Resolution Revolution

We sailed through last year, avoiding storms and rough waters & just allowed it pass.

no matter who you are, no matter where your from,
no matter how you do,
Here is a wish, hoping that this beginning of a wonderful new year help u in all your resolution revolution.

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Normandy & Brittany soldiers cemeteries

On the beaches of Normandy & Brittany lie many cemeteries that belong to the American & the German soldiers. This is the German one




The American one and
This is something which was appearing to be very funny for me. I couldn’t resist taking picture of this. This is a result of many words getting direct translation from one language to another

Nice one - Love Calculator

Thanks to Venkat - I really enjoyed this love calculator

Wanna try this super fun ...enjoy

Amazing Love Calculator !!!

Calculate my Crush !!!

Happy Calculating !!! :-)

Normandy beaches

Normandy beaches for D-day history is very famous one. During my visit there I visited a few beaches also German & American cemeteries. More on them in the next post I wanted to have my favorite picture captured – me with the wave rushing in and hitting the shore. I some how managed to get this one only, the funny thing was I wanted Alex to be with me when the wave hits the rocks, the moment he saw the wave he ran way, see below for the picture.

Now about the invasion, The liberatopn of northwest Europe began on June 6, 1944. The Normandy beaches were chosen by U.S., British & Canadian because they lay within range of air cover, and were less heavily defended.
Six divisions were to land on the first day, three more division were to follow up to assault and had cleared the way through the beach defences.
The famous D-day landing beaches are UTAH BEACH, OMAHA BEACH, GOLD BEACH, JUNO BEACH, SWORD BEACH in France.

Most recent updates

After a very long time I have found time to update on my Switzerland trip. Here are the details on the places I visited, Been there , Lauterbrunnen , Interlaken , St.Mortiz not to miss Glacier Express , Zurich, Lausanne , Vevey & Evian
During the weekend I should also update on the other trips of mine to Norway, Denmark and other countries.
Of the beautiful train journeys of the world which I wanted to do, Switzerland's Glacier Express, Norway's Flam railway & Russia's Trans Siberian railway with the official site for transib, of this I have covered 2, only one more left.
Back in India waiting for a day to travel on the Konkan railway as well.

Some pictures taken during my travel on Glacier Express.

Where do u drive in B'lore

Got this nice forward from one of my friend on the driving patterns in B'lore
In the whole of India we drive on the left of the road,
but in Bangalore we drive on what is left on the road.

Here is a picture taken in Grenoble when I went for the Coupe-icare came to my mind.
These people in open air were doing such aerobatics’ with the stunt that includes multiple tumbling, they should be allowed to drive in B'lore ... then we should what they are capable of :-)

Spotted this

Spotted this in one of the blog’s Ads by Google

All start with C

Cheese is missing

Good time pass

I have decided to convert my blog into a photo-blog for a few more days, reason being my immobility due to the accident. I need to catch up with lot of friends in this city but not able to due the above mentioned fact. How ever I happy that I’m back with my pranks. This gives me lots of time pass on the phone. The other day I came to know that my first boss with whom I worked was in the same town where I live now. So sent a nice mail to him and he promptly replied to me with all his contact details. That give me an idea. Immediately called him and I introduced myself as a sales man from a DSA and asked him if he would be interested in buying some credit cards. And the conversation went on for some time till he got feed-up and was about to hang up the phone. That’s when I introduced myself and said hello to him. U can imagine what kind of frustration he would have undergone talking to me for the last 10 minutes. Then he said “Nee innum thirunthevee illaya” (translation – You haven’t changed yet) & caught up with some old memories.

This picture was taken during last SKI season, enroute to a popular SKI resort in ALPS. I'm missing sob sob :-(

Formula1

I'm not going to talk about the F1 race here, my roommate has this F1 ringtone, This is an fantastic one. It never fails to bring the smile when-ever he receives a call.
This picture was taken in Barcelone during the Dakar race which was starting from Barcelone in 2005.

Kon-Tiki

When I visited Bhavik’s web-log about his cross Atlantic adventure the first thing that came to my mind was about Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon Tiki expedition & his museum in Norway. This is one of the best museums I have visited, it details about the adventurous of Thor Heyerdahl. The Kon-Tiki Expedition, The Ra I and Ra II Expeditions & Tigris are his major adventures. The one thing that moved me totally was - Since Heyerdahl had to abandon his expedition due to war, In protest against the wars, he eventually set fire to Tigris. This reminds me that I’m yet to write about my travel long on the Norway trip, this I would be doing it soon. One should learn a lot of lessons by visiting museums. The adventurous of Thor Heyerdahl and the purpose behind them really inspired me a lot. The picture is the shot when Thor Heyerdahl set fire to Tigris. The picute below miniature version of the ships used for expedition.

My wishes for Bhavik on his adventure.

Weekend bash

As I was caught up with loads of work and getting grounded due to my accident, there is not much activities that are happening in my life. Last weekend had 2 fun filled days.

• Chennai bloggers meet arranged by Kiruba,
• My best friend G’s birthday
• Close buddy Andy’s marriage
• Another close buddy’s Sriram’s engagement
• Catching up with Syam

@ Bloggers meet It’s was such a nice thing to meet so many fella bloggers and know about them. Many sites I used to visit and it was a gr8 to see them in person. Two persons I wanted to meet on the occasion, themottaiboss & theultimatereality . As usual one person ditched me, I don’t have to say who it was. It was a nice surprise to see Karthik and talk to him. I got to know the reason behind why he is called as Mottai Boss. Its again the repetition of the same, It seems he was expecting to see me as tall guy with a huge body build and it was a complete surprise to meet me as I do lot of adventure activites. No wonder why people say appearance are often deceptive. It was a pity that I could not stay there for long.
Met Sophia and a lot more fellas, will write in detail later.

A drive on the ECR road on the Saturday night with rain pouring down was the highlight of the trip to Chennai. We switched of the lights of the car and saw how it looks in the night. Have u tried it yet?

This picture was taken in Norway close to the Bergen region on the Flam railways.

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.