Its another new beginning for me. Its the second new job in the same year. Life seams the same when you move from one software services company to another. However, this is the first non Indian company I have joined. It is a bit different and since IBM is an older and bigger company I see the processes are more stable and are more strictly followed. It looks more performance oriented than my previous companies, by the look of it. But I guess what meets the eye in the first few weeks in just the tip of the ice berg.
Another interesting part has been starting work in ramazan after months of rest. And the office is 22 kms away that makes it even worse. Leaving to work in the morning at 8 and returning home at 10 pm after taravi. Its tough but better than doing nothing at home. My project is still in its beginning phase and since we have no connection to the server. Its been all planning and learning. Work should begin with full flow post ramazan.
Other than work life has been pretty slow not much on the personal front and even all my friends are busy. For now I have planned to start jogging and exersizing and a couple of trips are planned post ramazan. Other than that its been pretty easy going. I am looking forward to some action pretty soon.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Changes yet again
Lots of new stuff has been happening around me of late. First of all, its my last week in Satyam. I will be joining IBM next week. This was expected as there are no projects in my area of work in Satyam Bangalore at the moment and sitting on the bench sucks big time. Well, how life in IBM will be again depends on the kind of work I'll have to do there. I feel its another decission with an element of risk. Lets see how things go.
Life has been pretty slow till now. Since June a lot has happened around me but not much with me. I guess I expected it to go really fast since I joined Satyam but its not exactly been as per plans. Either things go too fast or too slow. Thats expected in the IT industry. One good side of changing the job right now is that this ramazan will go pretty peacefully. First week will go in my notice period and rest within the first few days in a new company. I hope it will be a peaceful and blessed month.
For now, I just want to start afresh in a new job. I expect some action post Ramazan both personally and professionally. Watch this space for more updates.
Life has been pretty slow till now. Since June a lot has happened around me but not much with me. I guess I expected it to go really fast since I joined Satyam but its not exactly been as per plans. Either things go too fast or too slow. Thats expected in the IT industry. One good side of changing the job right now is that this ramazan will go pretty peacefully. First week will go in my notice period and rest within the first few days in a new company. I hope it will be a peaceful and blessed month.
For now, I just want to start afresh in a new job. I expect some action post Ramazan both personally and professionally. Watch this space for more updates.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Kerala weekend
It was a much needed weekend after more than two months of highly inactive existance. Toms got married on saturday in Kottayam in Kerala. Toms was my colleague in TCS and Ive been out of touch with most of my TCS colleagues for the last 8 months almost. It was an interesting reunion.
Sarfraz, Manoj and I met in the Bangalore railway station on friday evening. Tom's roomies Adarsh and Smitesh also joined us. We met them for the first time. The train left Bangalore station at 5 15 PM and it was a pretty interesting journey. Manoj and I dint get a reservation initially but managed to get our waiting list reservation converted to a sleeper berth. The journey was pretty good. We all had a lot to catch up about. Especially with Manoj. Both of us left TCS and we realised that its the same story anywhere in the IT industry.
We reached Ernaukulam in the morning around 6 and took a bus and walked till we reached Ettumanoor. Got ready and went to Tom's place. We had a traditional mallu breakfast of Appams with curries. Tom's home and surrounding areas were really spacious. I really long to live in such open spaces at some stage in my life. The speed(lack of it) with which the life moves out there is really good. I might plan another holiday there.
The wedding began at 10 30 AM in the church. It was the first christian wedding I attended and it was very different from what I expected. I had imagined the kind of weddings shown on TV. The wedding was very simple but the hospitality was unmatched. The wedding ceremony lasted for almost two hours. After which we had a very good luncha nd headed back to our room. Smitesh and Adarsh left us there. They had some other work to catch up with. Sarfraz, Manoj and I slept till late in the evening. In the night we went out and had our dinner in a restaurant called Shalimar. The food looked good but the coconut oil smell made it taste pretty ordinary. It was a good experience walking through a mallu village without knowing their language.
Toms arranged for a vehicle for us the next morning to check out Kumarakom. We were accompanied by our driver Kochi and a guide Shiju. We were very lucky to have Shiju with us as he could speak Hindi.We left at around 9 in the morning and had our breakfast on the way. It was a simple south Indian breakfast with a unique Kerala flavour. I stuck to my favourite appam's. We reached Kumarakom around 11 and had a 2 hour long boat ride. The weather and the backwater sight was really breathtaking. We dint have much time but the ride was amazing. I could see many house boats and other cruise options. I long to come and see them again whenever I get another chance. We stopped in the middle where we tried some local fried fish. It tasted very fresh and thats another reason I have to go back to Kerala again. However, one thing caught my eye is the weed growth in the back waters. It has the potential to destroy the natural beauty we have but we see absolutely no action by the local government to address the issue.
After the boat ride we left back towards Kottayam. We had a traditional fish and rice lunch Kerala style. Manoj and I took the 4 PM bus back to Bangalore and Sarfraz left towards Chennai that night for his US visa interview. The return journey was a very painful one. It lasted about 14 hours and even the AC bus drive was very bumpy. Overall it was an interesting journey and hope more of them with my friends in the near future.
Sarfraz, Manoj and I met in the Bangalore railway station on friday evening. Tom's roomies Adarsh and Smitesh also joined us. We met them for the first time. The train left Bangalore station at 5 15 PM and it was a pretty interesting journey. Manoj and I dint get a reservation initially but managed to get our waiting list reservation converted to a sleeper berth. The journey was pretty good. We all had a lot to catch up about. Especially with Manoj. Both of us left TCS and we realised that its the same story anywhere in the IT industry.
We reached Ernaukulam in the morning around 6 and took a bus and walked till we reached Ettumanoor. Got ready and went to Tom's place. We had a traditional mallu breakfast of Appams with curries. Tom's home and surrounding areas were really spacious. I really long to live in such open spaces at some stage in my life. The speed(lack of it) with which the life moves out there is really good. I might plan another holiday there.
The wedding began at 10 30 AM in the church. It was the first christian wedding I attended and it was very different from what I expected. I had imagined the kind of weddings shown on TV. The wedding was very simple but the hospitality was unmatched. The wedding ceremony lasted for almost two hours. After which we had a very good luncha nd headed back to our room. Smitesh and Adarsh left us there. They had some other work to catch up with. Sarfraz, Manoj and I slept till late in the evening. In the night we went out and had our dinner in a restaurant called Shalimar. The food looked good but the coconut oil smell made it taste pretty ordinary. It was a good experience walking through a mallu village without knowing their language.
Toms arranged for a vehicle for us the next morning to check out Kumarakom. We were accompanied by our driver Kochi and a guide Shiju. We were very lucky to have Shiju with us as he could speak Hindi.We left at around 9 in the morning and had our breakfast on the way. It was a simple south Indian breakfast with a unique Kerala flavour. I stuck to my favourite appam's. We reached Kumarakom around 11 and had a 2 hour long boat ride. The weather and the backwater sight was really breathtaking. We dint have much time but the ride was amazing. I could see many house boats and other cruise options. I long to come and see them again whenever I get another chance. We stopped in the middle where we tried some local fried fish. It tasted very fresh and thats another reason I have to go back to Kerala again. However, one thing caught my eye is the weed growth in the back waters. It has the potential to destroy the natural beauty we have but we see absolutely no action by the local government to address the issue.
After the boat ride we left back towards Kottayam. We had a traditional fish and rice lunch Kerala style. Manoj and I took the 4 PM bus back to Bangalore and Sarfraz left towards Chennai that night for his US visa interview. The return journey was a very painful one. It lasted about 14 hours and even the AC bus drive was very bumpy. Overall it was an interesting journey and hope more of them with my friends in the near future.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Change needed
Its more than two months since I returned home. It has been perhaps the slowest two months in a very long time. Even more so because the previous four months were really eventful. Everyday in Japan was eventful, one way or the other.
However, there have been certain interesting events I have to mention. First and foremost, the arrival of Faisal(sister's son) has been a very happy moment for the entire family. Especially to see him learn new things and see changes in his size and behaviour is really fun.
Next important event is we moved to a new home in JP nagar. Its a big change since we lived in T block since the last 21 years atleast. I remember Kulsum was born and around the same time we came to our T block home(I was 5 years old then). Now Kulsum is in her final year Engineering.
The new home is very good. My dad has put in lots of effort time and money into it. I must say it is a dream home but still all of us miss the old home very much. Especially the T block neighbourhood was the best we could have asked for.
As they say every good thing comes to an end and every end is a new beginning. Life has begun afresh in our new home and looking forward for some developments on the professional front as well. After absolutely no work since reporting in the Bangalore office and getting a couple of interesting offers I am in a fix what to do. I have been thinking a lot about moving on and starting afresh. It definitely is not an easy decission to take.
Its time I consider all possible aspects and outcomes and take a decission with ofcourse help of God Inshallah things should work. I am sure all things will have stabilised before I update my blog next time. Bye till then
However, there have been certain interesting events I have to mention. First and foremost, the arrival of Faisal(sister's son) has been a very happy moment for the entire family. Especially to see him learn new things and see changes in his size and behaviour is really fun.
Next important event is we moved to a new home in JP nagar. Its a big change since we lived in T block since the last 21 years atleast. I remember Kulsum was born and around the same time we came to our T block home(I was 5 years old then). Now Kulsum is in her final year Engineering.
The new home is very good. My dad has put in lots of effort time and money into it. I must say it is a dream home but still all of us miss the old home very much. Especially the T block neighbourhood was the best we could have asked for.
As they say every good thing comes to an end and every end is a new beginning. Life has begun afresh in our new home and looking forward for some developments on the professional front as well. After absolutely no work since reporting in the Bangalore office and getting a couple of interesting offers I am in a fix what to do. I have been thinking a lot about moving on and starting afresh. It definitely is not an easy decission to take.
Its time I consider all possible aspects and outcomes and take a decission with ofcourse help of God Inshallah things should work. I am sure all things will have stabilised before I update my blog next time. Bye till then
Monday, July 14, 2008
What am I upto?
I am still trying to figure out "What am I really upto?". I returned to India on 31st May and since then not a lot has happened professionally. I have even hibernated from posting on my blog . On the personal front however things have been good.
On reaching India somethings have looked awesome but I miss some experiences. The best things in India are family and food. The home food and eating out has made me pretty fat the happiness can be seen through the tires around my waist. Just started jogging last week to get healthier. However, Ive been missing the train rides from Atsugi to Tokyo and within Tokyo in the metro. Everytime I pass through MG road, I think when will I travel on "Namma Metro". Even the drive through Hosur road is pretty painful. But I do see hope in the near future as the flyover work is progressing pretty well. One thing is for sure, grass is always greener on the other side. I missed India in Japan and now I remember those days in Japan.
There has hardly been any work in office. The HR guys are trying to allocate some new project to me but as of now nothing seams to be coming. This is the time I have to invest in learning. Since I returned to India the most interesting thing has been meeting my family. Especially the latest member Faisal. He was born on 2nd June. My sister became a mum and I became an uncle.
Frankly speaking, its kind of an offseason on the professional front. Till some new project comes along I have to try to catch up with friends. For now its just an entry in the blog to say "I am still around".
On reaching India somethings have looked awesome but I miss some experiences. The best things in India are family and food. The home food and eating out has made me pretty fat the happiness can be seen through the tires around my waist. Just started jogging last week to get healthier. However, Ive been missing the train rides from Atsugi to Tokyo and within Tokyo in the metro. Everytime I pass through MG road, I think when will I travel on "Namma Metro". Even the drive through Hosur road is pretty painful. But I do see hope in the near future as the flyover work is progressing pretty well. One thing is for sure, grass is always greener on the other side. I missed India in Japan and now I remember those days in Japan.
There has hardly been any work in office. The HR guys are trying to allocate some new project to me but as of now nothing seams to be coming. This is the time I have to invest in learning. Since I returned to India the most interesting thing has been meeting my family. Especially the latest member Faisal. He was born on 2nd June. My sister became a mum and I became an uncle.
Frankly speaking, its kind of an offseason on the professional front. Till some new project comes along I have to try to catch up with friends. For now its just an entry in the blog to say "I am still around".
Monday, May 5, 2008
My Golden week
Last week was my best one in Japan. It is called the golden week and almost all the offices in japan are closed. A string of national holidays span through this entire week like the children's day, constitution day etc. To make it even better, development of our project is complete and our team is relatively relaxed. Rajasree and Deepak are back home in India. Siddhartha and I had 10 days in our hands to make the most of the occassion.
My holidays started on friday, since I had worked on weekends earlier. My golden week began with a visit to Tokyo. My jummah was in Tokyo Camii where I discovered an Egyptian restaurant, Obento in Yoyogi uehara. Most of the desi's,arabs,africans and turkish people around that place have lunch in Obento after their friday prayers. That place was so much like "Zak's" in Bangalore. Same Shawarma, Khubus, Filafel, Hummus etc. After the Egyptian lunch I did some window shopping in Akihabara. I wanted to discover the japanese electronics market. There was so much choice if I wanted to buy a product meant for the japanese market. But the international products are fewer in number. However, even then you will always be stuck with many so many choices. I could not make a decission what to and what not to buy. I decided to come later with Siddhartha to make a final choice.
On saturday I relaxed at home. Did some research on the net about the places to visit during the holidays. Even then too many choices. Its not easy to make a decission when you dont have any constraints. Initially I wanted to go to Osaka, Kyoto and Nara but according to japan-guide.com, there were some interesting choices closer to Tokyo region. Siddhartha and myself were still unsure about the decission to make. Only decission we made was to go to Akihabara on sunday for some electronics shopping.
Our sunday began pretty late, as usual. Around 11 we left to Tokyo. As my plan always in on reaching tokyo(I always reach Yoyogi uehara around zuhur time). I went for my zuhur prayer in Tokyo camii and wanted to take Siddhartha to try the Egyptian lunch. For our bad luck, the restaurant was closed on sunday. It was a bad beginning but still we decided to checkout Ginza before leaving to Akihabara. We reached Ginza around 1 30 PM. Siddhartha had high expectations of Ginza but dint find it all that impressive. Maybe, I had praised that part of Tokyo more than it deserved. We ate in an Indian vegetarian restaurant called Natraj. Its not easy to find a vegetarian restaurant anywhere in Japan. The food was good but a touch expensive(2500Y per head). After our lunch we left to Akihabara where we met my friend Arif who was himself doing some window shopping along with his friend. He helped us find Yodobashi, which is the best place to shop for electronic goods around the Akihabara station. We actually dint take much time in buying anything. I bought an ipod. Siddhartha also bought an mp3 player and some other gifts like wall hangings and T shirts. We left to Roppongi hills after our shopping, where we had a photo session as usual near the sky scrapers of Tokyo. I walked to Hiro'o for asar and mogrib prayers. After which we checked out the Roppongi hills in more detail. We dint go on top but saw the festive atmosphere created over there due to the golden week ofcourse. We returned home after that.
We continued our research on the net about the places to visit outside of the Tokyo region. We had considered a town called Nikko earlier but Arif sang praises about it when we met him in Akihabara. We decided on Nikko and tried to find out as much as possible through the internet. We decided to get there on the Tobu Nikko pass, which would make the trip more reasonable and hasslefree.
On tuesday, we left home around 7 in the morning. We took the Odakyu line till Yoyogi uehara station and from there changed lines and reached Asakusa station around 8 30. We reached there just in the nick of time to catch the train bound to Nikko. We took the pass and left on the express train around 9 15. We reached our destination in a bit more than two hours. The train ride was a very nice one. We could see the Japan we had not seen till then, full of farmers and paddy fields. On reaching Nikko, first thing we saw is a desi restaurant(Asian Garden) right in front of the station run by a Bangladeshi. We ate some prawn curry over there and they suggested us to stay in a Dormitory they have around Lake Chuzenji. After having lunch, Siddhartha and I took the bus till Nihisando. We saw the different temples and shrines over there. It was a beautful sight. The japanese architecture was for us to see there. However, what makes that place really beautiful is the greenery. We saw the real glow of nature after having seen the winter all these months. We saw the Sakura glow in Tokyo in the first two weeks of april but the glow was still to be seen in Nikko.
After the Temples and shrines we took the bus to lake Chuzenji and kept our bags and checked into the dormitory in Asian garden. It was a very cheap option(1500 Yen a night) and the dormitory was not very crowded. We took the bus to see Ryuzu falls after taking rest for about 30 minutes. Ryuzu falls was a very beautiful sight. We could see the water flow from somewhere with great force. One cant help just follow the water to see where it is coming from. We walked upstream and as we went the sight got more and more beautiful. We took pictures and walked through the woods. It was an amazing feeling where we could smell the nature and feel the winds blow. While the water kept flowing and made a very musical sound. I must say the 2 km walk upstream dint feel like hard work. It was just going with the flow. If I was to pick my best experience in this country, it would be this "walk in the woods". On reaching the top where we thought of taking a bus to return to our dormitory but the bus just left and the next bus was after one hour. We now decided to walk back downhill and hoped the bus would catch us while we are walking back. It turned out to be a 4 km walk back to our dorm. It was tiring but fun. Especially the cool wind and the natural surroundings made it feel so. We reached our dorm around 8 pm. We had our dinner which was an Indian style buffet. It was more Bengali style(sweet) and reminded me of my stay in Kolkata. We went to sleep after dinner. There we got into a very interisting conversation with a Dutch person of Iranian descent. What began as a friendly talk, turned into a political arguement. Siddhartha was smart enough to change the topic and get it all down to tourism in japan. We were too tired to continue talking and we went to sleep.
On wednesday we had plans to see more lakes and falls. Nikko is a place full of lakes, falls and hiking trails. We begn our journey with the Kagone falls very close to lake Chuzenji. It was another beautiful sight. We could see a rainbow formation very clearly. It was another postcard perfect picture. So far our trip was full of each sight more beautiful than the other. We then had a look at lake Chuzenji and thought of retuning near Nikko station after checking out some more spots on the way back. We took the bus bound to Nikko station and got down at Nishisando. Where we found directions guiding us towards Jakku falls. We had another 2 km long walk uphill to see the Jakku falls. It was a very tiring walk but at the end it was worth it. This waterfall was not a very big one. But a big advantage here was that we could get into the water. I had carried my swim wear expecting an oportunity to getting into water and this was it. Siddhartha was the first one to have courage to enter the water. Though I can swim long and Siddhartha is not to comfortable swiming long, I was scared to get into the falls. Both of us got into the water one by one. It was a very special experience. Especially the temperature of te water was so low but the dip in the cold water made us feel so relaxed that we forgot that we had walked uphill to get here. We walked back down and took the next bus towards the Tobu Nikko station.
On the way we got down near a very famous bridge just to have a look. We decided to walk to Tobu Nikko station from there and on the way we even found an internet/information centre, where we got to know more about this very interesting place. We then walked back to the station. We had our lunch in Asian garden. After we had our lunch, to my surprise I couldnot find my pass. That was most important to get across Nikko town. I searched for the pass going back to the information centre and other spots but couldnot find it. It dint feel nice but had to move on. We now decided to go to Kirifuri falls which was not that special but I realised on that trip that the Japanese system trusts their guests I mean though I had lost my pass that would take me aroubd Nikko and back to Asakusa. They dint make me pay even a yen extra.
After returning from Kirifuri falls we found Daiyagawa youth hostel to spend that night. The facilities here were nothing special compared to Asian garden in Chuzenji but it cost us 2700 Y(double of the cost in Asian Garden). Anyway it was an interesting stay. We met some Japanese and Canadian tourists. One of the Canadians was a good guitarist and singer. That night was a concert like experience.
We left the next morning to Tobu world. Tobu world has replica's of most important places in the world. Each replica is of 1/25th size of the original and identical to the original place. We saw the best places in Europe, Asia, Egypt and America. Took a lot of photo's. The best one being near our very own Taj mahal.
After viiting Tobu wonderworld we took the train back to Asakusa and from there back to Hon-Atsugi. It was a hassle free journey. Where we saw many places but never faced any hassle either for travel or stay. We were back home on thursday evening. That day we decided to have much needed rest. Through our trip, our days began in the early morning around 8 and ended around midnight. We never even went to office at sharp 9 unless when it was absolutely necessary.
My friday went pretty quite. Went to Ebina for jummah and rest of the day washed clothes and finished all my pending work. We had plans to go out again on sunday but it dint quite work out. My saturday and sunday mostly passed in Ebina masjid where there were some interesting programs. I got to meet many people. One most interesting person was brother Loui from Spain.
I returned home only to watch some stuff on youtube. I followed a bit of IPL but its not quite possible to do it with the enthusiasm we do it at home.
On monday I again set out to Tokyo, alone this time. I wanted to have a nice time before I got back to work. As usual after zuhur prayers in Yoyogi camii I had a very good Egyptian lunch in Obento. Then I left to Akihabara to buy a digital camera. I bought a new Olympus micro but not before having checked each shop in Akihabara for a good international model. Atlast, I found a good deal in Yodobashi where I exchanged the points earned on earlier purchase. It turned out to be a very good deal. I managed a 30% discount. Im yet to use my new camera though. On my way back as usual evening and Isha prayers in Tokyo camii yoyogi uehara and had a very good Egyptian dinner in Obento before taking Odakyu line to return home.
Overall a very long and interesting Golden week and a blog that is more like a novel. I found it really tough to recall all events while writing it. I know most of those who read might not have the patience to read it to the end. Anyway, I hope to have more of these golden weeks in many more interesting locations in time to come. Lets say ameen to that.
My holidays started on friday, since I had worked on weekends earlier. My golden week began with a visit to Tokyo. My jummah was in Tokyo Camii where I discovered an Egyptian restaurant, Obento in Yoyogi uehara. Most of the desi's,arabs,africans and turkish people around that place have lunch in Obento after their friday prayers. That place was so much like "Zak's" in Bangalore. Same Shawarma, Khubus, Filafel, Hummus etc. After the Egyptian lunch I did some window shopping in Akihabara. I wanted to discover the japanese electronics market. There was so much choice if I wanted to buy a product meant for the japanese market. But the international products are fewer in number. However, even then you will always be stuck with many so many choices. I could not make a decission what to and what not to buy. I decided to come later with Siddhartha to make a final choice.
On saturday I relaxed at home. Did some research on the net about the places to visit during the holidays. Even then too many choices. Its not easy to make a decission when you dont have any constraints. Initially I wanted to go to Osaka, Kyoto and Nara but according to japan-guide.com, there were some interesting choices closer to Tokyo region. Siddhartha and myself were still unsure about the decission to make. Only decission we made was to go to Akihabara on sunday for some electronics shopping.
Our sunday began pretty late, as usual. Around 11 we left to Tokyo. As my plan always in on reaching tokyo(I always reach Yoyogi uehara around zuhur time). I went for my zuhur prayer in Tokyo camii and wanted to take Siddhartha to try the Egyptian lunch. For our bad luck, the restaurant was closed on sunday. It was a bad beginning but still we decided to checkout Ginza before leaving to Akihabara. We reached Ginza around 1 30 PM. Siddhartha had high expectations of Ginza but dint find it all that impressive. Maybe, I had praised that part of Tokyo more than it deserved. We ate in an Indian vegetarian restaurant called Natraj. Its not easy to find a vegetarian restaurant anywhere in Japan. The food was good but a touch expensive(2500Y per head). After our lunch we left to Akihabara where we met my friend Arif who was himself doing some window shopping along with his friend. He helped us find Yodobashi, which is the best place to shop for electronic goods around the Akihabara station. We actually dint take much time in buying anything. I bought an ipod. Siddhartha also bought an mp3 player and some other gifts like wall hangings and T shirts. We left to Roppongi hills after our shopping, where we had a photo session as usual near the sky scrapers of Tokyo. I walked to Hiro'o for asar and mogrib prayers. After which we checked out the Roppongi hills in more detail. We dint go on top but saw the festive atmosphere created over there due to the golden week ofcourse. We returned home after that.
We continued our research on the net about the places to visit outside of the Tokyo region. We had considered a town called Nikko earlier but Arif sang praises about it when we met him in Akihabara. We decided on Nikko and tried to find out as much as possible through the internet. We decided to get there on the Tobu Nikko pass, which would make the trip more reasonable and hasslefree.
On tuesday, we left home around 7 in the morning. We took the Odakyu line till Yoyogi uehara station and from there changed lines and reached Asakusa station around 8 30. We reached there just in the nick of time to catch the train bound to Nikko. We took the pass and left on the express train around 9 15. We reached our destination in a bit more than two hours. The train ride was a very nice one. We could see the Japan we had not seen till then, full of farmers and paddy fields. On reaching Nikko, first thing we saw is a desi restaurant(Asian Garden) right in front of the station run by a Bangladeshi. We ate some prawn curry over there and they suggested us to stay in a Dormitory they have around Lake Chuzenji. After having lunch, Siddhartha and I took the bus till Nihisando. We saw the different temples and shrines over there. It was a beautful sight. The japanese architecture was for us to see there. However, what makes that place really beautiful is the greenery. We saw the real glow of nature after having seen the winter all these months. We saw the Sakura glow in Tokyo in the first two weeks of april but the glow was still to be seen in Nikko.
After the Temples and shrines we took the bus to lake Chuzenji and kept our bags and checked into the dormitory in Asian garden. It was a very cheap option(1500 Yen a night) and the dormitory was not very crowded. We took the bus to see Ryuzu falls after taking rest for about 30 minutes. Ryuzu falls was a very beautiful sight. We could see the water flow from somewhere with great force. One cant help just follow the water to see where it is coming from. We walked upstream and as we went the sight got more and more beautiful. We took pictures and walked through the woods. It was an amazing feeling where we could smell the nature and feel the winds blow. While the water kept flowing and made a very musical sound. I must say the 2 km walk upstream dint feel like hard work. It was just going with the flow. If I was to pick my best experience in this country, it would be this "walk in the woods". On reaching the top where we thought of taking a bus to return to our dormitory but the bus just left and the next bus was after one hour. We now decided to walk back downhill and hoped the bus would catch us while we are walking back. It turned out to be a 4 km walk back to our dorm. It was tiring but fun. Especially the cool wind and the natural surroundings made it feel so. We reached our dorm around 8 pm. We had our dinner which was an Indian style buffet. It was more Bengali style(sweet) and reminded me of my stay in Kolkata. We went to sleep after dinner. There we got into a very interisting conversation with a Dutch person of Iranian descent. What began as a friendly talk, turned into a political arguement. Siddhartha was smart enough to change the topic and get it all down to tourism in japan. We were too tired to continue talking and we went to sleep.
On wednesday we had plans to see more lakes and falls. Nikko is a place full of lakes, falls and hiking trails. We begn our journey with the Kagone falls very close to lake Chuzenji. It was another beautiful sight. We could see a rainbow formation very clearly. It was another postcard perfect picture. So far our trip was full of each sight more beautiful than the other. We then had a look at lake Chuzenji and thought of retuning near Nikko station after checking out some more spots on the way back. We took the bus bound to Nikko station and got down at Nishisando. Where we found directions guiding us towards Jakku falls. We had another 2 km long walk uphill to see the Jakku falls. It was a very tiring walk but at the end it was worth it. This waterfall was not a very big one. But a big advantage here was that we could get into the water. I had carried my swim wear expecting an oportunity to getting into water and this was it. Siddhartha was the first one to have courage to enter the water. Though I can swim long and Siddhartha is not to comfortable swiming long, I was scared to get into the falls. Both of us got into the water one by one. It was a very special experience. Especially the temperature of te water was so low but the dip in the cold water made us feel so relaxed that we forgot that we had walked uphill to get here. We walked back down and took the next bus towards the Tobu Nikko station.
On the way we got down near a very famous bridge just to have a look. We decided to walk to Tobu Nikko station from there and on the way we even found an internet/information centre, where we got to know more about this very interesting place. We then walked back to the station. We had our lunch in Asian garden. After we had our lunch, to my surprise I couldnot find my pass. That was most important to get across Nikko town. I searched for the pass going back to the information centre and other spots but couldnot find it. It dint feel nice but had to move on. We now decided to go to Kirifuri falls which was not that special but I realised on that trip that the Japanese system trusts their guests I mean though I had lost my pass that would take me aroubd Nikko and back to Asakusa. They dint make me pay even a yen extra.
After returning from Kirifuri falls we found Daiyagawa youth hostel to spend that night. The facilities here were nothing special compared to Asian garden in Chuzenji but it cost us 2700 Y(double of the cost in Asian Garden). Anyway it was an interesting stay. We met some Japanese and Canadian tourists. One of the Canadians was a good guitarist and singer. That night was a concert like experience.
We left the next morning to Tobu world. Tobu world has replica's of most important places in the world. Each replica is of 1/25th size of the original and identical to the original place. We saw the best places in Europe, Asia, Egypt and America. Took a lot of photo's. The best one being near our very own Taj mahal.
After viiting Tobu wonderworld we took the train back to Asakusa and from there back to Hon-Atsugi. It was a hassle free journey. Where we saw many places but never faced any hassle either for travel or stay. We were back home on thursday evening. That day we decided to have much needed rest. Through our trip, our days began in the early morning around 8 and ended around midnight. We never even went to office at sharp 9 unless when it was absolutely necessary.
My friday went pretty quite. Went to Ebina for jummah and rest of the day washed clothes and finished all my pending work. We had plans to go out again on sunday but it dint quite work out. My saturday and sunday mostly passed in Ebina masjid where there were some interesting programs. I got to meet many people. One most interesting person was brother Loui from Spain.
I returned home only to watch some stuff on youtube. I followed a bit of IPL but its not quite possible to do it with the enthusiasm we do it at home.
On monday I again set out to Tokyo, alone this time. I wanted to have a nice time before I got back to work. As usual after zuhur prayers in Yoyogi camii I had a very good Egyptian lunch in Obento. Then I left to Akihabara to buy a digital camera. I bought a new Olympus micro but not before having checked each shop in Akihabara for a good international model. Atlast, I found a good deal in Yodobashi where I exchanged the points earned on earlier purchase. It turned out to be a very good deal. I managed a 30% discount. Im yet to use my new camera though. On my way back as usual evening and Isha prayers in Tokyo camii yoyogi uehara and had a very good Egyptian dinner in Obento before taking Odakyu line to return home.
Overall a very long and interesting Golden week and a blog that is more like a novel. I found it really tough to recall all events while writing it. I know most of those who read might not have the patience to read it to the end. Anyway, I hope to have more of these golden weeks in many more interesting locations in time to come. Lets say ameen to that.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Still around
Im still around I havent updated my blog in the last one month. Not because Im busy but I have done nothing special or new. Its been pretty monotonous of late. Go to office and do your work. On weekend I go around, typically to some spots within Hon atsugi or to Tokyo. Besides saturday nights are reserved to the deeni talk followed by dinner in Ebina masjid. It has been three months away from home and Ive started started missing India.
As far as my project goes, the development phase is done and the code is getting tested. We will have work only incase of any defect found or if the client wants some change to be implemented. One important member of our team, Rajasree left to India this morning. She will be back in 15 days till then Siddhartha and I have to even manage her part of the project. My current project is expected to finish by may end or june 1st week. Im not sure whats in store after that. However, I will be completely free through the next week. Its called the Golden week here. I plan to go see some new city in Japan. I hope Osaka, Kobe and Hiroshima. Siddhartha is unsure. Lets see if it works out.
For now I have nothing to update. There will be something interesting hopefully after the golden week. Till then its a slow but steady life at work.
As far as my project goes, the development phase is done and the code is getting tested. We will have work only incase of any defect found or if the client wants some change to be implemented. One important member of our team, Rajasree left to India this morning. She will be back in 15 days till then Siddhartha and I have to even manage her part of the project. My current project is expected to finish by may end or june 1st week. Im not sure whats in store after that. However, I will be completely free through the next week. Its called the Golden week here. I plan to go see some new city in Japan. I hope Osaka, Kobe and Hiroshima. Siddhartha is unsure. Lets see if it works out.
For now I have nothing to update. There will be something interesting hopefully after the golden week. Till then its a slow but steady life at work.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)