Monday, February 27, 2006

Bombay and back ..

Across the pale parabola of joy
Drove down to Bombay and back over the weekend and indulged in some serious retail therapy in additions to the joys of driving my car on the express way. Did the onward trip in 2.5 hours and the return in 2 hours and 17 min inspite of a 10 minute petrol cum phone break on the expressway . Driving in Bombay over the weekend was also good fun , with me managing an average speed of nearly 60-70 kph on the Pu Dru Mahamarg ( Its the eastern express highway ) , the highpoint being that on the way back from( Mulund to Chunnabatti , we needed to turn into Nehru Nagar turning near Kurla ) we didn't stop at a single signal . Wow !! The distance of nearly 16 km done in under 18 min. Wow !! Try that in Pune... I travel less in Pune (14 km to office from home) daily and it takes a good 30-45 minutes depending on the time I get out of home :) .

Also caught up with Rang De Basanti again on Sunday and managed to visit my old prof at IIT Powaii. Enjoyable trip overall :) .

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

The Delhi Metro and Akshardham

2 of the modern Indian places of wonder are Akshardham in Delhi and the Delhi Metro . For the first time in the history of modern India Delhi has organized neat public transport which is dependable, punctual , neat, modern and one that puts Delhiites in a queue :) . Wow ! Travelled on it to get to Ritesh's place over the weekend and getting there from Civil Lines was darned easy . Just buy a ticket, change over at CP and get onto the blue line. Rocking I say . Also train timings between the Yellow and Blue Lines are perfectly synchronized that you can get off a train walk to the next platform and you get into the other train . Wow ! Clockwork and punctuality did you say :) .

The other miracle was ofcourse Akshardham. Having seen some teasing pictures of this on the web I wanted to see it in person, again one can say that the pictures don't give you an imagination of the experience. Again wow , does this exist in India along with the hooligans in Puri , the touts in Kapali temple in Madras or the cheats at the Taj in Agra. You have organized entry, security checks that would do our airports to shame, organization and pipelining to the very best in terms of scheduling for resource utilization. There is a huge temple or meditation centre formed in the name of Swami Narain with sculptures in marble that make you wonder if such art was possible again in India, art and sculpture equivalent to the grand old chola days and something that might be equivalent to Mahabalipuram or Hampi. Also the audio video show was very well organized and a boat ride through the mythical Saraswati river and with information the vedic period etc. Yeah it does bring out the poet in one self but so be it :) ....

Again another time to bid adieu to Delhi though I would have loved to have met a few more of its temporary inhabitants whom one may consider friend.

Bollywood and Linux Asia

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