Yearly Archives: 2003

The Japan travelogues – I

This entry was posted in personal travel on by (updated 5717 days ago)

Ok.. so this is the first article of the travelogue series.. What do i write about? Not that I am very well travelled. Guess, it would make more sense in enlightening others about a very less frequented place .. like Japan! Had been there for 2 months last November.. and got a taste of the (brrrr) japanese winters…In fact I even spent my new years there, which was quite an experience in itself :-).
First Impressions
To start with I reached Narita Airport (Tokyo) on 19th November. It was freezing cold, much more than what Delhi had me accustomed to. Oh, before this I must give some background. I had gone via Singapore, through Singapore Airlines and these folks had delayed the flight at Delhi itself, by more than 4hrs on that chilly Novemeber night. The reason being some patient, (in the previous incoming flight) who was suddenly taken ill and he and his whole family had to be offloaded along with their luggage. As a result all subsequent SIA flights (via singapore sector) got delayed. That made the starting time of my flight as 3am from Delhi itself which meant that I would have reached Tokyo at a time when the only option for me to get to my final destination would be to go by train, which involved changing 3 trains from various platforms with all that luggage with me (help!). Cabs are of course available but they are as costly as 140$ for that distance and we guys had already been prohibited their use (After all I was being sent on official purposes). I decided to try my luck and went to have a chat with the SIA ground staff. After explaining my situ and also touching upon the fact that had it not been for the delay I would have conveniently taken a “Limousine bus” from the airport, I was finally granted a taxi till my destination! That was a great load off my chest, back and every other place, literally!
So to get back to the starting, (I’ll skip the plane journey bit, though it was my first time) I arrived at Narita airport and there was this English speaking (This is a VERY important point) lady attendent waiting for me to guide me through immigration etc. With her, the whole process was like a waltz, smooth and perfect. It was already night (BTW it gets pitch dark in Japan by 5pm in winters) and I could barely see anything on my 1 hr long drive to my hotel. I was in an absorbing mode, taking in everything I saw. The fact that I *was* in Japan had still not sunk in. But from whatever little I could see, I could make out that the roads (and even the houses) were *very* small, and the traffic very well organised. (They drive the same way, or should I say we drive the same way as them :-P) There were no animals or crowds on the streets ( I felt so outta place!) and I didnt see those typical monument kinda structures that one associates Japan with. Their houses were like an array of small matchboxes, lined in perfect coordination with the neighbouring matchboxes. All the cars I saw were so familiar, what with most of the leading car manufacturers in India being Japanese companies. I saw all Maruti models courtesy Suzuki, also saw various models in Honda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Kawasaki.. name it and you have it! Even their bikes were like the bike in that TV serial we used to watch loooong time back – Night rider or something.
Anyway, I was soon at my hotel “Kashiwa Plaza” and had a tough time thanking the driver…was just practising my newly acquired limited Japanese you see :-).. Thank You is “Arigato Gozaimashita” in Japanese. The hotel room was again *Very* small. It was just about as much space as a bed would need. There was a small attached bathroom with the same “speciality”. Keeping my luggage in the room took up all the breathing space that was left. There was one small window which opened into the backside of another building, literally coz the backside wall was all I could see…it was *so* closely built. Finally I called up folks back home and informed them about my safe arrival. Had called up Sumit from the airport. He was waiting downstairs to show me a couple of convenience stores and the way to the station for getting to office the next day. After seeing all that I just conked off in the “just fitting” bed still trying to make myself realise that I was in Japan after all.


Reincarnation

This entry was posted in media on by (updated 5717 days ago)

Was watching the news last night. It had the most outrageous and mind blowing scoop ever!! It talked about some female who supposedly remembers 2 of her previous births. She’s a doctor in this birth and it seems, she could remember all details of her previous births right from childhood. Her “current” parents took her to her 1st house. (GOD this sure is getting complicated) and she recognised everything and everyone. Eventually she even managed to convince all the members of the “old” family that she indeed had been Bindiya, by disclosing details only she would have known.
In her next birth, (2nd one), she happened to have been born in a remote village which is currently in Bangladesh. No one could take her there now for obvious reasons. In this particular birth she had been born to a Bengali Brahmin family. She remembers assamese folklore from that era! In *this* birth she died as a 9 year old girl in a car accident. The only thing done was that police records were verified and it was confirmed that there indeed had been such an incident on so n so date.
Now comes the even more complicated bit, her “current” birth relationships and how ppl handle this supernatural streak. (Gives *me* the jitters!) Her current husband was told of her “sixth sense” before marriage and also informed that she still frequents her “previous” maika and sasural! The husband in true indian tradition was only overjoyed to get such a rare life partner :-P.
So now the doctor has umpteen no of relationships to maintain. Imagine having to handle all the complications and pressures of your previous lives as well as of this life! Our creator must have had a reason for us to not remember our past lives. The human brain is a pretty complex thing. The newsreport showed just a 1 minute comment from a doctor on the scientific aspect of the whole reincarnation thing. The doc acknowledged that only 1/3rd of the brain is used in us mortals (shame!) and the other “subconscious” part probably stores/records events and memories. But what she definitely missed was that the human brain, a physical entity gets destroyed after someones death. How is it ever possible to retain all that info?! Lot of complex things happening behind the scene…
– reincarnated Blogger


Music galore

This entry was posted in delhi media music on by (updated 5717 days ago)

FM has become pretty much a rage nowadays, what with *so* many new channels being doled out on the average auditory senses of a typical delhite. By “average auditory senses” I mean that the average delhite does not have an appreciable sense of music or the fondness for it either. So to make FM popular lot of gimmicks have been resorted to, by the various competitors. They have included a lot of “gup shup”, a plethora of ads, information about various events happening in delhi, the best shopping deals and of course contests to lure audiences into listening to their channels. Yeah, they also throw in some songs at some regular intervals :-P. The print media viz the newspapers and the hoardings on the streets have not been spared either. On one side of the road would be hoarding boards – all bright red and on the other side, they would all be having a red mirchi drawn on them! The competitors in the newspaper industry are going out of their way promoting their own channel and even launching weird schemes, where one can buy newspapers for the unheard of weird monthly bill of 98.3! Every news daily publishes a photograph of their RJ’s frequently, tangled in a mass of wires and telephones, trying to cope up with the immense traffic that their contests are generating and taking pride in the fact that phone lines and networks are being clogged by this senseless, tremendous rush!
Talking of contests, firstly all channels started out with giving free fuel to vehicles sporting the sticker for the particular channel. Now they have graduated to asking torpid questions which really amount to lured delhi listeners, numbing their fingers in a bid to get through the phone numbers, being flashed out by the RJ’s. Of course, no one can question the basis on which the prizes are given (the “best” slogans are never read out) or for that matter the authenticity of the names of the prize winners. I wouldn’t be surprised if all names turn out to be bogus and the “so much in demand” phone lines are always off the hook to give that illusion of the “most sought after channel” to the listener.
All said and done, I would stick to good old AIR FM. For one, they aren’t demeaning themselves by going all out on getting one up on their competitors, but then a government owned entity might as well not try to do that. And the more important reason, at least they play *music* instead of doling out the same old hindi chartbusters day after day. For once I don’t have to think 91 times or see 93.5 shades of red or control my body temperature from going beyond a stable 98.3 before I decide that am gonna listen to 102.6!!


An outing 7

This entry was posted in gurgaon personal on by (updated 5717 days ago)

Today I went to Tango, a restaurant in DLF. The ppl who accompanied me were Ish, Rohit, Mini, Bonda and Manoj – all from the PPG team. It was a small place with hardly any seating space on the ground floor. The cooking was done on the first floor, with a spiral staircase leading upto the cooking area. By now the waiters would have had enough of practice to avoid toppling dishes from that dizzying height :-). We all ordered our individual items and juices. The juices were surprisingly good and were freshly made instead of being tossed out of tins into stylish glasses. So the long wait was not minded much. The rest of the fare took quite some time to come though.
The first lucky recipient of his meal was Rohit. He had ordered a Chicken Sandwich and a Chicken Salad to go with it. Everyone dug into it except Mini who’s a vegetarian. After much wait, came the next item, Manoj’s Veg steak which had some kinda cutlet with garlic sauce on it. That was good too. The infinite amount of time being taken between orders could probably be accounted for, by the gas cylinder we saw, being “smuggled” up the spiralling staircase. One after another, all dishes came with the last one being Ish’s Macaroni florentine. Bonda didn’t like his Chicken Shashlik sizzler and found my Chicken Satellite sizzler better (dunno the funda behind the satellites though). In between Rohit tried all kind of antics (now that he was vela) with the water in the plastic glasses, managing to spill it all over himself, thankfully not in any strategic places :P. The food was good overall but the wait had been too much. Eventually it was time for payment of the 900+ bill. When we asked for corporate discount we were asked which company we are from and then told that there was no corporate discount policy in that restaurant. Wonder why the company’s name was asked for with such efficacy. We gave a credit card for payment and were told that the machine is out of order. Somehow managed to churn out 1000 bucks amongst ourselves and left.