In search of a Hotel

My last few posts have been cold (not cold per se) and impersonal, so I figured I'd post a few egocentric notes for some reading enjoyment. I thought before I lose more notebooks and render scribbles to unreadable scrabble, I’d like to write about the last leg of our European trip.

Our TRAVEL JOURNEY continues to the cradle and heart of the Renaissance.

As we were driving through Monaco with Lamborghini and Ferrari on our side, the night gradually started to descend. Soon, we were driving in the moonlight. There were streaks of pink sunset in the sky over the lagoon. I really have to admit that the scene was very beautiful but we really were not prepared to what was going to happen next.

It was almost about 10:00 when we left the border of Monaco and entered France and within the next 15 minutes, we entered Italy. We started out apprehensive, having heard bad stories about the Mafias. Our night started with the ominous sound of silence. The streets were quiet and empty and there was almost no one on the streets.We were excited to be in Italy.

We had left for St. Tropez, France around 10:00 in the morning.This means Prasanna had been driving for almost about 13 hours now. Slowly, I could see him feeling exhausted. I made a suggestion about taking an exit in the next town and looking for a hotel. (Yup! that was another adventure, not booking our hotel!!) Prasanna kept on insisting to drive to this city called “Savona” which looked quite far away in the map. I really wanted to take the exit on the next stop. While debating on whether or not to take the next exit,we accidently missed the exit that I wanted prasanna to take. We had no choice but to keep on driving and sadly, that it what we did. After couple of meters, we saw the sign for "gas station" and both agreed to make a stop and freshen up and also ask about the hotels.

Bearing in mind that we were in a country called Italy where "Bonjour,” or “Hola” would not work, we were bit confused starting our conversation. The journey turned out to be rather uncomfortable for us, the anxious travelers. For other trips we were quite well off with our “Lonely Planet," however, in this one we were totally clueless.Finally with a help of little English and sign language a young lad at the convenience store was able to give us some suggestions on the hotel. He told us to take the exit on the next city.

We bought some sandwiches and headed to our car and drove towards “Imperia,” the next city. We then took the exit. The city was crowded with youngsters and the tourists. It was almost 11:30 now. This looked liked a happening place. Restaurants and bars everywhere.As we drove by we also started seeing Hotels. Since there was no parking I decided to get off the car and find out the roon rates to compare with other hotels. “ No room,” the gentleman said in his hoarse voice. I smiled and left. We made a stop into the next on, “ All booked,” was the reply, and then we tried the next and the next one and so on.

The scene was quite ugly. In an unfamiliar place, horrible nightmare lurked in front of us and we were totally hopeless. After making a stop at the 14^th hotel, we decided to make a move to the next city. It was 2:00 in the morning. The night was cold, and we had nowhere to go. We were both in havoc and I really prayed for a room for us to rest.

While driving, we saw a police car and even asked his help. “Next 5 minutes, 2 hotels,” he murmured ogling at us in his so-called English language which was very vague. At this point, we were willing to do any this to get somewhere to rest. The clock was ticking and the long hand was now at 3:00. It was almost morning. We had been driving for almost 18 hours now.

Made the stop over at those two hotels.

I froze with horror. You guessed it right everything was booked.We opened the window in our car to let the cold wind in from letting us falling asleep. Both tired and frustrated, we still made an effort to talk to each other and kept on driving. I also made a suggestion about sleeping in the car. Prasanna was ready to drive all night rather than sleeping in the car in this country where we were a total strangers.

Another toll machine!

As I was about to duck to get my wallet to take out the credit card, I saw the sign of a hotel. Ok, this is it! This is the hotel. There was a hope at the end of the tunnel.

We followed the sign and kept on driving. Soon we were in the middle of nowhere. Our ONLY friend was the DARK night. Prasanna then began to doubt our decision. Feeling Helpless, Prasanna rolled down his window and raised his hand for “HELP.”

A big SUV stopped.

“Hotel?”

The young gentleman in the car tried to explain but I guess he could make out from our expressions that we were totally lost and helpless.

He signaled us to follow him.

We kept on driving in the dark night, in the deserted road.

I started getting eerie feeling. Prasanna was quiet. Is this stranger going to rob us? Is he a part of the mafia group? Does he have a gun?

Soon the big SUV made a stop and we were in front of a hotel.

The Goodwill for Nepal in Europe

“Nepal! It is a Beautiful country, I would really love to go hiking there someday” – a young Austrian excitingly told us after taking our picture in front of a beautiful valley in Interlaken, Switzerland. This was the third person that we met in the interim of two hours upon entering Switzerland, who had expressed so much interest in visiting Nepal. Just in the airplane on our flight from Amsterdam to Zurich, we had also chatted with a lovely Norwegian couple who had lived in Nepal for almost 33 years. To top it all off, even the gentleman at the passport control in Zurich International Airport seemed to know about the current political situation of Nepal and hoped for Peace.

I should explain. By sheer good fortune, I happened to be in Europe for a brief tour with my husband. They say that travel broadens the mind and challenges our preconceptions. My husband and I were uniformly engaged and even enchanted by our travels. Switzerland is a beautiful country with Alps, lakes and valleys, so green and so much like Nepal. A very developed Nepal with more educated citizens, I would say. Driving in Bern felt like driving in Chitwan. Gallivanting around Europe was very exciting, but more importantly, I was very impressed by the Europeans goodwill for Nepal. Every time we would ask someone to take our picture, our friendly conversation would end with the cheerful statement - “I will definitely visit your country someday”.

I got my high school education at an International School in Tokyo. Interacting with students from various nationalities made me realize the uniqueness of Nepal. I thoroughly enjoyed learning and discussing the cultures of the world. However, I was a bit saddened when I started my college in the United States. It was quite a daunting experience. To my American friends, the meaning of traveling was flying to the far east or to the far west of the United States. My Nepali and Japanese experiences would leave them in total amazement.

Nepal’s name was often mistaken for Naples in Italy. When I attempted to explain by saying “Mount Everest”- I would get the oft-quoted remark - “Isn’t that in Denver, Colorado?” which no doubt induced cries of indignation. Pause a moment to consider what this means. There were times when I used to sympathize or get disappointed by such remarks. But soon, I started getting used to it. It is quite heartbreaking when you do your best to follow the Western world and find out that to many here, your country does not even exist.

In stark contrast to this, my experience in England, Switzerland, France, Spain and Italy was very positive. My first encounter with the Norwegian couple gave me good vibes about Europe. On the whole trip, I was neither mistaken for being an Indian/Pakistani nor confused for coming from Naples, Italy. I was recognized for my genuine identity. I could freely talk about Nepal without having to explain its geographical location. The recent political events in Nepal had brought her more attention then ever before. This political upheaval was making many Europeans concerned for Nepal. They hoped for the quick return of peace and prosperity to our country.

I was extremely delighted to see this positive opinion of Nepal amongst the Europeans. This is certainly a very good sign. We can harness on this good image to increase our tourism business substantially. Our tourist industry is going through a slump and it is the right time to aggressively market Nepal as a “safe and beautiful tourism destination”. Nepali entrepreneurs should realize that Europe is a good market with significant good will. A marketing campaign similar to “Visit Nepal” should be launched again. With such efforts, Nepal will once again regain its popularity as a premier tourist destination.

NIPPON

I know I still need to write the last leg of our "Travel Journal" to Europe. Our trip to Italy was quite an adventurous one. Since the world, at the moment is captured by the Football Fever, I guess, I will leave it at that and keep on focusing on more exciting topic.

What a wild weekend in the World Cup. What a rotten, fantastic game. Rotten in a poor quality match ruined by the referee and the players assaulting, diving, and acting; fantastic in that the Japan can now realistically qualify to get beaten by Brazil. I was very excited Sunday morning for the Japanese and Croatian game. Both Prasanna and I, we wore our Japanese t-shirts and headed to “Phoenix Landing” to watch the game.The place had already started getting crowded. We met some other Japanese and Croatian Fans. The Japanese team really played quite well with the Croatian team. Lots of attacking play and aggressive passing moves from both sides but only had NAKATA or INAMOTO made any goals, the Japanese team would have really had chance to go to the second round.Well now I see a very slim chance.

I guess I just have to satisfy saying that every four years, some succeed where others fail. Some arrive on a neophyte ticket and perform woefully,making it very difficult to return, while others just go for the last time.

Not a great performance, but Brazil have secured qualification. They played well, but they didn’t win; the Aussies lost. Ronaldo was generally ineffective and mistake-prone aside from his game winning assist. Still, a win is a win.

Australia are still two points ahead of Croatia and Japan, and after this impressive performance you wouldn’t bet against them scraping through. It was quite interesting to see Coach HIDDINK, who was the Coach of the Korean team at the 2002 World cup.

What can I say about the third game, An early strike by Arsenal'sThierry Henry finally put an end to France's World Cup goal drought on Sunday but South Korea struck back dramatically to grab a deserved 1-1 draw and stay top of Group G. They have 4 points now.It was also quite interesting to see the Indian man at the French team.

Will Brazil win the World cup title this year? Will Ronaldo give his impeccable performance? I guess at the moment, this is a million dollar question :)

Tie Conference

Saturday night…. Raining outside and here I am in my sofa, gently musing thorough my week. What a week it was….. World cup, and the TIE CON conference, the Amnesty, Thulo daddy’s visit.

World cup- Bloodied but not beaten, the United States bounced back to hold Italy to a 1-1 tie today in an ugly World Cup game with three ejections, a disallowed American goal and wide-open play. With thousands of fans in red, white and blue cheering the United States on a warm night as it seemed, the Americans came out aggressive, quite agressive actually and then hung on while playing most of the second half at a man disadvantage. I was at “Phoenix Landing”, the Sports bar at Central Square surrounded by American fans, almost 100 of them and somewhere hidden amongst the crowd in blue jerseys were the Italian Fans. I was of course rooting for the ITALIANS.ITLAIA... :) I guess the Referee for today’s game was by far the harshest ones amongst the game I have seen so far. Three RED cards…. Simple unbelievable

TIE Conference- Along with my husband Prasanna, I had the honor of attending the TIE (The INDUS Entrepreneur Conference). This conference is dedicated to providing a collaborative framework for entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists and leaders of global ITC companies to discuss the big issues facing the technology industry and entrepreneurism.

WOW, the IDEAS and the SPEAKERS were so impressive. The conference took place for 3 days, Thursday -Saturday at Hynes Convention Center in Downtown Boston. Koffi Annan was supposed to be one of the distinguish speakers, however, he was replaced by the Deputy General Secretary of the UN at the last minute. I was really excited to meet with me. I had seen his wife Nana, almost about 4 years back, when I was in NY for the “ Model UN” conference. Sadly, I did not get to see Rajat Gupta, the director of McKinsy either, but I have seen his speech at Harvard Business School couple of years back, so I guess I can least say that I have seen him speak. He is a MAN with ENERGY AND IDEANS. What an energetic conference it was. I felt thrilled to be a room filled with thousands of Entrepreneurs, predominately, Indian entrepreneurs.

I was also really very impressed with Ray kurzweil’s idea on “Translation.” He provided us with a little demo where he spoke on a phone in English, which was then right away translated to German by a so-called the “software” person. The he spoke in French, and then same software, quickly translated that statement into English. What can I say; it is the 21st century Technology! We may not have arrived at pervasive computing yet, but with these techies, trust me soon we will!!

Justice for Bhopal- I went to my first “Justice for Bhopal” meeting on Wednesday. I met with Aquene, who is the core organizer of this team. I had heard about this topic, but never really knew the background of it. I was bit daunted by the whole story. It is really sad and heartbreaking.

The Bhopal Disaster of 1984 is claimed by many as THE worst industrial disaster in history. It was caused by the accidental release of 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate from a Union Carbide India, Limited pesticide plant located in the heart of the city of Bhopal,in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

“In the city people were sleeping. They woke in darkness to the sound of screams with the gases burning their eyes, noses and mouths. They began retching and coughing up froth streaked with blood. Whole neighborhoods fled in panic, some were trampled, and others convulsed and fell dead. People lost control of their bowels and bladders as they ran. Within hours thousands of dead bodies lay in the streets.”- BBC

I am still doing some thorough research on the topic as I am totally clueless on it. This is what I have read so far. Union Carbide sold its Indian subsidiary, which had operated the Bhopal plant, to an Indian battery manufacturer in 1994. Dow has publicly stated several times that the Union Carbide settlement payments have already fulfilled Dow's financial responsibility for the disaster. However efforts by survivors to get Dow to clean up the heavily contaminated site are on appeal in US District Court.

The sad part is that a BBCinvestigation conducted in 2004 confirmed that even after 20 years, the contamination is still present, I do not what my role in the group would be, but I am very determined to help in every way I can.

Thulo daddy- my thulodaddy lives in Mississippi and he had come to Boston for a day for a meeting. Though, it was a really short visit, (he left on Friday morning), we had a good time. He came to our place for dinner and was impressed with my cooking, considering the fact, that I had zero knowledge about cooking in my college years. I guess I really have mastered in the cooking area, thanks to Pras.

As you can see, I really had a very long day today. The weather was VERY HOT!! Walking in Sun was no fun!! We also manged to make a quick trip to hay market; both of us dressed in a suit and did some shopping. We got tons and tons of fruits.. Cherries, lychee, strawberries, cantaloupe, bananas, oranges… and the list goes on!!

Eventhough, it was a rough trip, at the end of the day, it was those cherries and strawberries, that gave us a smile, with the delicious nectars.. oh! How sweet it was.

Good night!

The land of the vines

As I was leafing through our old pictures, I came up with these interesting ones.

The Vineyard, the wine Bottle, the Oenophile and the Wine tasters.... all enjoying the wines.

Football...

In keeping with the introspective nature of these past few days, here it goes....

South Korea won the game. I was bit disappointed. Thwarted by the fact that they won the game. They earned 3 points. Korea is Japan’s long time rival and they won, and Japan did not. My dad is in Korea right now and he had the privilege of actually celebrating this victory with thousands of Koreans.

The game this morning was stimulating as well. Spain led Ukraine by 4 goals. I was impressed with Raul’s performance.Without the spontaneity, you loose the game. Could Spain be the new Brazil? They looked more confident and adventurous than any other team so far, with the possible exception of Germany.

Brazil- There is a certain arrogance afoot that presumes that they will win the World cup again. As a consequence, this year, a total astounding result might get us. Who knows who is going to win? It could be very well be Spain.

Those of us, who will be watching this game over the coming weeks, are buoyed by knowledge that this is the world’s biggest sporting event and a positive force for change in the world.

At this time, even the enemies come together. I still remember back in my high school days, every time I wanted to annoy my Japanese friend, I would purposely say, "Are your parents not from Korea?", or would bluntly say, “ You are from Korea right”? Last year’s world cup was hosted jointly by Korea and Japan, an unthinkable alliance between the two countries with a difficult past. Does this mean we can be optimistic of a dream of having a world cup hosted by Palestine and Israel?

On a slight different note, After the NY protest, I will be re-joining the Amnesty group again. Today is my first meeting. I will be involved in the “Justice for Bhopal” group. Prasanna has started to cycle, albeit the hot weather. He seemed to have really enjoyed the company of Shailendra dai last Monday. We had a good time having him for dinner.

I hear roaring thunders. I guess Rain for tonight. Not againnn..

the fever.. continues..

I'm getting very excited about the World Cup. To tell you the truth, everybody is who doesn't live in North America. Americans have a vague handle on the notion that the Football ( not soccer) World Cup is a big deal across most of the the globe, but they don't fully appreciate the significance. Their main exposure to the event is the coverage that their admittedly competent football team gets, so and as a result people here think it's a sporting event. This is nonsense, of course, since the World Cup has absolutely nothing to do with football.

For just a few weeks every four years, it becomes perfectly acceptable to be as blatantly prejudiced as one likes, with absolutely no factual justification. In capital cities around the globe, one is almost expected to air the sort of views that at any other time would have you locked up. What makes these events particularly galling is the crowd. GOOALLLLLLLLL!!!! However, it is quite disappointing to see no such response from this side of the world.

On the other note, Weekend was VERY exciting. One Sunday, the weather was BEAUTIFUL. FINNAALLLYYY got to see the Sun almost after a week. Prasanna and I went to watch the Red Sox game yesterday. This game was wayyyy too slow compare to the football. The ambience was GREAT. One of Prasanna’s colleagues managed to give us 2 box tickets and we had the honor of enjoying the food and drinks while watching the game at the same time. To make the event even more historical, Red Sox won the game! GO Ortiz..

World cup is all about Victory and Loss. I just finished watching the game JAPAN Vs AUSTRALIA. JAPAN was doing so well… until the last ten minutes. The last few minutes, rather than being very exciting ended up being very very disappointing for Japan and myself. The Socceroos came from behind to stun the Blue Samurai with three goals in the last 10 minutes.

Peep! Peep! Peep! The Egyptian referee blows his shiny whistle and the Australians celebrate a fine victory.

For Japan, it is a loss...

I really don’t know about Japan now. The team must now pick themselves up and be fired up against Croatia. And after that it’s Brazil.

I was really thrilled to see the Japanese team almost after a year. I have been a great fan of NAKATA and ONO. They played well, only had they continued like they had in the first half, they might really have won the game against the Aussies.

The next game is US Vs Czech. I am not too keen on watching this one. I think the one with Italy and Ghana will be the exciting one. So far the best game has been the one with Trinidad & Tobago Vs Sweden. It was really really exciting one. It was amazing, how Trinidad, despite loosing one team member with the red card, still prevented the Swedes from scoring a GOAL! It really was a Good game.

I still cannot get over the fact that JAPAN actually lost the game today!

GOAALLL

World Cup Fever…

Crowd, Yell, Clap, Frustration, Bet, Triumph, Winning, Loosing....…. These are all the adjectives that define the noun, the World cup. It is the GAME that changes everything. Today, June 9th, the starting day of THE WORLD Cup. It is not like any other AMERCAN games.It simply cannot compete with the commercial spectacles of American sports, particularly because two halves of 45 minutes isn't television-friendly. Nevertheless, the FIFA World Cup raises the sport's awareness every four years.

Germany, the football powerhouse and Costa Rica will be starting off the game followed by Poland Vs Ecuador. 4 years ago, I was in Japan, the host country and the whole ambience was phenomenal. Every second you would be reminded of the game through the excitement of each and every people, every son of us were hypnotized by the so-called “ football” fever.

I am VERY excited. I always get thrilled with the WORLD CUP. I must admit, however, that as much as I have enjoyed watching the show, I am bit saddened by the fact that I would be watching the opening ceremony alone. At one point, I was seriously considering about watching the game in the Sports bar, but again, because of the gloomy and depressing weather, the thought of watching it all bundled up in a cozy room provoked me. We will see how it goes.

I am rooting for Germany. I still remember Kahn from the last world cup. I was talking with my dad this morning and this was his prediction. He thinks, Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands and France would go to the Final. Let’s see as the game progresses.

Let the kicking and Screaming begin…..

Germany made the fist goal in 5 min.. WOW!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I would like to dedicate this page to my DEAR husand, MR D, Prasanna.

It is his BIRTHDAY today.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU AND

MANY MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY!!

I only hope, I give as much Love to you as you give to me.

Wishing you many more years of happiness together.

lots and lots of love,

Monaco

This is indeed one of my longest journals in the blog cause believe me I still am not done about our travel. The last time I stopped the journal, I was in Cannes. The beautiful French Riviera. Let the Journal begin…….

After strolling for about 45 minutes or so, we hopped into our car and headed towards Monte Carlo, the capital of Monaco.
Monaco, I have always been fascinating with this country primarily because of the royal family. I shamefully accept the fact that I love to and I still follow their life styles. Princess Carlonine, Stephanie, Andrea… I guess a way to entertain myself once in a while. Anyways, An independent sovereign state located between the foot of the Southern Alps and the Mediterranean, Monaco was simply BEAUTIFUL. We did not get to stroll around the city as the place was quite jammed by the racers from the “ 58th Grand Pix.”

Michael Schumacher could be seen on the big Screen TV hanged outside the Stadium… sadly, I did not get to really seem him in person. The interesting thing is that back in my high school days, I had a picture of Michael Schumacher in my room from the Grand Prix victory in Monaco. And Now, here I was.

Our drive was elegant. Ferraris and Lamborghini’s surrounded us. BMW and Mercedes just seemed like any day-to-day cars. It was one of the posh areas we had ever seen. The whole outlook of the city was extravagant. It seemed like Money grew in that City. Rich people everywhere….

Monaco was again! LOVE at fist sight like the other cities. We stopped to take the picture but then were quickly shooed away by the policemen. I had read in the lonely planet book that Monaco, being a small city had policemen in every 100 meters of the city. Policemen everywhere…

We very much enjoyed driving in Monaco. It was gorgeous. The houses were colossal. Wonder who lives inside those palaces? As we slowly entered the French border, the clock ticked 9:00 clock. Even though it was nice, the night still looked quite young. The sun had just bid farewell for that night. That was another thing that I really enjoyed driving in Europe. It would be 8’ o clock, but it actually felt like 5 with the sun shinning so brightly. Our destination for that night was to go to Turin and spend a night there.

Turin looked quite far away in our map……. Almost 300 km so we came to an agreement on making a stop once we entered a big city in Italy. At this point, we had been driving for almost 9 hours and was getting bit exhausted. Prasanna was tired.

The roads winds on. The car behind us never gets any closer. The steam is more a hologram than anything else. I grazed a puddle and the nose of the car was tugged to the right but released just as quickly. I keep both eyes and ear open for the night. The night.. that never seemed to end...

Soon we were in Italy. As it was quite dark, we could not tell much of a difference from France, other than the language and the sign of the road. The hills looked the same to us. Since it was Friday night, there were people everywhere. Young crowd to be exact. The restaurants looked opened. Yes!!! We can finally have a nice dinner we both thought. Since the town looked so lively, Prasanna decided to drive even more. I really wanted to end our journey for that day at 10:30 at the most. He kept on insisting on going to this place called “Savona.” I wanted to get a good rest that night and wanted to make an early start. After making a constant request Prasanna agreed to take the next exit.

Now our worst nightmare continues..… The first few hours were very painful.

I want to continue my journal.The excitement and adventurous part is yet to come. However, my throbbing stomachache is not letting me do that. It is really bad. I feel weak and exhausted. It’s the girls thing.. I have already had Tylenol, but the situation is not getting any better. I guess I just have to rest and drink.

On the side note, we went to see “ Da vinci Code” on Sunday. I really liked the movie and would have enjoyed even more, had I not had the stomach ache. Lots of people had told me not to have high expectation i.e if you have read the book. I have already read the book two times, but my excitement level did not change one bit.

Saturday, we went for dinner at Anju di’s place. She is one of my relatives.Along with her, and I also got chance to meet myother cousins whom I had never met. The food was great. We had a great time.

Europe..continued..

The Journal is not done yet.

We are still gallivanting around Europe.

Barcelona was wonderful.

I really enjoyed the Cathedrals and the building by GAUDI. I find his architecture absolutely fascinating.

We also made a point to go to Gaudi's other buildings and his Parc Guell to see more work of this visionary who even though had build these building around the turn of the century is still today ahead of his time. The more we traveled the more we liked. The architecture really does define a city. I depicted Barcelona on the whole as a small working community where everyone is considered important for what they bring to society. After our visit to Barcelona, we headed towards Marseille and Toulon, France. The very SOUTHERN tip of France. Our target was to make a stop at Perpignan, France which was sort of a mid point between, Toulon and Barcelona. We were both HUNGRY and were bit exhausted of driving. We made a stop. We really hoped the kitchen would not be closed. Sigh! GUESS what… No luck!!

We were in front of a lovely restaurant with a gigantic menu,nevertheless we could not make an order and was left with a wine and beer list on our hands. We were left to scratch our heads becoming exasperated by some idiosyncrasy of the city. The poor waiter again shrugged his shoulders and said dryly in his thick French accent, "The kitchen is closed.”

That night we were welcomed with the delicious French Lamb and wine made by our French friend,Jean Domini. He is a native of Toulon, and the next day, all three of us went for a wine tasting. We had a great time. Have we had more time, we would have definitely extended our stay in Toulon, cause the wine tasting with French was indeed a Great experience.

Saint Tropez, Nice and Cannes were our Next stop. The French Riviera on Côte d'Azur was the love at first sight. Right in front of us were the beaches, the blue sea and the elegant people…You could hear the OCEAN. The familiarity of this sound was immediately comforting. We parked, Grabed a sandwich and walked towards the beach.

As I walked to the edge of the cliffs and faced the sea, I felt the salted wind whipping up from the black void. I heard the surf below and though I saw nothing, I invigorated knowing that I was standing on the rim of the famous French Riviera.

We spend about 40 minutes enjoying the view and made a quick stop over at Nice and headed towards Cannes. I was ecstatic. For past 4 years, I have always followed the Cannes Festival. Back in the school days, I would wake up late night just to see the Festival de Cannes and here I was right in front of the RED Carpet. There were polices everywhere, news Reporters everywhere. The city itself is described as a "star" of the French Riviera, famous for the International Film Festival and the glitzy hotels, cars, beaches. TALKINAG about CARS!!! The roads were crowded with the exotic brand roaring like bullhorn naming from the Maseratic, Lamborghini to Ferrari. The picture above tells it all.. 3 ferraris in a row.. W-o-W

I was desperately looking around for Aishwarya Rai. Celebrities inside the Mercedes were sliding in and out from the Hotel. Roads were blocked everytime some one came to the Palme d'OR. Since, Aiswarya Rai was one of the jurys she surly must have been there. I really was hoping to see her, unfortuantely no luck. I just had to console myself with the advertisement board of LOREAL with Aishwarya Rai in it. But on the other note, we did see some Famous European Stars and I managed to wave at one of them who gleefully waived right back at me. YEAH!!

We also took a stroll along the Promenade des Anglais. In front of me was the same shockingly gorgeous scene I had viewed on my computer screen.

Oh How beautiful it was..

Passport to Europe

Feel tired.. Real shallow. Right down where the leg connects the hip. Just got back from the Gym. Had not been there of almost 2 weeks. I guess I have forgotten how to run. Sorry for the long silence. My classes are over and I was in Europe with Prasanna, my husband. It was a great mini vacation for us. Sort of excursion I would say.

We managed to go to Switzerland, Spain, Southern France, Monaco and Italy.

Our first stop was in Zurich. Zurich has a gorgeous modern airport. Surprisingly, I love airports — well, the good ones anyway. We had rented a car. A cute Mazda =) I would have preferred Nissan. (I have worked at Nissan therefore I am a loyal Nissan fan =). Since Mazda was a Japanese car, I cared less for Nissan. After Excitingly hopping in the blue car, we drove to Interlaken. Interlaken is considered the gateway to the Berner Oberland, a major part of the Swiss Alps. Driving in Swiss was simply beautiful. I became absolutely transfixed. Gazing out from my window, stretching farther then the eye could see were the Alps. I had no idea how immense in scope these mountains were. It looked like an ocean of mountain peaks and valleys.

The Alps, the Green meadows and the Great Lake… Really you can’t ask for more. After spending two nights in Geneva, we drove down the southern France. After almost driving for 8 hours we made a stop at “ Montpellier.” And Yes, we also managed to go to Nims, the supposedly “creator town” of the “DENIM” jeans.

They say that travel broadens the mind and challenges our preconceptions. Exploring Europe was GREAT!!! The vineries, the roads, the elegance.. the whole mixture is indescribable. Did we manage to get lost… Umm.. I would say here and there. But….what fun and adventure is it if we don’t?

One of the downfalls of our trip this time was the FOOD =) Apparently, the entire kitchen closes at 1:00. In Geneve, we had no luck with Fondue. Poor Prasanna, he really was very much looking forward to having the fondue. Every time, we made a stop for lunch, “ Sorry, Madame, the kitchen is closed” a lush and sensuous voice would say. Argghhh.....Our option was Baguette; we practically lived off the typical French cusine for dayyysss. Baguette, cheese and wine.

Barcelona was our next destination. The drive from Southern France to Barcelona over the Mediterranean sea was B-E-A-U tiful. The roads were bit curvy, but other than that the Drive was superb. We were both very excited to see Pradeep dai and Srijana. We were so excited that we got lost =) Pradeep dai had explicitly told us to follow this “ Ronda” thingie (the supposedly roundabout to enter inside Barcelona) and while trying to find that" RONDA De Dalt", we realized we had way passed the city of Barcelona. We had a make a one hour de-tour and yes, thanks to the nice Spanish people, we managed to find their lovely apartment and along with that also met an interesting fellow who seemed to know quite a lot about Nepal.

Weather wise-- We couldn’t have asked for a more brilliant day. Crisp and autumnal with a cloudless sky. Barcelona was beautiful. One feels different just being there. Walking the streets, you sense the heaviness of its long, influential history. Even the architecture, with its thick stonewalls, echoes the weight of its importance

And we also managed to go to the FCB Museum in Barcelona. Since Barcelona had just won the cup by beating Arsenal, YEAH!!!! it was a real treat for us to get to see the REAL trophy. I was excited!!!

I guess I should stop it here.. But not worry, I am not done. I still need to write about our most exciting trip to Flamingo dance,Cannes and Monaco and how I saw(not) Aishwarya Rai, the famous Indian Actress =)

Rainnnn

Apologies for the long silence. It’s good to be back.

Rain Rain.. go away....

It has been raining like anything for a past couple of days. Hot water in our apartment has been shut so that we do not take shower..All we have is COLDDD WATERRR

The landlord just came in and told us to flush the bathroom only for a minimal amount… well only if we really have to. Our neighbours downstairs are moving out of the apartment cause their apartment is totally flooded. At this point, I am glad we did not get the room in the basement.

The whole of Mass and New Hampshire is under the “ Flood Warning.” More of rain is yet to come. Weather channels shows rain for another couple of days. uugghhh..

Saw the movie “Sideways” and “Constant Gardener” over the weekend.Nice movie.. Both of them.. Sideways was fun.. all about wine drinking.. Swirl, smell and taste.

We did little bit of shopping over the weekend with mausi.. Saturday night, we had a dinner at Muna aunty's place and it was really nice. The food was excellent.. I can still taste the "Khashi ko kebab."

Today is Monday..Apprenctice day!! looking forward to watching it :)

WALK FOR HUNGER

Musing on summer can be a bit dangerous, especially when we're about ten degrees short of actually being there. Yup! It has been raining like anything..and I have learnt my lesson quite well.

What a day yesterday! Rain Rain… and more rain that was sucessful in drenching me from head to toe..

I am in the midst of writing papers and all… so been in a hybernation mode for a while. Days are rolling by and soon.. it will be Summer.

Let’s see what has been happening in my life.

Weekend was fun. Prasanna had his friend was at our place. They will be moving from Delaware. Another additional friend to join in the Budhanilkhanta group I suppose. Chalphal was very interesting. The title was: Republic vs. Monarch. Both the gentlemen, Pradeep dai and Nishcal did an excellent job. Kudos also goes to Atul for a superb presentation on Constituent Assembly. And last but not the least.. to Prasanna and Shailesh dai, for organizing the event.

Sunday, we decided to go for the Walkathon. THE WALK for HUNGER. We walked for about 7 miles. Started from Harvard Business School and ended at The Boston Commons. It was a great experience. For both Prasanna and I, it was a first time. We had a sticker on our jackets saying it was "1st time." There must have been around 20,00 people. Everyone looked happy.. Volunteer would applaud and cheer on every mile which was truly encouraging.The event was like 20 mile walk, however, we decided to join later on only walked for 7 miles. It was fun, marching and gulping lemonades and and to top it all off, the weather was just superb! At the end, we were all treated with an ice-cream.

Mausi, is here in Boston and we are having fun.

On the side note, I got accepted into the MBA program at Suffolk. :) It is called Global MBA with a focus in global aspects of Business. I am very excited.

Lord John Browne

Lord John Browne. I still cannot beleive the fact that I actually saw his speech. I had watched the interview of this great gentleman in the BBC, CNN, and Charlie Rose and today, I was watching him giving speech right in front my eye.

This afternoon, I decided to attend the MIT Sloan school of Management “Innovative Leader” series. The purpose of this series is to bring the most visible and successful global leaders to share their business experiences.

Lord John Browne of Madingley is the group CEO of the BP, British Petroleum. He is also a director of Intel and Goldman Sachs. He holds a degree from Cambridge, Oxford and Stanford and was voted “ Most Admired CEO” by Management Today.

The lecture was about the “ The Purpose of Business.”

What I really liked is when he said, “Business must be run at a profit, else it will die. But when anyone tries to run business solely for profit, then also the business must die for it no longer has a reason to exist.”

He also outlined the great oil-digging plan in :

-Turkey
-Azerbaijan
-Georgia

This plan had been going on for past 16 years and will so take place in the next two years. This also reminded me of the movie “ SYRIANA.”

Listening to his speech, I realized how one has to be patient in-terms of growing the business. You have to make a long term plan of not only immediate future but future of "next 10 –20" years.

Yup! Lot can happen, but we need to go one if you want to strive the best.

Business above all is about optimism. That’s the basis for investment. A belief that the future can be better than the past

I am sure he must be in his mid 70's but he still had that power and suavness is his voice that sucessfully conquered the attention of the entire audience, I being one of them.

In conclusion, despite the rainy weather, I am so glad that I went to attend this lecture series of such a great Leader!

Rwanda

I meant for this to go on the last post, but I conveniently forgot to write it. I saw the movie “ Hotel Rwanda” yesterday and was in the verge of crying. It is such a sad movie, but the reality has been depicted very thoroughly.

Since I was just in NY, protesting for "Genocide" in Darfur, watching this movie made me realize how imperative it was for the government to take action against such killings.



The movie is about the rival between the HUTU and the TUSIS group.

Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered.

The protagonist of the movie is Don Cheadle. He plays as a house manger in a Hotel in Rwanda. When he sees that the world will not intervene in the massacre of Tutsi, he summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages. With the rabid militia at the gates, he has only wits and words to keep the refugees alive another hour, another day…………

The most heartbreaking part was to see the little kids who had to be victim of the HUTUS militia. They wanted to wipe out the "second" generations Tutsis by killing the little kids. It is a must see movie to understand the world and the HUMAN RIGHTS!

Wyclef Jean sings for this movie and one of the prominent line is “ Why cannot AFRICA be united as United States and United Kingdom.”

This movie also brought down my attention to the current Maoist situation in Nepal. We might be not aware, but exactly same thing is happening in Nepal. People are being brutally murdered, Innocent people being looted, and children becoming orphans. This needs to stop. The Maoist have expressed dissatisfaction over the reinstatement of the King. Hopefully, the new parliament will help solve this on-going issue.

See this movie as a reminder not to be indifferent. “In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope, is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity, we betray our own.” - Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Wisel

Weather wise, it is beautiful in Boston = )

Amnesty International

The Semester is almost over…

Walking around campus this time of year is always a treat. There's a lot of stress, obviously, as finals come bearing down on everybody but a few annoying miscreants. But that's combined with an excitement to be done with the semester and an appreciation for the warmer weather =)

I have a big Accounting Paper waiting for me on my class tomorrow. As I have mentioned in my previous blog, I have been bit occupied with my school projects.

Here is my quick update on what has been the exciting news… These events need a special blog, but it is worth mentioning on this one as well.

I was in New York last Friday for THE AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’s Human Rights demonstration. The main issues for this year was:

· Genocide in Darfur, Sudan
· Political Repression in Ethopia
· Femicide in Guatemala
· Corporate Complicity in Internet Censorship in China.

Our venue was:

· UN building
· Sudanese Consulate
· Ethiopian Consulate
· Guatemalan Embassy
· Chinese Embassy

It would have been fun to see President Hu’s reaction but I believe he was in DC with President Bush.

What a great day it was!!!!

This was my Second Demonstration for Amnesty. The first one was at Copley with the Amnesty for “ Child Labor” in Nepal.

This is all I am going to write for now, but I will be writing my experience in detail. It was indeed a lifetime experience for me.

Good news for Nepal. The King reinstated the dissolved Parliament and the people are celebrating the victory rallies. Hopefully everything will be stable now. However, with the Maoist demanding the unconditional constituent assembly election, we actually cannot be sure of anything.

- Try finding me in the picture above =)

So long for now!

Musical Weekend

This weekend has been A “ MUSICAL FIESTA” for me. Attending from two days of Music Conference and istening from the great ustads and Pundits has been an extravagant experience.

We ended our great weekends with the concert from “Jagit Singh.”

However much I would like to go in detail, I cannot at the moment because of my assignments. I am in midst of making a “Cash flow” analysis and I need to urgently get back to my work before I get drifted into the whole addictive internet surfing world.

Today is the PATRIOTS day and the BOSTON MARATHON. I just took a quick peep outside the window... people are gathered in the road and getting ready for the PARADE :)

I will be posting the details...promise!

I would also like to update the fact that the garden of blogging will be dry for a while. Must finish a MASSIVE assignment, along with attempting to write up.So, I may have random snippets up here, or various dazed thoughts; most likely not a whole lot for the next 3 weeks-1month.Just FYI...this garden is temporarily experiencing a drought.

weekend rundown

Ah. Well, it's been quite a week. I've had lots of good snippets of conversations about deep, and not-so-deep ;) things. I'll probably leave it at that…

I will give you a run-down of a few interesting events:

Friday was bit relaxing. Since it was Friday, I really had no mood to study; however to free myself from the so–called guilt situation, I did manage to study for a good 2 hours. In the evening we made a quick drive to the "Barnes and Nobel" and enjoyed the company of white chocolate mocha along with some lonely planet books.

Saturday was an OK day weather wise. Was fairly a gloomy day. However, we made an effort to go outside and enjoyed the not- so- lovely looking day. For few hours, we hid ourselves in the secluded area of The Tang Center at MIT and enjoyed the soothing view of Charles River.

Evening was a nice one. We had a small get together are Bhawesh dai and milu’s place. The food was excellent and it was nice meeting with everyone after a long time. I also feel proud on the fact that I drove all the way to SALEM :) back and forth

Sunday, we made a so-called brief stop at the mall.

MALL--- this is my depiction

The mall. A horrific place, to be sure. Full of unimaginable terrors and blood-curling sights, things that will drive even the best mankind has to offer to insanity. I'm being generous, of course, the reality is actually much much worse. At least to my mind. See, I, being shopophobic tend to be very goal-oriented when in a shopping center. Go in, get what you need, and go out. The long line and the crowd intimidate me. Efficiency is key. Stragglers will be shot. This is no place for mercy. Once in a while is fine with me, but if this becomes a regular routine… I cannot handle it.It is a torture

For whatever reasons, shoe shopping is one of the chief horrors in my life. The smell is so horrific. Then you have to do the whole process of finding the right size. You find the right color and choice, but then there is no size. Finally, you find the right size and the colour and then, of course, there's the whole business of trying them on. Etiquette has it that you can only try one on, so you wind up walking around like an idiot with two different shoes on trying to determine how well the new one fits.

In summary, I have to say, we bravely ventured onto the pavement of that notorious pedestrian Mecca, the Crazy wrantham Mall. =)

Called home on Saturday. Situation in Nepal is getting worse everyone was saying. No one knows what will happen next. Civilians are raged against the ongoing violence, curfews and the monarchy. This time the situation looks serious. Will Nepal become a republic nation? Hopefully, something good will happen soon. It is about time, the whole chaos needs a complete FULL stop… for good!

I was reading the article titled " Hats off to the pre-democracy activists," by Krishna poudyal. Very nicely written and very encouraging one.

They have a special two hours “Apprentice” tonight and I have to miss it cause I have a group study. I guess I cannot compromise since I have the class.. if it was something else there was no way I was going to miss it. Sigh! I wish..

Katie Couric

Contrary to what many of you may expect, I was actually somewhat glad to hear that Meredith Vieira was going to be replacing Katie Couric for the NBC’s “Todays” Show.
Wow, I was quite amazed by the amount of publicity the news got.

Yeah, yeah… Katie turned down the 20 million dollar deal for the new role at CBC, which was estimated to be about 15 million. It is sad that she is leaving the show after 15 years, but hey, calm down!! We can still see her at “60 minute” and the “CBS Evening News,” What's up with all these chaos?

Anyways, Let me reflect back to this week, which astonishingly passed by quite swiftly I must say.

Weather wise.. It was quite sunny today. I went to the gym and did the usual routine.. , ran for about 2 miles, did the elliptical machine for 25 min and did some weights. Did not feel like doing the Yoga. I did quite a bit of studying.. my head still hurts! Too much staring at the computer I suppose or too many crunching of numbers.

I am just flipping through channels right now. I am waiting for Seinfield… not really sure what channel it actually comes on at.

Hmm…. Whatelse...

A lot has been done and a lot has been said in this world that amazes normal people like you and me because of the audacity of the doer or sayer to do or say things that are just contrary to common good sense and courtesy and are extreme in their philosophy and intent.

If you live under the sincere conviction that people can only hurt you when you allow them to, you will suffer far less emotional injury in your lifetime. I guess I just confused myself.. I have no idea where this topic popped out from. It popped out like the can of worms and suddenly it entered my vein forcing my hand to type it.

Well You out there.. be careful with those DOERS AND SAYERS!!

My bike needs some air in the tyre. That is on the to-do list for the weekend. I see people biking down the bike trail. I cannot wait to do it myself…

Weekend.. Nothing special is planned as of yet.. Again! It is going to be a CARPE DIEM one..=)

Crazy weather..

What did I tell you about the weather? I had said anything, I mean absolutely anything could happen in BOSTON and it did. From the utmost 70s, it dropped to the low 30s today along with a rain and we are supposed to have an inch of snow tonight.

I do not know what the weather holds tomorrow. There are days when the sun hides. It is gone for so long, you are not sure you will see it again.

Global warming everyone says!

The weather moves around the globe, but humans move around their environments too. We will ebb and wane, and flow, and regress. Some days we will be moody, and some days muddy. Some humans are sunny ten days a week, some see snow as their daily forecast. But all humans will change one day or another. It’s worth it to give a 70%-chance-of-rain person a chance where for that one-day they become temperate and beautiful. =)

It is worth it to see that your sunny friend may hit a period of intense cloud cover and moisture city. We talk about the weather changing as a matter of social discourse. We feel our own weather in ways much deeper.

What does the weather vane in your own heart sa y?

On the side note.. Weekend was nice. The weather made it even nicer.

Dining at "Dali" was fun. =)

Dream

Passing the Dream

She sat on the bench, feeding the birds.
Just throwing crumbs, not saying a word.
I sat down with my beads and braids,
Proclaiming what a mess her generation had made.
I spoke of poverty, and the war in Vietnam.
What is the use of going on?
She replied softly:
"All my life, I have worked for change.
Today, I give you my dream.
You can make a difference, with the small things you do.
The future is entirely left to you.
If things go wrong and you feel down,
Open your eyes and look around.
Don’t look for someone to blame.
Search for an inspiration, to rise again.
The changes you make may not always be seen.
But perhaps you can give a child the chance to dream.
So get to work, and maybe find
A small solution to help humankind.
All my life, I have worked for change.
Today I give you my dream."
Today I decided to take a walk.
I passed a teen loudly playing his boom box.
He turned his music down low.
And we chatted for a minute or so.
He spoke of the homeless, and the streets filled with crime.
Couldn’t my generation have found the time
To ease some of this discord
By feeding the hungry, and housing the poor?
I replied softly:
"All my life, I have worked for change.
Today, I give you my dream.
I hope you make our world a better place.
But you must work diligently; just keep pace
With the changes and dreams of the generation to come.
But with a little luck, a small battle may be won.
Someday, we will merge. And in them you will be
The older generation looking back to see
How you have answered all these questions you ask.
Fixing tomorrow is now your task.
All my life, I have worked for change.
Today, I give you my dream."
Penny Caldwell

SPRING

I did not go to the gym today. Intolerable stomach cramp. Already have had 2 Tylenols and yet the cramp has not subsided. It surly is going to be one dreary day for me.
Rather than wasting my time sleeping, I decided to get up and make a fresh round of coffee and enjoy the morning routine of reading newspapers regardless of the pain.

I slip out of my pajamas,put on my rough looking jeans and quickly put on a cap to hide my rugged look and headed outside. The puddles ahead of me loomed large and soggy. With the remnants of a bad back, I attempted to step around them with as much agility as I could muster.

Why is there a puddle when it is such a sunny day? Maybe some inconsiderate person tried to wash their car and did not even manage to clean the mess. Usually, I use my front door to check my mails, however, since I had no exercise today, I decided to use the back door and this is what I had to deal with.

The puddle with just enough depth to force me to get my slippers wet, stared at me saying, “ I dare you to walk on top of me.” Why would I want to ruin my day walking on top of you, I thought, and quickly closed the door behind and walked back to my apartment and used the front door.

I was beginning to get exhausted. Exhausted of not doing anything. My stomach pain is not getting any better.

I got an email from my brother this morning. He had sent me a picture of “Sakura.” Cherry blossom. So, I guess SPRING has arrived. Looking at those pictures, I was reminiscing back my days in Japan. We used to live in a place called “ Sakura Shimanchi,” which means town of Sakura, and during this season the streets would be filled with Sakura. Over the weekends, all the roads would be blocked and there would be concerts, games and picnics. Really nice time of the year and I would just love riding my bikes enjoying the sakuras. It seems ages now.

The picture above is nearby my parent’s house in Tokyo.Across their apartment, they have a a long canal surrounded by sakura trees which is very popular for running, jogging, taking your dog to walk..all sort of doing relaxing thing. I used to run along this canal every night in summer with cool summer breeze. Three years back I was in DC around the spring time and it felt like Japan. Sakuras everywhere.

Well, spring is officially here. At least as official as weather gets around here. Sure, we could have six inches of snow tomorrow and nobody would bat an eye, but we'll just trust that won't happen. Knowing BOSTON, anything could JUST happen.

Let us speak no more of winter. And we also get to enter daylight savings time. That's always something. Beats setting the clocks back, anyway, though then you get an extra hour of sleep. And, of course, spring also means Easter. On the way back from my gym, I always notice one store with the decoration of bunny and Easter eggs. I don't know if its just coincidence that it happens during spring, but it's fitting regardless. So the whole thing is just cool. Well, warmer than it was. You get my meaning, I trust.

On the side note, Day light saving will start from Second Sunday of March, next year. That’s not Spring, it is WINTER , Thanks to the 2005 Energy Policy Act)

That said; let me end this blog as my throbbing pain is haunting me. A round of hot milk and hot shower will do me good.

Prasanna’s friend from school, Sagar dai and his wife are here from Delaware and they will be joining us for dinner along with Motu dai and Ishwar dai.

Have a great weekend!!

Beautiful day

Another beautiful day…

It is one of those days where you want to stay in the pool and happily soak up the sun.It looked sunny but as I was slowly walking home from the gym, I was bit disappointed when some clouds threw me into shadow.

Where did the SUN go??
Opening my eyes under my sunglasses, I stared straight up into the sky where the thunderheads were rolling in, one after another like celestial anvils. Storms mesmerize me.

Here is how the scenario looked like: Picture a stormy ocean in your head, now whitewash it: turn the deep blues to a transparent azure, the whitecaps to a brilliant white against the blue and the shadows beneath the wave crests from dark to charcoal grey. That is what the sky looked like, pockets of thunderheads with menacing gray centers.

These crazy weathers!!! they are like chameleon changing their pattern whenever they want. Really hard to trust them… and now look at this… all the thunderclouds are gone and it is sunnnnnyyyy again.

Dreams

A while back I started to get this déjà vu moments that would knock me off by my feet.Suddenly I would see something and it would bring back almost total but vague recognition of something I had felt there before. It’s really hard to explain. Dreams I had, I assume, would flood my mind, having dealt with that place. I would see the things I had seen before and feel the way I felt. It was more a flood of emotion than anything else. Welling up and overtaking me.

There is a time, I think, that this all stems from. In between sleeping and waking up there is a period where I hate dreaming such dreams and hate realizing they are slipping away. It is a terrible deep down sickness that makes my eyes squint and make me roll over and stuff my face in the pillow.Arghhh! There is so much physical distance in them; yet the difference in concept is uncanny.

It is bit ironic, if you look at the Nepali calendar, where they actually have the translation of your dream. Somehow it cannot be any more obtuse. Like really, if you see a bottle of a beer in your dream.. You will have a great source of income..

So much for the dream… What else…..

I’ve been going on a journey, a wild ride, a rush of emotions like a roller coaster, and now the wind is dying down.

Keeping up with WSJ somewhat seems impossible. Everyday, the newspaper feels more and more thicker. I guess it is good that Prasanna has an immense interest in reading this. Usually, he recommends me to read the article of his interest (which usually matches my interest as well) and then only would I take the initiative of reading it. Otherwise, it is just quick skimming...

For instance, I am currently reading an article titled “ Democracy isn’t Western,’ by Amartya Sen, a world renowned economist and a Nobel Prize winner in Economics. What I strongly agree with this is on the idea that the determinism of culture is increasingly used in contempory global discussions to generate pessissimism about the feasibility of a democratic state, or of a flourishing enonomy.

I would not have known about his article had it not been for Mr. D. Sometimes, there are so many articles and I have no patience to go through each one of them. My solution is to quickly read the headlines and my the time I need the editorial section, I am already tierd. But for the articles recommended my Prasanna, which are usually interesting ones, I usually make an effort to do the detailed reading.

I have a class today.. so I gotta go and prepare.

With that, I close my labtop and give you a hearty farewell… Adieu!

rest..

Just got back from the library after finishing the 3 hours of studying. My brain needs a rest.

I am sipping my first round of coffee for the day. I do not even remember the last time I had the coffee, the home made one. It really has been ages. Suddenly, I have become the fan of the “ boost.” Let me assure you the fact that I have not regretted making this change =) this was also one of my ways of escaping the mundane routine.

I feel surprisingly very relaxed today, considering the fact that I ran for almost 30 min and Must be the yoga I suppose. Yes, I finally did the honour of going to the class. Today was my first day, and I have the urge to fly.. fly….fly very high! It was very relaxing.

The music does it all.. some sort of chant... so soothing..

Let’s quickly recapitulate my weekend shall we…

Friday- Shailendra dai and Sanjay were at our place for dinner. We had a nice jazzy and candle light dinner.

Saturday- We had initially planned to finish couple of our errands, but to our dismay, the weather did not play his part. As it was not one of the pleasant Saturdays, rather than hastily getting up, we decided to have a relaxed morning. After having a quick breakfast.. Croissants and tea, we got ready to go to the "Tax session" hosted by the Net-Nep organizations. The session indeed was very beneficial for both of us being a newly married couple and the credit definitely goes to the excellent speaker Mr. Shambu karki.

Later that evening, we went to the Surprise party hosted for Anil dai and Neevs, (the to-be bride and groom) at Motu dai’s and Ishwar dai’s residence. The party was a blast. Meeting with Sebs and the Connecticut gang was fun =) one of the main highlights of the night of course was the beautiful songs sung by the great singers.. Motu dai and Prasanna. Om bikram bista’s song is still humming in my head… The party was great. Thanks to Sebi dijju.

Sunday was bit busy day..…. Lot of studying needed to be done.. Therefore, we were in the library till 11:00 at night… yeah.. it was a long day.

Just turned on the MTV.Spring break in on. It would take an eternity to recount the 'adventures' of Spring Break. I had come to Boston for my First spring break…

Wow.. it seems ages…

The weather is absoultely gorgeous outside. Must be in upper 40's. I want to Run.. everyone in running.I can smell SPRING and just thinking about this makes me SMILE. The next to do chores in my list is to repair my bike. the tyres are all flat... I am excited to ride my bikes again!!!

I have absolutely no idea how to end this blog. Everybody knows that the ending shouldn't be abrupt. Rather than boring you by dwelling into my redundancy or writing some banal thoughts, I suppose it would be very advisable for me to put a full stop to my blog at this minute.

Sayonara.

There.. it was not that bad… =)

MIT 50 K

“ Tere lie ham hain jiye, honton ko siye” - From Veer Zara

It was my first thought, this morning aside from the alarm clock, which is less a thought than a reaction, there was a song. It happens every now and then; I will wake up with a song resounding in my head that I have not heard in a while. But this was different cause; I had recently watched this movie. A powerful soothing song about love and destiny, the lust sin, and the mutual torture, which binds us together. It stuck with me this morning, forced by every step, measured by every breath, strikingly beautiful and foreboding.

This was the music that encapsulated my day… =)

What else…
The semi final round for the 50k was on Tuesday at the Stata Center, the most funkiest buildings at the MIT. The room was clustered with hundreds of eagerly waiting participants and somewhere in that crowd nervously stood our team, BOTICA.

There were 150 participants, and among that, 40 were going to be selected, so I guess the ratio was 1:5. To our dismay, our team was not selected. Jay, the chief developer of our team had really worked hard. In hindsight, we were probably a little optimistic with the revenue streams in our business plan. Nevertheless, everyone in the team still believes that the business and technology of our venture is viable. We'll see where this venture takes us.

This has definitely been a great experience for me. I got to meet or I should say, network with some wonderful people and one of our team members got the award for having been involved in the most number of projects.

The speaker for the event was a lady called Linda Rottenberg, a Harvard and a Yale graduate and who had successfully opened her own venture called “ Endeavor.” Such a strong lady who never capitulated despite the ghastly comments she got regarding her venture ideas. One thing that really struck me was when she said, “ Do not worry if people say your idea is CRAZY, you might need to only think back, if they do not say anything about your idea.” Fair enough!!

Her story about pursuing her dream was very encouraging. The most interesting one was where she practically went to wait infront of the men's bathroom to get hold of a person she wanted to meet. WOW!! I really admire her for taking her dream this far.

The event overall was very interesting. I found the atmosphere to be very casual and cordial.I am looking forward to going to the Final event. Two years back, Vinod Khosla, the venture capitalist at Silicon Valley's Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers was the guest speaker.

Aside from this let’s see what else is happening…

I got an A in my midterm paper for Accounting and yes I am thrilled. Accounting being one of my most disliked subjects, I was really ecstatic to get this grade. The weather is REALLY gloomy today. The forecast claims the temperature to be in upper 40s; however, it seems like in lower 30s. It is quite cold.

It is Friday night today. Yeahhh.

I just got back from the GYM. I was deprived of the energy today. I do not know why. I just could not RUN. I feel drained. Therefore, inorder to recuperate myself, I am sitting with a big cup of " BOOST." =)

Looking out of the window, the weather is making me go into a long blissful sleep.

Sweet Dreams

Yup, I have realized that I have been bit behind writing the blog.

It is about 1:00 in the morning. Prasanna is doing his office work and I decided to give him a company in this wee hour and supposedly write a blog as well.

We just had a dinner. Pad thai, masaman curry and some mike’s pastries for desert.

Nothing new has happened recently..

Let me recollect back…

My Thulo daddy was here in Boston. He came from Mississippi for a meeting for two days. I had not see him for almost two years and it was a wonderful to see him. I was very very excited. I was actually in MS with them for four longg years. Even though it was a very short time, we really had a great time. He will leave back for Mississippi tomorrow.

What else… I have become a very big fan of “ BOOST.” =) Actually, I have become very addictive and drink like two cups a day.

My blog may be representative of my train of thoughts… the thoughts which is not making an absolute sense. Streamlined forward in one dimension, but very fastly moving, clunky, and awkwardly belching .

Forgive the inability to articulate; although my writing is decent..I think

I guess you can blame it for the late hours.Speaking about hours, it is almost 2 now. 2 in the morning and Prasanna is still typing furiously. What is he typing I wonder...but I dare not disturb him. My battery in the labtop is running low and I really cannot be bothered to plug in the outlet.

I guess the only solution now it to bid farewell.

Good night.. sleep tight..

Relaxation

Happiness is …relaxing in preparation of impending relaxation.

Had a wonderful weekend. Also well invigorated this morning. I went to the gym and did brisk walk for 40 min and some weights. At this time, I can barely walk. I am assuming I am out of shape AGAIN!!!!

The last two days has been gorgeous. Bit cold but Thank GOD the Sun was out. the days has been BEAUTIFUL. I love being able to go outside without bundling up.. Coats, scarfs, gloves… Not that I have anything against these clothes, mind you, but still. It's a nuisance. Depite the outlook of the day, I nontheless try to dress very warmly. I have learned the lessons on my occasions.

Friday, I was successful in making my first Lasagne. =) Both Prasanna and Sanjay are my alibis. Really, it turned out quite good for the amateur level.

We decided to relax with a movie on Friday night.

Syriana.( Parking played extra favourbaly that night)

What a beautiful movie it was. George Clooney really deserved that Oscar.
The movie has succeded in depecting the role of “ Corruption.” How sometimes, even though you know it is wrong, you do not have any choice but to keep quiet and act like nothing has happened. Yup! It is difficult to do it this way, but that is how how society is molded. While watching this movie, you come across the situation like this in numerous occasions.

This is a definetly a must see movie. You will also get the clear picture of the role of the AMERICAN governmet abroad.

Saturday was very relaxing as well. Spur of the moment, we decided to drive down to Cape Cod, Plymouth to be EXACT. And I am very proud to say that I drove for 3 hours that day. I drove and drove and drove. The place was beautiful and yes, I did see the Stone with 1620 written on it.

That night, we had dinner with Shialendra dai. Initially, we wanted to eat at “ DALI,” the Spanish restaurant but the wait was for almost two hours. As it was so ludicrously improbable to control our hunger; we decided to go to “ Atascia, ” the Portuguese restaurant in Cambridge. Even though, the wait was for about 50 min, along with the GREAT company ( Mr. D and Shailendra dai, the two most gregarious guys =)) and the great ambience, it did not matter a whole lot and the FOOD was simply DELICIOUS.

Sunday was a laid back day. We both headed to the gym and latter in the day, we manged to do little bit of studying. We wanted to go to the St Patrick’s Day parade but really could not be bothered to.

It is cold Monday today. Really windy. I can hear the wind swooshing by my ear.

I just read an article in the Time magazine about the GOOGLE founders. Those guys are impressive. The owner of the $ 100 billion empire that is dominating the internet.. The most fascinating thing is how far they have reached in order to fulfill the needs of their employers. The most surprising thing for me was having a “Salon.” isn’t it.Their stock price has already soared to $475, from $85 and expected to reach $600 at the end of the year. WOW!

Who would have known two ordinary PhD guys from Stanford, now literally conquering the Internet world.

I guess it pays off to become a risk taker.

Is the life of non-riskiness; is the life of fear, sitting at home, and being oh so comfortable really worth a penny?

It's probably worth a lot more in terms of wealth, monetary wealth.

But can it hold a candle to ecstasy ??

On the side note, I am currently flipping through the pages of WSJ (I am tying my best to become an avid reader). “ The case against Vitamins” is the title. I am one of the gobblers of the “ Centrum.” And the motive behind is in a bid to ward off ill wealth.

Let see what this article has to say. I am excited to show this to my hubby who is always tells me to take the supplements =)

So long for now.

Rejuvenating thoughts.....

I was in an alternate reality for the past few days. I was journeying, walking along a road. And here I am now; miraculously resting until the next headwind or bog picks me up. The journey was fun! ...Superb I must say

Today is the last day of my medication. I am getting better. The flue is gone.. dry cough, still exists! I really do not feel the compunction to write, but I feel like I should write something for I have been in the hibernation mode for a while. =)

The exciting news first—

Yesterday, I met with Randal, the winner of the APPRENTICE show last season. He is the Rhodes Scholar and got his education from MIT, Oxford and what not. I had the 50k meeting(Yes, I am involved at the MIT 50k competition and hopefully our idea will get selected for the semi-final round) at the Marriot hotel in Kendal square and as we were wrapping up, this huge guy with a black over coat comes down the escelator.

He looks somewhat familiar. “ Isn’t that Randal from Apprentice,” I ecstatically told Jay, my fellow colleague who also happened to be the fan of the show?

Yesss...

We hurriedly walked towards Randal, shook his hand and had a brief talk.

My first question to him was “ Why did you not let Rebecca, (his competitor) to be the Apprentii as well”? Donald Trump had actually asked him if he would let Rebecca to be an apprentice as well.

“ I was clearly the winner and I did not want to share my gold medal with anyone but myself," Fair enough, I suppose!

Upon answering the question on how it was working at the Trump tower, he gleefully replied saying, " It's been a GREAT experience." I am sure..working with the Tycoon of NY must be an experience.

As we were talking with him,couple of other guys also came and shook his hand. There were people in the hotel who had no idea who he was. It looked funny. I only wished I had the camera and I was so excited that I completely forgot to take his autograph. Oh well... next time..

Lot has happened last week...... I was sick.. ugghhhhhh....

- Despite my sickness, Prasanna and I, we managed to go see the BASKETBALL game. Celtic VS Miami Heat and saw SHAQ!! Celtic lost by 3 point.. but the game was really exciting.. The whole ambiance was very thrilling. We saw couple of players from the Patriots.

- Daddy ( my father- in –law) was here. He was in Sweden and Finland for a talk and came to visit us in Boston. We had a GREATTTT time with him. Unfortunately, the trip was just too short.

- Over the weekend went to Connecticut l to meet with one of his teachers’ family. The weather was Great, the family was very hospitable and the trip was fun. We also had a chance to get a quick tour of the YALE University which was sooo beautiful.

- On Sunday, we went to New Hampshire to visit Bhola dai at “ Café Momo.” Sunday was unpleasantly gloomy, but the overall ride was fun filled one. In the evening, after doing quick shopping at Filenes, we had a dinner at Penang =)

- Daddy, also gave a talk at Chalphal on the topic of " Constitutionalism and Democracy in Nepal ". The turnout was very good. There were total of 20 people and the talk indeed was very interesting. For people who had no idea of what was going on in Nepal, this talk was very detail and helpful.

- Along with Daddy, I also got to attend the Talk show at the Harvard JFK school given by Shobha Gautam, one of the popular women activist in Nepal and friend of daddy. The talk was on the “ Women’s perspective on the Issues of Maoist.” Who would have known, I got to meet with Shobha ji, in Boston, of all the places.

- Since Daddy, studied in MIT and JFk, he has lot of friends here in Boston. We also got chance to meet and network with his friends and professors and hear their stories.. this was a very nice experience for us..

We also managed to the movie “ Veer Zeera.” The movie is long and Ok I suppose, but the songs are beautifullllllll.

It is really suffocating in the house literally and figuratively. I guess it is the heat. It is cold outside, but with the heat it is so dry and makes me fatigued with the antibiotic. Maybe this is my cue to stop the blog.

Weekend is here.. no plans.. If you recall—I believe in Carpe Diem Style. We have borrowed the movie “AMELIE” from the library. I have already seen it. I want Mr. D to see it. This is a very good French movie If you have not seen it. The actress of this movie is going to be playing with Tom Hanks in "Da Vinci Code."

What else-- Ah! it feels good to be back!

Beauty of getting flue

Sore throat
Running nose
Teary eyes
Throbbing headache

Bad ache everywhere
Lack of energy
No appetite

Tylenol, Vicks, Soup
Feeling Drowsy
Thermometer

Cough, Cough and Cough,
High Fever
Tissue everywhere..
Lethargic

Loving husband
Special care
Lots of attention
for one second it is painful
for the rest it's unearthly
ecstatical

Drink, Drink Drink he says..
I slowly feel better..
the temperature is dropping down
I think I will be allright..