Day 5- train journey to Baden Baden

When we checked in to our hotel in Black Forest, we were surprised to be given a guest card which enabled us to take the regional transport free of charge and gives discounts at lot of places.

Today we thought instead of driving in our car, we should take the opportunity of travelling from Gengenbach to Baden Baden via the Schwarzwaldbahn. The trains run every half an hour and it takes about 35 mins to reach Baden Baden.

The first thing that you notice here is that the station is quite far away from the city centre. We tried to search in a huge map outside the station as to where we were and how to reach the city centre, however the fun part is that there is no 'you are here' on the map, so after searching for quite some time, we decided to take a bus to Leopoldstrasse/Stadtmitte. It was quite a guess that the bus stop that we picked was actually where the tourist information centre was located.

The tourist information centre building was quite beautiful and the staff friendly. We were planning to do a hike of the Panoramaweg, the best and most scenic hike acknowledged in Germany. We bought the map from the tourist centre and started walking towards the general direction shown in the map.

Now, staying in England for 5+ years, you quite get used to the way of how detailed the maps are and the markings on the streets are, and here this was like searching for a needle in the haystack.

We finally started walking towards Neue Schloss 

which seemed to be in the way and our starting point of the hike.

After climbing a lot of steps we finally reached schlossstrassen, from where we went past the new castle and finally came to a vast meadow where we finally thought our walk could begin.

As soon as entered the meadow, the first thing that we saw was cherry trees, and my wish finally came true. We picked some cherries and finally started walking up.

There we saw our first marker of Panoramaweg. The hike took us quite uphill, with a small top in between to fill our bottle with cold water and continuing up to the Old castle. 

We took in the panaromic view here and then started on our roundweg, towards Battertfelsen. This is quite a paradise for rock climbers but the hike from bottom of these rocks is also worth it. We continued past the rocks toward Engelskanzel via dense black forests. Our hike uphill thankfully was over and we now had to make our way downhill.

We took a stop at a restaurant in Wolfsschlucht and ate the nicest strawberry cake at this restaurant. After taking a food n drink break, we were now energised to continue on our final way.

The hike again led us through forests and we reached down near Merkurbergbahn.

From here on the Panormaweg was more of a road trip and hence instead of continuing our way via foot, we decided to call it a day and took a bus 205 to the city centre again.

We walked a bit around the centre, but since it was already 6 pm, the shops were starting to close. 

We took the 201 bus back from Augustusplatz to station (15 min ride)and took a 6.39 train back to Gengenbach.

If anyone is not interested in doing the hike, the Panoramaweg is 45 km in length surrounding Baden Baden and can be driven through as well.

Day 3 - Munich to Black Forest drive

Monday morning started with a terrible rain. We were hoping that our drive from Munich would be memorable and it was, just not in any way that we had imagined.

We checked out from our hotel near Munich Hauptbahnhof, and due to the rain, took a taxi to the Enterprise car rental agency. We were hoping that we could leave by about 10.30 from Munich giving us ample time to complete my planned tour before reaching Black Forest. Unfortunately by the time the agency guy arrived who could take us to the car, it was already 11 am. 

Either way we started out, and it seemed like the rain was slowing down a bit. I was quite happy since I wanted to go to Schloss Neuschwanstein. 

As soon as we came out of the garage, I realised that this was going to be a stressful drive for me. I am backseat driver and imagine what will happen to me when I realise I can't give instructions as we are driving on the opposite of the road and everything that I might instinctively say would be wrong.

The roads were amazing, and we were quickly able to reach the autobahn. 

This has been Supratim's dream for so long, and he finally got the enjoy the freedom of driving without speed limit in Germany. I was very scared at a lot of places though especially since quite a few places had construction going on and they still announced 100 km limit. There are places where it says do not overtake, and people still do. The roads which do have a limit of them including 100 or 120 is still not followed by most. On average the speed of each car is 140km/hr. This was too much for me, though after some time when I settled down, I became relaxed with Supratim's driving (still not the speed though, especially when for the initial 100 or so kms, every time he had to change a gear, he forgot which side the gear was located. He did not think I noticed for the first few times.)

There was some traffic and some really bad rain, but we reached Fussen at about 2 pm. This town is at one end of the Romantic road drive and has two castles - Schloss Hohenschwangau and Scholss Neuschwanstein. 

Ludwig spent his former years at the Scholss Hohenschwangau.

Scholss Neuschwanstein seems like a Disney fairy tale castle. While driving down the road from Fussen, the castle that you see having a yellow facade is the Hohenschwangau and these markers are all in the road. The Neuschwanstein however is the one that is seen amidst the dense trees, atop a hill and sometimes nestled in the clouds.

King Ludwig II built this castle using a stage decorator, as he wanted to bring a romantic medieval feel to his creation. He spent a lot of money in building this castle, but could spend only 170 days in its residence. The castle was never completed. 

There is a nice walk up from the foot that people can try or shuttles and horse drawn carriages that can be used, with fare prices.

Unfortunately for me, because it was quite late and with so much rain, all I could do was enjoy the view of the castle from the foothills.

We started from the Fussen hoping to reach Gengenbach, our Black Forest hotel by 8 pm or so. And instead of taking the same road back, we thought of taking a detour via Lake Constance.

If road to Fussen was the romantic road, then road from Fussen to Lake Constance was definitely a wine road. Rows and rows of vineyards scattered as far as you can see. We also passed many apple orchards and cherry orchards. Every time I saw those red cherries from the trees, I wanted to get out of the car and get some of those. Even with the pitter patter of the rain, the scenery was still worth the drive.

 Luck was not on my side though, with just an hour on the road we came to a major standstill. There had been an accident on the road and we were stuck here for 1.5 hours. Even after this our onwards road was not much easier with multiple diversions on the road. 

However we finally made it to our hotel at 10 pm, almost 2 hrs later than what we had hoped for.

Thankfully a MacDonalds on the highway saved us from hunger, and by the time we checked in, we were very tired. 

Plan for Black Forest drive would need to be made next day itself.

Munich day tour - Day 1

This time our trip led us to the wonderful city of Munich, Salzburg and roads of Black Forest. And since I am now influenced by the British mannerisms, I have to say it was a wonderful weather today.

We took an early morning flight from Gatwick to Munich reaching Munich at about 10 am.

Munich airport is connected to the Hauptbahnhof by S8 and takes approx 40 minutes to reach. So we were ready to explore the city by 11 am.

Most of the Munich city can be covered by foot. Starting from the Munich Hauptbahnhof towards Marienplatz, it is approx 15 min walk. Marienplatz or Mary's square is a popular gathering spot for performing artists and packs a lot of interesting personality in a small spot. This is anchored by Mariensaule - Mary's column.

The neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus with its coal blackened facade dominates the square. With gargoyles, statues and a dragon trying to scale the wall, your eyes will still be drawn to the Glockenspiel. This is one of most visited tourist attraction in Munich. It consists of 43 bells and 32 figures that perform with a musical accompaniment at 11 am, noon and 5 pm daily. 

The top half tells the story of a Knights tournament held in 1568 to celebrate the marriage of Duke Wilhelmina V to Renata of Lothringen. This was the marriage between a local with an Austrian princess, and the story depicts the jousting match where Munich champion defeats Austrian Knight.

The bottom half portrays the Schafflertanz. In olden days when plague had set upon the city, all the healthy people used to quarantine themselves in their houses. The economy used to suffer and the coopers were the most impacted. Coopers used to go out in the city to check if plague had left the city but they had no way of telling the people about it. They thought of putting letters in everyone's home, but not all could read or write in those days, and hence came about the coopers dance, which shows the celebration that plague had left the city in 1517. 

From Marienplatz, you can walk towards the Altes Rathaus, this is the old town hall, though the original townhouse  was destroyed in the WWII bombings and this is a reconstruction completed in 1970s. This now houses the Spielzeugmuseum (toy museum) and contains the largest collection of teddy bears and Barbies'.

Overlooking Marienplatz is also the Munich's oldest church - St. Peter also known as Alter Peter or Peterskirche. Don't forget to climb the tower (with its 299 steps) to get a magnificent view of the Munich city. On a clear day, you will be able to see all the way to the Alps. Munich boasts of the tower at Neues Rathaus, Olympia park and Peters church, and you will get the best views from here.

If you are tired after this walk, walk over to the beer garden crossing the street from Alter Peter. This is the Viktualienmarkt. This is Farmers market and you will get fresh fruits and veggies here. In summer this place is filled with beer gardens. Now beer garden is named only if the garden is filled with chestnut trees. It's leaves are thick and   provide shade. 

This beer garden also contains a maypole which is draped with Austrian flag colours. 

There is a tradition in Bavaria and people are always competing with each other to steal the others maypoles. if your maypole ever gets stolen then the loser(you) would need to treat the winner party with all the beer that they can drink along with all the food that they can eat. And of course this winner party includes the people who stole the maypole, their family and friends. So all of a sudden everyone wants to become friends with the winners.

Another road from Marienplatz also leads down to Frauenkirchen. The church was built in an impressive 20 years time between 1468 -1488. It towers over Munich and no other building in central city may stand taller than its onion-domed twin towers. One of the tower is 99m while the other is slightly shorter than first.

During WWII when all of Munich was being bombed, these towers survived. The only guess that people make about why these survived was the fact that these towers were used as a focal point by the ally forces to bomb the city.

There are loads of other places to see in Munich - English gardens, Residenz, museums, etc. However I could only cover these on my first day. Will try to see the others on my last day back in Munich.

How to get a case of beer or the girl that you love - Bavarian tradition

I have learned so many traditions during my visit to Munich and each one is worth telling about and intriguingly a lot of these traditions involve the golden liquid.

This is for all the men who want to win over their girlfriends or wives.

In the early days there was a tried and tested way to show a lady that you loved her. All the man had to do was cut a large tree, take it back home, clean out the branches and polish the bark. Then he would carve out beautiful designs on it,including little clues to his identity on the bark.

Now after working so hard on this, he would again need to drag the tree back in front of his beloved's house at night, ensuring that no one sees him.

The next day when his beloved gets up in the morning and comes out of the house, she would see this beautiful maypole in her courtyard. Looking at the design she is supposed to guess at the identity of her lover. At this point, the man who is hidden nearby would be waiting to hear the decision of his beloved.

If the lady loves his back, she would dance around the maypole signalling that she loves him and both are happy.

If the lady does not love him back, well tough luck, but in order not to disappoint the man, she would go inside her home and come back with a case of beer and put it at the base of the maypole. The man may not get the girl, but he still gets the beer to drown his sorrows in.

You can give this a try... 

Frauenkirchen and the devil's footprint

Frauenkirchen, a magnificent church was built by in only 20 years (1468-1488) and have a lot of stories about why that is so. One such story goes thus -

It is said that this church was built by the devil himself. 

One day while the church was being built, the devil had come to Munich to meet his friends and have a beer or two (of course the story that I was told by the local however factious had to have beer in it.) When the devil passed by the church, it was not yet complete and the devil being the devil decided to raze the church to the ground. When he went inside one of the entrances, he realised that there were not many windows. The place when fully built would be dark and damp. He thought that when the worshipers would come to this place, due to less light and dampness would fall sick and eventually die early. The devil thought that such a place would surely be a tribute to himself. He went to the architect and offered him a deal. The devil asked that if the architect did not add any more windows to the church then in return he would offer riches and fame to the architect. The devil would also help the architect to build the church in the span of just 20 years. The architect took the deal and built the church.

20 years later when the devil returned and entered the church, he saw that there was plenty of light and the church contained a lot of tall windows. He was angry and went to the architect. The devil now wanted to take the architect's soul as he had broken the deal.

The architect though stopped the devil and said 'I did not break the deal. Your condition was that I should not add any more windows to the church and I did not'. 

You see 20 years prior the devil had entered the church from the entrance where the architect's ingenuity had placed the columns in such a way that it hid all the windows except the one above the altar. Now when the church was built, the devil entered the church from another entrance and did not see the same columns hiding the windows. 

The devil was himself duped by a mere human. He was so angry that he stomped his foot in the church and till today you can see his footprint in the church.

The other story is that the footprint inside the church is that of the architect. Instead of signing his work at a corner, he put his footprint as a signature. But you decide which story you find more interesting.

Hofbräuhaus - the famous tavern in Munich

This is the world's most celebrated beer hall, and has a very interesting history and yet again stories surrounding it.

During the early periods after the house opened, men (women were not allowed in) used to drink inside the house and had to go out to relieve themselves, a natural after effect of consuming large quantities of the golden liquid. One can still see a narrow gutter running outside the house which was perhaps being used. There were however a few problems with this solution of urinating outside, you could lose your seat inside the house and may as well your beer. To counter this problem they engineered a better solution, a gutter inside the house running right beneath the tables. All one had to do was to relieve oneself freely as and when pressure was felt, wearing the lederhosen was ideal (or perhaps invented) just for this reason. 

This solution however had a bigger disadvantage- one of splash-back which means all your mates and other people sitting around you would be soon feeling wet around their legs, which presumably was not ideal. Someone invented an idea to circumvent the splash-back problem- a stick that you use to wave around under the table just before letting yourself go so that your mates have enough warning to lift their legs up when they feel the knock of the stick on their sheens. Not the best German engineering, and it was not before someone, an old man a regular himself found another idea which could solve both the problems of splash back and getting hit on your legs the whole day. It was a novel idea indeed which he announced excitedly one day out of the blue by standing on one of the tables. The idea was that of a twirling stick that you could use to pee which would help the liquid down its way to the gutter in a more controlled manner avoiding any splash back whatsoever. 

There is another tradition which perhaps started here more out of necessity. It is that of the last bell also known as the wash. The first bell meant more as a soft warning to get your final drinks and prep to leave. The second bell was a warning because that meant you had only a minute to leave before they flood the floor to wash down all the waste out of gutters. It was meant to cleanse the place before it started all again the next day. 

Mariensaule- how it came to be...

I was told of this very nice story by one of the tour guides that I would love to share about  Mariensaule or Mary's column in Marienplatz, Munich.

The 30 years war lasted from 1608 to 1638, where the Swedish forces raped and pillaged various towns and cities. 

The locals were afraid for their lives and decided to build a wall around the city to defend themselves. However, before the wall was completed, the Swedish forces had already arrived at their doorstep. When they reached Munich, the forces, like several other people, fell in love with the city and did not want to destroy it. In exchange of not destroying the city, they asked the locals to give them 300,000 coins. Now the locals gave up a lot of their treasures but still could come up with only about 100000 coins. They went to the Swedish forces and requested that with this amount that they had collected, they would like to offer the forces their liquid gold - beer. The Swedes took their offer and left Munich without spilling a single drop of blood.

The locals decided to celebrate the victory by having a celebration at Marienplatz. Now the elector Maxmilian 1 had left Munich city when the Swedes had arrived. After hearing of their return, the elector rode back to the city with all his forces. The locals, though we're very angry that he had left the city in its hour of need and refused to let him celebrate with them. Max, though, was a clever man - he said to the locals 'I had gone with my forces to the highest of the mountain in the Bavarian Alps, so that I could be close to the heavens. And here I prayed to the God to save the city'. The locals, gullible that they were, believed him and in order to honour him, asked that his golden statue be placed at the Marienplatz. However there was no money left anymore to make the statue. Again came Max to the rescue, and he said that 'we should thank the one person who saved us all, and that is not me but Mary. Instead of erecting my statue, we should have a golden statue of Mary'. This statue of Mary was already with Max and he erected  column in Marienplatz and placed the statue in top of it.

Munich Oktoberfest - stories that I heard in my travels..

Writing my first blog about Munich, I thought of starting with what every local loves to talk about - beer.

Munich is almost synonymous with Oktoberfest and during my visit to Munich City, I learned a lot of interesting stuff regarding this festival.

In 1810, when King Ludwig married princess Therese, as a gift for the bride the king bought a meadow for his bride. But women, as is the case, will never be impressed by a piece of land and the king had to improvise mentioning that this land would be named after the queen. When this too failed to impress the would be queen, the king declared that as part of the wedding celebrations he would throw a huge party for everyone. And it was a glorious celebration with drinking and dancing.
The next year, when it was time after the harvest, the people of Munich remembered this celebration and instead of having a smaller celebration went to the King requesting that he throw the same party as last year and thus the tradition of Oktoberfest began.

People from all around the world visit Munich during this time to enjoy the beer. But Americans and Aussies beware - 1 litre of Augustiner beer is equivalent to 9 bottled beers. So when the Aussies come to Oktoberfest, the Munich locals joke about the fact that they can't hold their beer. 

There are some quite interesting statistics about the Aussies that I was told about in my visit to the city. It is rumoured that when an Aussie comes to the Octoberfest, he is told to always keep track of 2 things - their passports and their children. Some of the statistics say that among the so many people of different nationalities that lose their passports during the fest, Aussies always make it to the top of the leaderboard. And 2 years back, out of 38 children in the lost and found booth, 27 of them were Aussies.

There is a funny story around why Aussies lose their passports, and it goes this way - it is believed that every year there is a competition among the the Bavarian towns. Each town appoint a woman leader, and during this fest whoever collects the maximum number of Aussie passports wins a big barrel of beer. Last year someone collected over 280 Aussie passports. How they managed to achieve this is a very good question 😉

Now in Germany, it is illegal to travel anywhere without an identification document. Unfortunately the closest Australian embassy that can provide replacement passports is a 7 hr train ride to Berlin. But Aussies, God bless them, are always the cheerful lot, and during the festival, they have a temporary embassy opened up within the UK embassy in Munich.
 That is quite awesome.

My pains of moving house in London

Moving houses is always a pain whether you are based in India or abroad. While in Bangalore, I had avoided that pain by extending my contract till I finally left Bangalore. But here in London, I was not so lucky.

I was staying in a one bedroom apartment in London, however since the house was located at the top of a typical English house, my room roofs were all slanted. Again this house was good enough when I was staying alone, but now that my husband was finally going to join me in London, I had to start looking for another house. And so started my search ...

I was supposed to work out of London for a period of 6 weeks, right bang at the time when I was supposed to be searching for a new house and shifting. At that time, my husband was also not based in London, so we had a span of 4 days (2 weekends) when we had to see the houses and finalise one. Yes, there are a couple of good websites that you can use when you are searching for houses but there is no guarantee that the houses listed on the website are available. Sometimes they are just not updated. Also, it is very difficult to get a house which is within your budget, your timelines, and within the locality that you want. As a final move, I had to go to property agencies to give them my criteria and view their property listings.

And thus started my calls to register myself in their agencies and give them my criteria for the house. At first there was nothing that would suit me, not because I am choosy, trust me, I am not. The houses that I saw were just not good for the rent that I would pay. Ok, so most of the houses that I saw was via StreetsAhead and some might say that is the reason why I could not get anything properly. But again, atleast they were polite enough and interested to show me the properties, unlike some of the agencies that I called and who just said you are registered and will call back after some days or forgot completely. The agency with whom I had my existing house were just not interested in showing me alternate properties – I guess this is how it works here. If you are leaving us, it does not matter if we have any other houses, we just won’t show it to you!!

Finally after much search (ok not that much, we were under time pressure though) we found a house that we liked and which was within our budget as well. We had a couple of misgivings that we had identified and that we wanted to put in the contract as ‘to be fixed’. The Townends (from whom we took the house) made a show that yes they talked to the owner and the owner is ok with the changes/conditions that we had for the agreement. With this reassurance, we paid the holding fees and were told that we would get a mail from them for the receipt as well as some time later get a call for them for the next steps. Now this agency charges the maximum administration fees – 350£ - for what !! – well for preparing a 20 page agreement document. Ha ha !!!

As the days passed by and my previous tenancy term was coming to an end, I started getting flustered. The agency had still not contacted me with any further steps. I called them up to check where they were and they gave me an answer that ‘they deal with check-ins and check-outs in the next 48 hour basis’. Obviously I had contacted them 2 weeks advance and they were least bothered with me. But a tleast as a courtesy they could have kept me abreast of what was happening. As a result, I got different phone calls from different agents in Townends – one mentioning that the date that I had specified for move in is not feasible since the previous tenant would not have moved out by then, and the other saying that it is not the case. Now, considering that this agency is so huge and has so many branches, I believe there should be some kind of processes that they follow – may be not CMMI level processes but some processes nevertheless. It is ridiculous that they were not on the same page of when the check out was going to happen. Furthermore, the only reason why we had said ok to the house was because we had given the holding deposit for a specific check in date. And so it continued till 3 working days before the check-in. I received the agreement papers at 5 pm along with notes mentioning I had to pay the remaining charges (rent, deposit, etc) 3 working days before the check-in date. Now, who was joking !!! Guess they forget that the banks don’t operate on our whims and fancies and if something is needed on time, it has to start properly from all ends. We paid the money on the same date, ok made the bank payment, god knows when it reached the agency. Now for the conditions that we had mentioned when we paid the holding deposit – these were not mentioned in the agreement because the owner was not ok with them. Did we have a choice to go ahead with some other house, no of-course we did not, because nobody would give us a ready to move in house in 3 days. We had to accept the agreement as it was.

We thought thank god the circus is over and finally we will get the keys. And lo and behold, Saturday comes and we get a call from the agent saying that they had not received the payment and hence they cannot give the keys – Reason – the headoffice which keeps the payment records is closed on Saturday and they cannot confirm if the payment was made.. Now whose fault is that ? The tenants’ – who dispite all odds made the payment on time as soon as the agreement was signed, or the agency – to whom we paid 350£ just to ensure that we get a good service and who kept on giving excuses till the last moment and could not confirm anything to us. Again after lot of frantic attempts, we understood that the previous tenant is going to leave before us, and we are going to get the keys on time and they were ok with the payment receipt that we had from the bank. Thus ended my grievances with the agency when we finally got the keys to the house and started shifting.

                Now if you ask me – did I get my money’s worth? Is the 20 page agreement enough for me when the basics that I ask are not provided? There were two main things that I had asked for when I paid the holding amount – time of the check in and conditions to be added in the agreement – Both of which were not full-filled. This is the kind of service that I received for my money.

Is it better if you search for the house on your own – without agents? There is a risk here as well – if the owner is good, you would be happy, if not then you would be in deep trouble.

If you go ahead with agents – well that I can tell with my experience with Bairstow eves as well as Townends – they are just sales people, who once you have committed, do not bother with you , just telling you to keep on moving from one call to another trying to find the right person who can answer your queries.

Outing @ London Eye - tips

London eye - on a bright sunny day providing a spectacular view of the whole of London. We talk about London and this is the iconic landmark that comes to our mind - located on the banks of Thames, overlooking the Big Ben and Houses of Parliament.
I have been twice on London eye and still everytime I look at it I marvel at the amazing design and its  architectural ingenuity. London eye, initially known as Millennium eye, was inaugurated in 2000 and is the most visited tourist attractions in UK.Go on the weekends, and you have a long queue to ride the wheel. London eye takes half an hour to complete one full rotation. So before you plan the trip to this attraction, ensure that you have accommodated sufficient time for the queue and actual ride.
London eye timings differ during the summer(till 9.30 pm) and winter seasons(till 8.30 pm), however the views are spectacular whichever season you pick. During the winter season, try going on London eye, closer to the christmas and you would be spell bound by the lights shining on the banks of the Thames.
London eye also offers something called as a Cupid's capsule - which is a perfect romantic place if you want to pop the question or just want to enjoy a romantic drink atop London.

London eye ticket offers a 4D experience of the views, this is located near to the ticket counter -If you have time, you should view this short film.
There are different kinds of tickets available -

1. Standard ticket - If you are already at London eye and based on the queue you can decide to take this ticket. This is for immediate boarding (obviously you would still have to wait in the queue)
2. Flexi standard ticket - If you planned a complete day out in London and are not sure when you would visit London eye, then this is the ticket for you.
3. Flexi fast track - This would give you priority boarding. There is a seperate queue for this and is much faster.

There are also various offers available online.

1. London Eye's official site provides around 10% discount on the tickets if purchased online.
2. Combination tickets are also available that would allow you to combine two or three attractions in one ticket and pay a cheaper price for the same. Please remember that the combination tickets would need to be converted to London eye tickets before boarding the London Eye. 
3. Sometimes, a 2 for 1 offer is also available from Days out Guide

I believe for anyone visiting London, this would be an amazing experience.

A tale of two brains - Mark Gungor

Ever wonder why women think differently than the men? Why women can always remember that small mistake that men have done and keep pestering men when all they want to do is sit at a place quietly.
This is a video that all men will love - though this still does not answer the age old question every male has - what is in the female's mind? 
If nothing else, it is definitely a good laugh -

'Adjust Madi' attitude

Don't you just hate it when you take so much pains to do something on time trying to make your day go without a hitch, and then suddenly everything starts going out of your hand. Why - because there is someone out there who did not do things ahead of time and thought that it would be perfectly all right to spoil others well made plans by asking them to 'adjust'.

It happened to me when I was coming to UK via flight. Like a organized person, I did a web checkin on time and reserved a place for me so that I would not have to hassle for a seat at the last moment and get what I want.There was a lady who had a seat next to me, and she was traveling with a kid. She did not have the foresight of checking in advance, and wanted me to adjust somewhere else so that she could sit with her kid next to her. There is no way that you can say no in this situation. I had to give up my seat and sit in a aisle seat - which I hate, since I am never comfortable there so that she could sit with her kid.

Then again there was this incident with my sister. She and her husband had gone to watch a movie in the theater. She is newly married and this may have been one of her first few movies together. And there again,  though they had the right tickets, they had to sit in two separate rows - all alone to watch the movie. Why - because there was a kid who had fractured his hand and the adult wanted to sit with the kid next to him for the movie.

I have seen so many cases where people have asked others to adjust so that they can be comfortable, sometimes using the sympathy factor and sometimes just for the sake of asking it.
I do not know what to say in these situations - you cannot say no because you feel bad for them, but then is it right? Is it right for a handful of people to use the sympathy factor and use the 'thoda adjust madi' attitude.
And where else are we using this 'adjust madi' attitude? Haven't we always learnt that being organised is the right way to do things, were we wrong?

Legal age for drinking alcohol

Legal age for getting married is 18 for females and 21 for males. Legal age to vote is 18, legal age for getting a driving license is 18. And now comes a new rule - legal age to drink alocohol is 25. And once again like it always happens, with every new rule there is a controversy. Bar owners, pub owners and youngsters are outraged. But the question remains - Would they be really affected by this new rule?

I am not trying to say whether the rule is correct or wrong, my only point being if a rule is made, steps should also be in place to ensure it is followed. Otherwise this would also become one among the many rules that we have in our rule book and which is dusted only once in a while when someone gets caught doing the wrong thing. And as everyone knows, how many times does this actually happen!! And it definitely does not mean that rules are being followed.

I do not believe anyone serving or buying liquor in these stores ever asks for any kind of an identity proof for their age. So how is the government going to ensure that this rule would be followed? Even if we say for a minute that the pub owners would bow down and follow the rule, what about the local bars and the middlemen who sell alcohol to anyone and everyone that wants it. I think the problem here is much bigger and may not be solved by adding only one rule. It is a step yes - but there are many more steps to follow if what they actually want is to implement 'de-addiction policy'.

I live in London where though the age for drinking alcohol is 18, there are certain products - tobacco and alcohol that can be bought only if you are above 25. And this rule is very strictly followed. I once saw a group a male and 2 females, who were trying to buy tobacco. The girl asked for the tobacco and when asked for id proof was refused since she was below 25. Then the guy accompanying her asked for the same, and even he was refused even though he was above 25 - reason being the store owner was not ready to take the risk that the guy would buy it and give it to the girl. And this is how strict it gets here. If you want to buy such stuff, you have to make sure that the group you are in is above the legally required age. Again this does not mean that the problem is completely solved - but it just makes it difficult to break the law directly.

Unless India comes up with similar strict ways of ensuring the rules are followed, these rules would only end up being one among the thousands that people break. And even though the intentions of the people making the rules are good, unless they also devise ways to ensure the rules are followed, it would be a waste of  time and money.

A day trip to Seven Sisters Country Park

After long months of cold, sun was finally shining down upon London. Me and my hubby decided to take advantage of this beautiful weather to go out of London. After searching for a nice place to visit, we finalised on Seven Sisters Country Park. I hope that this abstract can help you if you wish to visit the place.

Seven Sisters Country Park is part of South Downs National park, situated at Exceat in East Sussex. It comprises of chalk cliffs, vast Greenland and meandering river valley.  Seven sisters were created when ancient rivers cut the valleys into chalk, creating seven peaks. The highest of the peak stands at 253 feet and is named Haven Brow, This peak is followed by Short Brow, Rough Brow, Brass Point, Flagstaff Point, Baily’s Brow and Went Hill Brow.

Seven sisters country park is the best place to be if you are looking for natural beauty unhindered by tourists. The chalky cliffs overlooking the ocean, the shining sun, the vast greenery, away from all the hustle bustle – it feels like heaven,  a reprieve from the daily routine.

Visitor centre is situated in a 18-century barn and you can get map and routes for walking, cycling from here. Cross the road from the visitor centre to enter the park. There are two walking trails at the Park – Park trail, marked with purple arrowed posts is 5 km long. Habitat trail, marked with green arrowed posts is 7 km long circular trail around the perimeter of the park.  Be-aware that this is not a sandy beach but has lots of small rocks and pebbles.

You can start your walk from the park entrance towards the beach. On the return trip, you can climb up the cliffs and walk down over the hills back to the park entrance. The seaside and the cliffs look amazing from the cliff tops. If you are interested, you can walk over the hills towards the South Downs enjoying the beauty.

How to get here: Catch the southern train from London Victoria / London Bridge to Brighton. Once you get out of Brighton, catch bus 12, 12x or 13 towards Eastbourne via Seaford. On weekdays, you can get the bus from stop D outside the station. However on weekends, the buses start from Churchill Square. In order to reach Churchill Square, walk from the station towards the ocean (straight road), when you reach the clock tower, take a right uphill road to reach the bus stop. The bus journey is roughly 60 minutes and reach just outside the Seven sisters country park.

Cycling: You can hire a bike and cycle on the valley floor. Or if you are interested, you can use the more adventurous trails and routes from the Cuckmere cycle hire shop.  

Time for visit: 3-4 hours

The Bombmaker - By Stephen Leather

This novel has it all – crime, suspense, thrill. It has been a long time since I have read such a thrilling novel waiting to know what happens in the end. So here is a brief which may inspire you to read the novel as well.

 

The story revolves around a woman named Andrea Hayes(Andy), who, until 10 years ago, was the best master bombmaker in IRA. It all went wrong one day when a bomb killed 4 school children and crippled another. Andrea turned away from her trade. Today, she lives a quite life with her husband Martin and a young daughter Katie, who have no idea about her past life. Together they have a perfect life, a life to be envious of, until one day Andy’s past comes knocking at her door.

Two people kidnap their daughter, Katie, in the middle of night from the sanctity of their home. Andy and Martin are devastated, when they get the kidnapper’s note mentioning that Andy should travel to London alone while Martin should stay at home and continue his daily routine. If they contact the police they would never see their daughter again. Andy travels to London while Martin makes preparations to gather all his finances together so that they can pay the required ransom to the kidnappers and get their beloved daughter back.  Andy travels to London and checks in at the hotel mentioned by the kidnappers. She decides to contact her husband to let him know that she reached and is now awaiting further directions or call for the ransom.

Life takes another turn for Andy, when she is contacted again by the kidnappers at the hotel but without any ransom for money. She is asked to travel to another location where the kidnappers pick her up and take her to a warehouse. They now tell her about their real motive for the kidnapping – they want Andy to build a four thousand pound fertiliser bomb. The deal is for her to build the bomb and in return she would get her daughter back.

Andy struggles to understand why the bomb is required now that peace is restored in Britian, is this threat political or is this revenge? A bomb of this intensity could wipe out hundreds of lives and the city would be set back by billions of pounds.

Is Andy ready to sacrifice the lives of so many people for the life of her daughter? Is there any guarantee that they would let her and her daughter live after the bomb was made? Who is behind this terrorism – Is it the IRA, the Republicans, an external terrorist group? Who is the mastermind behind all this and what is his master plan – Is it terrorism? Does he intend to detonate the bomb or use it only as a threat?

 

Read the complete novel and I believe you would also praise Stephen for his fantastic way of writing and making the story feel real to you …

 

Grilled Prawns Curry

 

s.

Tipping Point - Review

I am usually into a lot of fiction and mystery books, and dont usually venture into the non-fiction area. However, for those of you who do love these books, I think 'Tipping Point' would be a good one.
After reading this review, I am definitely going to read this one ...
http://thoughtmazes.blogspot.com/2010/08/tipping-point.html

Khatta Meetha

Khatta Meetha is a light comedy of corruption in the contractor’s business. Anybody who has been to the municipal corporation office for getting a particular work done would know about it. Starting with the peon to the top engineers, bribe is the way to go ahead. (Not that there are no honest people, but very few).

Sachin Tichkule is a descendant of a royal family, a budding contractor who has huge dreams of starting Tichkule and Tichkule Company. He is well known in the municipal corporation office for creating issues. His elder brother and one brother-in-law are corrupt contractors, who walk alongside politicians, minting money by all means possible. His other brother-in-law is in the inspection department in the municipal commission office, and is in cahoots with Sachin’s elder brother.

Sachin has logged a complaint against the municipal corporation, for not clearing his cheque on time, and this gets him blacklisted in office. If they were not helping Sachin earlier, the court case hinders the cause further. His situation at home is also not that good, with everyone in the family thinking him to be a lazy, corrupt person. Things start getting worse when a new commissioner comes into town, who happens to be Sachin’s ex-girlfriend – Gehna Ganphule and who makes life worse for him. Though Gehna is against corruption, her prejudice against Sachin is so strong, that she does not realize the corruption around her in the office. As usual, things work out in the end with bad people getting punished and all.

The first half of the movie is comedy, but the second half does not have you laughing always. The movie even has some fight scenes. Trisha, a new comer to Bollywood, is ok, but her acting does not stand out.

Overall, I would say it is an ok to watch movie, but not that great. After all, movies like Hera Pheri are not made everyday.

Harry Potter and Order of Phoenix - Misses

I am a big fan of Harry Potter, have read all the books numerous times and watched the movies numerous times as well. I like to read a particular book and then watch the movie to understand how the directors take out the best parts of the books and put it in a 2 - 3 hour movie. I believe the job is really tough. The author of the book might also be required to ensure that the movie has covered all the important parts for the sequel to be released and understood by the movie public.

Harry Potter, for those who do not yet know him, is a young wizard, a Boy who survived the killing curse of The Dark Lord Voldermort. Hogwarts is the school of magic where Harry studies wizardry. Ron Weasley and Hermionie Granger are his best friends. J.K. Rowling, the author of the book, has spun the storyline so well, it’s really brilliant. The author has written 7 books with Harry from the age of 11, each year presented in one book – Harry Potter and Philosophers Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half blood Prince and finally Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. Till now, 6 movies have been released and the last one would be sometime this year – this movie would be split into two parts.

Yesterday, I was watching the Order of Phoenix and as I mentioned I was wondering how they choose which are the parts that should go into a movie and which should be skipped or changed. For those who have read the books would understand what I am speaking of. There are numerous things that were missing in this movie. I thought I would just make a list of those things that I would have wanted in this movie, and which do have a bending on the future parts and are difficult to understand by people who just watch the movies and have no background of the books.

Appointment of Dolores Umbridge – The school has seen three different Defense against Dark against teachers for three years. This year, the ministry had given an order that if the school cannot appoint a teacher on its own accord, then the Ministry would appoint one of their choices for the post. Dumbledore was not able to find a teacher for the post, and hence Dolores Umbridge was appointed by the minister as a professor in the school.

Dismissal of Professor Trelawney – For those who were wondering who was teaching the students the subject of Divination after the dismissal of Prof Trelawney, I hope you remember the centaur who saved Harry in the first part in the Dark Forest. Centaurs are supposed to be creatures who can gaze at the stars and can predict the future, though not accurately but Divination is also the art of patience.

Fred and George Weasley – Harry had won the Triwizard Cup and a lot of money as the winner of the competition. Harry was reluctant to take the money due to the fact that it killed Cedric Diggory. However, when he realized that he had to take it, he instead offered it to Fred and George and they put it to their business of the ‘Weasley products’. That’s why the ‘W’ when they run away from the school at the end of the movie.

Capture of Hagrid – After Dumbledore vanishes from the school prior to arrest by the ministry, the next one to go is Hagrid. Umbridge is biased against half-breed creatures, and she dismisses Hagrid from the post of the professor. However, since he refuses to go from the school, they start attacking him with spells. Professor McGonagall  runs to his defense, however she is also it by multiple spells and is required to be rushed off to the hospital for recovery.

Cho as the betrayer – The movie shows Cho as the betrayer of the secret about the room of requirements. However, it is not Cho but her friend who betrays all of them.  When Hermionie had asked everybody to sign their names on the paper for Dumbledore’s Army, she had put a curse on the same, which would make the betrayer’s face hideous if ever anybody tried to say a word about the Dumbledore’s Army or the place where they practice. This is a really nice trick that Hermionie does and should have been in the movie.

Umbridge as principal – When Dumbledore vanishes from the school, Umbridge is appointed the Headmaster of the Hogwarts. However, when she tries to get into the Headmaster’s office, she realizes that the gargoyle has shut her off and she cannot enter the office. She is required to use her old office itself.

Kreacher – He is the house elf in Sirius Black’s ancestral home. When Harry has the vision of the Dark Lord torturing Sirius in the Department of mysteries, Hermionie asks him to check whether Sirius is at home by using the Floo network from Umbridge’s office. When Harry uses it and verifies, he meets Kreacher who informs him that Sirius is at the ministry at magic and would not return at all. Kreacher is the house elf of Black family and Lucius Malfoy’s wife is Sirius’s cousin. She informs Kreacher to mention the lie about Sirius to Harry so that Harry could be lured to the Department of mysteries. During this whole time, Sirius is supposed to be at home itself tending to Buckbeak whom Kreacher has earlier injured.

Christmas Gift – When Harry mentions to Sirius about Snape teaching him Occlumency, he mentions that he is afraid that Snape is in fact making his mind more vulnerable to the Dark Lord. Sirius gives a mirror mentioning that whenever Harry needs Sirius, he should look at the mirror and call him. The mirror is a communication device whose other part would be with Sirius and they would be able to talk via it. Harry forgets all about this gift when he gets the vision and instead uses the floo network to contact Sirius. This mirror is very useful in the last part of the Harry Potter series. And I wonder how the directors would go by without it.

Well, these were some of the things that I thought would have been good in the movie. Guess, others would have their own views about what should or should not have been there in the movie.

Pick your own crop and fruits - Garsons, UK

This weekend I shifted to my cousin’s place at Farnborough, Hampshire. They had made a plan to go for Strawberry picking and I tagged along with them. This was my first time at such a place and I had no idea what to expect.

We drove from Farnborough to Esher to a place named as ‘Garsons’. They have a huge farm where a lot of crops and fruits are grown. They have an excellent range of vegetables variety from cauliflower and beans to green peas and potatoes. They also grow fruits– Strawberries, Gooseberries, Blackcurrant, Raspberries, Blackberries, Cherries and a lot more. The farm grows 5 types of flowers. Here, you can handpick the fruits and vegetables that you want, and take them home (obviously at a price), though its still fun to pick what you want.

We started from the Raspberry farm, started picking some. Some of the berries were a little too ripe. So when you are picking them, make sure they are just the right amount of red. From the Raspberries, we went to the Gooseberries. I had the delight of tasting Gooseberries for the first time. They are a little sour, a little sweet and definitely a once taste. Be very careful while picking these up – the bush is thorny. The blackcurrants are one fruit I have no intention of tasting every again.  We saw Cauliflowers, though had no intention to pick those up this time.  We did go to the crops section though. We checked out the Garden peas section. The same place had 3 different varieties – Garden peas, Mange Tout and Sugar snaps.

We then made our way to the top attraction – Strawberry farm. This is really fun. You would have to search for the strawberries amidst all the bushes. Pick up the red ones, but not too red. The dark red ones do not taste good. The normal red ones however are delicious. I had been buying strawberries from the Borough market for the past week and I had thought these were good, but the ones from the Garsons are very yummy. You would always remember their taste.

Garsons has a nice picnic spot where you can go and eat the lunch or snacks you have brought with you. Its very sunny these days, so if you have an umbrella, please bring it along. The picnic spot has benches, though on weekends there is a lot of crowd, and its better to bring your own mats that you can use. In case you are planning on eating the picked fruits, please remember to pay for the same. The picnic spot can be found if you drive through the Ring Road across the farm, there are sign posts which would guide you. Or you can always give a shout and ask.

People who would like to visit please note the timings – Mon – Sat : 9 am to 6 pm and Sundays : 11 am to 5 pm.

Hope you have a nice time there.

Garsons  has two branches – Esher and Titchfield.

Address for Esher: Winterdown Road, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8LS

For the complete list of crops grown please visit - http://www.garsons.co.uk/Esher/PickYourOwn/CropAtoZ/documents/CropCalendar.pdf

For the map of the Garsons farm to know where you can pick the crops - http://www.garsons.co.uk/Esher/PickYourOwn/CropAtoZ/documents/CropMap2010.pdf

Visit http://www.garsons.co.uk for more details on how to reach via public transport and other details

Note: Tomorrow they are opening for cherry picking. If you want to get the best, please be there at 9 am. Last year, they mentioned, all the cherries were gone in just 4 days. So please don’t wait for the weekend. You might miss the fun. I know I will.