate’ is low. Any new item that is not necessarily required for the marriage – e.g. an Ipod – is postponed until the ‘wedding is over’.

Visitors: There were visitors to the house every week. Aunties who wanted to ’see’ the sarees – silk for the girl, and her mother, cotton silk for elderly matrons – and jewellery – the diamond ring, thali, necklace etc. They were also updated on the ‘latest news’ from the ‘girl’s’ family – E.g. ‘her mother had called to finalise on the lunch menu’, ‘her grandmother slipped & fell’ etc. Uncles were more interested about the girl than the shopping. The story of how their boy met the girl was narrated umpteen times. Sometimes the males do appreciate the shopping and it can lead to some peculiar situations. Looking back, I don’t know how I kept a straight face when a male cousin held a ‘lehenga’ (skirt) to his waist while appreciating the design and assessing its weight.

As the D-day arrived, meticulous planning was done to the last minute detail. All ‘what-if’ situations had backup plans charted out.

Marriage: The ‘baraat’ (I use the more commonly known North Indian term here) was welcomed the previous evening at the choultry by the girl’s side. The marriage was early next day. A ‘reception’, that generally follows the marriage, had been thankfully cancelled as both the families decided against it.

As the boy’s ‘relations’ we were garlanded and invited in. What followed was general conversation among the relations while the boy and the girl were herded off by the family ‘priests’ (there was one from either side). The same scene was re-enacted on the day of marriage – with more guests. Here’s a bird’s eye view of what happens generally in a South Indian marriage. The couple mumbles whatever the priest dictates, while the guests make polite conversations. Usually the ladies catch up on the latest news in the family and the gentlemen talk about politics or cricket.

Of course, as the immediate family, we had a lot of work. One was always stationed near the priest to provide whatever he asks for. One played the role of a host urging everyone to have a good time and handing over ‘tambula’ (coconut) while I was asked to go around offering ‘kumkum’ and ‘blouse piece’ to all female guests in the hall.

Once the ‘tying the knot’, that signifies & sanctifies the marriage, was over there was a flurry of guests to the mandapam to hand over the gifts so that they can go for lunch. Here again there was one stationed to collect the gifts from the harried couple. At last, when we did have lunch, it was time to pack up and clear the hall.

I now know why Hindus ‘get married only once in a lifetime’.

Life is all about Reality Shows

Poornima — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:30:00 +0000

I am one of those who do not follow ‘reality’ shows. Even when the infamous racism row happened in the UK’s ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ show and was splashed across all news channels, my reaction was – ‘so what? its just another Bollywood masala in a UK setting’.
So when the star villian of the show, Jade Goody died recently, the adulation across UK revealed the power of such shows. She had become famous, rather infamous, during the controversial episodes of Big Brother. She was the villain. However, her fatal illness brought her back the lost respect – like the bad mother-in-law/sister-in-law in our movies who cry for forgiveness, in the arms of the heroine, just before dying.
Notwithstanding the millions she made by cashing in on her death (signing up lucrative deals with TV networks to allow them to film her last days – for her sons’ sake), she was praised by even the UK’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, as a ‘courageous woman’.

After all, nothing is more honourable than a honourable death. Life is all about reality, I mean reality shows.

Ten Travel Tips during Recession

Poornima — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:24:00 +0000

Recession. So what, you can still go on that holiday. Just make sure that these points are checked on your list.

1. Prioritize – Do you want to make frequent short trips or that travel destination abroad that you always dreamt for an annual holiday? I am a travel-oholic and I need to hit the trail once a month. If you are my kind, you are better off doing frequent weekend breaks or make a short trip once a month or 3 months, rather than fly to an exotic locale this year.

2. Plan – Once your priorities are clear, you decide to make a trip next month, plan in advance. Search through travel guides for other places you could visit near the destination of your choice, transport, hotels, happening events. This will save time, money and also give you the window to complete your work deadlines. You dont want to lose your day job for an ill-timed holiday, do you?

3. Budget – This will definitely influence your priorities and hence the planning. If you are on a very tight budget, then you should probably look at making shorter trips or stay in economical hotels. Sometimes the nearer places are just as exciting as the far off exotic sounding destinations.

4. Accessories – If you want to do a trek through Himalayas, then you might want to buy some trekking equipments, camping gear etc. Again budget how much you would have to spend. Unless you are a pro, you could rent these equipments from a nearby store or a supplier. You might still have to buy hiking shoes, so include it in your budget.

5. Travel Agent – If you are travelling abroad as a family, choose the travel firm you are comfortable with. Also, it helps to check with the airlines the schedule of your flight. I once nearly missed a return flight from Bangkok since the Thai Airlines and the agent had a communication lapse.

6. Airlines – Choose the Airlines that give you minimum transit or direct flight options. If you choose a less expensive airlines but with an overnight transit, your lodging and travel expenses to see the city in the 12 hours makes the trip very expensive. Sometimes it is better to opt for a slightly expensive airline that provides direct flights.

7. Discounts – Recession also brings freebies, discounts. After all, every travel firm is looking at innovative ways to attract customers. Choose the discounts that help your travel. It does not help getting free mileage in an airline if you are not a frequent flier. If it’s a group discount, see if you can get some like minded group to travel with you. Don’t make a trip that has a huge itinerary, just because of its attractive discounts; chances are that you might be so tired that you will need another holiday after the hectic tour!

8. Insurance – I am a safe traveller. I always take insurance. I don’t mind paying the extra few dollars/rupees if it will insure my baggage or camera or credit cards. I always take travellers cheques. Well if you don’t mind a few risks, you could opt out of it. But then chances of losing your expensive laptops, camera or foreign currencies in a far off land can be very unnerving.

9. Medicine – Taking a few common off the counter medicine helps. Patients with high blood pressure or diabetes, please pack enough tablets with prescriptions that can last for your entire stay abroad. Drugs are very costly for us Indians when we convert our rupees to the local currency. Always take a health insurance policy. You’ll have to cough a huge amount for even a minor health check up.

10. Accommodation – If you are a backpacker, there are many budget options in many countries. In India, you could try YMCA hostels or many budget hotels that provide good accommodation. If you travel as a group, you could ask for discounts. You could try camping if you are on a trekking tour. If alone you could try some B&B accommodations instead of a hotel. Plan your visits around your hotel area. Use the freebies given by your hotel. Try changing the options. Can I get a free ride to the city instead of the extra dinner?

Hope this helps. Have a nice trip.

Captured moments from Aero Show 2009

Poornima — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:26:00 +0000

Some frozen moments from the Aero Event

Aero Show – the war is over

Poornima — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:41:00 +0000

Its over. The much hyped Aero India 2009. The war between F-16s, Eurofighters, Sukhois, our own HAL produced aircrafts, which showed its might and power in the hazy Bangalore skies, completed their show yesterday.
I went to the show on saturday. I might have missed the high flying Abhinav Bindra and Rakesh Sharma or failed to spot Ratan Tata, but came out dazed by the modern defence aircrafts. The F-16 and Eurofighter ‘Typhoon’ took my breath away. Though the bigger aircrafts are equally important, ’twas the LCAs that the public loved. The acrobatics of the LCAs was quite like watching a video game. That brought home a sobering thought. The devastations of a video game can also occur in real life – with such modern planes and neo-technology weapons. I certainly hope it does not occur in our lifetime.

While the show was spectacular, the organisers, CII, did not do a good job. I have listed some glaring facts which I hope they read & correct for the next show.

1. Seating - It was pathetic. Many people were sitting on the carpeted ground or out in the sun. Hundreds thronged the runway and as a result the people behind them could not see the landing or take off. It would have been simple if there were adequate chairs and seating area barricaded so that everyone, seated at a safe distance, could have watched the entire show.

2. Public address systems (TV Screens, Speakers) – Again, very Inadequate. There were 2 giant screens which incessantly displayed the inflight meals in Boeing and Kingfisher, while the show was ongoing. Speakers were few and many American announcements could hardly be heard. If you are sitting in the Sun, forget hearing anything.

3. Tickets - I was told at Cafe Coffee day on Devanahalli Road that tickets were available at Gate 1. What I wasn’t told was that it was also available at the parking areas too. This resulted in us buying the ticket at Gate 1 and walk down a distance of 3 kilometres in hot sun to reach the place where we found to our dismay that there are no seats to sit. A simple statement that ‘Tickets available at each Parking’ on the many signboards on the Airport Road would have saved the trek, especially for the elders in the group.

4. Food counters, Toilets – Very insufficient. CII, please do your math and arrange accordingly next time.

5. A handy guide, which explains the day’s flights and timings, for the visitors would have helped. Especially since eighty percent of the crowd could not hear anything from the only two speakers that decorated the seating arena.

Cribs aside, the air acrobatics was superb and I enjoyed every moment of it. I’ll upload some photos of the show in the next post.

5 Beginner’s Links on SEO and Social Media

Poornima — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:07:00 +0000

I spent the whole of yesterday surfing internet job sites for some writing/blogging jobs. Of the job descriptions I liked, many asked the candidate to have ‘knowledge of SEO’ or suggest ‘social media friendly’ topics. Now I’m not the professional online writer who keeps up with technologies of the world of social media. I dont use ‘twitter’ yet and use Facebook only occasionally. But I write and maintain a few blogs and would like some freelance jobs.
So for all those like me, beginners in the world of SEO and Social Media, here are 5 good links to start with.

1. Wikipedia – Just what is SEO and Social Media? The Wikis are generally a great place to learn from scratch. Here are the links to -

SEO
Social Media

2. SEOmoz.org – This is a great place to learn about the world of SEO. However its Jane Copland’s article that introduced me social bookmarking sites and the tactics they use to provide relevant topics to their user driven communities.

3. 7 traits of a Social Media friendly website – Self explanatory and very useful.

4. SEOmoz.org – Another article from this website that explains how a Good Title can make or break your submission. I came to this article from a link on the previous one.

5. Lastly, how SEO and Social Media are inter-related. Makes sense. Blogs and Online communities have the content SEO’s search in.

Disclaimer: Like I said before, I’m a beginner and this is just my opinion. I’m sure there are many other sites with pretty good basic information on these topics.

The serious side of comic strips

Poornima — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:19:00 +0000

Deccan Herald had been the popular newspaper in the Eighties for Bangalore’s significant English speaking middle class. Now of course, sadly, TOI reigns in the state. Of course some Tamilians and avid news analysts still favour to ‘The Hindu’. The reason I write about these newspapers is not about their news coverage or quality but the comic sections that provide relief from the depressing news on the main sheet.
DH ran (and continues even now) a ‘Blondie’ comic that is almost 1/4^th of a entire page on its Sunday edition, apart from the weekly strips. Like all Indian kids curious about the US, I got to know about a typical American family through ‘Blondie’. The fact that, like any average middle class family in Bangalore, we did not own a car or any have spacious lawn in front of our tiny houses did not deter me in relating to the Dagwood family. Every Sunday, I would read about Dagwood going to work in a car pool, playing golf with Herb or mowing the lawns while Blondie maintained the house and worked as professional caterer. My dream was to have a couch like the one Dagwood slept on.
As we grew up the newspaper price wars started in our state. Our family like many others switched over to TOI. The leisure section in Bangalore Times became my everyday past time. One advantage of TOI is that they have a daily comics section covering many famous comics – Peanuts, Garfield, Calvin and of course Archies. But the picture quality and comic space has shrunk to an incredulous size. Sometimes I read the same comic strip reprinted on consecutive days. Obviously TOI thinks either comics are only for kids who look at the pictures or no one gets past the BT supplements models on its cover page. Though I love the collection, especially the indefatigable Calvin, I hate their utter disregard to the size of the strips. I’ll challenge anyone to a bucketful of icecream if they can read the Denis comic strip without squinting their eyes. I don’t mind reading only one comic on a Sunday that would extend to half a page.
Sometimes I feel, we need an Indian newspaper that dedicates an entire sheet towards cartoons. After all, everyone loves a laugh right? My internet search on the war of news publishers with comic space led me to Wikipedia. This is what Wiki says –
Main article: Sunday strip
Sunday newspapers traditionally included a special color section. Early Sunday strips, such as Thimble Theatre and Little Orphan Annie, filled an entire newspaper page, a format known to collectors as full page. Later strips, such as The Phantom and Terr
y and the Pirates, were usually only half that size, with two strips to a page in full-size newspapers, such as the New Orleans Times Picayune, or with one strip on a tabloid page, as in the Chicago Daily News. When Sunday strips began to appear in more than one format, it became necessary for the cartoonist to allow for rearranged, cropped or dropped panels. During World War II, because of paper shortages, the size of Sunday strips began to shrink. After the war, strips continued to get smaller and smaller, to save the expense of printing so many color pages. The last full-page comic strip was the Prince Valiant strip for 11 April 1971. Today, most Sunday strips are smaller than the daily strips of the 1930s.“
I guess in the coming days, the section might shrink further or worse, will be published only in the internet edition. Its time the money making publishing firms shrunk some ad space for our beloved cartoons, isn’t it?

Slow and steady

Poornima — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:01:00 +0000

(courtesy www.flickr.com)

I’m back after a long break. When I started this blog, my friends and family had warned me that blog creation is done in a jiffy. Maintaining the blog and to keep it interesting depends the ideas and frequency of the posts. The higher the frequency factor and the blog will survive. Does this mean I should write one post everyday? Or ten posts a day? What is the average blogging speed? Let’s leave the news feeds for they are churned out every hour.
With idle time on hand and some online web searches later, I came to know that there are blogs like that of Chris Brogan who types out 3 – 4 posts per day, apart from the twitter updates. In the blog that I frequent regularly, India Uncut, Amit Verma churns out 2-3 posts every day. I’ve also heard of people who post more than ten posts a day! Consequently their blog readership is also very high. Well, they are professional bloggers. While they write to improve readership, I write to improve my writing… and also share some thoughts.
Another blogger, Will, in his blog series on ’11 things to consider before you start blogging’ introduces the term ‘publishing frequency’. At the end of the analysis, this is what he says –
“Overall deciding what publishing frequency to post articles on your blog is totally up to you and no one else. Although you can look at competition and your chosen subject for inspiration or ideas it comes down to the amount of time you have spare and how much of that time you are willing to dedicate to writing articles each day.”
His publishing frequency is 5 posts per week. Another blogger who shares similar thoughts is Keith Burtis, who aims at one post per day.
I maintain three blogs and churn out three different posts every week. My aim for this blog is 2-3 posts a week, which is slightly lower than average; but I don’t mind because, as Will says, ‘it’s totally up to me’

A moment of hesitation

Poornima — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:08:00 +0000

I stood in front of Kanti Sweets, a place that we frequent for its excellent badam (almond) milkshake. Cajoling my two-year old to have a glass of badam milk takes a lot of patience(unless your two-year old is goody-goody and laps up all the milk like they show on some TV ads). That was when I saw her. Sitting in front of the shop, she looked old, wrinkled and nondescript. She was just one of the millions of beggars we see in the city and choose to ignore. While my kid drank a few sips and I couldn’t help looking at her. She was definitely hungry and had I had offered her a milkshake, she’d have finished it in a gulp. Many thoughts rushed past me. There are so beggars in the city and how many could one help? Also this old lady might be controlled by some ringleader who takes a percentage of her earnings.

Just then, interuppting my train of thoughts, a guy, maybe in his thirties, rushed out of the shop with a plate of hot parantha and asked her if she wanted it. The old lady just gobbled the whole steaming parantha while he watched on. Once she finished, he handed the plate back to the server, came out of the shop and asked her if she needed help in walking across the street, as he was headed that way. He led her out of the place gently like he would to his own family.

I could have done the same thing – its just that I hesitated. Many of us have this dilemma. Should we help the beggars or encourage begging? Many a times I’ve felt giving money to a lady, holding an infant, but checked my sympathy thinking that this might be a ‘borrowed’ baby to increase her earnings given from the soft-hearted middle class. So what is the right thing to do? I would say act what you feel at that moment, like this man who bought the old lady a dinner. Give food, atleast that wont go the ones who control the racket.