The success of any system depends on the user community

Here I’m not talking of any IT systems. The other day I was traveling from Chennai to Bangalore by train. In the wee hours of the morning got down at the cantonment station to take the auto-rickshaw from there. I was always happy to reach B’lore as the Pre-paid system for the autos works very well there. It was the greatest pain to discover during this visit that the system has gone for a total toss when the Chennai train arrived. There were a lot of autos @ Stations, but not in the pre-paid counter, but a lot of them a little away from there. Inspite of a big queue standing in the line awaiting for their turn, these autowallahs refused to take passengers from the Pre-paid line. Instead there were lot of people who go to them and pay exorbitant amount to reach their home. What a pity, the police person who was on duty was completely help less as many people don’t bother to stay in the line and approach the autowallahs directly. This creates a problem for all, for the individuals who run the show, the public & the enforcement people. Why all this for a system which was a super hit? This made me think. I was wondering does this happen only for the Chennai trains or for all trains. I think when it comes to Chennai trains these sort of things happen, that’s what I was told. This made me travel back and think what people do @ Chennai central. Same thing inspite of having a prepaid system, still people prefer to go out of the way and get their own service. Why all this? What is the ownership of the individuals in such system. I suppose the people who come to from Chennai by that train are mostly the IT gang, if I’m not wrong.

Best of Alps

As some of my earlier team members are going to France and with the fact that its snowing, I suggested them to visit the French Alps – Chamonix- Mont.Blanc. I’m missing the ski season there. Ok now coming to the point I was googling for the information on the Alps cable cars I stumbled on this site Best of Alps. I was so happy to see that I have traveled quite a few places in that namely
Megeve (France)
Chamonix – Mont Blanc (France)
Zermatt (Switzerland)
St. Moritz (Switzerland)
Garmish- Partenkrichen(Germany)
Of all the places I visited my vote goes to the Franch Alps.

Here is the picutre taken from that site, here you can see the entire Alps range.

Rennes - Part of my last road trip in France

Rennes is a hugely attractive town which fuses architectural styles from Gallo Roman beginnings to a medieval cathedral quarter and elegant 16th-18th century bourgeois buildings.
When Brittany was united with the rest of France in 1532, Rennes was made regional capital and established itself as an important thoroughfare from Nantes and Le Mans to the northern and western ports. In 1720 much of the city's splendor was destroyed in a fire.
When you look at the present Rennes u won't get this feeling.

Rennes was live in action on the Halloween night with great costume parades. We had a gr8 time. The unforgettable night of the road trip. We could not get accommodation in the place we wanted to stay for the night, and as a last resort settled to spend the night in Rennes. Not a bad choice, Edu thanks for the fun. I will never forget the chase u gave me @ 4 in the morning in the streets. Also learnt a few Portuguese words that night. Not to forget the beautiful last dinner (hopefully not) with Alex, Edu, Ioana, Ciprian & Chris. A mix of Indian and French.

However Rennes has managed to retain much of its early stature boasting two universities, an upbeat ambiance, high tech industry and an established cultural life. The medieval streets, half timbered houses, designer boutiques and chic bars & restaurants. Have a closer look at the statue in the picture. You can easily agree the kind of celebration that would have happened the previous night ;-)

Who is PUCK-MAN?

Was going through Jag site and discovered … Celebrating it’s 25th birthday this year, and destined to be around for time to come I’m sure - this game is, of course, Pac Man. The inventor was inspired by a pizza at a dinner party, and originally designed to appeal to girls, it’s been played over 10 billion times.. read on about it @ Jag’s site

What do u call an adventure in B’lore

Remember the other article on Para-sailing @ B’lore I did over the weekend. Inspite of not so high safety standards in such activities, still they are considered to be a much safer then walking on a one-way in B’lore. The other day as I was crossing the Cunningham road looking on the oncoming traffic, Bang for the wrong side a cyclist comes and hits on my left leg. This leads to two hairline fracture on the left ankle. What a sad state? He doesn't even bother to apologies pick-up his cycle and runs. Sob sob. This doesn't stop me from going to Chennai for the weekend. Sriram drove me to chennai in his car as I had an urgent work there. Also my best friend G came to the bus stand when I was leaving. So sweet of her, still her daughter cries aloud. Next week is G's birthday, advance birthday wishes.

Parasailing in B'lore

Ready

Steady

Fly

Mont-St-Michel

@ Mont-St-Michel, It was the bishop of Avranches who first started work on the abbey on this beautiful island. I was told this is one of the France's most visited attraction.
The bay provides numerous opportunities for walking, riding and cycling. This pleace is clearly marked with high tide and low tide sessions. This is the day night picuture of this place.

Cancale

The second day we stayed in Cancale.

Cancale has made its reputation as a fishing port and is famous for its oysters.

This is Quai Gambetta, the main streat that runs along the seafront

Granville

Granville has a long-established tradition of seafaring and piracy and is often compared to Brittany's St-Malo.,I shall come to St-Malo later. This walled town was built by the English in 1439 in an attempt to capture Mont-St-Michel. If you climb to the top of the ramparts you'll be rewarded with stunning views for the near by towns.

The lower part of the town is a traditional seaside resort complete with casino, seafronts and gardens.

This port also acts as a departure point for the Channel Islands.

First stop - Caen

Caen is the capital and largest city of Basse Normandie. William the Conqueror and his wife Matilda built two fantastic abbeys and a castle in the mid 11th century on the bank of the river Orne.
Unfortunately Caen's historic centre is small due to extensive World War II bombing. This gave us a chance to visit the World War museum. A very nice one.
Picture taken infront of the war museum, with Edu & Alex

Been there and done that road trip in France

Been there and done that road trip in France. 2600 km in 4 days and visited the Normandie & Brittany region. Places visited Caen, Granville, Mont-St-Michel , Cancale, St Malo, Rennes and a drive around Tours region. Highlight of the trip are visits to the American cemetery, Castle trip, Halloween in Rennes and visit to Alex grandparents house in Normandie.

My absence from the blog is for two reasons one is the above road trip and the other one is on travel on B-2-B, back to Bangalore for good.

Got lost - Where do I go from here?

He sunk into the seat, straps on the seat belt,
and gazed out of the window,
looking at the vast expanse of mountains and valley,
and thinking about the emptiness around.
IT followed him all the way, not wanting to leave him alone,
Playing the game of hide and seek,
Many a times in the shadow of someone,
That filled the emptiness in him.
Wished could press the delete button and get rid of all,
powerless he had to give up as hands are burnt.

A handy prayer for a few married souls

Lord, I pray for
Wisdom...to understand a woman
Love...to forgive her and
Patience...for her moods
Because, Lord, if I pray for strength
I'll just beat her to death ;-)

Weekend was good, rainy - but still enjoyed with a lots of party. It just feels great to go for a movie on a Friday night and walk back home in the rain and stop for a hot cappuccino ...watched Oliver twist and Salaam Namaste. Two different movie with varied topics. One brings the sweet childhood days and another one just tells you how life is when u at cross roads ;-) but both the movies made me nostalgic.
This picture was taken in Lyon

Can't stop laughing

Could stop laughing after seeing this. Thanks Lux for sending me this. It reminds me of this Engineers jokes, let me put it by points, first point number A ;-)

#A What is the difference between Mechanical Engineers and CivilEngineers?

Mechanical Engineers build weapons and Civil Engineersbuild targets.

#B Three engineering students were gathered together discussing thepossible designers of the human body. One said, "It was a mechanicalengineer."Just look at all the joints."Another said, "No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections. " The last one said,"Actually it was a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic wastepipeline through a recreational area?"

#C Engineers point of view - "Normal people ... believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet."

how do you feel?

Today when I went to the printer to pickup some print-out which I had given - I was in all shock, On the board which displays the printer name there’s my soft-skill course completion certificate in all colors displayed with my full name. I really felt very embarrassed - as this printout I had given the previous day in the morning.

I was wondering what would have happened if I had not gone there to pickup this print to mine today? Here is a picture of the season

A weekend in St.Genis Pouilly

What is called getting lost with a map and very good navigator by your side – It’s called fun. Karine, Laura, Amelie & myself set-out to KS & Birgit’s house for the weekend. On the way after we crossed the France-Swiss border and entering Swiss we really got lost. I think we got lost for a purpose, we landed up in some beautiful vineyard. After driving back we reached Mrs.&Mr. KS house and had our lunch. The theme for the food - whole weekend was Austrian/Indian mix. Post lunch we decided to go to Geneva. Oh this needs a mention; it is my 6th trip to Geneva.
The fun starts there. I was in the car, which was Austrian with an Indian navigating was not stopped in the border, but the other car which had French/British girls with French registration was stopped and questioned? What a pity, these people had to talk to him for 5 minutes and then he lets them go. Later we went around the famous Geneva lake and this was the first time I was the water fountain in the shades of rainbow. That evening we presented the gifts to KS for his birthday.

On Sunday morning as we sat for the breakfast session, Laura narrates a story saying that every time on her birthday the next morning her mom would tell her that the birthday not complete till the time we present something during the breakfast session and there she pass on the gift voucher we got for KS which we forgot to give him. Once this session was over we drove up to Divonne-les-Bains and walked passed the market there and then around the lake as well. The beautiful color of the autumn was a pleasant sight to watch. I just lost myself during the walk.

Pole Sud

No this is not another travel plan of mine, I wish I could travel to that place. After my 2, 3 ,4 ,5 day Paris trip I come back to Grenoble to be welcomed by the snow clad mountains, not covered with snow, Just spread here and there, at about 2000+ m levels. This year the short spell started when I was not there around.
After coming over to Grenoble and deciding what to do for the weekend I was invited for a Birthday party on Saturday and then on Sunday for the ice skating-dome named Polesud. It was one hell of experience. Had great fun as the angels where by my side. I was not sure I would be able to stand straight with the skates on? But I was thrilled to do that. With the help of Niru & Caroline was able to skate for a while. Then the most interesting things was going on. As these both left me and went then I was surrounded by a group of people trying to help me. Their French was too high for me to learn, But in all it was a nice experience to see a whole bunch of people trying to help u to learn this sport. After I finish my session I head to Reena's place for the lunch, WoW roti and sambar with some curry- after the lion's lunchon session I go home. I tell Natoo that I was hurt, due to the numerous fall during the skate session. She was asking me I wanted the cushion, like how they ask in “Dil Chata hai” - so cheap naa.

This picture was taken in Notre Dame in Paris with all angels wishing you. I wish u too

Everything fifth

I just decided to cut short my trip by a night, Instead of staying in Paris, I decided head back to Grenoble straight from office itself on this day. So on this trip to Paris which happens to be my 5th trip to Paris and on the 5th night of my current trip I headed to Le Louvre. I always wanted to visit this place in the night and be alone there to take this picture of mine like this. I did it this time. The first time I visited this place was in the night and I fell in love with this place.

One of the famous landmark of the capital is Le Louvre. Built around 1200, it was a former palace for the royal family. In 1793 during the French revolution it became a museum . The great masterpieces as Mona Lisa of Leornado Da Vinci is here as u all know. Wondering what I'm looking at...here they are. Watch the Angel sitting on the bus and looking at me. The flickering of light happens for 5 minutes on every hour from the evening to night.

Welcome to Notre Dame de Paris

Though it was a misty and dull weather still decided to head to the Notre Dame of Paris. Do you recognise this picture on the right? Yes this was the view of the Notre Dame very many years back.

What would be Paris like without Notre Dame? Work for this gothic masterpiece was begun in 1163 by Bishop Maurice de Sully, and its construction was completed only in 1345.
We were lucky to know how this master piece was constructed. At 9.15 in the evening there is a show inside Notre Dame which explains the different phases.
The show begins with the explanation on significance of the place and how the plan evolved and from where all the stones for the building were brought. Pope Alexander III laid the foundation stone.
I was told infact its dangerous to buy some land in Paris without knowing the history of the place. It's possible that there could be some big holes there in the land from were the stones would have been moved ;-)




Then we walked past the Hotel de Ville - The city hall of Paris.

In-a-way the strike in Paris was good. The roads were free without traffic jams, which gave us a great freedom to cover more places.
Started walking from Les Halles then to Saint-Eustache, a splendid church with a stopover in one of the coffee shops around.

Walked past Saint Germain Church then to then to the Latin Quarter, saw the building which houses archives-of-Paris, a building without any windows. then on to the narrow lanes of Ville de Sully and headed to the Italian restaurant. Till I visited this restaurant for me the Italian food was only Pizza & pasta the usual food we know. But here in this restaurant the food was served in a different manner. The pasta was served in the cheese bowl, can u see that in the picture and does this make u hungry? Sorry could not get the picture of the dessert, next time will try to post that ;-) Bon Ap.