kasmenon

PMOJI AND ME It was a lazy Sunday morning, the first of the New Year, with the Sun, unusually, managing to bathe the landscape and the structures in splendid sunlight, resulting in a peak winter time temperature of 26 degrees.   I was also lazing around, thinking of such unusual weather, climate change , odd even and such earthy and vital concerns of the human race. Surely, it was a lazy Sunday and would have remained so had that call not come, disturbing my half stupor and half contemplative mood.   The ringtone on my cell is one that is practical but pleasant.  The one that disturbed my Sunday sounded impatient and serious. As i glanced across the screen, the true caller I’d the call to be originating from Delhi. An unknown number. Normally, I do not answer a call from an unknown number on a Sunday, particularly when I was worrying about saving the world. This call somehow seemed different. A part of me told that it is an important call, one which m...

ROMAN HOLIDAY PART 2 Rome wasn't built in a day is an adage meant to mean that it takes time to create great things and here I was soon going to see the great city soon. Our tactics of using the metro and Hop on hop off bus continued.  The guide on the tour whose voice was taped, spoke in English, in the way Englishmen spoke. So we could understand what was said.  Rome is an old lady with some wrinkles on her face but still charming and attractive. We realized at the end that this old lady will forever remain attractive in spite of being a witness to turbulent as well as great times. The   history of the Roman Empire  covers 500 years of the history of   Ancient Rome  ,   from the beginning of 27 BC o r so. Names like Julius Caesar   , Pompey  , Mark Antony , Augustus and Nero all come to mind as you travel towards Italy. One recalls Caesar  who was murdered ,  Antony and his lady love Cleopatra of Egypt, whic...

ROMAN HOLIDAY   PART 1 Rome and Romans of yesteryear always beckoned me. To witness in person. Here was that happening! We had taken a late evening flight from London to Venice, our next destination. The time in the aircraft was spent on refreshing my memory of history with some help from the very slow wifi connection available. We were staying in Mestre.  It’s located a little away from the main city of Venice. It a nice quite little place with cute people and is a good option compared to staying in Venice. Apart from this being economical ( with  good hotels) it’s not more than 20 minutes’ drive into Venice. We left early morning, though the temperature was somewhere in the single digit.  Venice is a city in north eastern   Italy   situated on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. Having realised that the city has to be soaked in only through foot and party helped by the boats and , if possible , the Go...

A TRYST WITH LONDON PART 3  Get down at The Tower Bridge station on the tube and a few blocks away , as you walk, the first tower of the Tower Bridge comes into view. Soon you see part of the river Thames on both sides. Get across to your right ( if you have not crossed the road ) and the full bridge comes into view. While you walk towards the bridge , you will notice on your right , a large castle , which was once made of white stone but now is  less white. It dominates the whole area and is  very imposing,   looks very mysterious and sinister. Before you go to the Tower you can walk down the steps and get close to the castle called the White Tower . This place witnessed a history of kings who occupied the place. It also served as a prison and a extraordinary place for executions. Over six Queens have been executed in its courtyard and so have many prisoners. The place does, architecture wise, look like a prison. The King's chamber is said to be impressive. The W...

A TRYST WITH ENGLAND : PART 2 After a good night's sleep and a typical English breakfast of muffins, poached eggs , bread , hash browns ,fresh orange juice and coffee , we imaginatively used the red " hop on hop off " open top bus to take us to where ever we wanted to go. That was our strategy to be where we wanted , at our own time , without the limitations that a London cab or any public transport would have imposed on us. It worked perfectly well. All you need is to time your visits . it does not matter if you do not stick to it,  in a sense. Not unless your objective to to cover all the places. Ours was not. We soaked in each as much as we wanted and then went to the next. There was history to be immersed in and silent conversation to be had with Kings ,  likes of Shakespeare , Newton and Charles Dickens. Fortunately for me , my son , too felt so,  more out of curiosity than a  sense of history I guess! As the Big Ben's  chimes sounded out the hour, ...

THE TRYST WITH ENGLAND : PART 1 We were on our way to an Empire which had spread across the globe and where the Sun never set , about half a century ago. Having  born after independence  and tutored  well about  Indian history ,that spanned few centuries since the establishment of the East  India company , I have had a mixed feeling of love and hate about the British. The hate obviously was due to the  excesses  like the Jallianwala  and the probable disdain they had of Indians in general. The admiration was due to their immense administrative  abilities, the establishment  of marvels like the Indian railway, the beautiful structures they built and in making a nation out of us. Literature , science and the arts , that one was exposed to, had a predominant British slant to it and hence the   overwhelming anticipation of being able to witness ,in person , some of the places and monuments , so far experienced only through books, was...

ThMost of my leisure travels overseas have been dove-tailed with official tours. This meant all little details can be attended to as help from colleagues  and the organisation  is available. When my son and me decided to travel to Europe and London, the factor that kept me tensed was the fact that the management has to be done by me or my son.  We researched well and he slowly took the lead . Things like hotel bookings, internal travel and decisions on the local itinerary    was finalised after evaluating various options using the world wide web . Mostly by him. Since he worked for the airline , I had a seat which was a 2 seat config . and both of us quickly settled down as we travelled light. The A 380 is a nice aircraft, thoughtfully designed and provided for WiFi access through the flight and offered good entertainment and information channels. Morgan Freeman's absorbing episodes of "Through the wormhole" kept me occupied and then after some lovely old coun...