Travels

Egypt and bit of Germany, November 2009

November 4, 2009

We had Snowy packed off with Will on Monday night and Srijoy did some of his homework the night before and we left from home at about 8:00 am after a quick stop at Starbucks on Robinhood for coffee and rolls. We took 40 and 77 to Charlotte and as usual 77 was backed up right near exit 25. We discovered an alternative route taking exit 25 that actually took us through pastoral Charlotte and we got to the airport in comfortable time. It was beautiful sunny fall day and the check in was eventless and we settled down for our flight to Philadelphia. The flight was on time and we arrived in Philly just in time for lunch which we ate in a relaxed way at the food court of the airport. The Philly airport is basically a shopping mall with an airport attached to it. There are all the major name brands one can think of, and it feels different from the duty free shopping you get at Heathrow or Dubai because the shops operate more as stores and not so much as shops at an airport. We took an unhurried stroll through the mall and eventually boarded the Airbus for Frankfurt. US Air, like most other American carriers, is really awful in terms of service. The food was marginal, the booze cost $7, and the stewards were really rude or extremely rude. Oh, I so miss the old days of air travel when the planes were nicer, the service was actually "service" and not the hurried "get out of my way and finish your food" attitude that the American carriers have. I have realized that it is best to avoid American carriers when travelling overseas because any other carrier is better than the American ones. Anyway, we survived the crossing and reached Frankfurt a little ahead of time because of the tail winds in fall and winter. After a long time Srijoy and I did a night-crossing of the Atlantic (Mikku had done it recently for Stockholm) and it was actually not too bad, and I could see how this could be much better with a better airline.

November 5, 2009

We went through customs and security with little difficulty at Frankfurt. Collected the bags and took the elevator to the walkway and across to the Sheraton that is totally connected to Terminal 1 and checked into the Day Room at the Sheraton. This works well in cases where there is a significant layover between the two flights at Frankfurt. The hotel is nice, and the room can be booked online and they would let you into the room as early in the morning as needed. Provided a place to catch up on some sleep lying on a bed, a shower, and download all the e-mail. We rested there for a few hours and then went back to the terminal. Checking in with Egypt Air was relatively simple and the security at Frankfurt is much more civilized than what we have in the USA. Went through security relatively quickly and sat down at the Goethe Bar and had a breakfast at noon. The airport is not very nice and the terminal and gates we were in was rather sparse with respect to duty free shops. We hung around for a bit and then went off to the gate. The plane boarded mostly on time, and there was a bit of a wait on the tarmac. Egypt Air proved to be quite good. The food was nice and plentiful and the stewards were helpful and polite. There was a hint of racism towards non-whites on the flight, but it could have been a mistaken attribution on my part as well. There was no alcohol served on Egypt Air since Egypt is an officially Islamic country and the airlines is the national carrier of Egypt (we learnt later that Article 2 of the Egyptian Constitution declares it as an Islamic country). The landing in Cairo was at night and we did not have window seats so did not get the glimpse from the sky. The airport had the typical odor one connects with developing countries and was immediately reminiscent of going to India or Peru. The airport was quite large and much bigger than Delhi airport which I was expecting it to be like. It was quite a long walk to the immigration area. This is where things get interesting. For people travelling under an American passport one need not have a visa stamped on the passport to board the aircraft from places like Frankfurt, London or New York, especially if you are on Egypt Air. However, on arrival in Cairo the individual must go to one of the three bank counters that come before immigration and purchase a visa for $15 per passenger. It takes only a few minutes to do this. Then, the person must complete a short form and stand in line, as in any other country, for the immigration officer who looks at the form and visa and stamps the passport and you are in. We got our bags after that and exited into the waiting area. It was quite large and we were expecting to see a driver from the hotel (JW Marriott) but there was a bit of a confusion about that, but eventually we got into the bus for the airport. The temperature outside was pleasant and the desert was palpable even at night. The roads were very good and reminiscent of the West and they drive on the same side of the road as in the USA. We arrived at the hotel and check in and service was very similar to what one experiences in India. The room was quite nice and had a balcony attached to it. I went down to arrange for transportation and other stuff while the others had a room service dinner. I finished the sandwich we had bought at Frankfurt. Because of Srijoy's allergies, we always carry some food with us in case the food on the plane appeared doubtful. Anyway, we were tired, and called it a day. I actually slept out on the balcony. We were on the sixth floor and it was quite pleasant.

November 6, 2009

We had a little difficulty getting up, but there was a reservation for the morning free shuttle from the hotel to go to Saqqara the site of the step pyramid. This is one of the older pyramids of the sequence of pyramids and was about 40 km from Cairo. We were also outside of Cairo and we were actually in a new development called Mirage City which is full of really expensive homes and shopping centers and hotels like the totally new JW Marriott. We had to select this hotel because it was one of the few that would allow three people in the same room. We made some coffee in the room and I got some croissants from the little bakery in the lobby. We then got to the van. It was a comfortable air conditioned van and there were a few other co-passengers. There was an older couple from Europe and a young man from Goa. The journey took us from the hotel along the Cairo ring road towards the city. It is not usually understood that the Cairo metropolis is one of the largest in the World and it is made up of three parts. To the east of the Nile is Cairo, to the west of the Nile is Giza and to the north of both these places is the area called Heliopolis which is both the site of the ancient city as well as the modern suburb where Mirage City is located. So we drove along the ring road which is comparable to any highway across the World. The first thing we noticed was the bare desert. Te sand appeared to be coarser and different in hue from the desert we have seen in the outskirts of Dubai. We soon approached the city and was struck by the jungle of incomplete multi-storied homes. They had bare brick outsides and it was explained that many families in Cairo do not complete the homes to keep open the option of adding to the houses. But it creates a bizarre look of a city that is incomplete. It was like driving past a brick jungle. The road was starting to get a little more crowded (8 lane highway) and we were soon at the Nile and we crossed the Nile. This was an exhilarating feeling. Perhaps never in our dreams had Mikku and I felt that we will ever get the opportunity to see this river. When growing up in India these were the esoteric places - the Nile, the Volga, the Danube - and thankfully at least I have seen all three and Mikku has seen two of these. The Nile is huge, the crossing point is similar to the crossing of the Mississippi near northern Illinois where the highway cuts into Iowa. The highway crosses over the river and then we entered the city of Giza. Suddenly we spied the pyramids. That was another moment of simple awe. You can see the pyramids from the highway as the city has grown into the pyramids. It just shows up in the distance and you realize that these are really much larger than what we have seen in the pictures. More importantly, they are plum in the middle of the city. You just drive up to them with a KFC right next to the Sphinx. But we were not going to the pyramids today. We skirted around the pyramids and got on the local road leading to Saqqara. Driving along this road was completely reminiscent of driving in India. Street side shops selling wares, some auto repair shops and things that are completely familiar to us but would be clearly interesting to the Western eye. It was clear that there are similarities in countries like Egypt and India, although Egypt remains a more affluent country. The drive to Saqqara took about an hour and we eventually drove up to the first real pyramid we would see - the step pyramid built as the first experimental pyramid which looks like steps rather the shape that has been popularized as the icon of Egypt. What was really interesting was the fact that we were actually standing in the location of a human-made object that is nearly 5,000 years old. There are not many places in the World where it is possible to be so close to an object that is that old. The place of course was infested with the annoying souvenir sellers one sees all over the World in places like this (except in the USA). These people are annoying but they add a flavor to the place which makes it more real as opposed to the antiseptic feeling one gets in places where these pesky people are missing. We strolled around the compound and was then led to a tomb where we saw 5,000 year old hieroglyphics inscribed on the walls of the tomb. This was a tomb where one could walk in through a door. The next place they took us to was a another pyramid and the tomb was inside the pyramid. Being largely claustrophobic I decided to give it a pass and Srijoy and Mikku did go in there and they spent a few minutes in there. After that visit we got back into the van and drove back to Giza right next to the main pyramids. The tour then ended up in a perfume shop. The Egyptians claim to have perfected the science of perfumery using natural ingredients. Not sure how accurate that is, but this was definitely a tourist trap where they take tourists and attempt to sell extremely high-priced perfumes and perfume accessories. It was, however, interesting to learn about the medicinal claims of the perfumes. We spent about an hour there. In the meantime, there was a little street disturbance outside the store (which was called Siwa) and it was interesting to see the crowds and the people much like Delhi, Lima or Bogota. What was also striking was the auto-rickshaws by Bajaj that have ended up in Cairo as well. Looking exactly like they do in Calcutta, these autos use the "share ride" concept and this really took us directly back to Calcutta. Some of the street corners looked the same as well. After the perfume factory trip the next stop was the papyrus place. This too was a tourist trap and we spent even less time there and took a taxi leaving the tour. The taxi system is also similar to many other cities like Lima or Calcutta. There is no meter, and the price is negotiated before you enter the taxi. Since English is barely used this becomes a bit of a challenge if one does not understand or speak Arabic. The tour-guide driver did the negotiation for us and we went through the infamous Cairo traffic, crossed the Nile and reached downtown Cairo. We got off right near the national museum and strolled around the huge plaza before finding a hole in the wall joint for a quick lunch. For about 30 Egyptian Pounds ($6) we three had a really good meal. We then walked down the main shopping stretch of the city and eventually negotiated with another taxi to take us to the El-Azhar Mosque. Before that we had chatted with a souvenir shop owner to figure out the acceptable cost. The drive was through the labyrinth of Cairo's Islamic Area until we reached the area of the mosque. Like in other Islamic areas (much like Kidderpore in Calcutta) the mosque is surrounded by one of the largest bazaars in the Arabian World. It was huge and we walked around there for some time before going into the mosque. A guide imposed himself on us and insisted on telling us the history of the mosque and explained the different aspects of the mosque. In our times we have seen many cathedrals and churches across the World but this was our first genuine look at a mosque. Mikku had to use the tiny scarf she thankfully had with her to cover her head and shoulders and was reminded about that a few times. This is one of the largest mosques of the Arab World and has a world-renowned madrasa (religious school) attached to it. We saw it all and then left the mosque after me receiving the traditional Islamic kiss from the guide (after he had cajoled us to pay him 60 Egyptian Pounds to show us the mosque). What was interesting was the fact that when we were leaving the mosque and went to retrieve our shoes, the shoe-keeper asked for a Pound each for the shoes, which was OK, but then asked me how much I paid the guide. The guide had prepped me for this question, and told me to say ten pounds only, which I did. So, even in the mosque there is a racket going on, where the guide will give the shoe-keeper half his taking (5 Pounds) and pocket the rest. Interesting. We then walked around the market some more and decided to take a taxi back. We decided to get a slightly higher level "metro cab" that would go on the meter. The hotel had given a direction card written in Arabic which the I showed the driver and was hoping he would know. He seemed to say he knew, but it became clear very soon that he had no idea. So much like in Dubai, some years ago, my trusted phone with Google maps came to the rescue as I was explaining to him in whatever English he knew to get us to the hotel. This resulted in an altercation where I refused to pay the fare shown on the meter because of the way he had screwed up and we had to go around in circles. I was able to prevail and thus did not have to pay the whole amount. We then decided to go down to the Lebanese restaurant for dinner. There was a woman singing live doing a pretty bad job, and I suggested to the DJ that there was a singer from India with us, and told Swati to go and sing, but she refused, although the restaurant was willing to give her a chance. We strolled around the hotel some before finally calling it a day. I again slept on the balcony but was accosted by mosquitoes earlier in the morning.

November 7, 2009

For this day we had arranged for a private car with a guide to go to the main pyramids. This was a little expensive but having the English speaking driver and the guide was a big help. We again took the ring road, and things were much more crowded today, yesterday was a Friday and a holiday but being a working day things were backed up. The pollution also hung heavy on the city displaying the very familiar brown sky of Lima, Calcutta, Delhi and other such places. It took us a little longer to get to the pyramids after a stop on the way to pick up our young guide and to buy some cheap Chinese batteries for my camera which lasted all of 5 minutes. The tickets were pre-purchased and it is possible to drive right up to the main entrance area of the vast pyramid complex which borders the city on one side and open desert on the other side. It was obviously an awesome experience only marred by the pesky guides and the flying polybags that is slowly making the area dirty. The complex includes three major pyramids as seen in the iconic pictures and it is possible to drive from one to the other eventually reaching a "panorama point" from where it is possible to see all the pyramids. The pollution was so heavy that it was really difficult to get a good view but one could sense the awe it must have inspired to people who would see the pyramids rising from the dust and appearing to touch the sky. The panorama point is also the starting point for a one-hour long camel ride that takes one through the desert and right to the sphinx. Although we were hesitant the guide convinced us to pay the money and take the trip. Mikku could not go for her bad back, but Srijoy and I mounted one camel which was led by a young Arabic person on the second camel and we started the trek. Horrifying experience. A camel ride in general is uncomfortable. Sharing a camel is absolutely not recommended. Srijoy was in the front and had something to hang on to, and I was on the back hanging on to Srijoy. He can lean back on me, I have clear air and a drop to the ground, sliding down the camels arse. Not a good thing when the land is undulating and the entire English lexicon of the fellow leading us is limited to "lean back," "hold on" and a quizzical "go faster?" Also to note, unless you are in the habit of stretching your inner thigh regularly (the last time mine were stretched when they pulled me out) across a large saddle, then after you get off the camel you will walk bow-legged and with immense pain for a significant amount of time. By the time we reached the Sphinx I would have been happy to be let off in the middle of nowhere as long I was off the back of the offending animal. The Sphinx was also as impressive as the pyramids. We went around the area and then the guide took us to a "stock" restaurant where we paid through our noses for a really bad meal. I was also somewhat nauseous in the morning from jet lag or indigestion, and although the camel ride stirred me enough to have digested everything in my gut, I was not too keen on the meal. After lunch we went off to a curio store, also a tourist trap, and was led into buying a pair of chartuses (these are oval necklaces that has ones name written in hieroglyphics). The salesperson was really very good and surely charmed Mikku and Srijoy into spending the money. We then took the van and went on to the Egyptian Museum. Although the building and upkeep was not as swanky with museums in the West, this was a place of immense treasure including all the gold discovered in King Tut's tomb. Much of the wealth from the other pyramids were plundered and much went off to Europe, but King Tut's stuff is all in this museum. We also the famous mummified animals featured in the National Geographic magazine. We spent about two hours there and then said our goodbye to our guide and returned to the hotel. I went and got some sandwiches from the Mobil gas station which had the "On the Run" shop. We finally called it a day. I also realized that using the rented cars from the hotel was getting unnecessarily expensive and had finally contacted a person off the Web who was going to send a car at a much less price the next day.

November 8, 2009

The car arrived as promised and we ate our normal breakfast and then headed out on the car towards the Giza pyramids. We decided to do this on our own today to get the freedom of the time to look around. The driver tried to pull a fast one on us by taking us first to the Sphinx and imagining that we would go with a guide. We told him that we were not going to do that and had him drive us to the other end where we bought our tickets and drove into the main pyramid complex. There we spent some time taking pictures and then went on to the Panorama point. Here Srijoy decided to venture out on foot into the desert and he definitely enjoyed the freedom. Being a desert we could see him walk for a long time. We spent some time there and then had lunch at the downtown Marriott. After lunch and the time at the conference we let the driver take us to a restaurant on the Nile and we sat there for some time before heading back to the hotel and waiting for the evening events with the conference. I had paid off the driver and he had left by then. The whole car hire system is exactly similar to the one that exists India and having done that many times the process of paying off and tipping was really simple. It was a good thing we have travelled so much because the process was quite familiar to us. We had a little time before the conference dinner to which the family was also invited. We strolled along the banks of the Nile. Cairo on one side and Giza on the other was coming alive with the night lights as the hotels and offices started to look like any other city in the World. It should be noted that I am writing this after spending a few days in Delhi, and although I speak of the similarities between Cairo and Delhi, it is the fact that Delhi is far more foggy in December and the way one could see the city lights of Cairo and Giza along the Nile, one would not see that in Delhi. Cairo also has a larger number of skyscrapers than Delhi which is more spread out and other than the housing estates of Dwarka there is not that many skyscrapers in Delhi. Anyway, I digress. After the Nile walk we got back to the meeting point for the dinner. We were taken on a luxury coach through the horrendous traffic of Cairo, here Cairo beats Delhi, as I will describe later. The distance was short and we eventually reached the walled city of ancient Islamic Cairo. The treatment of the delegates was nothing short of royal. We were placed on a electric cars so that we did not have to walk too far and escorted to a Mosque and Madrasa which was specially shut down for a private tour of the invited delegates and their families. This was an amazing experience to be treated with incredible amount of importance and shown all the details of the Islamic faith system and the education system. After that we were taken by the electric cars to the largest mansion in Cairo - a huge place with 115 rooms and sprawled out. It was the residence of a former Muslim ruler of Egypt and we were treated to private dinner with live entertainment. The specific entertainment program was called the Tanoura show. This is a show of male musicians and dancers who perform some really interesting and acrobatic dances. This is highly recommended for visitors to Cairo. We watched the show sharing the table with a lady and her husband from Moscow. The lady was well versed in English but the husband had no English at all. She works for the Public Opinion Research group in Moscow and what was interesting was that when Mikku and she went to the bathroom, we just sat quietly at the table since there was no way to communicate until the lady returned. These are priceless moments that really become learning moments for Srijoy who found the incident amusing but telling. The program and the dinner went late into the night and eventually the Director of the Center that had organized the conference offered the three of us a ride back to the hotel. A retired member of the Egyptian Army it was really interesting chatting with him about politics as we slowly made our way through the Cairo traffic that does not ever let up, even at midnight, when the added peril are teenagers on motorbikes who do their biker routines on the roads to add to the chaos. We finally called it a day at the hotel.

November 9, 2009

We had the same driver and the same car and we decided to get out of the city and go towards Saqqara again, but go beyond that to the bent pyramid that we had seen from Saqqara. This was a good hours drive into real Egypt and the similarities with towns in the central part of India was just amazingly striking. Reminded me of places in Bihar and MP where the small towns would have dusty roads, road-side stalls selling all kinds of wares, animals (mostly donkeys in Egypt) meandering around, stray dogs, and the amazing look of freshly slaughtered meat being sold by butchers shops exactly like the markets in the Beckbagan and Park Circus areas of Calcutta. There were the ubiquitous auto-rickshaws and the school kids in uniforms as we made our way out into desert to the area of the bent pyramid. There are two pyramids in this area. One is a standard shape (which was the final shape that they settled upon, first starting with the step pyramid, then going to the bent pyramid shape and then the final one that is familiar to all). The area was right next to an Egyptian military base (Egypt has compulsory military training for all youngsters, and can muster a huge army in case the uneasy peace with Israel was to be disturbed) and we could hear artillery testing going on there. Srijoy entered this pyramid too and then we moved towards the bent pyramid. The road was rough and the car was not very comfortable and so we decided to just pictures from a distance (in the desert there ain't no trees to stop your view!) and then headed back towards Giza from where we took the Fayoum Road to go towards Fayoum the location of one of the largest oasis in Egypt. The traffic was so bad that at one point we almost decided to turn back but my GPS suggested that things would clear out soon and it did. The journey to Fayoum is completely through the Sahara desert. As I mentioned earlier, this is a different kind of desert from the one in Kuwait (which I have seen) and the one in the United Arab Emirates (which too I have seen) and more like the Mojave in USA. The sand appears rougher and there was more undulations in this part of the Sahara. The pollution melted away very soon and we were under the bright sun and the mirages were absolutely admirable (we also discovered that it is very difficult to photograph a mirage) but we really understood how real the water looks in the midst of the sand. The road was quite good and was a four-lane highway and we did lay some toll. We eventually took the right turn off the Fayoum road and headed to the oasis called Lake Tarun. It was a serene blue lake and we sat at a restaurant by the lake and ate fried fish and Egyptian rice. Of course, the fish was caught almost right in front of us from the lake. After a little while there, we headed back to Cairo. The first forty five minutes of the drive was fine, but the last 20 miles took 3 hours. It was absolutely horrendous. The driver and I used GPS to track out alternative routes but nothing was flowing. It seemed as if the whole city was in gridlock for no apparent reason at all. This does not happen in Delhi. Yesterday, I was at Bhikaji Cama place (actually the Lotus Garden Chinese restaurant) for a meeting and my driver was warning me that we needed leave by 7 pm to be at the airport (international) by 8 because of traffic (those who know, think about Bhikaji and basically Mahipalpur, usually does not take more than 30 minutes) and he was right. I got delayed and did not leave until 7:30 and the traffic in Delhi was bad but it was flowing. A short nap in the car later we were at IGI by about 8:15 which was not bad at all, and was within what was predicted. But as the driver in Cairo said, nothing is predictable about traffic there and so by the time we got back to the hotel we were absolutely exhausted doing nothing but sitting in a car. We got food from the Mobil station and called it a day.

November 10, 2009

We checked out of the hotel after our croissant and coffee breakfast and took the shuttle to Cairo airport. There was another couple of Indian origin in the shuttle and we discovered that their son had studied at the Babcock School of Management of Wake Forest. Small world indeed it is. Check in with Egypt Air was smooth and so was security and immigration. The duty free area of Cairo airport is not large but quite comfortable. The flight was on time and we left for Frankfurt. About four hours later we were in Frankfurt which was quite cold and damp. We got our bags and went to the Sheraton connected to the airport. That is when I discovered that when selecting the cheapest room I had accidentally booked a room closer to downtown. The airport room was too expensive, so we left our bags with the concierge at the airport Sheraton and headed out on train to the other one. It was three stops on U7 or U8 and then a small walk to the hotel. We were relaxed and the walk was nice even though it was a little chilly. After resting at the hotel for a bit we took the tram to Old Stadt. Frankfurt is on the river Mein and downtown Frankfurt is basically a concrete jungle much like any other Western city. But it looked beautiful in the twilight and we eventually got off just past the Bahnhoff station and reached the old square. We have been here a few times before, but Srijoy really wanted to see the Cathedral. We spent a little time in the Church, and being cold and dark we decided to get some hot soup at a local bistro. Hung around the area for a while and then strolled over the central shopping area of Frankfurt. Much like Oxford Street of London the place has all the usual name stores and we went into C&A for Srijoy's underwear. Interestingly C&A the old English chain is no longer on Oxford Street but can be seen in Europe. We bought a snack, and it soon started to rain, so we hurried into the subway and after a few false starts we got back to where we needed to be and then to the hotel. Did an India take way from the store next to the hotel (of course as in much of Germany the Indian restaurants are run either by people from Pakistan or Bangladesh, but they brand them as Indian stores!) and called it a day. A curious thing happened at the main railway station in Frankfurt. Mikku and Srijoy had gone into a store and I was outside next to a café which had beer on its menu. When I asked for the beer the lady said that they sell it in cans and she cannot give it to me, but I need to take the can out of the fridge. I did that and paid for the beer and eventually drank it on our way back in the subway in a brown paper bag (oh so big city this behavior is). But can you guess why the store owner was unable to touch the beer can? Tell you when I see you.

November 11 2009

Our flight was at about 11:00 from Frankfurt. We checked out early and took the tram to the train and then the train to the airport. Got our bags and checked in. Later had a cup of coffee before security which was really smooth and civilized and we commented on it and the person reminded us that we were not in the USA and we all agreed that the American system is one of the worst in the World and is really more of "theater" than security. The Europeans do it far more unobtrusively and have far better profiling and surveillance and do not hype it up as we do in the US. It really got comical and really annoying yesterday in Delhi when Continental Airlines put the passengers through their special security checks before boarding the aircraft. I was able to carry though a lighter (oh that is so banned), matchboxes, undeclared small bottles of whisky. So when the fellow in Germany smirked about not being in the USA, having travelled as much as I have, I could not but agree. As I have travelled (if you look on Facebook, you will note that it stands at 35 countries now) I have seen the dismal state of the "image of USA" that has run through globally, and is just recently being repaired. This requiem of "you are not in America" runs through many places from restaurants where the portions are meant for normal human beings, to soda shops where a drink is not defined as ice with a little bit of the drink, to people who would look you straight in the eye and say "Your bombs killed my son" (I had that from an Iraqi school teacher who had fled Iraq and drove taxis in Dubai) or to curious and educated independent book store owners in Calcutta who once asked me if Clinton was bombing Libya to distract from his trouble with Monica. Anyway, I digress into politics. But after the security at the airport, we browsed the stores a little and then boarded the none hour flight to Charlotte. As always the service was dismal but we have gotten used to that with American carriers. Actually, Continental to Delhi from Newark was tolerable mainly because of an efficient attendant who was actually willing to help the passengers as opposed being hostile to passengers (and God forbid if you are an Indian on a flight going to India you can be assured of being treated like dirt by the Continental attendants, it is even worse on the way back as I am on the flight). This lady, who interestingly was on the flight to Delhi last week, is again on the flight back and recognized me (it is a little scary when flight attendants start to recognize you - that means you are travelling a lot) made both the legs much better than what it could have been. We did not have such as person on the US Air flight from Frankfurt to Charlotte so we cowered in the plane (as did all other passengers) hoping that we would not upset the attendants and get singled out for rebuke. Anyway, we eventually got to Charlotte and after getting the bags (which has become really efficient at Charlotte) we were out of the airport and back home.

The Egypt trip was over and it was really good.

Since the Egypt trip, I also spent a week in India. I flew the nonstop from Newark to Delhi, and the trip was mostly work but it was still enjoyable.

July 3, 2009

Milan picked us up from home about 8:30 in the morning and we stopped by at Starbucks for some rolls and coffee and headed to the airport. It is always nice to have someone drop you off when you are leaving home and it makes the trip more personal rather than taking a cab when leaving on a long trip. It was really nice of Milan to do that given it was a holiday with the long weekend and he dragged out of bed to do that. The check in at the airport was eventless, although we were a little concerned with the weight. The person checking us in was a trainee with United and I had walk her through the check in process, and remind her to ask the security questions and check our IDs before accepting our bags and giving us bag tags. There is something bizarre about the passenger telling the airline personnel what to do when checking someone in and accepting the bags. Too many plane trips would do this to you. Anyhow, the security check was OK other than Srijoy having to deal with his studded belt that proved to be a bit of a challenge. We hung out at the gate most of the time and the United flight was actually on time and we reached DC with no problem. The airport shuttle did not take too long and we were soon in the hotel and the room turned out to be really nice with Srijoy getting a separate room altogether. The growth of the budget suite hotels has really made this possible where one can get a “suite” for the price lower than what one would pay at some of the name brand chains. We had already eaten lunch at the airport so I contacted our friend Tito who had just recently moved to DC from Brussels and he came over soon and we drove over to his place in Maryland. His wife Laurie and he have rented a really fantastic place set back by a lake and the drive took about an hour and Tito was kind enough to give us a ride. On the way we stopped at small boutique cafe for some ice cream and then went on to Tito’s place. We hung out the evening and Tito cooked a fabulous Indian dinner which we all enjoyed after Laurie and their daughter got home a little later in the evening. Tito eventually drove us back to the hotel and it was late and Mikku accidentally left her glasses in Tito’s car, which was actually a BMW SUV. We eventually called it a day.

July 4, 2009

We had an early start from the hotel and took the shuttle to Dulles. I had completed the check in and had boarding passes ready so the process was quick at the counter. Security clearance was also eventless and we had reached there early enough that we could relax and catch up on e-mail and phone calls. The United flight was eventless too and the Atlantic crossing was quick. The seats were comfortable but lacked electrical outlets and so could not get much real work done but did watch some TV. The entertainment system was archaic and we were once again reminded that it is always a mistake to travel on American carriers when traveling internationally. The service is pitiful and you have to pay for everything which is really irritating. I really wished that British or Virgin or someone would restart the morning service to London from DC. Anyway, being in cattle class on and American carrier is not a good way to travel. We reached London a little early. Had a good view of London from the plane and immigration at Heathrow was painless. The bags took a while to arrive and we eventually waited about 30 minutes to get the Hotel Hoppa (H5) to go from the Terminal to the Slough Marriott. It was nice to return to the familiar hotel. The rooms have not changed much over the years and the “Chaps” bar is still the same. Settled down in the room and got a little bit of room service and eventually called it a day.

July 5, 2009

We got up in time to go down to the breakfast buffet. The traditional English breakfast is still something that I really enjoy. It is certainly not the best thing for one’s arteries but it tastes darn good, with the blood sausage, the bacon and the heaps of scrambled eggs and fried tomatoes. Almost reminiscent of the Harry Potter breakfast. We did not have too much time to eat it all, but we again took the Hoppa 5 to Terminal 3 for the flight to Milan. The flight was on Lufthansa which actually has now moved to Terminal 2 and that caused a bit of flutter but we checked in OK and again security was smooth. Most of the co-passengers were Italians who are similar to Indians in many ways. At airports, train stations, bus depots, and post office lines, Indians suffer from a chronic anxiety that they will somehow miss whatever they are seeking – getting on a plane or posting a letter – unless they manage to work their way to the beginning of the line. It is not that they are against waiting but it is waiting in vain that causes the anxiety. Perhaps for us Indians this is a genetic left-over of years of British Colonial rule where to be noticed by the “Sahib” one needed to be at the head of the proverbial line. Thus all over India people jostle, push, punch, pinch and pull to get ahead. Interestingly, Italians seem to do that too. This was evident as people started to cluster around the gate, perhaps anxious that the plane would leave without them. We felt really at home with this and before we knew, we were on the aircraft and settled into our seats of a Lufthansa flight which was operated by BMI. The flight was delayed about an hour but after that things were relatively smooth. We reached Milan’s Malpensa airport about 4:30 in the afternoon. This was our second time in the airport and there was some familiarity with the airport that helped. We got the rental car (Fiat Punto with automatic transmission and diesel fuel) and a GPS navigation system and headed out of the airport. Thanks to the GPS system (TomTom) we were not allowed to lose our way because the very stern lady who had been hired to do the voice for the system would chastise me if I went the wrong way, or if I drove too fast, or if I was near a police camera, or if I marginally had any evil thoughts related to the way I drive. It took a little messing with the system to shut her up and restrict her to just giving directions and not passing judgment on my driving, which has been honed on Calcutta streets and thus worked admirably in Milan. We got to the hotel with little difficulty and after checking in and settling down decided to go for a stroll on via Washington. We reached a Metro station and decided to buy the 1 Euro tickets to go Milan’s main plaza – the Duomo Plaza. With Srijoy now older it is simpler to do these things and we reached the plaza as it was starting to get dark. We sat in one of the cafes and looked at the drink menu. Nothing is inexpensive in these cafes of Milan. A glass of wine was billed at 7 Euros (about $10) and a bottle was billed at 20 Euros. Anyone knows that a bottle has more than 3 glasses. So, once the waiter confirmed that we could take the left over wine with us, I ordered the bottle and Mikku and Srijoy each ordered a glass of Coke. Without looking at the Menu. And, each glass of Coke was 7 Euros each. So much for dinner. We had just blown our entire dinner budget on two glasses of Coke and so I drowned by financial woes into the bottle of wine while Mikku and Srijoy (sometimes together, sometimes separately) walked around the plaza where a classical music concert was about to start. So we hung out there for a bit and eventually took the Metro back and walked back to the hotel picking up a sandwich on the way. It was interesting to note that the Duomo has been run over by vendors from Bangladesh who would typically sell roses to the tourists. We too were tourists but the vendors avoided us, knowing full well that we were the “stingy” ones and would not pay 10 Euros for a rose. It was curious also how some of the cafe owners looked at me and not seeing any flowers in my hand were suspicious of what I was doing in the cafe! Most people who looked like me evidently come into the cafe to sell flowers and not to drink 7 Euros Cokes! We finally called it a day.

July 6, 7 and 8 2009

These were the conference day and most of the days were at the conference. The Conference was held a little outside of Milan at a location off the highway that connects Milan with Genoa. The car was essential for that purpose. The conference went very well and made very important and interesting contacts with people in the technology given that this was a hard-core tech conference and they were very interested in the work that was going on in Communication with respect to the new media.

During this period we also did some traveling in and around Milan. One of the places we went to was Cervnia. This place is on the South side of the Matterhorn part of the Alps. If you were to look at the map, it would be evident that the Swiss town of Zermatt was only a few miles from Cervinia and there was some information on the Web that it is possible to take a series of ski lifts and cable cars that would allow one to go from Cervinia to Zermatt. This information on the Web is incorrect. Here is how it really works – there is a series of cable cars and ski lifts that takes you up to an elevation of nearly 11,000 feet (very uncomfortable for the sensitive types that need a good amount of oxygen to live), then if you have time (means you need to get there before about 10 am) you can either ski, snowboard, or walk over Plan Masion – plateau of ice – for about a mile to reach a second set of ski lifts etc. to go to Zermatt, and you can not come back the same day because the lifts close at a stipulated time. The Web sites about Cervinia and Zermatt fail to mention the little detail about having to ski along Alpine glaciers to go from one place to another. It is also very foggy there and that can make the project a touch risky because you could aimlessly be boarding on ice (which Srijoy really wanted to do) to be later discovered by slobbering dogs with bottles of brandy which is supposed to sustain you till the fog clears. We went up to Plan Maison, held our breath for about 30 minutes and then came back to Cervinia. The lunch at Cervinia was nice and eventually came back to Milan. The toll ways in Milan are expensive and you can really travel fast (only after you have been able to shut up the TomTom lady, who was probably having silent paroxysms as I was reached 190 kilometers per hour (about 130 miles per hour) and her internal system was set at 100 kmp).

The other excursion was to a town near Genoa off the Mediterranean coast. The drive there was pretty for the last part where it winds along the coast much like in Big Sur California with the sea to one side and the mountains on the other. We spent a little time at the beach and it was really hot there. As always, beaches in Europe present a completely different affect compared to the USA. The umbrellas are much more closely spaced and the beaches appear much more crowded. We had to rent two chairs and an umbrella while Srijoy was in the water. We then drove into Genoa and allowed ourselves to get lost a little and took in the beauty of the old port town and eventually returned to Milan.

An interesting fact that we discovered about Milan (at least the area on via Washington) is that all eating joints are shut on Wednesday nights. There was a lone pizzeria open which was totally full. After a long wait we got a table. There was a gentleman having dinner by himself in the table next to us. Since we were talking in English he started chatting with us and we had a great conversation with a Delta Airlines pilot who does the JFK-Milan run. It was really nice chatting with him.

Generally, Milan and Italy proved to be really nice and was similar to our past experiences in Italy – very reminiscent of India.

July 9, 2009

We left early from the hotel (Milan Marriott on via Washington) and drove back to the airport. It was really difficult to find the entrance to the rental place and so had to leave the car in the car park and it was getting late for the flight. So we had to scramble a little but made it to the plane. Got into London Heathrow more or less on time and after immigration we got the mini cab that took us over to my uncle’s house in Wandsworth. He had left the key in a safe place and it was nice to get back to our home in London. We had eater on the plane and were not too hungry and decided to go out a bit. There is a nice place on Garret Lane right by the Pizza Hut which is run by a Thai family who serves both traditional English and Thai food. Mikku ate some Thai stuff, and I enjoyed a really artery-thickening bangers and mash while Srijoy ate the traditional English breakfast. It was a nice summer afternoon in London and I strolled the antique store on Garret Lane. Found an old hard-cover Enid Blyton and a Desmond Bagley novel. The fellow was asking two sterling for each and did not buy. We walked over to Earlsfield and took the train to Waterloo. The Southbank street festival was on, and we just strolled around the London Eye and had a cup of coffee, crossed the bridge and walked by Parliament House on to Westminster and sat on the lawn for a bit and then walked through St. James Park and took a London taxi to Piccadilly and walked the back alleys of Soho marginally aimlessly which was a nice thing. Soho has changed so much over the years. With the arrival of Maggie Thatcher the seedy Soho was cleaned up much like New York’s 42nd Street and now it is a maze of alleys with boutiques, and bars. I still remember the peep show places and the general aura of Soho (I am talking mid-1980s) but much of central London is now become just a huge shopping area although you would still see the crowds at Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. Mikku did some window-shopping and we did people watching. Finally took the bus to Vauxhall station where Mikku found a stall selling really good chicken patties, and we took the Southwest train back to Earlsfield and walked back home. It was a nice and relaxed afternoon in London. Kaju mama was already there and we had a couple of drinks, and excellent dinner and then Kaju mama and I went off to see Mantu da and it was a nice evening overall. Srijoy had his first alcohol offered by Kaju mama with dinner – a fruity drink that had 4% alcohol. We eventually called it a day.

July 10, 2009

I was up early and saw off Kaju mama to work. I caught up with some work as well and after Mikku and Srijoy were ready we went back to Earlsfield and went back to Waterloo. This time, Srijoy really wanted to go to Camden Town. I remember the old Camden Town filled with spiky-haired punks and the general counter-culture that you only find in places in Camden Towns, Brixtons and Oaklands. I was not very wrong, and Camden Town has maintained its counterness. It is no longer punks but it is the place for skaters and skater outfits. Srijoy has been into that counter-culture some especially with the clothing and accessories and so he was in Heaven. We walked up and down the area and bought a few things. We then walked over to the canal and sat down at one of the food shops and had fish and chips. After some more time at Camden Town we took the bus back towards Covent Garden and got off on the way to check out some of the music stores. This is when we noticed billowing black smoke in the sky and much of the area was doused in smoke. There was a huge fire in Soho and that had caused the smoke. We went into a Borders Book Store and waited it out eventually taking the bus back to Waterloo station. Mikku wanted to go to Tower Bridge so we used the day pass to its full and went on there and then by the Thames. It was getting a little chilly so we decided to take a bus back towards Piccadilly and then to Waterloo station. Entire central London was messed up because of the fire, so we had to walk some but eventually got to Waterloo and then back to Earlsfield and a the bus back home. Kaju mama and Lenny were there already. After freshening up we all got into his Jaguar and drove to Windsor and had an excellent Chinese dinner on Windsor High Street. It was very pleasant and quite expensive (40 sterling for the three of us with beer) but it was a nice evening out. Got home and called it a day to get ready for the long flight the day after.

July 11, 2009

Kaju mama dropped us off to Terminal 5 Heathrow for the flight to Delhi. We hung out there and had coffee at Starbucks and got some food for the flight. We have generally started to carry Srijoy’s food with us since the airline food often causes trouble for him. The flight boarded on time and we were in Club World Plus which allows a little extra leg-room and an electrical outlet for the computer. The British Airways flight left at about 10:00 am UK time and got a significant amount of work done on the 9 hour flight and reached Delhi late at night. Immigration was smooth but the bags took a while. The hotel shuttle driver was waiting for us and we were soon in the room, somewhat jet lagged but not too bad and called it a day.

July 12, 2009

The jet lag made it a little difficult to get out of bed but the enticement of a breakfast buffet was sufficiently strong. It was a little bit of a let down because much of the stuff was western fare. One flies to India to eat a puri and aloo breakfast or at least a good masala dosa. Neither was easily available and so had to cajole the waiter to arrange for that. It was done and we felt we were really in India because the food really does make all the difference. The heat was intense and even going outside for a smoke was not comfortable. We eventually took the shuttle to the new domestic airport of Delhi and were really impressed by the set up. The announcements were not clear and we accidentally stood in the wrong line with the customary jostling, but eventually found our plane and boarded and left on time. We flew Indigo which is India’s ‘no frills’ airlines and my experience with them has been consistently good. Flight left on time and we reached Calcutta in time as well.

This time, I had arranged for something different in terms of transportation in Calcutta. Typically, we used to get a vehicle along with a “driver” who would bring the car over in the morning and stay for 10 hours. We could use the car to go to places and the “driver” would drive us there and then park the car and sleep in the car. Sometimes the “driver” would also help carry luggage, and on occasions go to the market to get samosas. The role of the “driver” is a unique Indian invention who, for the permanent variety, almost could become a Jeeves-like person who would serve the “driven” in a very faithful way. In its temporary version, the “driver” could be a different person every day, and some could be a Jeeves and another could be Nicholson-like character in The Shining – completely loopy. It is a sort of Russian roulette with the “driver” with the way we did the car hiring. Indeed I made a generic “driver” entry in my call phone and updated the cell phone (usually called “mobile” in India) number each day as a new driver would arrive. The rental agencies were also somewhat shady institutions and one could never be sure what might be in the trunk (boot to some and dicky to others) or who else might have used the car the night before. All of this was getting tiring in the past years, and not to mention the fact that once the “driver” left with the car there was no way to go anywhere except by public transport which no American (even the naturalized variety) refuse to use. On top of all these, there was the fact that I needed to be mobile (not of the cell phone variety, but moving around) to make the different meetings in Calcutta related to the Wake India program. So, I decided to rent a car as one would do anywhere else in the World and got a car from Avis. This was one of the best decisions I made on this trip. The method was simple: go to the Avis Web site, and do the rental as you would do for any global location, then call the Avis Calcutta number (+919748403561 or +919810327660) and reconfirm the reservation 24 hours before the pick up time and give them your mobile number. Thereafter Avis takes over. As soon as I had landed in Calcutta I received a text message on my phone giving me the car number, the name of the “handler” and his mobile number. After collecting my bags I called the handler who brought the car right to me, I signed the paper work and was off in my own personal Ford Fiesta for the same price I was paying for the crappy old junkie cars before. Moreover, I had it for me 24/7. Driving in Calcutta could be a nightmare if you do not understand the psyche of Calcutta. You do not drive in Calcutta to go from one place to another. You actually use your brain to drive in Calcutta, quickly projecting forward every move of other moving object around your car, and then computing very quickly the best path to take. Love to see that MIT or Carnegie Mellow tram do a little bit of robotic driving in Calcutta, probably need a Cray just to predict what the taxi driver and the auto rickshaw will do in the next nano second as they are about to rip out your side mirror. This is what is called driving, not sitting brainlessly in a vehicle staying between white lines drawn on the road. That being my idea of driving I loved my Ford and its responsive stick-shift and actually felt alive again. Now I know the best solution to boredom – drive in Calcutta – never a dull moment. Be interesting if I applied the same principles in Winston.

So, after getting the car, I drove on to AC 140. Mikku, Srijoy, Babulbaba, Boudima and Tinku had also come to AC 140 and we hung out together for a bit and then they went off to D50 and I stayed over in AC140. Dadabhai came to visit that evening and it was really a good evening. This trend of visiting continued for the entire stay in Calcutta. We saw a lot of people in Calcutta and it was the same group as always. There was also a gathering at Stadel where many of the weddings had taken place and the high point of the trip was the visit by Tulda and Bibi Boudi from Raigarh. They arrived the day after we reached and we hung out together quite a bit. I also had to go to Delhi for a couple of days during the stay to work on the Wake Forest India program. The trip to Delhi was very productive and got a lot done in a short time. Also met with my publisher in Delhi and that went very well. After the return from Delhi there was a gathering at AC 140 that was well attended by all family members. After that Tulda and Boudi returned to Raigarh. Mikku and I also saw a couple of movies at the City Center Inox Theater. This theater has a “morning show” usually at about 9:30 am and the ticket prices were half the regular price (which is about Rs. 150, $3) and that was quite nice to watch movies in the morning. In all we saw three movies – Kambakht Ishq, Luck and Ice Age 3. We also had a great gathering of the Calcutta Boys group – there were three visitors this year – self, Papu from USA, and Arijit from Japan and the usual Cal group. We met at Barbecue Nation a new really good restaurant that has opened up in Sector 5 of Salt Lake. We also went to the usual haunts – Mani Square, New Market, Grand Hotel and Abcos where we met with Avijit and his wife Swati. Overall the stay was very productive and quite pleasant.

July 13 to July 28, 2009

This time in Calcutta I also had some dental work done and that was really well done by Dr. Anirban Bhattacharya. Going to his clinic in Motijheel was a trick especially in the Ford and it was equally a trick to drive back home by myself after the surgery. The trip to see Kaju Mama’s family in Tiljala was also fun, I did not venture in there with the Ford, but parked it at Ruby Hospital and took a cab into the by lanes of Tiljala. Calcutta is indeed a city of contrasts and visits to Motijheel and Tilajala shows the contrasts in stark light. There are stores like Home Town (in Rajarhat) and the high rise swank flats in New Town just as there are the inner lanes of Park Circus and Beckbagan. Also met with the EMMRC group in Calcutta who will play a pivotal role in the Wake Forest India program.

We finally left Calcutta on July 27 morning. Drove the car back to the airport and dropped it off there. Went on to Delhi and met up with Kingshuk, Ketoki and Avijit Roy (Caco) and that was the day it rained the most in Delhi this year. It was still a nice evening in Delhi. Then on the 28th of July we left from Delhi heading out to London and then back home.

Everything in our family changed that day when Tinku passed away on the 28th in Calcutta. I can not write about this, or the loss of my dear friend Ross Smith in the blog, but be happy to talk when we meet. Treat life carefully because you never know when it will be lost.

Labels: Summer 2009 Italy and India

Snowy's Vet:

13367259111 Corner of Reynolda and Polo, can also kennel if needed

Winston emegency contact - Beth Hutchens of Wake Forest Univ 336-758-6160 or (336) 782-6021 or hutcheb@wfu.edu

Contacting Swati 336-692-4410 or basus@wfu.edu or 011-91-9831775523
Contacting Ananda 336-682-5727 or ananda@wfu.edu or 011-91-9831775562

Can also text to any of the numbers above

In case of lost dog contact the Vet and they can trace by implanted chip or by calling 800-336-2843 and using member number 1878313

Labels: Snowy Information

Dubai and India, December 2008

December 15, 2008

We got up as usual and I dropped Srijoy to school. This trip is
especially difficult because he is missing about 5 days of school and
that can be quite strenuous in 8th grade. So, we at least had him
attend two periods today. I took the time to stop by the office and do
a few chores and then got back home, packed the car and picked up Mikku
and headed back to Srijoy's school and picked him up. The drive to
Raleigh was eventless but a traffic jam stopped us from going to the
Indian restaurant for lunch. It was actually a nice and warm day and we
went to the outlet mall food court and ate a quick lunch. We then
headed to the airport, put the car in parking, and the check in was
quite smooth. So was security and although the flight was a little
delayed things went OK. We got to La Guardia; the flight path was
rather odd and we did not get a good glimpse of the Manhattan skyline;
we then got into a cab and went over to the Fairfield Inn near JFK.
Relaxed the evening and ordered a nice Indian dinner delivery. We
ordered far more than what we needed but the food was good and we
eventually called it a day.

December 16, 2008

The marvels of modern technology now allow one to fly 6,000 miles
non-stop and we were about to do this. We took the hotel bus to JFK and
check in at Emirates was smooth. The line moved quickly enough and we
had our bags checked to Dubai. Security at JFK is really bad given how
important the airport is and the line just winds around for ever. We
were eventually on the aircraft (A300-330) around 10:30. The seats were
OK and we settled in for a 12 hour flight. These planes have added a
camera in the front where one can see the outside from the pilot's point
of view. The seats were marginal and were just about comfortable enough
for the long flight. The seats did provide a laptop power outlet which
was very convenient and also had a very sophisticated entertainment
system. How things have changed from the days of the three-tube
off-colored video projectors where everyone had to watch the same movie
to the new systems that offer more choice than what makes sense! The
flight service on Emirates was marginal in cattle class and I was not
terribly impressed. I still feel that Virgin overall does the best job.
The flight was long, and I slept the best I could since I had work in
Dubai. We reached Dubai a little early, with the winter jet stream
helping us, and reached the new Terminal in Dubai.

December 17, 2008

We reached Dubai at about 7:30 am. The new terminal is simply an emblem
of everything Dubai is about. It is huge and shiny new. Given it
became operational in October 2008, everything about it was just smooth
and efficient. It took almost no time to get through passport control.
One needs to understand Dubai as one of the most striking places in the
World. I first went to Dubai in the late 80s and I remember the desert
city it was. Everything changed in the past twenty years, and the Deira
district with the old markets or "souks" by Dubai Creek has basically
become "old Dubai" and the city has expanded into the desert. It was
visible from the plane as it approached the new sprawl that is Dubai and
that is what the airport represents - the new Dubai where things are
either the tallest (as in the case of Barj Dubai, the tallest building
in the World that we saw), biggest (as in the case of yet another
airport being built) or have some exceptional value. And all this is
owned by the "Emiratis" who make us about 15% to 20% of the population
and employ expats from all over the World to run the city. The global
recession has marginally affected the place and the construction boom
goes on undaunted. Our bags arrived quickly and we were soon in the
exit area. A person with a placard was supposed to greet us, but no one
was there. I knew that the person was from Bangladesh and so called his
mobile but realized that his version of Bengali was remarkably different
from what I knew and what continued for about 30 minutes was an extended
unintelligible conversation as both he and I were getting increasingly
irritated. It was clear that he was saying that he is at the airport,
and he was upset I could not see him. I was outside near the taxi stand
(where he claimed he was) and yelling at him in Bengali for not having a
placard. Srijoy and Swati were inside the airport. What Srijoy noticed
was the fact that a very agitated man was yelling in Bengali on the cell
phone and looking around inside as if looking for someone. They
realized that this was the person who had come to receive us. So Srijoy
came out and told me that there was a man inside yelling in Bengali on
the phone. So, I continuing to yell on my mobile went back inside, and
the taxi driver and I realized that we were yelling at each other. Once
the confusion was resolved we got into his cab. The problem was that he
drove a regular taxi and they are not supposed to meet and greet people
at the airport. What he was doing was marginally legal but he was doing
it as a favor to another Bengali, because my contact in Dubai had
requested this particular taxi driver to pick up the fellow Bengalis.
We chatted in the car. I was able to revert to the Bangladeshi Bengali
(or as many would call it Bangal) since in my childhood I lived in a
neighborhood with many people from East Bengal-East Pakistan-Bangladesh
and I have a good sense of the different Bengali. Anyway, we had also
reached Dubai on a day when there had been a rain shower in the morning
creating much consternation to the desert city and so the entire city
was in a traffic gridlock. We still enjoyed the drive marveling at the
160 storey needle being built in a way that it is visible from any part
of Dubai. We reached the apartment at about 9:45 am. The Manipal
University of Dubai had arranged for an apartment hotel for the stay in
Dubai. It took a while to find it, but it was quite nice. The
apartment had a large sized living room, two baths, a kitchen and bed
room. The temperature was perfect with a high of 78 and low of 57. I
had to take a quick shower, and then we went to the small little cafe
upstairs for a quick cup of coffee and then at about 11:00 I was picked
up to go to the University. The session went well and I returned to
the hotel about 3:30 in the afternoon. The three of us then rented a
chauffeured car, this time with a driver from Pakistan who was a very
wise, knowledgeable man and said was once an elementary school teacher
in Lahore, and we took a tour of some of the new areas of Dubai
including the brand new Dubai Marina and the Palms area. We also saw a
glimpse of the new Atlantis Hotel which is a near exact replica of the
one in Nassau and just marveled at the amazing amount of growth here.
We decided to skip going to Dubai Mall and fought incredible Dubai
traffic, for which it is infamous, to return to the mall near our
apartment. There we met up with Fokiya, my contact in Dubai, and her
daughter and we had dinner together at a Chilies restaurant in the food
court of the mall. Being a Muslim country the only place where one can
get alcoholic drinks are restaurants in 5-star hotels. No alcohol is
sold in any restaurants. We walked around the mall some, and eventually
returned to the apartment on foot since the taxis were unwilling to go a
short distance. Some things are the same all over the World! We
eventually called it a day, which for us had really started in New York.
When we went to bed we were as good as dead from the jet lag!

December 18, 2008

We slept in as much as we could, and eventually left the apartment at
about 11:00 am and took a regular Dubai taxi to the airport. The
departure area of the new terminal is just as impressive and we
encountered a new technology that was quite impressive. We did not have
to stand in line to check in our bags. They have developed numerous
kiosks where one can print out one's own baggage tags, put them on the
bag, and the system of conveyor belts simply takes the bag away. This
was really helpful since there was no waiting involved in the process.
We cleared through passport control and security quite easily and
entered the duty free shopping area of the terminal. Although it is
quite large, my sense is that Terminal 5 in Heathrow simply is still the
best. The Dubai shops are not as varied as Heathrow and surely there
are fewer shops in Dubai. I think Changi in Singapore is also a bit
bigger than this one. But then, Dubai is about to build the largest
airport in the World and things would change again then. We boarded on
time and the aircraft was a decrepit old machine. Generally, Emirates
offers really bad equipment for all its South Asia destinations. This
was really a cattle carrier and we survived the 4 hour flight to
Calcutta. It was dark when we reached Calcutta. The new arrival area
in Calcutta is quite nice, and the baggage arrived quickly and we were
outside fairly fast. There was the driver with the placard and driving
down VIP road on the winter evening was exactly what Calcutta is about.
There is something totally unique about Calcutta winters with the fresh
vegetables, the cool climate (72/50) and the thick smog that settles on
the city every evening as well as the hordes of mosquitoes that appear
from no where in winter. We reached AC 140 in good time and spent the
evening with the family.

December 19, 20 and 21, 2008

I was busy these two days running around doing different errands
including bank work for Ma, getting the final touches to the party in
place and generally taking care of the numerous things that pile up in
six months. Spent some time with the family in the middle of all the
running around. We made the necessary pilgrimage to New Market (see my
other blogs about Calcutta) to get some stuff as well as the traditional
stop at the Grand for a beer in La Terrace - the olden coffee shop at
the Oberoi Grand. The party to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary
of Swati's parents was on the evening of the 21st. It went off really
well, with nearly 45 people coming to party. We had rented out the AC
Block Community Center where we decorated the upstairs and laid out the
buffet downstairs. Much of the arrangements were done by my friend
Abhijit Basu who really was instrumental in putting this in place. The
food was catered by Guin Caterers (different kinds of starters, luchi,
traditional lomba-kata begun bhaja, dal, alur dam, fish curry, mutton
curry). I had got the gulabjamun from the AC Block Market sweet shop
and also an anniversary cake from Monginis (who actually took the order
for the 2.5 kg cake the day before and got it done, no cake stores take
special cake orders between December 20 and January 2 because they are
so overwhelmed with providing the holiday season cake demand) and of
course paan. People really enjoyed the food because Swati and I had
chosen to create a traditional Bengali wedding dinner menu in stead of
the new fangled "Chinese" and "Continental" fares that has become
popular with noodles, lasagna, and burgers in the same buffet line! The
caterers also did a really good job, because their core competency is in
Bengali cooking! Some of the food was actually cooked on site using the
traditional tools I have seen in the weddings of my cousins in the 70s.
The guests left around 10:30 pm and we had a really good party to
celebrate the auspicious anniversary.

December 22 and 23, 2008

I was in Delhi. Srijoy and Swati were in Calcutta. My work in Delhi
went very well. Some details - stayed at the Janpath Hotel which is not
bad, but with Delhi hotel prices touching those of Tokyo, that was what
Wake Forest could afford. Also, found an inexpensive solution to the
hired car high prices. I got into a regular cab in the morning, and
simply did an on-the-spot contract with the Sikh driver (Sir ji!) for a
much more reasonable amount than what the hired taxis cost. What is
interesting is that neither can I trust him, nor can he trust me. My
first meeting was at the Crowne Plaza at Friend's Colony. I just told
him to wait in parking, got his mobile number and promised to call him
when I was done. There was no guarantee I will be back. I also did not
leave my heavy briefcase (which I did not need for the meeting) in the
car, because there was no guarantee he would not run off with it. But
the system worked and he was with me all day and actually took me to the
airport at 4:30 am to catch my early morning flight back to Calcutta on
the 24th. Flew on Indigo airlines and they were really quite good and
much less expensive.

December 24 to 28, 2008

There was a lot of meeting people over these four days and a lot of
family events. We all went to see a Bengali movie (Tintorettor Jisu) on
the 24th evening and we were able to take Shanker da who is recovering
from a broken foot. The cinema hall was very well equipped to serve a
person using crutches and who could not easily go up and down stairs.
We also went to the South City Mall and tried the gelato in the food
court. That was quite nice. There were numerous trips to City Center
and I also went back to New Market to get DVDs of Indian movies from
Symphony and undergarments from Naskers (really, I do not think I have
ever bought undergarments from any store other than that!). There was a
Christmas Party on the 25th that was arranged by my nephews and we had
some great kebabs and ordered mediocre Chinese from Haka at City Center.
Also, met up with Joy over lunch at Bar B Q on Park Street and visited
Music World. Walked on Camac Street some window shopping. Also met up
with all elders in the family. Spent most of the afternoons dealing
with Srijoy's home work. Took Ma to the bank for some work as well and
generally spent the 4 days mostly catching up with people. The
highlight was the lunch on the 28th where 15 of old school buddies (and
three wives) from Calcutta Boys School (CBS) again gathered together for
lunch. We met at Marco Polo (on Park Street) and they had set up a
table for us on the lower level. Most of us were there by 1 pm and what
was interesting is that the restaurant realized that it would be a
mistake to send any other customers to the lower level with the amount
of noise we were generating. These unofficial reunions have really
become quite successful and it is really interesting to see how
incredibly successful this group has become in their respective
professions. For this one I met someone after nearly 30 years and it
was really interesting to see the confusion that ensues! Also, was able
to spend one evening with Rana which is something that we also have
almost never missed for all the years. One of the days we also went to
the Emirates office to get the hotel vouchers. This was a busy four
days with much accomplished including doing Ma's medical insurance and
visa for her trip to Singapore in January.

December 29, 2008

We were up early and were quite ready by 8 am when the car arrived to
take us to the airport. Reaching the airport was eventless, but there
was utter confusion at the airport as a Boeing 747 had just brought back
a load of people returning from the Huj pilgrimage to Mecca. The whole
area was overrun with buses and taxis that had come to take the
pilgrims. The upshot was the fact that there were no baggage trolleys
and we had to lug the suitcases all through security and up to check in.
The process was long. There was a Bangladesh Biman flight leaving at
the same time along with the Air India Express flight and those
passengers were marginally accustomed to the civilized behavior of
standing in line. Srijoy was amused by the number of times I lost my
temper yelling at people who were trying to cut in front of us in the
immigration line. Eventually we were part of the cattle on another
Emirates cattle carrier taking the expat labor to Dubai (actually what I
realized about the crowd on the plane was that a fair portion were
headed to different parts of the Middle East and Dubai is the point of
transfer, because when we actually reached Dubai, most of the people on
the flight headed for the transfer desk and only few like us actually
entered Dubai). Again the new terminal was really impressive, and we
breezed through passport control and customs and took the bus to the
Millennium Hotel. The hotel was nice, although a little worn. Right
next to the airport, this is the hotel we stayed in about 8 years ago in
2000 when we had gone through Dubai during Ramadan (see that blog, there
are some interesting stories). Emirates has taken over a complete
section of the hotel and uses it to board the transit passengers like
us. They gave us two adjoining rooms and meal coupons. We left the
hotel at about 4 and took a taxi to the Deira area where the famous Gold
Souk (Gold Market) of Dubai is located. This is a place where one can
get any form of gold ornament one desires and people from all over the
World come to window shop. We spent most of the evening there and then
walked around the numerous stores and shops that make up the old market
area of Dubai. We spent some time there and then took a taxi back to
the hotel. This was a bit of a trick since the taxi driver was a new
arrival from Pakistan, a young man of about 20 who kept his radio dial
on a Muslim religious channel all through the drive (and did not want to
change to a music channel when Swati requested it - I told her to back
down because he was obviously not approving of anything other than the
religious prayer channel). The fellow was really polite and nice and we
realized that he had no idea where the hotel was, and since Dubai keeps
changing, I too was a little disoriented. But thanks to the combination
of my trusted Cingular phone, Google Maps and my GPS receiver, I was
able to direct him back to the hotel. It cost us an extra 5 Dirham ($1
= 3.5 Dirham) but we were back. After a short rest in the room we came
down for the complimentary dinner buffet. In the meantime, Soumitra (my
CBS friend, who I had not seen for nearly 30 years) and I had connected
up and he and his wife came over and we had a few drinks together. As
Srijoy has sometimes said to me: It seems to him that there is no major
city in the World where I do not have a friend either from CBS or from
IIT. We really have developed a global network and I feel confident
that I can be in any major global metro and would be able to find a
friend who lives there. So, here we were two people from CBS catching
up after 30 years sitting in a restaurant in Dubai. Eventually they
left and we called it a day.

December 30, 2008

We had an early start since we had to get on the 8:10 flight from Dubai.
Had a pretty good breakfast at the hotel and then the shuttle to the
airport. As usual, it again stunned us with its size and efficiency.
We hung out at the gate going through some of the duty free shops. We
realized that things in Dubai are not necessarily any cheaper and I
decided to wait to return home before buying the new phone handset. The
flight boarded on time and it was quite an experience to enter the A380
with its double-decker approach. Being in cattle we were stuck to the
downstairs, but what was noticeable about the downstairs was the fact
that the head room was much greater and it made the area look much more
spacious. It was truly a huge aircraft and walking up and down the
plane offered quite a bit of exercise. The flight was very long (about
14 hours) but I got a fair amount of work accomplished on the plane.
Arrival into New York was a little bumpy for Srijoy because of a food
allergy but we eventually made it to the hotel OK. There was an
incident that night which I can share when we meet. It was bizarre and
was caused by sleep deprivation and a general disorientation due to the
long flight. I do not think I want to do this long flight again, and
would much rather stop in London as we usually do.

December 31, 2008

Finally reached OK taking an earlier flight and stopping in Raleigh for
groceries and lunch at Tower.

San Diego November 2008

Friday November 21, 2008

Srijoy and I left from home at about 8:30 am for the drive to Charlotte.
It was an eventless drive and we got there in good time. It took a
little bit of time at the airport to get the bus from the parking lot to
the terminal. The check in was relatively painless, but we did not get
the anticipated upgrade. After security we spent some time at the
Starbucks coffee shop and we got a sandwich for the flight. The first
leg of the flight was up to Las Vegas. They had put us on an exit row
seat and so they had to move us to a normal seat because at 13 years
Srijoy was not allowed to sit in the exit row. We spent time chatting
on the plane and bought one of the packed lunches to supplement the
sandwich. The flight was a little delayed and we were worried about
missing the next leg from Vegas to Orange County John Wayne Airport.
But thankfully, the flight from Vegas was delayed as well. The airport
in Vegas has a series of slot machines and I tried my luck and came out
ahead. Srijoy noted that the airport was relatively bereft of children,
and he felt that the place was rather child-unfriendly. This was
especially true for the restaurant where Srijoy was not allowed in
because it also had a bar and no one under 18 was allowed in. He was
not very pleased with Vegas airport. The next leg was relatively short
and we arrived into the LA area when it was still light outside. One
could see the pollution that engulfs the entire coastline as a brown
haze hung over the area very reminiscent of other cities like Lima,
Delhi and Bogota. One sees such a haze over New York as well but it is
certainly more pronounced over the LA area. We landed through the smog
and the airport was relatively friendly and easy to negotiate. The
rental car agency was with the airport and we walked down to the garage
to pick up the car. There Srijoy noticed that a red Ford Mustang was
also available for rental and we quickly changed the vehicle and the two
of us left the airport in a red Mustang. This was really a great
feeling to be driving a "muscle" car and Srijoy was totally thrilled.
We used the GPS system to find our way to the ocean-side drive. Both
Srijoy and I realized that the West coast is remarkably different from
all of the USA. He felt it was certainly richer and it showed. The
highway cuts through the numerous coast towns between LA and San Diego
with the innumerable boutiques and other stores. We stopped at a
Starbucks for tea as both of us were a little jet lagged already.
Eventually, we got on to rather crowded highway 5 South and headed into
San Diego. Our hotel was a Residence Inn by the Marina. After checking
in, I went downstairs and ran into Allan; we chatted for a while as
Srijoy took a shower and we eventually ordered a spaghetti dinner and
called it a day.

Saturday November 22, 2008

I had to be at a conference panel early, so I had to get up and get
ready while I let Srijoy sleep. I got some breakfast for him and I
headed out to the conference hotel. Being a Saturday it was not too
difficult finding parking. I finished my work and returned to the hotel
as Srijoy was getting up. We had decided that we would do a trip to
Tijuana in Mexico for the day. We tied up with Scott and Kevin Heston
who also decided to go to Mexico that day. We left the hotel at about
11:00 am and drove south along highway 5. On the way Srijoy and I
realized that he did not have any ID with him; so we stopped at a strip
mall and got a copy of his passport. This is usually a good idea since
I would have the passport with me, and if he were to get separated from
me, then at least he would have a copy. We then drove further south
until we saw the "last exit in USA" sign and pulled off the highway.
There are a series of parking lots in this area and we picked one and
after parking the car, we walked across the bridge and into Mexico. The
entry was rather undramatic - just going across a turnstile - and we
were in a different country. The entire atmosphere changed immediately,
and as Srijoy noted, it was like entering India or some other developing
country. The cars honked, there were vendors on the street, small shops
and a general sense of activity all around. The place was a little less
clean than USA and Srijoy enjoyed it immensely. We walked through the
markets and the pharmacies and reached the famous arch of Tijuana which
stands at one end of Avenue Revolution. This is the high street of
Tijuana with the gift stores and the numerous restaurants, not to
mention the strip bars and the general one-dollar beer joints that never
ask for an ID. Actually, Srijoy could have had a drink here if he
wanted! We did some souvenir shopping and then found a restaurant for
lunch. The beer was cheap and good, and the Mariachi band kept the
place very lively. We ate a relaxed lunch and then decided to continue
to stroll down the avenue. We had spotted a huge flag that dominates
the Tijuana skyline and we decided to see the flag up close. So, Srijoy
and I went off the beaten tourist path and we were soon in authentic
Mexican neighborhoods. Our slight resemblance to the local population
made us less conspicuous and we strolled along the streets walking
through an area that was clearly the car repair place of Tijuana. These
are not dealerships that sell swanky car parts, but these are
hole-in-the-wall stores that are run by people who have learn their
trade tinkering with technology! We had to walk up hill a bit until we
reached the park adjoining the massive park which was all opposite some
kind of a military area. Now we were far from the beaten track. We
hung around the park for some time and then took a different route back
towards the arch. We were soon back in the tourist area and were again
accosted by the vendors. One thing we have learnt is to highlight our
Indian-ness in places like Mexico. The vendors quickly distinguish
between the richer Western tourists and the poorer Indian tourists. I
think we got better deals because of that. It was also clear that
Indian tourists go to Tijuana because many of the vendors knew enough to
say things like, "Namaste," "Salaam Alekum," "Shasta" and one called
Srijoy "Gandhi" and another offered a sale price by reducing the price
of the item by "ek rupee!" Typically, when we are in situations such as
this, we do not speak in English with each other, and Srijoy now knows
not to use his standard American accent, but revert to the Indian
English or stick entirely to Bengali. Interesting how people make
attributions based on nationality and ethnicity! We finally walked back
to the border crossing area and had to wait in line for about 45 minutes
before re-entering USA. We walked back to the car and then drove back
to the hotel to set down for a little before heading out to the
Department party. The party was in the Gas Lamp district of San Diego
and it went really well. It was at a jazz place and Srijoy enjoyed the
music. After the dinner (with Jason and Parul) Srijoy wanted to check
out any heavy metal music bar. We chatted with a rickshaw driver and he
suggested a place, we walked up there but it was not much good. We
eventually got back to the car and headed back to the hotel and to bed.

Sunday November 23, 2008

Again, we were up early and we decided to make the most of the day.
After the breakfast, we drove to Sea World. We got there just as it was
opening and we spent the entire day there taking in almost all the
shows, eating lunch at the Budweiser cafe and watched the Shamu show
twice. We actually left from there just as it was closing which meant
we had spent about 8 hours there! After that we got back to the hotel
and connected up with Allan. The three of us then drove over to the
conference hotel and connected up with Jason. It was a nice night, very
pleasant, and we walked along the marina and found a sea food place.
Srijoy enjoyed his scallops and we had a relaxed dinner, eventually
getting back to the hotel about 10:00 pm and called it a day after
sitting and watching TV for some time.

Monday November 24, 2008

I had most of my work in the morning on Monday. Srijoy decided that it
would be best to leave the hotel and come out with me. So we checked
out of the hotel, put our bags in the car and we headed to the
conference hotel. Srijoy sat through the two panels and then had coffee
with Greg and we headed out of San Diego. It was bit of a cloudy day
and we drove at a leisurely pace north towards LA. Our aim was to get
to Venice beach. On the way we stopped at a restaurant and had a nice
fish and chips lunch and as we headed back up north the traffic was
getting thicker and we decided that going to Venice beach would be
difficult. So we pulled into a city called Newport Beach and drove all
the way to the beachside. We spent the evening at the beach. Srijoy
chased the sea gulls and pelicans and it was really nice to be at an
un-crowded beach like that. We were rewarded with an excellent sunset
that was so pretty that many people came to simply watch that. We hung
out there for a bit and then headed to the hotel. The Residence Inn had
some free snacks and Srijoy made a dinner out of that. We were both
tired, so we lit a fire in the room and sat around it for a while.
Srijoy and I chatted a lot that night talking about many different
things until it was time to call it a day.

Tuesday November 25, 2008

We left early to return the car and fly back. The first leg of the
flight was to Phoenix. It was relatively uneventful and we had some
time to grab a bite to eat in Phoenix and then got the flight back to
Charlotte. We got upgraded to first class for that segment of the
flight and it was quite pleasant. We reached Charlotte on time and were
home by about 11:00 pm.

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Greensboro, Philadelphia, New York, London, Prague, Dresden, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Delhi, Calcutta

July 2008

June 28, 2009, Saturday Greensboro-Philadelphia-New York

We left from home after a brief stop at the Starbucks on Robinhood and headed to the airport. The drive was eventless, and after checking in I parked the car in the long-tem lot (it is not cheap, and comes to about $6.00 per day). Walked back to the airport and security was eventless. The flight was on time and we reached Philadelphia OK as well. Got the bus to the car rental and was on the way in a van very soon. We drove into downtown Philly and stopped by the convention center. Walked around Chinatown and stopped at a really smelly fish store and then walked through the Chinatown gate to a Vietnamese restaurant. These Chinatowns are more or less similar all over the US, with the customary Chinese gate, the street shops selling exotic fruits (not exotic to anyone East of the Atlantic), and the numerous Chinese restaurants. The food at the Vietnamese restaurant was interesting but nothing spectacular. Over the years, if I have leaned one thing about food: Not to ever stray from the trusted food that one is used to. Trying new things is a good thing, but as far and food and self is concerned, would much rather have my fish and chips with a pint than all this exotic stuff with unknown dead animals and fluids whose sources are at best suspect. I am OK with new ideas, technology, inventions, political movements, and places, but keep the food the same!! It was a really hot day and we strolled back to the car since Srijoy was really tired. We had to deal with a really intense storm and some nasty traffic as we headed towards JFK airport. The trip took longer than anticipated because of the traffic. There was also a lot of rain. We often complain about being stuck in traffic jams in Indian cities, but the journey from Philly to New York was quite bad as well. We eventually reached the hotel we were booked at – the Fairfield Inn in Jamaica, not too far from JFK airport. We have stayed at this hotel before and the rooms are not bad for the price (about $180 with taxes), given how expensive hotels have become in New York. After a brief rest, I took the car back to the rental return and took the hotel back. Soon after, Robert, my former student, came over. We sat and chatted for a while, eventually calling it a day for the early start the next day.

June 29, 2008, Sunday New York-London

We were up early to make the 5:30 am bus to the airport. The check in and other formalities were simple because I had completed the online check in and simply had to do the bag drop at the airport. We were in the brand new JFK terminal and everything went relatively smoothly. The seat selection on the plane was a disaster. While Mikku and Bebo had good seats, mine was really cramped. A little smooth talking had me exchange the seat with another fellow and I was comfortable for the rest of the time. The crossing was innocuous, although the food on Virgin was not as good as it used to be. Reached London on time and had a glorious view of the city as we circled over Heathrow. They really need to fix that airport. We arrived in Terminal 3 and immigration took a while as always. The bags arrived OK and we walked down to the Underground station. Bought the tickets to Hammersmith and got on the train. We got a taxi from Hammersmith to Wandsworth (about 20 Sterling) and Kaju Mama (my uncle from my mother’s side) had left the keys to his place (15 Wandsworth Close) with his neighbors. We got in, relaxed, and soon Kaju Mama, Lenny and Tony were back from the church. They had a big do at the Church for St. John the Baptist Day. We sat around chatting for some time before calling it a day. I did a portion of the repacking to prepare for the Europe trip.

June 30, 2008, Monday London-Prague

We had to get an early start since we had a morning flight from Heathrow Terminal 5. I did the online check in at home. We then walked from Kaju’s house on to Arndale Center. It was a nice cool morning and the walk was not too bad with the two suitcases. There is a taxi stand in front of Sainsbury at Arndale and it took a few minutes for the taxi. We took the taxi (6 Sterling) to East Putney Underground and bought the tickets for Heathrow (this is usually a 7.5 Sterling ticket for “two adults and 13 years old”). The journey was eventless and we got to Terminal 5 without any problems. The terminal is brand new and is only meant for British Airways flights. The checking in was eventless and all we had to do was a bag drop and then we went through security which was quite a good technology too. They are starting to use a conveyor belt system that simplifies the process of getting things through the X-ray system. The terminal was quite large and we went to a restaurant and had a nice meal before going on to the gate to board the BA flight to Prague. The two-hour flight was nice and there was a good meal as well. Unfortunately there was a liquid spill on my computer key board that led to a series of events making my computer relatively useless for the rest of the trip. Not a good thing right at the beginning of the trip. Anyway, arrival at Prague airport was quite smooth and we picked up our bag and walked across the street to the Courtyard Marriott hotel. This was a brand new hotel and the room was really nice. I had selected to stay here because we were getting the room for free (thanks to Marriott Rewards) and the airport is well connected to the city center. There was a distinct East-European feel about the place even though the hotel was swanky new. After a brief rest we decided to venture to the city center. There is a shuttle that goes from the airport to the city center and being the first time we decided to use that. The drive from the airport was through a city that bore all the signs of an emerging Capitalist system that had been under a Soviet-style system for years. There was the garish display of the 24-hour McDonalds next to large concrete blocks of houses that once must have housed the CIA safe-houses in the height of the Cold War. It is said that Prague is one of the prettiest cities in Europe. That was not immediately evident as we pulled into the city. The bus dropped us off by the Hilton in the City Center and we strolled along cobbled streets on to the main square which was reminiscent of many other plazas we have seen across Europe. One of the main attractions of the plaza is a clock tower that has a display of the mechanized figures (including a skeleton) that announces the hour. We watched the display and hung out at the square. The restaurants along the square were really expensive and we strolled away from the square and found a less-expensive restaurant that Srijoy had already noticed while we were walking towards the square. The dinner was goulash soup and some salad. We then walked back towards the Hilton, and on the way checked with a store to figure out the best way to get back to the airport. We were also approached by a shady character who said “namaste” and then proceeded to offer to buy dollars from us, very reminiscent of what happens in India. We had decided to take public transport back to the hotel, and I was a little apprehensive because it was starting to get dark and we were in a completely new city. The process of getting back to the airport was to take the underground to the end of the line to a station which had a bus service to the airport. This was a far less expensive option than the shuttle bus. We took the underground which was quite nice and then took the bus. The journey took about 40 minutes and we were back at the hotel without a problem and decided to call it a day. There was a casino connected to the hotel and I went there for a bit. We were planning on a complete day in Prague next day.

July 1, 2008, Tuesday Prague

We took an early start and after coffee and breakfast in the room we walked over to the ticket place in the airport and purchased the all day bus ticket. All together for the 3 of us this was about $15.00 and allowed unlimited use of the bus and underground. We took the bus to the underground station and then took the train for one stop to the jumping off point for the visit to Prague Castle. From the train station we took a tram that took us all the way up to the courtyard of the castle. We stopped for a coffee and cake before entering the castle. It was a regal castle as they usually are in these places and we strolled along the castle grounds before reaching the gardens. This was a really pretty and quite place and after a small entry fee we walked down the slope through the garden before leaving the castle. We arrived at a street that was obviously the area where all the foreign consulates were and we decided to take some pictures at the Indian Embassy, and we could not find the US Embassy. The street led to a large plaza where we took the wrong tram to another plaza. The idea of “taking the wrong tram” and getting lost is quite relative when one has no specific destination. We were just strolling along the streets of Prague, taking in the ambience which continued to display the peculiar historical moment we were in. At the place we had reached, Srijoy spotted a large Starbucks and we went in for some coffee. We then started to stroll towards the famous Charles Bridge of Prague which has been made famous in numerous movies such as “Mission Impossible.” On the way we stopped at a grocery store where we picked up a few sandwiches and like many others, we sat on the pavement and ate the food. It is important to use bottled water in Prague since the regular water could be suspicious. We then slowly strolled along the bridge looking at the sculpture and the numerous street vendors selling their ware. The bridge leads across the Danube into the old quarter of the city; we strolled through that area stopping at souvenir stores and then reached the Jewish Ghetto. This was one of the oldest Jewish quarters in Europe rivaled by the one in Venice (which too we have been to) and we walked around that area. We bought a little souvenir from a street shop who accepted British currency. We then strolled over to a post office to post the picture postcards and stopped for some coffee before heading to the railway station. It took a bit of time to figure out the cost and time for the trains to Vienna and we were also thinking of a day trip to Berlin. The latter was not conceivable as a day trip so we decided to do a trip to Dresden instead. We then all got back to the hotel by the same route using the bus and underground combination. After a supper at the hotel I went back to the station and bought the tickets to Dresden and Vienna. The Dresden ticket did not require a reservation but the Vienna one did. I finally called it a day after returning to the hotel.

July 2, 2008, Wednesday Prague-Dresden

We tried to leave in good time to catch the 10:30 am train to Dresden. We reached the station in good time only to be told that we were at the wrong station. We did a mad rush to get to the other station and still made the train since the train was running about 10 minutes late. This was a good lesson since we would not make the same mistake for the train to Vienna. The train was not bad and the second-class tickets (the total cost was $150.00 for the three of us) put us into a coupe with 6 seats. Our co-passengers got off before we entered Germany. The countryside was not spectacular but was dotted with old factories that were relics of the Soviet days. What was striking was the similarity in the look of these factories and what we see in India. There was a time in the 1960s when India was quite friendly with Russia and there was a good amount of technology transfer between the countries. Many of the factories in India were built around Russian plans which were more geared towards heavy machinery use with scant concern for making a profit. The West is used to manufacturing systems that are geared for maximizing profit. The socialist planned economy was geared towards producing standardized (often inferior) goods that were made in State controlled industries. Being an engineer, I am able to see the difference in the design of factories of the two systems. It was fascinating to see these now-defunct factories as we traveled the two hours from Prague to Dresden. Arrival at Dresden was smooth. We got out of the station and walked into the information area to buy the day pass for buses and underground. Bebo was quite surprised to see me speak workable German to communicate with the ticket clerk. We then strolled towards the city center of Dresden. After a while of strolling in the heat, we decided to get on the tram and took the tram to the city center. Dresden used to be notorious in World War II for receiving the wrath of Allied bombing that completely destroyed the city. After the War, under East German rule, the city was the hotbed of KGB and Statsi (East German Secret Police) operations. As we walked around the city there were many displays of the Soviet times especially with a large wall mural on the side of a city building that displays the classic Communist imagery of the sickle and star along with the images of working class people. From there we walked on to the site of the re-constructed Protestant Church that was completely destroyed in the War. The plaza also had a statue of Martin Luther who started the Protestant movement in Europe. We then walked over to the river side and had a drink at a café (we had eaten lunch in the train) and then took the tram across the river to see the broad plazas of Dresden. We strolled around there and found a post office to mail the postcards, and Bebo and I had ice cream. It was really hot and we took the tram back around the city (going past the huge synagogue) to the Zwinger which is an old Baroque building surrounded by a park and lake. We really took it easy there spending time cooling off there. Eventually we left the Zwinger and took the tram back towards the station. On the way to the station Mikku picked up some Chinese food, and Bebo and I got sandwiches for us. We also stopped at a store in the station to get some more food which we ate on the train. We were back in Prague late in the evening and called it a day. I took a little stroll before going to bed.

July 3, Thursday Prague-Vienna

We started early from the hotel since we had to make it to the station on time. The check out process was smooth and there was a bit of a confusion regarding the bus. Mikku was confused as to where to go to get the bus. We eventually got on the bus and took it out to the transfer point for the subway. Getting the suitcase down was not a big problem and we got on the train. This time we got off at the correct station and it was a bit of a rush at the last moment to push the suitcase through stairs and up ramps to make the train just in time. The train was running a little late, but we were able to get into the correct compartment (the inter-city trains like this require a reservation, and we had assigned seats). Mikku and Bebo found the seats and were able to arrange with a co-passenger so that we remained together. The journey was uneventful (except for irritating co-passengers who could not reading aloud in Spanish from a travel guide), as we left from Prague and pulled on towards the South. There was a lot of evidence of the Soviet-era influence, especially with the way in which the factories were built. The countryside was innocuous, rolling hills and meadows and a few cities. There were a lot of sunflower plantations and it reminded me of the movie from way back called “Sunflower,” which was also set in this part of the World. We had a lunch of sandwiches and goulash soup on the train and the weather remained warm as we pulled into the Sud station of Vienna. The change from Eastern Europe to Western Europe was very visible as soon as we crossed into Austria. I had read about this change on another blog, and it was interesting to observe how the quality of the houses, the roads and the cars changed instantly, even though everything else looked just the same – the same rolling hills, and meadows. We got taken at the station by a Turkish cab driver. We were in line for the cabs, and this fellow pushed forward and offered to take us in his cab. I was tired and not thinking right. The basic rule of taking a cab anywhere in the World is that the passenger should pick the cab driver, and never let the cab driver pick you, because the only reason a cab driver will pick a passenger is because the passenger looks gullible and is easy picking for inflated fares. I had also not done my homework well enough about cab prices and distance of the Marriott from the Sud station. So when the fellow said it would be 20 Euros, I fell for that as well. As it turned out, the actual fare should have only been 10 Euros, so I yelled at the fellow when we got off the cab, did not tip him, and hopefully made him feel miserable enough for duping me. The check in was smooth and the hotel was very nice. After resting a little we decided to venture out. The Medlin subway station was right across from the hotel. There was a Turkish restaurant there selling kebabs. Mikku and Bebo decided to get a bite to eat there and the price was reasonable. They had donner kebab sandwiches. The owner was very friendly. In the meantime, I bought the 3-day transportation pass (also called the Vienna Card) so that we could travel freely on the public transport system. We had decided to stay at a hotel a little away from the central area, so the train was going to be important. Even when we had come to Vienna nearly 15 years ago, we had stayed out of Vienna to avoid the central city crowds. After the snack we took the subway for one stop to get to Schonbrunn Palace. This was a place I well remembered from our previous visit, and it was interesting to get back to a place in Europe (other than London) where we had been before. This is starting to happen as we go back to the same places and there is a strange pleasure in returning (as was the case with Geneva and Paris a few years ago). Since we have traveled so much, this is not unexpected and I anticipate this will happen more as we get older. Who would have thought back when we were growing up in Calcutta, that there will be a time when we would get as familiar with London as we are with Calcutta! The palace grounds were really nice as they always are. It was, however, terribly hot and so we tried to stay in the shade as we walked through the front courtyard and back into the rear of the palace with the well laid out garden and the maze made out of shrubbery. We sat around in the grounds for a bit and then walked back to the bus stop to take the 101 back to Medlin and to the hotel. Srijoy noticed that there were cycles to be rented and we decided we would do that tomorrow. We rested at the hotel and I worked on the conference paper sitting in the hotel bar using the free drink coupons they had offered. Later went out to the Kebab shop to get some dinner. We had decided that we are going to change our food behavior on this trip and completely avoid the “room service.” In stead we scoped out local restaurants and either went out to eat there or I would pick up the food. Later in the night I returned to the Turkish restaurant and started chatting with the owner. Seemed like a really enterprising person, named Shenoy, who was really interested in opening a Turkish restaurant in India. We chatted for a while and we realized that this is a feasible concept. We exchanged e-mails and decided to stay in touch. Then got back to the hotel lobby and was hanging around there watching a group of Indian middle-aged men negotiating with the travel desk for a day trip of Vienna. Could not help over-hearing that they settled for a 700 Euro price for a van. Was really curious to see who would pay nearly $1,000 for a van for a day. My curiosity (eves dropping) was soon noticed and the leader of the group strolled over to chat. Turned out he was the Minister of Irrigation for the state of Andhra in India and was there in Europe on an “official visit” accompanied by business tycoons (who were ostensibly footing the bills) and other government staff. Sat and chatted with them a little, and finally called it a day.

July 4, Friday Vienna

We got a reasonably early start and had a quick breakfast in the room. While Mikku and Bebo were getting ready, I went down to the lobby and hung out. Ran into the Indian MP again, as well as a large brood of Punjabis who were holidaying in Vienna. After Bebo and Mikku were ready we took the underground from Medlin over to Karlzplatz which is considered the central area of Vienna. Our first goal was to retrieve the tickets for the evening concert. After a few wrong turns we located the office and got the tickets. Then we started to walk towards the museum area and spent a bit of time waiting in vain to see the President of Crete who was about to emerge from his hotel. We did, however, see the whole motorcade go by a little later. Vienna is one of the cosmopolitan capitals of the old empires of Europe. The city is dotted with regal palaces and large plazas. We walked over to one of the palaces and then strolled over to the statue of Mozart. Srijoy wanted to sit there for a bit and we took a few pictures there. Then we walked over to the Maria Theresa area, which was under renovation. I have never been very impressed by Vienna and this time there was way too much renovation going on making it a little less appealing. We eventually stopped at a cafe and had a sumptuous snack of true Austrian confectionary and espresso. This is a specialty of Austria and I have always absolutely enjoyed the cakes and pastries of this part of the World. Unfortunately, the slipping dollar has made these little pleasures very expensive and our little foray into the Viennese pastries set us back about $30. We then strolled over to the Roman ruins and I left Mikku and Bebo there to go off to the conference. Things went well there. Later I met up with them at the Standplatz from where we walked over to the theater district, and stopped at a small cafe for sandwiches. Also got a map of Hungary from a roadside kiosk. There is a significant presence of Middle Eastern people in Austria. It is difficult to say if they are legal or not, but many of the kiosks, and restaurants are owned by people of Middle Eastern descent. They stand in stark contrast to the local German-speaking Austrians, and one can feel a certain nervousness in the air given the Austrian history of dealing with people of different races. We then walked back towards the underground station. Srijoy really wanted to do the cycle riding, so we dropped Mikku off at the hotel and Srijoy and I took the train on to Schonbrunn Palace where we knew there would cycles to hire. Now pay attention. The cycle hiring process requires a Visa or MasterCard. Essentially what happens is that each cycle is connected to a numbered parking slot. The central renting kiosk computer knows which parking slot has a cycle available. To rent, it is important to register a credit card with the system. This Srijoy and I did and I put in all kinds of personal details into an unknown computer system in Austria (why, I wonder, my credit cards get compromised about every six months, I am on my way to Bogota in August, and wonder where my CCs will end up!). After learning about me, and ostensibly trusting me, the system asked us to pick a bike. This we had already done, and once we punched in the parking slot number, the bike was released from the slot. Srijoy was happy, the computer was happy and it returned to the home screen. Now, I needed a bike, so I started the process of renting by punching in the appropriate buttons. I also was now the proud possessor of a userid and a password carefully registered with the bike rental system of greater-Vienna. Then the machine hiccupped. It was confused, and its normal system was being called to question why one person would want to rent two bikes. In the extreme wisdom of the rigid Austrian system, it was unthinkable that one person, with a credit card, would want to rent two bikes at the same time, so the system was designed to rent one bike per user (defined by the user id). Now this was a bummer, because our plan was to rent the bikes and ride then back to the hotel and return them at a return point near the hotel. This was not to happen, unless I set up a new userid. Undaunted, Srijoy and I decided to set up a new userid using the solitary credit card that I had just used to rent the first bike. Now, the Austrian system, asks, why would the same credit card be connected to two userids? That must not be allowed. Thus, unless I could conjure up another credit card, I was shit out of luck. Of course, the only other card I had in my “travel wallet” was an Amex, which, naturally, the system does not accept. So, here we have spent 20 minutes of the 60 minute rental (1 Euro per hour) struggling with a ridiculously narrow minded algorithm. Eventually, I allowed Srijoy to ride the bike around for about 30 minutes, unaccompanied by me, around the streets of the capital of Austria. There must be very few thrills in the life of a 13 year old that is more exciting than the freedom of going around some Vienna streets and parks on a bike unencumbered by parents and un-tethered because his cell phone was not with him. I, unfortunately, was worried until he returned. We then returned the cycle, and took the 101 bus back to the hotel, to get ready to leave for the concert. We stopped at Shenoy’s restaurant for a quick bite. Srijoy had a pizza and Mikku had a falafel sandwich. We took the underground back to Karlzplatz and there found our way to the Musichall. The setting of the hall was just marvelous and the concert, which lasted about 2 hours, was astonishing. It was indeed a pleasure to listen to Mozart’s music sitting in the same room where he once sat. Called Ma to wish her happy birthday before the concert. Srijoy absolutely enjoyed this experience. We eventually got back to the hotel about 11:00 pm after an interesting encounter with a group of high school kids from North Carolina. I went to Shenoy’s restaurant for a chat, a beer and donner kebab sandwich. Then called it a day.

July 5, Saturday Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest

We had wanted an early start from the hotel since we had planned on doing many different things that day. Unfortunately, we got out later than we had wanted to. We took the underground from the Medlin station to Landstrasse. There is a train service from this station to the airport where we would be renting the car from Thrifty. We were able to find the correct platform but had neglected to buy the tickets, so even though there was a train we could take, we were unable to do that because we needed to buy additional tickets for the trip to the airport. We had to get back to the station, and I used an automatic ticket dispenser to get the tickets. That was not very wise because we were unable to take advantage of the discount we should have received for possessing the Vienna Pass. The next train was about 40 minutes later, and so we hung out at the station. It is interesting how years of travel have helped to develop an instinct about reading complicated timetables and other charts. The Austrians are particularly good at methodically showing what train comes when and where it goes, the system is almost comparable to Japan. Knowing some German, I was showing Srijoy how to interpret the system. He is actually getting better at this every year and at least for London, I feel confident that he would have no trouble negotiating the Underground on his own. It is also curious how all underground systems follow a similar logic. This is perhaps one of the few global standards that have emerged unwittingly. The way in which land must be used leads to a specific logic of developing these systems. Also, since underground systems are bereft of any landmarks other than station names, there is no distraction or doubt about where to get off for what transfer. It is not a system that is built around being able to identify specific landmarks to offer clues about one’s location, in stead one just needs to be able to read a map and one can move smoothly from one place to another. There ought to be some research about these systems to see how a-cultural these systems are and thus if you understand one system you can follow all the others. Anyway, the train arrived and it took about 30 minutes to get to the airport. Since we had arrived later than anticipated, Thrifty had given away our vehicle, but they quickly arranged with Budget and we soon had the keys to a Ford Fiesta (the renting process was amazingly smooth and not much different from what one experiences in the US) and we were on our way to the rental parking lot. The car was very nice, and it took me a bit to reorient myself to a manual car and once I had that worked out, we headed out of the airport and looked for signs for Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The drive was supposed to be about a 40 kilometer distance, and there was some heavy traffic as we left Vienna but once we took the highway to Slovakia the traffic thinned. The countryside was non-descript with two major features we had already seen – the sunflower plantations and the windmill farms. The road was very good, and there was no clearly evident speed limit, so I was able to drive at about 90 to 100 miles per hour without any difficulty. We did not have a very good map, but again years of travel has taught us what to look for when getting into a new European city (I did use my GPS unit as a compass to get a bearing on which direction I was going). We unfortunately missed the exit for “Centrum” and so had to take a detour which was actually very interesting because we drove through old neighborhoods with the traditional Eastern Block Soviet-era high rise and institutional grey and ugly blocks of buildings. Some of the areas were quite run-down and depressed and one could feel that the country was still struggling with coming to grips with a new political and economic World. It was a study in contrast because the Soviet-era buildings were juxtaposed with garish advertisements of the latest consumer products, one not quite fitting with each other. The days of the oppressively planned economy of traditional socialism was jostling with the emergent conscience-free capitalism. It seemed that the city was struggling with this. We eventually made our way back to the center of town and walked over to a plaza that could have been lifted directly from a pastiche of books written by the Russian dissident Solzhenitsyn and Tintin comics. The typical East European plaza with the clanking trams, the web of overhead wires, and the Slavic church in the background. The few eateries did not really offer much in the way of lunch and we strolled along one of the streets radiating from the plaza. We found a place that claimed to have Italian food and sat down and ate. Strangely enough, there was a family from Sri Lanka also eating there; they too had come to see Bratislava. After lunch and interaction with a rather playful waiter, we walked down the street which was lined with different kinds of stores from small boutiques to sex shops and tattoo places. There was not much that was appealing and we strolled back to the car, and decided to head out. It was about 2 pm and we had a 2 hour drive to Budapest. If you are keeping count, we had breakfast in Austria, lunch in Slovakia and were heading to Hungary. The drive out of town was eventless. Thankfully, someone at the Vienna hotel had tipped me off that there are some road taxes that need to be paid to use the roads in Hungary. Again some instinct kicked in (because the language was unintelligible) and I noticed cars pulling off the highway into a rest-area kind of place. On a hunch, we too pulled in there and sure enough, there was a road tax to be paid. What was interesting about this experience was the fact that the whole thing happened solely by a combination of instinct, observing other cars, and a general sense that this was the place for the tax. There were no signs that we could understand. In the end, it really is just experience. The combined road tax for the use of the roads in the region was 8 Euros (I never really understood what time period it was for, but I was not worried since I was going to be there for just a day). After that we hit the highway again (M7/A7) towards Hungary and Budapest. We crossed into Hungary in about 40 minutes. These have all become open borders with no check posts at all. But, one should not miss the remnants of watch towers and the steel gates that can be shut at a moment’s notice bringing back the Iron Curtain. It is not as if all the check points are gone, they have only been opened up. We drove steadily at about 85 to 90 miles per hour and were in the outskirts of Budapest by about 4 pm. The hours spent the night before studying the satellite maps of Budapest helped me to negotiate our way towards the center of town. Traffic was light but it was very confusing. We stopped often to get directions, but were unable to communicate. We also did not have any Hungarian money and a place selling maps refused to accept Euros. It was quite disconcerting to be driving around a very large city without a map, not knowing the language, and no local money. The only thing helping us was the map that I had kind of imprinted in my brain, and the GPS showing compass directions. It was also starting to rain lightly. We eventually figured it out and drove over to the Danube and found a parking spot not too far from the main tourist plaza. After that, it was easy, because Budapest was no different from Prague – one tourist stretch and the stores and cafes. We hung around there for some time, and then strolled over to the river’s edge. The sun had come out and we hung around there for a while before coming back to the Plaza. We had already had some food (goulash soup, boiled potato and beer) and we finally headed back to the car at about 8 pm. We did not get to see much of Budapest, but got a feel for the city which was quite similar to other former Eastern block cities that are slowly changing over to the Western system. We headed back along the main stretch and on purpose decided to explore a bit. Got to see the old Budapest railway station which appeared to be in some disrepair before heading back out of town. The drive back was eventless, except we stopped to get some gas. Srijoy had a lot of questions about the history of Communism and the Cold War and we chatted on the way back. It was dark when we got back to Vienna, and we were again lost. However, a combination of GPS Compass, and the general idea of the layout of Vienna allowed us to get back to the hotel without too much trouble. It was about 11:00 pm. Srijoy and Mikku went to bed, and I strolled over to Shenoy’s restaurant for a beer and donner kebab sandwich. Unfortunately, Shenoy was not there, but his cook was. Hung out there for a while before returning to the room and calling it a day.

July 6, Sunday Vienna-London

Being Sunday, the drive to the airport from the hotel was not difficult and the route was quite straight forward. It did not take all that long at all. The car return area is completely different from the place where we picked up the car, and it is a bit of a trek to get to the terminal. We also did not have any Euro coins left to use the carts (these usually need a 2 Euro coin to release the cart, and then you get back 1 Euro when the cart is returned). We walked on to Terminal 2 for the British Airways departure. Checking in was smooth, since I had already checked in over the Internet. We were a little early and spent time chatting with a family from New Jersey who were also in Vienna and were on their way back home. After dropping the bags at the British Airways counter, we went through security and into the duty free area. There was a nice food court there and we hung around there and had some more goulash soups and beer. Then we walked over to the gate area. The departure was smooth and we were back in Terminal 5 at Heathrow. I was very apprehensive about the luggage (as you might know, T5 was a disaster when it first opened in 2008, but things have gotten better, but BA is notorious for mishandled baggage, so it is considered a small miracle if BA actually delivers bags at the correct destination), but it all arrived OK. We took the underground to Hammersmith and had to wait about 5 minutes for the 220 to Wandsworth (the bus usually leaves from the C bay of Hammersmith station). The bus ride takes about 40 minutes from Hammersmith (one terminus) to Wandsworth Arndale Shopping Center (the other terminus). Since it was a pretty day, and we were not too tired, we decided to walk over to Kaju Mama’s house. It is a good 10 minute walk down Garrett Lane and Lenny was at home when we got home. Settled down, and soon Kaju Mama was home. We then all went out for dinner (our treat) to a chain of restaurants called Nando’s. The food was very good. After dinner, Lenny took the bus home, and we drove over to my other uncle’s place. Mantu mama is also a cousin of my mother. We went to his place and spent about an hour chatting. We were all quite tired by then and decided to head back home. A slow London rain was falling as we drove back to Whitehead Close.

July 7, Monday London

We decided to take it easy in the morning since it was a typical London day with a cold drizzle and cloudy skies. I was also still struggling with trying to find ways to dry the clothes I had laundered the night before. The dryer did not seem to work as well as I had hoped. Started to put them next to specific lamps to try and get them dry by the afternoon. We were also a little tired from all the traveling and decided it would be best to just relax at Kaju Mama’s home. He left for work about 8:00 in the morning, and we fixed ourselves some coffee and breakfast. Lenny left a little later, and at about 11:00 we walked over to the pub on Garret Lane called the “Old Sergeant.” Srijoy wanted a pub lunch and this was close by and we had been there before, so we decided to go over there. Had a Guinness and fish and chips. After lunch we strolled over to the Arndale shopping center and spent most of the afternoon there. Finally, after a quick stop at Sainsbury, we walked back home. We had ordered the taxi from Kwik Kars (their office is right on Garret Lane very close to the intersection with the Pizza Hut, their phone numbers are: 88746000 or 88746868) and the driver arrived quite on time. Our plan was to go to Hammersmith (he was going to charge 15 Sterling for that, and then take the train for 7.50 Sterling to Heathrow), but the driver, a person of Pakistani descent, made a good point in saying that for just 5 Sterling more we could be in Heathrow in his cab. Since it was raining, and I did not want to mess with the heavy bags at Hammersmith station, we decided to drive off to Heathrow. The driver was really nice, albeit very loud, and we were in Heathrow in good time. Check in for Virgin Upper Class in Zone A, Terminal 3, was quite smooth. The system has been vastly improved and there is now a dedicated elevator for upper class passengers that is operated by a scanner reading the bar code off the boarding pass (very cool and slick) and leads you off into a special security area which then whisks you into the duty free shopping area of T3. We headed straight for the Virgin Club and settled in there. Both Srijoy and I got haircuts and I also got my shoe shined (as I have done with this shoe, which I only use for the India trip, every year, at the club for the past several years, all of this is complimentary, and I usually just give a small tip). We also tasted the different food and I had some good single malt Scotch. Bebo and I also played some pool and we took a few detours out to the duty free areas. Eventually, we boarded the flight and it left mostly on time. I was sleeping before we reached 10,000 given that the upper class seat converts into a flat bed.

July 8, Tuesday Delhi-Calcutta

Had a fairly relaxing sleep on the plane and got up and brushed and cleaned up. These are some of the advantages of traveling upper class, and had a nice breakfast. We landed in Delhi nearly on time, but had to wait a long time to get our bags. That was a bit of a hassle, since one of the bags was stopped by Delhi customs who mistook the numerous metal cables of the myriad telephone and camera chargers as jewelry when looking through the X-ray machine. Anyway, we had Driver Yadav sent by Jeetendra’s car service (same person I had used for the Simla trip in 2007) with a Toyota Inova. We drove over to the Mahipalpur Radisson and sat in the lobby for a while, freshened up, had a beer, and then headed to the lunch buffet. It was terribly expensive (Rs. 1,100 for adults, with the Rupee converting at about 41 to a dollar), but we indulged. The food, as always, was really good. We sat in the lobby for a bit after finishing lunch and then headed to the domestic airport. Check in there was smooth and we went through security. I had forgotten that Indian airports do not allow you to carry matchbooks on board and so I had to rummage through my carry on bag and give up nearly 40 matchbooks collected from many different places over the last year! The flight was at 6:00 and it left mostly on time. We arrived in Calcutta about 8:30 pm. Babulbaba, Boudima and Tinku (Mikku’s family) were at the airport with a car, and I had also ordered a vehicle. We loaded the two cars and headed to my parent’s place – AC 140 Salt Lake – and I got a little delayed in traffic. The other group had already reached AC 140. My mother, who lives downstairs in the two storey house, was very ill with a throat infection, and she suggested that Mikku and Bebo go over to stay at Mikku’s parent’s house at D 50 Mahavir Vikas, also in Salt Lake. However, we got an opportunity to see Namrata (aka Nimi) who is the newly wed bride of my nephew Babli. He is the son of my cousin Shanker da and his wife Ruma Boudi, who live on the second floor of AC 140. We had missed the wedding in November 2007 and so this was the first time we met Nimi. We were all quite tired, so after chatting a bit we all called it a day.


July 9, Wednesday Calcutta

Got up a little jet lagged in the morning and realized that Ma was not feeling very well. I decided it would be wiser to leave for Delhi today in the evening in stead of trying to catch an early morning flight tomorrow, since that would disrupt her rest in the morning. So started to work with the different airline options to see what might be available for a reasonable price. Also, went to Standard Chartered to withdraw some money and to State Bank to get Ma’s pension account updated. Then off to City Center Mall. This is a mall that has come up in Salt Lake about 4 years ago and provides a very convenient shopping option to get anything from groceries to cell phones. This is modeled after the open malls of the West where the shops are distributed over a large area and there are lots of open spaces where one can stroll around doing window shopping. Since we have been going there for several years, we have come to know some of the people at the stores such as the music store and the money exchanger. This place also has a multiplex called Inox and provides a convenient option to watch movies. The tickets are rather expensive (about Rs. 200 for a new release) but it offers a nice environment to watch movies. I spent a little time there and then went off to D 50 to visit for a bit. Later, went back to City Center to pick up some pizza for Ma since she was not feeling well and wanted something different to eat. Later in the afternoon Mikku and Bebo came over to AC 140 and we spent some time chatting with Shanker da and family upstairs. I finally left about 6:00 pm using Shanker da’s car (and driver) to get to the airport and headed out to Delhi.


July 10, Thursday Delhi

Delhi – the trip to Delhi was very successful.

July 11, Friday Delhi-Calcutta

I was up in reasonable time to have a quick bite at the coffee shop and then got a regular cab to get to the airport. Checking in and other events were smooth and the Jet flight was just about an hour late, which was not too bad at all. Got to Calcutta OK, and checked out the self-drive car rental option. It is certainly doable, but requires that the reservation be done online via Avis, but there is no real cost advantage, and one will have to deal with the hassles of driving. Got a pre-paid taxi and got back to AC 140 at about 1:00. Had lunch and then headed out to D50. Picked up Bebo, Mikku and Tinku and headed off to the City Center to deal with the returning of Bebo’s toy gun. It was quite an incident and remind me to tell the story when we meet. Then Bebo was really interested in going to Central Calcutta to check out the air guns that I had told him about. So, Bebo and I drove down to Esplanade and got dropped off in front of Bata. Bebo and I then walked down Chowringhee towards the famous Metro Gully. This is a narrow lane in Calcutta next to the legendary Metro Cinema Hall where I remember seeing many a movie. This lane is lined with stores of all different kinds, and it is said, that with the correct connections, one can get tiger’s milk here. We went past that place and to the Daw Gun Store which must be as old as when the first Winchester was made. It has the old musty odor that can only come from the mixture of the aroma of hundreds of years of gun oil, paper files, and the dust that has accumulated on top of the gun shelves. We checked out several air guns, and Bebo decided against getting an air gun. So we walked back to Metro Gully and Srijoy got an air soft gun similar to one that he used to have in the past. After that we got into one of the ubiquitous Ambassador Taxi (these are the hallmark of Calcutta which has the largest number of Ambassador cars manufactured by Hindustan Motors, and about 90% of all taxis in Calcutta are Ambassadors. This is also Srijoy’s favorite car and so he never misses a chance to ride in an Ambassador when he gets the chance). We took the taxi to Grand Hotel (another icon of Calcutta, I have described it in other blogs) and we went to the coffee shop and I had a beer and Bebo had fresh coconut water, We left for the City Center after that and picked up Mikku and Tinku and went to AC 140 and D 50. I eventually got back to AC 140 since my friend Raja was supposed to come and visit later in the night. However, that plan did not work out, and I called it a day at about 11:00.

July 12, Saturday Calcutta

We had decided to do some shopping for the ongoing home renovation at Winston and so Mikku and I went off to a specialty mall in Calcutta that only sells home construction stuff. It was quite an impressive place with all kinds of home-related material ranging from handles for kitchen cabinets to some very nice furniture. The place is called Homeland Mall and we spent most of the morning there. Were able to get some ceramic tiles for the kitchen and a few other things for the kitchen. The point was to get some stuff that would be impossible to get in the USA, and thus add a little unique aspect to the construction. The mall was quite different from the other Western-style malls that have mushroomed all over Calcutta and the other metros of India, and we quite enjoyed browsing through the furniture store and other shops. Also, had lunch at the Mall at a small (and only) sandwich shop. We then got back home in time for Mikku and family (including Srijoy) to go watch a new release movie called “Jaane Tu.” I went back to AC 140 and took a nap. Later in the afternoon, at about 5:00 Samrat, my cousin, came over and we spent most of the afternoon just chatting. Mikku and Bebo also came over at about 7:30 to briefly meet with Samrat, and then they returned to D50. I waited at AC 140 and there were several other visitors including my cousin and family and my school friend Debapriya (Raja), who came at about 9:00 pm and we sat and chatted till about 11:00. I was down with a cold and sore throat, and was not operating at my best. Finally called it a day after Raja left.

July 13, Sunday Calcutta

Did not do a whole lot in the morning, but after the car arrived went to D50 and picked up Mikku and went off to the new shopping center called Mani Square next to the Apollo hospital off the bypass. This was yet another of the Western-style shopping malls with the name brand stores. One special draw for this place is the only McDonalds in Calcutta and it seems that the place absolutely fills up on weekends. It was not that crowded in the morning and Mikku had to get a new watch and we went to the Titan store. We looked at a few other stores including the American Dollar Store which was actually selling things that cost much more than Rs. 41 (the going conversion rate for the dollar). I was not terribly impressed by this place at all. We then took the car and went on to another place called the Big Bazaar which is also a new store of the Indian WalMart-like chain of stores. You can get everything, from groceries to underwear, in the same store. We browsed around for a bit and Mikku purchased a few things that were needed for our home in Winston. I also got Ma’s pressure cooker there. Mikku also got a couple of pairs of sandals. This is a relatively inexpensive store and offers discounts just as the discount chains in the West. These are all signs of increasingly expanding economy as more people are getting larger buying power to become consumers of goods that range from very expensive cars to fancy cell phones. We then headed back to D50 and I dropped Mikku off there and got back to AC 140. Had lunch at home and mostly slept in the afternoon given it was a typical monsoon afternoon that one only sees in Calcutta with brooding dark clouds and an incessant rain that threatens to create instant urban flooding. Just the right set up to sleep. Later, at about 4:00 went out again and picked up Mikku and Bebo and went off to Lake Town to visit my aunt. This is my father’s sister, and we had a tragedy in the family with her middle son (i.e., my cousin) passing away from a massive heart failure about 3 weeks ago. It was good that we visited and met up also with my other cousin, Phuchku da and family. We spent about an hour there, and then headed out to Dum Dum Park to my other aunt and cousin’s place. I lived in the house at Dum Dum Park between 4 and 15 and have very fond memories of living with the extended family made up of my widowed grandmother, bachelor uncles, my cousin who was studying medicine, my parents and numerous other people who always seemed to be visiting. The house now is in a state of disrepair, and one of my aunts lives there by herself. Next door, is the house of my cousin, so a visit to Dum Dum Park usually involves a brief stop at the old house to see my aunt, and then on to the newer house of my cousin. We had dinner with my cousin (Buro da) and my other cousin, the one who lives upstairs at AC 140 (Shanker da) was also there. We had dinner together and we also had a particularly good 21 year old aged single malt Scotch which was really excellent. We were there till about 10:30 after which Shanker da drove us all back to D50 and we dropped Mikku and Bebo off there and went back to AC 140.

July 14, Monday Calcutta

Off to D 50 and picked up Mikku and Bebo and we went out for lunch. Ate at a Chinese restaurant (Big Boss) in Calcutta’s Chinatown named Tangra. Although the food was good it was not spectacular and Szechwan Palace in Winston (that is owned by an ex-Tangra person) does a pretty good job too. The food however was quite inexpensive (Rs. 500 for all of us, no drinks) and after that we went off towards New Market. We had a new driver and he was quite good. We got dropped off in front of Grand and we walked into New Market. In spite of all the glitzy American-style malls, there is something absolutely charming about this 150 year old market (used to be called Hogg Market – where all the English used to shop) which is built in a way reminiscent of old English markets. I never miss a visit to New Market when I am in Calcutta. It is oppressively hot inside (there is no air conditioning) and some of the stores are older than time. I think I have never bought undergarments from any store other than Nusker’s Hosiery at New Market who sell this special vest made by Gopal that, I believe, is most authentic when bought from Nusker’s at New Market (Hanes can not hold a candle to this stuff). After Nusker’s went to Modern Toy Store which is about 100 years old and I remember coming here since I remember coming to toy stores. Srijoy will not miss a trip to Modern Toy Store in Calcutta (or for him, he has not missed a trip to Hamleys on Regent Street in London until on this trip for the first time) and we spent some time there, and went on to Symphony to get a few music CDs. Mikku got some stuff too and then we walked to the Bata shoe store and then to Grand hotel’s Coffee Shop (these days it is called La Terrace, or something fancy like that. In our days, the mid-70s, going to the coffee shop was a treat because it was really really expensive and as college students we could hardly afford it, but we did occasionally go in and order a pot of coffee and share it between 5 people after an all-night McLaughlin concert in Calcutta and before taking the early morning train back to IIT to barely make the morning class). After New Market we got back to AC 140 where Mikku and Bebo spent a little time and headed back to D 50. Night at D 50.

July 15, 2008, Tuesday Calcutta

I spent the morning mostly at Standard Chartered Bank dealing with the Fixed Deposit account and then went off to D 50 before lunch and picked up Mikku and Bebo and we went to the City Center. Had lunch there after buying Bebo’s new phone handset (Samsung C170) and then went shopping for a bit. Got a nice outfit for Bebo and we eventually got back to D 50 and I dropped Bebo and Mikku off there and went on to the electrician’s shop (Saltee Electrical next to Bijon Bhawan) to order the face plates for the Indian-style Anchor switches we would be using for our new construction in Winston-Salem. This was Srijoy’s idea to get the switches custom made in Calcutta to give our place a unique touch. I ordered 15 sets of switches for a total of Rs. 480 ($11). Then got back to AC 140 and sent the car back to D 50. Mikku and Bebo arrived in AC 140 around 6 pm and we went and had the special dinner prepared by Shanker da and family for Bebo and us. We had missed Nimi and Babli’s wedding in November of 2007 and so they decided to do a special treat for us. It was a sumptuous meal. My other cousin, Buro da stopped by in the evening as well. Eventually we dropped Mikku back at D 50 and Bebo and I went to sleep at AC 140.

July 16, 2008, Wednesday Calcutta

Bebo and I had to get up early in the morning and Ma fixed us our breakfast. We were ready by 7:30 am and my cousin (Buro da) picked us up soon after. We were on our way to watch the launching of two naval ships that were just built in the ship yard which my cousin managed until a few years ago when he retired. He still continues in the role of an advisor with the Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers (GRSE). He had invited us to this special occasion. The drive took us all the way to the Western edge of the city, by the Hooghly River, and the Calcutta Docks. I had been in this part of the city, perhaps 30 years ago. The area is predominantly Muslim and is the general area of the Calcutta Port. We went to his office and had to wait there for about an hour after which we drove to the launching area. The GRSE is an undertaking of the Government of India and its primary client is the Indian Navy. There was a lot of Navy brass at the launching which was quite a grand affair with the actual launching being done by the wife of a Vice-Admiral. We had front row seats given the official VIP (Very Important Person) position of my cousin. The launching was followed by a reception which we attended as well. Eventually a friend of my cousin dropped us off at Park Street and we took a cab back home and had lunch at home. After lunch, Bebo and I went to D 50. Mikku and all decided to watch a movie and so we left Bebo at D 50 and I took them all to City Center. Mikku, Boudima and Tinku went off to see the movie, and I did some grocery for Ma. I then returned to D 50, picked up Bebo and returned to AC 140 since Bebo was going shopping with Nimi and Babli. I hung out at AC 140 discussing the plans of my cousin’s possible US visit in October. Later in the evening Bebo got back to AC 140 having acquired a Kohlapuri Sandal as a gift from Nimi and Babli, and spending some time at the video arcade in City Center. Mikku also got back to AC 140. Later at night, at about 9:30 my cousins Sanjay and Moushumi came over along with Moushumi’s husband Joy and all five of us went out for dinner at Abcos. This is a nice restaurant chain right in Salt Lake. Had a few beers and a nice meal (it was Joy’s treat) and dropped Mikku back at D 50 and they dropped me off at AC 140 about midnight.

July 17, 2008, Thursday Calcutta

Bebo and I hung out in the morning, not doing too much in particular. I went through Ma’s financial papers to ensure everything was in order. The car arrived around 11:00 and took Bebo with me to D 50. I dropped him off there and then went to Standard Chartered. As planned, I withdrew a significant amount of the cash in a move to close the account. Then went to UCO Bank to ensure that I was a nominee with Ma’s account. There was some work required there. Then went on to D 50 where I picked up Bebo and Mikku and we came back to AC 140 where all of us ate lunch at home. Then I went back to UCO bank to take care of a few more things with the nomination, but the work was successfully completed. Back to AC 140 and picked up Mikku and we went to PC Chandra Jewelers at Ultadanga. The sales person was kind of weird, but we did a little shopping. Then back to City Center where I converted the money, went to Airtel to check on renewing my Calcutta phone number while Mikku did some shopping. We then got back to AC 140, relaxed a bit and went out with Bebo to my uncle’s place (this is my mother’s eldest brother and his family lives in AA block) where we spent about 30 minutes, after which we went to D 50 and picked up Mikku’s suitcase and got back to AC 140. The evening was mostly spent at home upstairs and downstairs, and Bebo had an invitation to have dinner upstairs. Later at night, Mikku and I took a taxi to the newly developed mall called Silver Springs on the bypass where we met up with Alo’s (our friend in Winston-Salem) mother and sister at the Oh Calcutta restaurant and was treated to an excellent evening (BTW, this OC does not have a liquor license yet, and they have a temporary license that only allows them to serve alcohol on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays). We were dropped back home at about 11:00 pm and we called it a day.

July 18, 2008, Friday Calcutta

Got up as usual and kind of hung out at home. Ma made the coffee, tea and toast. Bebo slept in a bit, and we finally got ready at about 10:00. There was a bit of a problem with the car. Our driver thus far (Baapi Pradhan) was not feeling well and we did not want to risk an infection. So we cancelled that car, and then realized that it was not possible to get another car from Sonata. I was a little displeased with Sonata any way, and withdraw my prior (in earlier blogs) recommendation of this rental. But we needed a car, and so Nimi was able to find one for us with a company owned by Pulak Chatterjee (out of BE block in Salt Lake). The car arrived within 10 minutes and Bebo was happy to see a white Ambassador, which still remains his favorite car. In the meantime, I had gone to City Center to get the tickets for the movie that Mikku and all would be watching in the afternoon. After I got back, the three of us went off to Khuku Mashi’s house (this is an aunt of Mikku and lives in Salt Lake at FC 78) where we spent an hour or so and returned home to AC 140. There we gathered up Nimi. Babli and Ma and went over to D 50. It was Mikku and my plan to treat the newly weds to a nice lunch. So, at D 50 we put the elders in the Ambassador along with Mikku and Bebo (so this car could easily hold 5 adults and a kid) and Nimi, Babli and I took a taxi to Silver Springs and went to the Segree restaurant. It was a pretty nice place and we had a sumptuous lunch (pretty reasonable, a meal for 8 adults and 1 kid with a few beers was at Rs. 2,500 along with tips). After that, Nimi, Babli and I visited the BMW dealership that has recently opened at Silver Springs. They wanted to test drive a BMW (the least expensive one is being sold in the Indian market for the equivalent of $60,000, where one can get a very good Indian luxury car for about $8,000). It was a little tricky to make the test drive happen, but years of street smart kicked in and we were soon zipping around in a 300 series BMW, and Nimi and Babli were quite happy (remind me or them to tell you the details when we meet!). We then took a cab and got back to City Center. Mikku, Ma, Boudima and Tinku were watching a movie there at the Inox Theater (Kismet Konnection) and I dropped Nimi and Babli there, and got back to AC 140. The Ambassador was waiting for me there. I took it back to the electrician’s place and then to D 50. I picked up Bebo from there and we drove to my school – Calcutta Boys’ School (CBS). Srijoy had shown an interest in going to my school and the trip was certainly fun for me. There was a little difficulty when they did not want let us in, but a little sweet talking with the security guard got us on the grounds. The buildings looked very good, they seemed to have been renovated, and we walked around the grounds. I showed Bebo the place where we had our daily Chapel service before school. It is interesting that I went to a school that was built around the Methodist Christian tradition, but there was nearly no Evangelizing. That was the experience of growing up in India. Religions do not fight with each other when they have co-existed in a civil manner over hundreds of years, and have not been incited by outsiders to become enemies. There are places in Delhi where a mosque and a temple share a common wall, and people of different religions exist in relative harmony. No doubt there have been moments of violence, but the amount of religious diversity that can be found in a public bus in Calcutta would drive the TV Evangelists nuts, not knowing who to convert first! That was CBS for us where Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs, Zoroastrians all went to Chapel and listened to Mr. Hicks (a Welsh Missionary) as he taught us about life (and, if we did not learn well, was never to spare the cane) and being human and not necessarily of a specific religion. All these kids, irrespective of faith, class, creed and caste, learned to smoke in the same back alley behind the school and were treated the same way by Mr. D’Souza or Mr. Gangully (who slapped me 20 times in a row for each spelling mistake in a 5 page Bengali essay that I had to write in 6th grade. This teacher had a favorite nail that stuck out on the wall by the blackboard, and he had an interesting habit of fiddling with the nail as he taught us about Tagore’s poetry, so as retribution, after the slapping incident, that involved others, we discreetly removed the nail from the wall, leading to his attempting to find the familiar spot and not being able to. He was perhaps one of the best teachers I have ever had in my life, and to be sure, I am careful about Bengali spellings when I write Bengali). So, Srijoy and I went around the school yard, and I unsuccessfully tried to take a picture next to the plaque declaring the school motto – “Dei Mundos Deo.” We then took the my familiar route back from school to Salt lake – a route that I used to take every day of my life when I was in school. On the way I was able to show Srijoy the house I lived in till I was 4 years old. I have faint memories of the place because we moved to a suburb of Calcutta in 1964. We were eventually back in Salt Lake. Mikku and Ma were still at the movie, so Bebo and I went upstairs in AC 140 and we spent time hanging out with people upstairs. Later in the evening my school friend Rana showed up and spent the evening chatting at home over a few drinks. Called it a day after Rana left. Bebo had dinner upstairs.

July 19, 2008, Saturday Calcutta

We had a relaxed morning just doing some basic packing and getting ready for the day. The car arrived around 10:30 am and I made a quick trip to City Center to get some chocolates and look for the lost umbrella. I was pretty sure I had left it at the City Center Airtel store but the folks there said that they had found nothing. I then strolled around the Center a bit and eventually got back to AC 140 and picked up Mikku and Srijoy to head out to the Calcutta Boys’ School get together. The location was Rajat’s house on the other side of the Universe. Salt Lake is in the north-eastern part of Calcutta whereas Rajat’s place on Moore Avenue is on the southern side of town. It took a good hour to get there because of a traffic snarl near Ruby Hospital on the bypass (they are increasing road space by reducing the size of the traffic circle in front of Ruby, so the road is frequently jammed). We then took the Anwar Shah Road connector from the bypass. This was a hilarious moment because I was following the route on Google Maps on my smart phone using GPS, and Google Maps does not know of the existence of this section of the road. So, on the map it looked like we were driving through open land without any road. So much for the accuracy of these maps, of course, it shows a significant bias because Google Maps is really not interested in updating the map with every new road being built in India. Anyhow, this is not a good road to take (I wonder if Google Map is so smart that it knows that this is a road from Hell and does not show it on the map), because this has become the primary feeder road for the Southside Shopping Mall and it is always clogged up. We eventually got to Rajat’s place. The party there was incredible. Our good friend, Kanjilal (who I had last met in 1979, and could not immediately recognize – duh!) had cooked a kasha mangsha (this is a really spicy stew made of goat meat that is cooked entirely in oil and the fat from the meat, for about 6 to 8 hours after a 24 hour marination) that was absolutely delicious and was accompanied by a biriyani (a special form of fried rice of the Mughal heritage, usually made with goat meat or chicken) and followed by some excellent dessert. As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, this gathering is something that has evolved from the efforts of one of 90 kids that graduated high school from CBS in 1979. His name is Debapriya Das Gupta (now some head honcho with the IT consulting group called Cognizant). This fellow started a Yahoo group several years ago with a handful of the graduating class from nearly 30 yeas ago. Using the Internet, this group grew online as the process of networking connected up long-lost friends. At some point, about 4 years ago, it was decided that the online group was large enough to put together offline gatherings, which were also triggered by people visiting Calcutta (where a large portion of the friends still reside). Today, there were 18 of the 90 (actually really 88, because sadly two of our friends have passed away) at Rajat’s house (which was effectively destroyed by the activities of 18 high school buddies getting together with abnormally large amounts of alcohol for an afternoon gathering – I recorded a 750 ml bottle of Scotch completely empty (I think Kanjilal drank most of it) and numerous bottles of beer. Most of the spouses and children were there all of whom have also become friends. Among the 18, there were two from the US, a couple of guys who had specially come down from Bombay for the gathering and the rest from Calcutta. As always it was a fabulous afternoon and we finally left at about 3:40 in the evening. We dropped off one of my friends at Ballygunge Phari and then went to my cousin’s place in Beckbagan to see another newly wed nephew of ours (a February 2008 wedding we missed). It was good to meet up for a bit, we also went to the third floor to see my other cousin. This is the house where my mother her spent part of her years before she got married. I remember this house well as my maternal uncles’ place (Mamar Badi – Bengali). There were three uncles whose families lived in this house that was built by my mother’s father. It is bang in the middle of Calcutta with the city alive around it. When I was a child we used to live in a suburb that was quieter and more bucolic, and visiting my maternal place was quite a challenge for me because I never really liked the noise of the city. The house I grew up in had a huge lawn, a large backyard, a pond in front of the house and one behind it. I could loose myself in the yard and be completely surrounded by nature. The house in Beckbagan was just the opposite. There was a barber, a butcher and a pharmacy as you stepped out on the pavement. There was no yard and the only place where we could play was on the flat terrace. Playing cricket on the terrace of a three storey house is never easy, especially when there was an old Muslim graveyard (with only two graves though) right in front of the house, and the cricket ball would land there whenever anyone hit it hard. It was agreed that if someone dropped the ball in the graveyard he is automatically out. One fun activity that one could do on the terrace was flying kites which we did a lot of. On the day of Vishwkarma Puja (the God of Engineering) the whole of Calcutta took time out to fly kites. Every terrace in the city would have youngsters flying their kites and it was a common practice to entangle the strings of each other’s kites and through a very careful maneuver cut the string of the opponent. This was a sport where we spent many hours preparing the string – we would take the entire length of the string, many yards long, put it between poles on the terrace, and then make a concoction of finely ground glass and glue that would be carefully applied to the string creating a string that would cut through the opponent’s string. This concoction was called “manja” and the kite flyer with the better manja would often win the competition in the sky. There was significant skill involved too in how well the manja was applied – too much would make the string too heavy, and too little would not be sufficient – and there was skill in how the kite flyer maneuvered the string while flying the kite and dueling with another flyer. One of my maternal cousins who was good at this would come out with bloody hands after an evening of kite flying (remember the string is a jagged stretch of ground glass that one must pass through one’s fingers to maneuver the kite). So this was the house we visited, and we left about 5:30 and headed back to Salt Lake. We stopped at D50 for a few minutes, dropped Bebo off there, and then Mikku and I returned to AC 140 and sent the car off to D50 to fetch Bebo and the rest from D50 to AC 140. Being the last evening of the trip we all wanted to be at the same place. Soon, Bunu di came along and we hung around chatting. Mikku’s parents were leaving around 8:00 pm and as we were seeing them off, we noticed that there was significant activity in the Community Center across the street from AC 140 with a TV truck and a TV reporter. Bebo and I went to investigate and discovered that the local Bengali TV channel – Star Ananda – was doing interviews of “common people” to see their reaction to the turmoil in Indian politics surrounding the nuclear deal with USA. We got roped in for the interview and spent about 30 minutes at the Community Center. It was an opportunity to meet some old neighbors like Arup da. Although I was interviewed, that part was edited out (probably because I made a wisecrack about being American and really did not give too much about the deal – you know the typical superpower arrogance perfected by some top leaders in USA), but Bebo enjoyed the process. We finally called it a day since we had an early start the following day. Bebo had dinner upstairs.

July 20, 2008, Sunday Callcutta-Delhi

We had an early start from AC 140 going to the airport. I was up at about 4:30 am, that interesting time on a summer morning when the breeze of the ceiling fan feels just a tad chilly since the outside is at the cool dawn temperature. I lazed a bit but soon realized that it was time to get ready and going. We were all up by about 5:30 and Ma made coffee, tea and toast. Babulbaba, Boudima and Tinku arrived around 6:15 am and the large Tata Sumo SUV was already there. There were 5 largish bags to load and we eventually left around 6:30. The whole household was there except Didibhai who was still suffering from a fall a couple of days ago during her morning walk in the park. The ride to the airport was eventless. As always, I hired two official porters (these are the people who have name tags and the question to ask them is: “Can you go all the way to the check in counter?” If the answer is affirmative then they are good to be hired). This is the beauty of the Indian life-style. I did not have to lift a finger to unload the bags, put them on the buggies, or do anything related to the baggage. We went through the bag X-ray. This is a strange practice in Calcutta, where all checked bags are put through an X-ray scanner before they can be checked in. The process produces more false positives than any other system I have ever seen. I do not think my electronics-laden bags have ever been passed through without a thorough rummaging through my dirty underwear that I purposefully use to pack the electronics. Anyway, check in at Jet followed the same routine as in the past many years. Once the bags are weighed the check in person always says that we have excess baggage, and I have to explain to him that we are actually headed to the USA. This is one moment you feel the power of the “super-power.” Everywhere on this planet, airlines allow 50 pounds of checked luggage per person. You can carry 10 five pound packets (although the logic for that would be hard to support) and the check in clerk will not bat an eye lid, but if you exceed more than 50 pounds, even if you are carrying just a few cubic inches of heavy metals, the check in clerk, anywhere on this planet, will throw a fit – except if you are in inter-planetary travel to America. All is pardoned. You are now allowed up to 2 bags each of 50 pounds since you are going to America (Oh! Hail America!!!) So, once the check in clerk saw that we were indeed crossing the pond, also known as the Atlantic, he was happy to allow 95 kilo grams (yes, that is about 200 pounds) of baggage distributed within 5 bags without even showing any curiosity about the fact that 3 normal people (whose combined body weight is probably under 200 pounds) are traveling with this much baggage. Of course, since we were going to America, it was considered normal. After the check in, we made our way to the book store and purchased another Commando Comics Book set and then to the few stores that are starting to appear at the airport. We made our way to the Executive Lounge, using my Priority Pass membership and relaxed for a bit before going through security and settling into the lounge. The incense sticks I was carrying for my uncle went through eventlessly. Called Didi from the airport and then boarded the Jet flight to Delhi. The food was average (considering it was free, I should say it was good), and the flight marginally on time. After arrival, the baggage claim was a mess. As always, there was a person taking bags off the belt to “help” passengers, while some like me were waiting downstream on the belt and never saw our bags being hijacked as soon as they appeared. Mikku saw this happen and helped to retrieve the bags. So, in Delhi (or mostly any other Indian airport) be sure to stand at the point where the bags first appear on the belt to ensure that stray people are not arbitrarily picking bags off the belt. Our trusted Mr. Yadav, the driver, was there outside with the Toyota Inova and after loading up the van we headed to the Crowne Plaza at Friend’s Colony. In the meantime, I had connected up with Kingshuk, my college buddy, to meet with him and his family (his wife, Ketoki, is also my college buddy; they met at IIT, did some Chemical Engineering for themselves, and have lived happily ever after, now with two adorable kids – one just finishing high school and the other in middle school). We checked in at the hotel and realized that the lunch buffet was incredibly expensive as was the restaurant. So, on Kingshuk’s recommendation went to Lotus Pond (a Chinese restaurant that was really good; you need to take a right out of the hotel exit and you can not miss it, but you will miss it, if you go towards the Friends Colony Market) and had a great Chinese lunch. Then we headed out to Rajghat (the memorial to Gandhi). Srijoy is a great fan of Gandhi and wanted to see Rajghat. We met up with Kingshuk’s family there. It was really, really hot at 3:00 pm in Delhi. The heat index was probably at 120 F and the last part of the walk to see the memorial is barefoot on concrete with no shade. The place is minimalist in architecture – a black marble slab with the words “He Ram” (the last words spoken by Gandhi, when he invoked the Hindu incarnation Ram as he died from the assassin’s bullets) inscribed on the stone and an eternal fire burning at the spot. It was quite a serene and somber place and we walked back to the book store selling Gandhi-related books. Srijoy was very pleased to have been able to make this trip even though the heat was incredible. We decided that the next stop would be the Bahai Temple called the Lotus Temple. It was a good 30 minute drive to the temple and the place was really crowded. It was nearly 4:30 by then and the heat was even worse. Mikku was suffering, and Kingshuk said that it would be un-healthy to stay out in the sun even though I was willing to fight the crowd and go to the temple. So, we headed back to our cool cars and decided to go to the Ansal Plaza Mall where it would be cool. It was definitely cooler inside the Mall but it was quite crowded. There is a certain degree of culture shock for me to walk into these places that look very Western but retain a degree of Indian-ness that makes these truly hybrid spaces. The name brands are all the same, but it is possible to walk into a book store and buy books that would be impossible to find in America. The anchor store – Shoppers Stop – looks like C&A or JCPenny, but the products are all different. Anyway, Mikku and Ketoki were taking way too long, so the kids, Kingshuk and I just hung out and chatted. After the ladies got done, we all headed to the Asean Village where we found a nice eatery called Tonic and Ketoki treated us to some really good kebobs and tandoori (Ketoki, has just been appointed as the Deputy General Manager of Samsung Engineering in India, after she spent several years working with the consulting firm called Engineers India Limited, indeed, she is one of our few class mates from IIT who has stuck to hard-core Chemical Engineering). We hung out there for some time and eventually we said bye to each other. They left for home while went back to the hotel. We have been traveling so much that it is often disconcerting, because both Mikku and I were slipping into Bengali when speaking to the waiters at Tonic, forgetting we were in Delhi, and not in Calcutta. In Delhi the staple language is Hindi, but we kept on using Bengali, which is the staple of Calcutta. Kingshuk really got a kick out of this! After getting back to the hotel I let the car go (total was Rs. 2,500 including a Rs. 50 tip – this included pick up from airport and all the traveling through the day, we had the car for about 10 hours). Later in the evening we thought of getting some more kebabs and biriyani and I went over to the pub in Friend’s Colony market and got a take out (Rs. 1,000 for kebabs, biriyani and raita). We eventually called it a day at about 10:30.

July 21, Monday Delhi-London

We needed an early start from the hotel to get to the airport on time. Mr. Yadav was there in time and we loaded up the car and checked out of the hotel and headed to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. It was a busy morning but we reached OK. The airport is being re-done and it looked quite nice. Check in was a little rough since we wanted our bags to be checked in all the way to Washington, even though we were staying a night in London. The check out girl finally did that and we went through immigration and went to the lounge to wait for the flight. The Clipper Lounge at IGI is quite nice and we ate some of the snacks. We eventually cleared security and boarded. Upper Class was quite empty and they treated us really well. The flight was very comfortable. We reached London nearly on time and since we had the “Fast Track” immigration coupon and no bags we were soon on the train going to Southfield. I called Kaju mama from East Putney station and he was there to pick us up at Southfield. As always he had prepared a fantastic dinner for us and we ate and chatted for a while before calling it a day. I had also called Kwik Kars for a pick up the next morning.


July 22, Tuesday London-Washington-Richmond

The taxi arrived on time and we took it to Southfield from where we took the train to Heathrow Terminal 3. Check in was OK and we verified that our bags would indeed get to DC. We then went through security and stuff and since we were back in coach class there was no access to the lounges. However, used my Priority Pass and spent the morning sitting in the Serviceair Lounge in T3 before boarding. The flight to DC was long (about 9 hours) but eventless. All the bags had arrived and immigration and customs was not an issue. I have usually found DC to be the best way to enter the US. I then got the rental van and we started driving out of DC at about 4:30. Traffic was not too bad and we drove till 7:15 in the evening and stopped right South of Richmond at a Holiday Express. Ordered some pizza and Chinese delivery and called it a day.

July 23, Wednesday Richmond-Greensboro

We were up early because of jet lag, so had a really large breakfast and then headed out to Winston. Drove non-stop and arrived in Winston by about 10:30 am.