Whale watching in Boston

A weekend with Tarang and Swaroopa - was absolutely fantastic!

One of the key highlights was our unique whale-watching experience. Experiencing nature's beauty is something that intrigues, fascinates, energizes, touches parts of your heart and mind which is something only nature's creations can do.

So we started our journey at 12.30 from the Boston harbor at the Massachusetts Bay. Went about 25 miles into the Atlantic. Until then nothing - not a single sight of any life on the sea. So we had to go about 5 miles more across the waves further in, which got a bit nasty with the waves, though the feeling was incredible. At roughly after 14.30 there were some amazing sightings, different kind of whales around, mostly the humpbacks and the minkes. There were sights of fountains of water all around, and it was like a mix of emotions - frenzy, awe, peace - very difficult to summarize into words. They had been given names, however the naming convention followed is that these cannot denote gender generally not given to human beings.

I felt like an explorer amongst the entire journey, but also wondered how the explorers were on the sea for days and days. Besides the beauty factor, there is the anatomy it can handle the mammoth waves :) On our way back, the journey that lasted close to 5 hours, you can see 75% of the boat down with sea sickness, the extra 5 mile further I think got to most :), but every moment was worth it, something every one who visits Boston should experience!

Below are photos of some.


Whale sighting photos:


Some other photos capturing parts of Boston:

Love and Fulfillment

2nd Sep, 2009 - the band of god played...

Will keep it short here - Picture of savoring Coldplay with a bunch of friends at Bern.

Even the heavens poured that night (they had to :)), and to get soaked with friends singing along with Chris - priceless!

Excerpt from "Like a flowing river", Paulo Coelho

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
‘I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’


Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special. ‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’

‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’

‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’

‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

Sporty May and Sporty summer lined up!

The month of May has been by far a sports heavy month, and different kinds too, which has made my body feel great!

1. My first official run, not a big one though, about 5.5 kms, but still was much tougher than I expected. However, I made it somehow and felt great at my first shot at the run.

Somehow, I got on a snap :), not the best expression, but just shows how committed I was during the last sprint of 100 metres :P


2) Royal Zurich Cricket Club

Bring it on! Finally, joined the club here, early this month. Never played professionally before in India so this is definitely a different sort of challenge. Most of my team members are from Pakistan and about 3 to 4 Indians, and overall a great team of cricketers. I must say it's a battle to keep my place in the playing 11. Nevertheless, I think playing 35 / 40 over games with proper facilities and plus its CRICKET, that too, to play in Switzerland, cannot complain at all :)

The league for this season has started along with a couple of other tournaments and the summer promises to be a cracker!

Played 4 games this season now, won 3, lost 1 - Go ROYALS! :)

You can follow the details and the different teams here - http://www.swisscricket.ch/clubs.html

3) Squash

Squash has slightly taken a back seat, but continue to have about one game a week. But still, since the first game played in Netherlands and the competitive games with Jarda and Gee after the AI office hours, this will continue to be my passion :)

4) Lastly, my trip to Paris last weekend :). Definitely not a sporty one, but more on the artistic side. However, it deserves a mention due to my walking 10 hrs a day there.

5) Besides all of the above, mental sport is also now a crucial component of my life too :). I remember the times on the Indian MC playing chess with Chitgo. Now I have my flatmate, George who is another passionate chess player. With a chess board now that sits in the living table with classic pieces and a chess clock, it is definitely a great mental battle.

Pl meet Ms. Pankha

Pl welcome a new member in my bed room - popularly known as "Ms. Pankha" (for the non-bhartiyas, it is referred to as a "fan")

For a couple of Indians who have been living in Zurich in the past year, namely Sab and Pasu - they know how these 3 piece of blades can bring you the best of sleeps.

Trust me she's a life saver, at least the few months in Europe when the temperature soares to above +30 degree celsius and you do not have fans nor air conditioning, she keeps you nice and cool when you asleep ;)

What will I do without you, my lil pankhu :P

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

Some more thoughts - 26th Nov 2008 terrorist attack

The entire terrorist attack probe is now becoming a drag - actually seems like an Ekta Kapoor TV serial (even the main character name starts with K - Kasab).
Jokes apart, this is really becoming ridiculous.

* Last week, I read they were probing into his age to see if he was a minor - well, let me not get started on this. Now once that is proved he is above 20, there is a trial now starting - oh hold on, today is May 8th, more than 5 months since one of the deadliest attacks to hit India.

* Pakistan has been denying the fact that the captured terrorist was from Pakistan, wanting more proof (I think this went on for more than 3 months), I still dont know the official statment on this. It's all going round and round.

The only thing I have heard is everyone saying Pakistan should treat this more seriously and be more proactive in taking more action against terrorism (wow - is that something new? who would not have figured that out?)

* Where are the actions regarding making a special unit accountable to getting this case solved within a certain time frame? How about Investing X m$ in coming up with one of the most sophisticated intelligence bureau?
I wonder why would such simple ideas that come up in almost anyone's mind would not be implemented.

Well, not much you can do now except hope the current candidates during elections have this upfront on the agenda and have better priorities than the current ones, hoping they will do something radical about a grave issue that has been bothering our country.

Yes, actions have happened, but they are far from what would a normal, sane government who cared about peace, democracy and its people would have reacted.

Correct me if I am wrong, but following news everyday virtually - this is what I get out of this.