Finally got some time to write something instead of just enough time to upload photos to facebook. One sister and her family is away at her in-laws. My nephews are watching Kiki’s Delivery Service and mom is frying some fish in the kitchen. (more…)
Entries categorized as ‘travel’
Travel tales…
September 12, 2009 · Leave a Comment
In which I try to answer the questions what kind of toilets do we use in Goa?, do cows really walk the streets?, can vegetables be flowers? and where I try to see if anyone can identify a flower/plant that I’m very fond of. (more…)
Categories: travel
I’m a travellin’ man…
May 15, 2009 · 1 Comment
This is motivating me to make some travel plans…
visited 7 states (14%)
Create your own visited map of The United States
And the vast swathes of India I haven’t been to:
visited 12 states (34.2%)
Create your own visited map of India
And this, is absolutely ridiculous:
visited 8 Countries (3.55%)
Create your own visited map of The World
Language
August 9, 2008 · Leave a Comment
My nephew, who’s 4 is growing up in a bi-lingual household. And I have been watching him for a while now: he has this notion in his head that he has to speak Konkani to certain people, and English to others. For instance, with my dad (his granddad), he’ll only speak in Konkani, even if my dad says something in English. With me, he’ll only speak in English, even if I reply back in Konkani.
The other thing I’ve noticed is how he mixes up languages. At first he was just mixing up nouns. So, if a sentence was spoken mostly in English, the nouns in it would be in Konkani (or vice versa). Now, he’s starting to construct gerunds in Konkani (which does not have gerunds) to great hilarity by all.
An example of the first one: instead of “The spoon is on the table”, he’ll say “the culer is on the mesa”. And of the second one, “I am vaching the paper” (for I’m reading the paper).
His brother, who is two speaks mostly in English, and responds to Konkani. It’ll be fun to see how he develops.
Categories: personal · travel
Tagged: family, goa, language development
Almsot there … part 3
July 31, 2008 · Leave a Comment
wherein I discover that Mumbai is not what it used to be.
Categories: travel
Tagged: Adventure, Airport, Customs, goa, India, travel
Almost there … part 2
July 31, 2008 · Leave a Comment
wherein I get to Frankfurt and wander around and reminisce…
Categories: travel
Tagged: Adventure, Airport, goa, India, travel
Almost there…
July 31, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Greetings from Mumbai. There is apparently free wi-fi here, and I can connect to the access point and that’s it. So this may probably not get posted until much later.
It’s 3:00 am in Mumbai and it was pouring when we landed. There was so much water on the runway that the pilot used reverse thrust to slow down the 747 and did not hit the brakes until we got almost to the end of the runway. My travel adventure (part 1) hasn’t ended yet. I have another flight to catch (this one, to Goa’s short – only about an hour) and then maybe an hour’s taxi ride to my sisters house in Santa Cruz, Goa.
The last time I had a chance to sit and open the laptop was in Chicago. Where, (naturally), the United flight to Frankfurt was delayed (only by two hours). I wasn’t in any state to do anything in Chicago, so I just sat there watching a 747 come close enough to kiss the terminal as it pulled into its gate. Everyone ooh’ed and aah’ed appropriately and then we stood around and watched for a bit and then drifted off.
As we boarded, I noticed that some of the passengers were especially bitchy and realised that maybe some of my fellow SFO-ORD-FRA re-routees were happy with having to dash to the airport on short notice. Me – I just wanted to get it over with. That didn’t leave any time or energy to be bitchy about anything.
Chicago-Frankfurt, the captain was very apologetic about the delay. Turns out that the plane was delayed getting in from Beijing, and he said that they had loaded up extra fuel and would be travelling a little faster than normal (at 0.86 mach) to try and make up for any lost time.
Read more…
Categories: travel
Tagged: Adventure, Airport, goa, India, travel
The Adventure Begins
July 31, 2008 · Leave a Comment
This morning I was finishing packing and was about to leave a note for my house sitter when I got a text message. It was United Airlines, saying that my 1:55pm flight to Frankfurt was delayed and would now be leaving at 6:00pm.
After a heartstopping moment of realising that I would miss the Frankfurt-Bombay, and Bombay-Goa flights, making my journey take 4 days instead of the three. Thanks to the power of the internet, I quickly called customer service.
That’s right, in the internet age, you’re much more likely to get your problem solved by calling a real person.
Off to Goa
July 28, 2008 · Leave a Comment
wherein robbers made off with the copper cable connecting the only telephone exchange in the town my parents live in to the rest of the nation, leaving the place without any wired telephone or DSL service. Hence, this may be my last post while the local government department gets its act together.
So what is Goa like? Let me offer up three “news” articles from local newspapers
1. Faithful throng Talaulim for Touxeamchem Fest
Faithful throng Talaulim for Touxeamchem Fest HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JULY 27 — On a Sunday marked by some heavy downpour, Talaulim in Tiswadi invoked the blessings of its patron saint (St Anne), even as people of all faiths thronged the historic 16th century St Anne’s Church to make a wish at the traditional Touxeamchem Fest.
Touxeamchem translates as “of the cucumbers” (or can be translated a little loosely as “our cucumbers”). To continue…
More famed for its miracles of gifting the childless with children, this year too couples brought their gifts (children) and placed them at the feet of St Anne’s statue. Fr Lourdinho Pereira said around 28 childless couples, who received favours, met him personally.
Wow. Someone’s been busy. Note that neither the reporter nor the editor saw anything wrong with this bit.
2. Age-old ritual kick-starts fishing season in Agonda
Age-old ritual kick-starts fishing season in Agonda HERALD CORRESPPONDENT CANACONA, JULY 27 – The traditional fishing season has commenced in Agonda on Sunday with the commemoration of an age-old annual ritual at both ends of the shore. Traditional fishermen from coastal Agonda annually carry out customary puja, where hundreds of coconuts are broken and cocks are sacrificed offering them to Hill Gods, while feni and toddy is poured into sea to please Sea God.
No, not those cocks.
Feni and toddy : local moonshine made from cashew (fruit) and coconut sap.
3. Stray cattle menace on the rise in Salcete
Stray cattle menace on the rise in Salcete NT NETWORK MARGAO: As stray cattle become responsible for road accidents in the city and other areas of Salcete, the Margao Municipal Council and respective Panchayats are yet to take action with regard to the same. According to sources in South Goa Collector’s office, the South Goa district administration has asked the Margao Municipal Council to take strict measures to prevent the cattle menace.
That’s right. Goa has stray cattle that menace traffic. Soon to be a horror film. Maybe they can convince Buffy that the cattle menace is a harbinger of the evil horrors to come.
This is also notice that my English speaking and writing skills will regress to 19th century British governmentese.
Categories: personal · travel
Tagged: goa, news, telephone, travel
Orchid porn
July 13, 2008 · Leave a Comment
From the Bird Park, I took a taxi to the Orchid garden. And it finally dawned on me that Singapore was a really small country. The map showed the Jurong bird park at the western end of Singapore, with the Orchid garden at the northern end. The taxi ride took about 10 minutes and cost me S$12. Rumor has it that it takes about 90 minutes to take a taxi cross country and costs around S$35.
When I got to the garden I was a little hungry and decided to eat at the cafe inside. I got my food ticket and looked around for a place to sit. The place was packed and most everybody had a beer or two in front of them and didn’t look like they would move anytime soon, so I started to see if anyone would be willing to share their tables. I shared a table with a couple (and their baby boy and puppy), who were working in Singapore. I got to know about the expat community (very insular, there’s very little contact between groups) and the attractions of Singapore (the food, the apparent safety) and the downsides (no freedom of speech, expensive real estate). And then my food arrived. I had ordered a Nasi Goreng.
I like to consider that I am a good tourist and that I’m accustomed to café style food, but oh my god, even the deli food here is better than good. I kept eating, talking with my mouth full while they laughed and agreed that yes, the food at the café was really good.
Hunger satisfied, I walked inside. The Orchid garden is actually a small portion of the Singapore Botanical Gardens. It has one of the few dog-friendly parks and jogging trails, and there were a lot of joggers and dogs there. I walked over to the Orchid garden, passing what looked like a gorgeous outdoor performance venue.
The Orchid garden was completely awesome. Every few steps/turns, there was another gorgeous orchid, just blooming there.
Get all your Orchid Porn here.
I learnt something new:
The vanilla bean is the fruit of an Orchid
On my way back, I took a taxi to the subway station, and made an offhand comment to the driver about how well the roads were maintained, since I didn’t recall seeing a single pothole in all the time I was there.
And given that this was Singapore where they have a freaking death penalty not just for possessing drugs, but also for having drug metabolites in your system! I expected a brief propaganda speech about how great Singapore was and why every country should be like that. Instead, I seemed to have let loose a torrent of pent up frustrations.
“Yes, of course the roads are good”, he said “they fine all of us and use it to pay the politicians millions and use the rest to build the roads.”
Singapore’s politicians are the most highly paid public servants in the world, with salaries in the millions of dollars.
“They don’t give a damn, they only give fines. Fine on this, fine on that, Singaporeans are opressed, ministers are paind $4 million, they don’t care about being corrupt or how the rest of us live”, he continued.
“Are the taxi fees a lot too?” I asked.
“Yes, yes – there are fees for driving taxi, I have to pay the government ninety dollars for the taxi every day, even if I don’t drive it. I have to renew license every three years and they make you take a physical exam and take more money for it. Driving is even bad – they are charging for driving on the road now. How are we supposed to live?”
Wow, I should have expected that not everyone would have drunk the cool aid.
The rest of the trip was spent in the driver enumerating all his frustrations with the way things are done in Singapore. And no, he was not an immigrant, he was a native Singaporean, watching the cost of living increase (due to the extremely large influx of well-paid expats).
Although, I really liked the Singapore model of congestion pricing: it is dynamic, with the toll adjusted to keep the average speed of traffic on the road to 45 (kmph). The tolls therefore are not a revenue generation mechanism, they’re a speed regulating mechanism.
I could fully understand the cabbie’s frustration. They were not exempt from the tolls, and had to pay them even if they were empty and cruising for passengers. Naturally, there are no taxis cruising around on streets that are only accessible via a toll road. It also drives more traffic onto “free” roads, making it even harder to get around. Wonder how long people will put up with that?
