real beauty

its not often that I post somethin' from the web... but this series is fantastic! :)

bichaari bijli.... (poor Bijli)

So, a lot has happened since the last posting... I'm settling quite nicely into my new 'hood, had an uh... eve to remember celebration at a local pub, a few guests including my first hosting thru Couchsurfing. All in all, a fine month and a half.
I've become a semi-regular at Lou's Organic Coffee Bar (514 Annette), and today I parked Bijli (i.e. my 14+ yr love affair with a KHS Montana Comp named Bijli - Lightning or Light in Urdu/Hindi/Punjabi) at the bike rack outside and went in for a cold coffee. Not ten minutes go by when I hear screeching of tires and Lou's buddy saying that someones bike just got run over by a TTC bus! I turned (slow-motion, hindi movie Ishtyle of course) to see my bichaari bijli lying on the sidewalk with her front fork on the road and one brake lever snapped in two dangling like a drunk pendulum. Trying to deep breathe and not let out an Amitabh inspired "NAAAAHHHHHIIIIIII!!!!!!!" (translate: NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!) I (quickly) walked over to her and the TTC driver standing outside who informed me that he had to "call it in". One cop and a TTC supervisor showed up sans a CSI team and we spent over an hour fillin' out forms and trying to figure out what part o' the bus hit Bijli as she had red paint and rubber compound added to her newly dented handlebar. The cop told me that I should be parking my bike on the INSIDE part of the bike rack!He said nothing when I asked if it was wrong to park on the other side. Anyhoooooo...Bijli WILL be ok, inshahallah... the front wheel might need to be replaced, as will 1 brake and maybe the front fork. We've ridden in 3 countries and 2 continents and still have many miles to go.

So, lesson is: To prevent injury, always keep your bijli inside. OH HELLO! ;)

the move...

So, here I sit... appropriately at the "Kids' Space" computer (mentally refusing to grow up!) at the local library in "The Junction" . After living in the countryside of Loretto being around more people than deer & cows is gonna take some gettin' used to! But so far so good (its been 4 hours!) :) Its the first time I've moved (alone) and not been in a different country at the minimum! :) And YES, I've been living in Canada for the last three years and have ONLY traveled without the intention of moving there (wherever that was!) :)
For those of you in the area and those wanting to visit... my couch should be arriving within two hours so am ready for ya! :) And I gotta run and start exploring my new 'hood so that I can show you around where you're here! :)

time...

Its been a month since I’ve been back and am realising that this time period has been affected by the same space and time phenomenon as my socks that go missing when placed in the washer or dryer.

The one thing I kept forgetting to post about and one of the few things I thought was important to share is the importance of visiting India or Pakistan soon, if your family was on the other side of the border prior to the Partition of India. Having visited the villages of my grandparents in Pakistan and meeting people who tearfully and lovingly remembered the days before the countries were split along religious lines, I had a stronger feeling of being Punjabi first and Indian a relatively distant second.
Even though there had been a lot, and I mean A LOT, of bloodshed as the religions crossed borders (read Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan), there was and is an underlying respect for the different faiths which had lived centuries together in the Greater Punjab. I know some of you will disagree but my experiences in Bhaun and Murid tell me otherwise. One of the most interesting examples was this doorway to a house in Murid. In Punjabi (Gurmukhi script), it says: Ik Onkaar Satnam - a section of a Sikh prayer.

It may not look significant till one realizes that a displaced Muslim family came from India and was "allotted" this house (as were Sikhs and Hindus in India) and took the trouble to wipe out the name of the previous Sikh owners (look carefully in the red circle under the Ik Onkar, if you can read Urdu) but did not wipe out the Ik Onkar Satnam. And till 2007, has not wiped out the Ik Onkar Satnam, which translates to "There is one God.Thy name is Truth"

Ok, I digress from the original reason for this posting... a reminder that time is running out. Simple math shows that a person born at the time of Partition is now 60 yrs old (2007-1947). And s/he is now at least 75 yrs old if s/he was old enough to have significant memories of the villages/towns you want to visit and possibly find your ancestoral house(s). This is the last generation that will remember life in the Greater Punjab.

my roots...

So, in my post "Crazy days" I talked briefly about my trip to my ancestral villages near Chakwal. I didn't really touch on how emotional that trip was and still cannot find words to express the hospitality and outpouring of love in both Bhaun and Murid.

Going to my paternal grandfather's house carried a lot of emotion for me as no one since atleast the 1940's had been back to his village and house. After many hot hours on the road to get there, we worked our way through many of the raw, still unpaved roads of Murid... following the directions my grandfather had given one of the locals who had been instructed by the "Pir" (also in the Crazy Days posting) to help us find our ancestral home. I was VERY excited as I had had no luck finding my mother's family home in Bhaun nor my great-grandfather's store in Rawalpindi.
Imagine my excitement when we came across the house with the balcony "Crazy days" where I imagined my grandfather with his father and his grandfather looking at a sunset or more likely a buffalo tied not far from where I stood.It was not far from this spot that I took some dirt to pass on to my family members of my generation to keep for the future generations.

I got back to Delhi and developed the photos and had the negatives scanned onto a CD and made a full presentation to my grandparents. I was excited to show my grandfather his old house and curious to see his reaction.As the numerous images of the balcony, the old wooden doors, white washed, simple yet elegantly carved entrance, the crumbling walls and dusty roads leading to and fro the house passed in front of his thoughtful gaze, he got ready to say something seemingly deep and profound to me and then he paused, then got up for a bathroom break and as he came out of the loo, he uttered the following (translated and paraphrased): It was the house BEHIND this house, you simpleton!

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You are dependable, popular, and observant. Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness. In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive. You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while. And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!

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Slightly exotic and perfectly gorgeous

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You Are Barney

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Celebritease 'n me... what do you think? hot huh? OH HELLO!

Inglaand to Toraanto

well, its almost been four months since I left Canada and if all goes well, should be back in town tonight.Lookin' forward to the comfort of my own bed but will miss the many loved ones from the trip...

quake...

I realised that I never really did write much about my earthquake experience... Here's the link for the actual quake info . It was a 6.2 on the Richter scale. What I've also learnt from a friend of mine is that the scale is exponential (i.e. 7.0 is TEN TIMES stronger than 6.0)... and thats why the 7.6 Richter scale earthquake in 2005 in Pakistan was so deadly.

I was sleeping in the 4th floor apartment of a friend's house iin Islamabad when I thought I was dreaming that the bed was banging against the wall... turns out it was the wall that was banging against the bed! It felt as if I was in a dream as my legs shifted under me as I attempted to walk. The feeling on not standing on a surface that we take for granted to be "solid" is a feeling I cannot forget nor can I fully imagine what it must've been like when the 7.6 earthquake hit.

Family portrait

With all the talk of Gol Guppay on Facebook... here's an '80's family portrait I found in my grandma's house, when I most closely resembled a Gol Guppa (although this past trip to India is definitely giving my younger "healthier & big boned" days some competition!).

from 40 to 14 degrees...

before I forget: My UK mobi no. is +44-7952239218.
The Jet Airways flight into London was great as they have personal inflight entertainment (don't think dirty, think tv screen behind the seat in front of you and with ability to pause, rewind etc over a 100 viewing options including bollywood flicks). The slit-yer wrist downer was Babel and worth watching are Volver by Almodóvar and Happy Feet except the Disney-esque ending as the humans actually learn!

Its tough getting used to the lack of horns and day 'n night ambient noises. I can't decide if I'm missing them or if I'm relieved. Probably a lil' bit o' both.

So, I'm now adding the last batch of photos from Pakistan of which, this is one o' my fav's from Anarkali Market in Lahore. There are also two photos added to the end of the India Album

attack o' the Delhi belly...

be warned... THE FOLLOWING will CHURN your stomach.. stop reading if you have a) a weak stomach b) a sense of class and/or decency or c) something better to do!

This is one of the classic Indian experiences but not often discussed

(in mah overrated opinion, of course) I'm talking about Delhi Belly aka Montezuma's revenge

You still have time to skip this entry and look at the purty fotos under newest photos on the right side of this page.

Tracing the source of Delhi belly can go as far back at 48 hours... which in my world can be as many as 14 meals and snacks. Needless to say, I didn't figure it out! BUT the attack came on the Shatabdi train from Delhi to Dehra-Dun.The options... "western toilet" or "indian toilet". As there are only one of each per 70 or so passengers, I decided on the classic Indian toilet for sanitary reasons and, as a friend puts it, for shits and giggles. IF you clicked on the link for "indian toilet" then you have read the benefits of it.What I wanted to add (while burning wedding photos for relatives here) is the added drama of the squat toilet on an indian train.Unlike the european trains, desi trains have more horizontal movement and add an element of acrobatic balance while aiming for "the hole".The "modern" trains have graciously added a handle to hold on for dear life as the leaky wash-yer-bum tap (b.y.o.toilet paper) causes the entire steel loo floor to have as much grip as chopstix on gooey jello.THE reason to choose the squat toilet is to see how fast the train is moving... as you can see the ground through the hole. How's that for motivation?

feelin' hot hot hot

It was 42 degrees in Delhi yesterday with the forecast of 42 degrees and no clouds! So, compared to that, Dehra-Dun is a balmy 36 degrees upon arrival here today! :) The heat definitely has changed the rate at which this country operates... and understandably so!I should be back to steamy Delhi by Thursday, in time for my dentist's appointment... YAY! :) Ok.. delirium kickin' in.. so time to sign off.. with well wishes and cooler weather for all of ya'll. :) You can always bundle up in colder weather but only so much you can take off without causing permanent damage to all forms of life... in heat. ;)

And she grabbed my......

This was my closest interaction with the beautiful women of Pakistan in Pakistan... curious?Read on! So, Basit and one of his buddies took me out to Gelato Affair for coffee on one of my first nights in Islamabad. The evening was filled with tons of sugary coffees and ice cream... it was a moment to be captured in film.As most of you know, my digi has been unwillingly donated to a burglar in London, so it was back to the old film camera, a fact that I didn't realize had consequences for the latter part of the evening! Basit, being a growing celebrity, had some of the waiters talking to him and apparently he said that its quite common for people to just come up and speak to him or ask him for autographs etc.We got one of the waiters to take our photo with the gelato bar in the background (ALL the tables were behind the camera).A number of seconds after the photo was taken, a decently attractive woman in a hijab came up asking for my camera. I figured she wanted a photo with Basit but as she grabbed my camera, I realised she wanted my camera and kept looking for the LCD screen to see if we had taken her photo!Apparently, that was quite a huge deal to her and was ready to expose my film to keep a photo of hers from getting out.

As Basit, his friend, this lady, now her husband who's returned from making a phone call, his sister all got into an argument my thoughts turned to what it would be like in a Pakistani jail and how thats the ONE place I really didn't wanna visit for mistankenly taking a photo of this woman!All this, besides the fact that it was virtually impossible for us to take her photo without a SUPERwide lens as she sat at the back far corner of the Cafe. After what felt like an eternity with all of us up on our feet, arguing about what to do with the film and the camera, as I hung on to the camera strap while she tried fiddling with the camera, we had a rescuer.
He came to our rescue after the waiters, owner and tables from where we took the photo failed to calm her down.He was sitting with four or five other women, all of whom nodded their heads in agreement as he told this lady's husband that it would have been impossible for us to take HER photo without HIS ladies being photographed as her table was behind his (relative to ours) and he confirmed that we hadn't photographed them.So here's our photo!
Do you follow what I'm sayin' 'cuz I think I just confused myself. In the end, they left in a huff as I quickly put my camera away and we thanked the entire cafe for coming to our rescue.I've been a lot more conscious about taking photos since then!It was definitely eye opening in terms of how different man-woman relationships are in public in Pakistan.This includes the exclusion of women entirely at the local dhabas . They either have the food delivered or huddle in cars and eat.

Back in देल्ही॥ Delhi। देसी फॉण्ट मैं लिख रहा हूँ

this is crazy... so, I managed to figure out that I can type in hindi in the title but not sure whats happening with this text! Hope ya'll can read this in Inglis! :)
So, crossing the border was almost uneventful except for the fact that there is no standard 15 day grace period for Canadians or Americans, as claimed at the Ministry of Interior Wagha Border office! So, essentially I was at the mercy of the five Pakistani Immigration officers, who after a detailed explanation let me go back to India as long as I 1. don't take this higher as they let me go on "humanitarian" grounds (i.e. no need to find my way back to Lahore and sit in an office for another 15 days waiting for an extension) and 2. don't give or accept any offers to bribe someone to cross. Quite the heartstopping event, if any of you have dealt with the desi borders! Followed by paying a guy Indian Rupees 75 (CDN $2) to get me a seat on the train from Amritsar to Delhi. Followed by funnily enough... Pakistani styled kababs near the Red Fort.
My phone number again is 91-997-131-3281

Lahore and Photos

So, I've arrived in Lahore and thanks to Jamil Uncle that I've managed to upload all my photos to date (plus serious editing to keep ya'll from fallin' asleep, especially of the "scenic" shots of my ancestoral family villages).
The main updated albums are the Delhi album, now called INDIA and the new PAKISTAN album.

To keep ya'll awake... here's a photo from Holi. Hope you like the photos. If the top links dont work, then click on the "newest photos" link just to the right of this post and its ALBUM 20 and 22.

crazy days...

So, its been a few crazy days... that seems to be the
theme of this trip. Yesterday and today have been
quite uneventful... in bed with fever and chills, and
one short non-productive trip to the Ministry of
Interior to check the status of my visa extension. Of
course, it would be too much if the concerned folks
were actually there or someone who also had the
authority to tell me whats happenin'!

Anyways, before this, I got to go and see Nankana
Sahib Gurudwara, which seemed pretty bare but packs up
around Baisakhi time. Apparently it goes from the
three or four turbans I saw to so many that from an
aerial shot you cannot tell where the marble floor is!
A chance meeting of the Delhi Rotary Club delegation
and their (appropriately named )host, Dilshaad Shah,
led to an adventure with Dilshaad the following day to
two of my ancestral villages.
I'm not sure how far back one has to go for a village to be ancestral but I
figure the house where at-least my great-great-grandfather grew up qualifies in these times. Our trip to Bhaun and Murid were filled with love-filled embraces from people who remembered not necessarily my grandparents but Sikhs like them and missed their company post-partition. I cannot help but think of the millions that perished not only in the Indo-Pak partition violence but in the cross border journey. It was a weird, not necessarily disturbing sensation watching Hindu Mandirs and Sikh Gurudwaras now converted to houses.

Many things happened during Partition and although those wounds may have never completely healed, I felt nothing but love for having visited. It was incredible how many people went out of their way and showed us around.

Chachaji Fateh Khan, a
burly dark stocky many with a massive turban which
looks like its constantly fighting a battle with
gravity and winning, took more than 6 hours just to
show us around from village to village AND tea at the
local truck stop. And this just after asking him for
directions! Thanks to Dilshaad Hussain Shah and also
to Munna Bhai (not from the movie) who took me for the
coolest tour of Purana Qilla in Rawalpindi on a
needle-haystack search of my great-grandfather's IRAN
HOUSE store!

So, now the plan is to go to Lahore tomorrow and move
onto India a few days later. Inshahallah!

lack of visa's and quakes

I've been having issues checking my own blog... so
hopefully this works... Here's a lil' bit of an
update... at this point, looks like being born in
Bombay is causing a bigger deal than we all thought!
So, I'm being "checked out" by the Pak equivalent of
the FBI & CIA and wait for their answers regarding if
I'm a "threat" in the northern areas and will have to
wait anywhere from a week to 3 months for an answer.
In the meantime, my 15 day visa expired on Sunday and
am on their "Grace period", which is only good for
non-Indian applicants! Thanks! :P But ironically, the
reason they're checking me out in the first place...
is my Indian birth. Somebody should tell General
Musharraf and Manmohan Singh about that! Manmohan
Singh (prime minister of India) was born in what is
now Punjab IN PAKISTAN, and Musharraf was born in
INDIA!!!
Ok.. now that thats off my chest...
I felt my first earthquake yesterday while sleeping on
the 4th floor (generally, the higher up the more you
feel it). I'll write more about how that felt... but
certainly is scary when the realisation that even
ground ain't solid hits. Fragility is such an
important part of the human condition and yet why do
we so often feel falsely invincible?



Did I mention how much of this particular weed I saw growing just outside the US Embassy in Islamabad? :) LOL... you gotta see it to believe it!

still waitin'...

so.. here I am... still waitin'... a lil' fatter and a lot of new experiences... and of course La Ley de Murphy (Murphy's Law) is in full effect here!

1. I can't post directly to my blog with photos as this cafe doesnt have Firefox (MUCH better than explorer)...

2. Being born in Bombay is apparently a crime that involves SERIOUS looking into... very annoying and ironic considering the person giving me the initial permission to volunteer in Pakistan is a Pakistani Army Lt. General! So a country that is essentially under Military rule cant get me to a military zone because a beaurocrat needs to "look into my background because of my place of birth". Ironic point #2: My ancestors are from what is now the Pakistani side of Punjab, not more than 100 kms from where I sit now!

3.Its been the best waiting time ever I could have hoped for... more on that later... but it involves sticking my hand in "Saheli's" mouth, an 18 year old beauty of an elephant belonging to the family of a new friend, Kash to hangin in the sound studio for a live recording at Pakistan Television, supervising the mixing for another new friend and fantastic Sufi musician (think Amitabh's deep voice in his younger days except with classical raga talent!)... Arieb Azhar to hangin' in Lahore and getting massaged by burly men at 3 am while eating great Karahi chicken on the street in Laxmi Chowk to seeing two of my fav living qwalli groups (Sher Ali Mehr Ali and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan) in the Lahore stadium to hangin' with the Aussies at the Aussie Club to driving the Islamabad roads and driving on the wrong side and no one really honking as folks do that here! :)

But more on that later... time to get down to what I came here to do... build strawbale houses... inshahallah (and more on that word also... it certainly doesn't mean "God Willing" here!!!)

still here...

am in Islamabad... cant write long... but still waitin'... :( Wish me luck!!! :) Luckily, I've met some really cool folks and so am enjoying Islamabad. :)
p.s to Anonymous comment... Did you remember to say Hi to Sarah from me??? I STILL dont know who you are... so I'll tell Sarah that Anonymous from Strawbale Conference has said hi... twice!

waitin'.. and waitin'...

• Before I post... please write your name in the Leave Your Comment section. I have no idea who I should say hi to Sarah from (straw bale conference person, for sure... but out of 110 delegates... who are ya? ) -from the post below
• I'm still waiting on my visa application! And tomorrow is Pakistan Day, hence a holiday and some type of arms parade... The run around has been crazy! The rest of the straw bale teaching gang is already up in Abbottabad working on work strategies and talking to different NGO's and planning the work that is to be done. The fact that I was born in Bombay is really slowing things down!And as I was told, its also done partially due to the fact that the Indians bug the Pakistanis when they apply!Holding a Canadian passport is almost irrelevant!Funny how a person's birthplace can change treatment and perception, on a macro level. I spent a month as a child in Bombay and that is how the way I'm treated is determined.And I'm still one of the lucky ones, BY FAR!
• All said, I've had MUCH better treatment by the local Pakistanis than even the highly annoying Canadian Embassy!!! Two trips to the CDN embassy, soaking wet, waiting patiently to register myself in the country (for safety reasons) just to be told that they can't help me with registration, as now its only web based (and for a god-forsaken reason, the people at the front did not know that!) and can't help me dry my soaked jacket... for security reasons, and thats AFTER going through a thorough check while coming in!!!! Thanks! Oh... there's a Canadabad Cafe, for Canadians... wait... only for diplomatic Canadians... something they only tell you at the gate!Luckily, the local security guard at this Canadabad Cafe, seeing my sorry wet butt, gave me HIS umbrella for me to go to the Canadian Embassy! :)

In Islamabad and phone numbah

So, I'm sitting in ATV HQ's in Islamabad... having arrived here yesterday and staying at a new friend TS's pad in what's probably the safest place in Islamabad, the embassy enclave. Met up with the crew and went for a proposal meeting with a Lt. General and his entourage to discuss strawbale in the earthquake effected zone. Had a number of meeting in a number of offices to get my visa extended and need to do the same tomorrow. The rest of the crew is on their way to Abbottabad, where coincidently my grandfather grew up! So, the surreal time continues. The dhaba food here is awesome and the people are unbelievably hospitable! So, its time to go and enjoy their hospitabilty (sp?) and their dhaba food again!
Oh, my number here is 011- 92 (country code) - 3212991610. If you're bored or can't sleep... gimme a shout (incoming is free.. yeah... cheeky... innit!!!) :P

going from Punjab to Punjab

So, its 1251 am... many hours since a decent sleep... the 1910-945 overnight train journey from Dehra-Dun to Amritsar was apparently there in great time... ONLY an hour + late! Having forgotten its Sunday and that everyone and their mother-in-law were heading to the Golden Temple and that it would take me more than three hours just to get inside the main hall... compounded by the massive lack-of-chai-since-yesterday headache... I headed straight for the langar hall and chowed down... followed by quick, cold refreshing dip in the main sarovar. A lil' bit o' haggling later and I was off for my first Indo-Pak border crossing... and cool it was. First was the lecture that I couldn't take any Indian rupees across... which caused me to change SOME of my Indian rupees to Pakistani ones, at what I found out was a worse rate than the one offered across the border! Luckily, I know better than to trust the local Indian vendors (this'll sound quite harsh unless you've traveled here!). Immigration and customs on the Indian side introduced me to a Japanese fellow from Osaka who, on a Canadian Louis Garneau mountain bike, was cycling from Shanghai to atleast Iran. :) Who knows... I might join 'im! :) Anyhoo... the Pak side immigration was chilled out as Immigration was done on my behalf, while I sat on a manjaa and my passport and form went inside. Best was when I went for customs (i.e. baggage check) while my bags sat near the manjaa next to the really sweet guy who helped me with Immigration! All done, I went for a cup o' chai at the restaurant before crossing the checkpoint and the same sweet guy found my family friend uncle (who I hadn't met earlier and on whose laptop this is being typed on!). I guess I'm rambling on... but I gotta mention the Wagah border crossing closing ceremony. Totally cool... I'd say atleast 3000 ppl on the Pak side and 5000 on the Indian side... screaming, shouting while watching the border patrol guards trying to "intimidate" each other while closing. Never been to a more fun border than this... show and all!I think the link above even has a video... and the night ended at Lahore's famous FoodStreet for Lahori fish! Its 127am now and haven't slept for way too long... before I become incoherent, which I fear it might already be too late... so, like all the courteous ppl I've met sofar in Pakistan sofar, I'll apologize in advance! :)

updated: hail storm in DehraDun!!!

changes are definitely abound... I have never seen such a hail storm... golf sized hail... unbelievable!!!! am sending this before the comps crash!!!
------
update:

• firstly... Anonymous comments... please give me your name too! I don't know who is "looking at Ldn and Spain in Early - Mid May!!"
  



• As for my plans... here they are (but fully aware of what "God" does when told of someone's lifeplans.... she/he laughs!): Depart from DehraDun 17th by overnight train to Amritsar. Leave the same day or next via Wagha border crossing to Lahore or Islamabad (depending on bus/train schedule which I'll find out upon arrival to Wagah border). Get visa extension process started in Islamabad by the 19th/20th March and start strawbale work with PAKSBAB in Abbottabad soon after. Work/teach/learn for a month and return to India via same route and fly from Delhi April 18-20ish. Stop in London for family visit and be back in Canada for May :) Inshahallah (as we say in Farsi & Urdu).



• As for the hailstorm, it was something never witnessed in the Doon Valley before. I exaggerated a little when I said the size of golf balls... I'd say about the size of Mike Tyson's knuckles and with about the same ferocity, as far as flora is concerned. As I'm back to my non-digital camera, ya'll will have to wait for photos!We also ended up rescuing two parrots who were literally beaten down from the sky by the intense hail. Entire wheat crops, lichee and mango seasons have been demolished in twenty minutes yesterday. The saddest look was on the face of the man who tends and sells the estate's mango's and lichee's, who at 10 am came and was happily proclaiming that this year will be a bumper crop of our homegrown mangoes and lichees. At about 4pm.... we'd be lucky if there are even 1/20th of the mangoes & lichees available!Here he is standing next to what used to be a Papaya tree!!! Not a single leaf left!!!

Well, its past dinner time here with my grandma (i.e. 1830!!!!) Quite the contrast to the wedding and Delhi timings! Dinner by 1830 and in bed by 2100 (but not sleeping and having snuck in a sandwich... till midnight... with my hotwater bottle, cheesey single station FM radio and those bloomin' honking cars breaking the gorgeous silence)

Wedding Photos

its been too crazy busy and then too tired to write.. so I'm hoping these photos will say more than a few words... These aren't all by any stretch and even the selection was bordering on random due to tiredness and such... but I know a number of ya'll have been waitin' for 'em.. so here they are! :) I hope you like 'em.. grab a mug o' coffee or more before starting... even in slideshow mode.. there are over 200 between the two albums...
Devigarh Fort Palace scenery shots
Sanj and Suz's wedding photos
Enjoy! :) and buenos noches... even though its only 1730

all coloured up...

Holi was today... crazy Delhi-style Holi... although less intense than two years ago!
Will write more as the "tiredness" wears off... ;)

back... but not done yet... :)

so, just flew back from Devigarh Fort Palace yesterday afternoon after a truely exhausting, fantastic, over-indulgent (food et all) wedding! :) I got TONS o' fotos... so I gotta put 'em together, sort 'em and then post 'em. In the meantime, watch Eklavya-The Royal Guard, with Amitabh Bachchan and let me know how it is. I still have to see it and figure out what happened where in the Palace. Needless to say, sitting for 3+ hrs isn't gonna help the seemingly never ending expansion of the place where my waist used to be! :)
Talking of which, its time to go for a "family" dinner prior to the Delhi Wedding Reception tomorrow (as there was a reception in Devigarh as well).
Working in Pakistan is going to be quite the contrast to this opulent life.
It was with a sense of gratitude, pity, wonder and shock seeing the mud huts with the recently milked buffalos and crying babies just outside the fort walls. How many centuries has it been like that? It was no different than when the artisans were building those beautiful churches in Europe while living in mud huts. Poor but talented building for those with the means... many of whom who just by chance (or not?) born into it.

wedding frenzy...

so, the wedding parties have started... last one at yesterday, at Sanj's cousin's place, with the traditional (and oh so awesome) Dholis, whole loads o' food (solid & liquid) and dancing till way past 5am!
And the day before... something that anyone visiting Delhi should not skip... Chandni Chowk and Paranthe vali galee (Road of Parathas)... where we had more parathss than I can count... and ALL were deep fried! Now THATS the way to have a paratha! The one's I remember (all stuffed much like us after): tomato paratha, paneer (cheese), aloo (potato), besan methi (in english?), dal (lentil) and the best... was last... a sweet paratha stuffed with malai (which turned to a cream cheese like texture post-frying), raisins, chopped cachews and sugar... all deep fried!MMMMMMM... kicks a Tim's donuts butt anyday! :)
Damn, all this talk of food is making me hungry... and I won't even get into the nuances of eating Gol Guppay at the M-Block Market, GK 1.
oh hello!

changes abound...

So, the emotional roller coaster continues... that is something that I can't and don't want to avoid... but I wanna focus a lil' on a happier note in this post...
The first sacrifice of the wedding has been made! One of my fav. pants (trousers for you Brits!) has bit it... rather, I should say that cotton doesn't stretch the way it should to accomodate Indian Wedding food! No, it didn't rip down the middle but rather more slowly and of course, at a pre-wedding party/function, the secondary button that holds the remnants of my waist in place snapped off! And just one trip to the loo later took care of the other one! So, here I sit, insistant on wearing my fav. pants, held up by a leather belt that is also now one hole closer to not holding me up any more! Damn you butter chicken!
Oh, also, I've updated the #19 - London photos and a new album, # 20 - Delhi.
Enjoy! :)
buenos noches all!
Wish me luck! And yes, I'll be switching to the one-size-fits-almost-all Kurta Pyjamas soon! :)

the lost poem...

Many of you know that I lost most of my posts from 2001/2002 travels when the blog company I was with "changed business focus" and deleted every blog! That'll teach me to back up! Anyways, thanks to M.P. and a chance inquiry, I got emailed a copy of that poem a few days ago. :) It feels somewhat appropriate to post it again. It was something I had written after witnessing a person die, 6 painful hours after we found him on the road in Bombay and stayed with him at a local hospital while feverently trying to contact someone... any one in his family.

I saw a man die today.
I saw a man suffer today.
I saw the fragility of life today.
I saw a lack of respect for life today.
I saw seeming strangers caring for life today.
I saw the transience of life today.
I felt a renewed respect for life today.
I know now that there is no tomorrow... only today.

sad news...

I know I haven't posted any updates in a while... things have been crazy... I'm not sure if I can even write much about Kuldip Uncle's passing away yesterday. It feels so surreal as not even a week ago we were sitting in London, at an Iranian restaurant, joking and him making plans for a visit to Canada in August. A minor TN surgery a few days after I left his house was something we talked about in passing but could never imagine that he would not make it out of the hospital.
He was my Dad's business partner in Iran and our families have been very close for a very long time. I still remember his hard headedness and jovial nature especially when I think about his insistance that the Qutub Minar is taller than the CN Tower in a long and drawn out discussion at his house in Tehran many moons ago.
I'm not even sure why I'm writing this... maybe because if I write it, it might seem more real.
Kulid Uncle... your physical presence will be missed dearly. I know you and Dad are still with us and possibly having an other worldly banter about the Qutub and CN Tower.
love always
J

Delhi Mobile number

here it is... 011-91-997-1313-281
okji... time to go eat again! Thank god for the stomach expansion room in kurta pyjamas! :)
oh hello!

squared

so, as the wedding preps continue, I'm hoppin' around town with my Aunt trying to help...
We ended up at Square One today... and funnily enough I'd say its quite the opposite of Square One in Mississauga .Like the Mississauga Square One, this one is also mostly filled with Indians... and unlike it, there's no dollar store, walmart, McDeath or things of that "class". The Delhi Square One is an elite mall filled with Designer boutiques from 'round the globe.The immense growth and wealth (albeit not spread equally) of this country was exemplified when I was here last as I overheard a shop keeper say under his breath to show my cuz (an NRI-Non-Resident-Indian) last season's clothes as they can't afford this seasons! Today an NRI is also jokingly called a Non-Required-Indian... quite the contrast of a few years earlier...
Anyways, I can smell the great food cookin' away (not so far from me)... so I gotta go... :)
happy shopping... in either of the square one's (or even better... support a charity and go to Value Village!) :)
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Actually, I stand corrected... pls. see the attached comment :) So... go to GOODWILL instead! :)

Velkumm to IndeeAAAA!!!!

so... am in India... a land where if your car brakes fail you can still survive but if your horn fails you'll bite it for sure! The flight was good... gotta hit the sack... yaaaawwwwnnnnn.... Don't have a mobi (or handy- in Germany) as yet but will post it as soon as I get it! :)

London to Delhi today... hopefully!

So, I begin with looking outside at a gloomy, cloud-filled London sky and like the weather I want to rant a lil'. So, am still credit card less... even though AmEx and Scotia promised them to be here by last thursday. Its now Monday and funnily enough, the emergency card issuing office for both cards operate from 9am-5pm Eastern Standard Time- if you DO have an emergency and are in a different country, then you can call and complain but you can't speak to the emergency department. So, the Customer Service folks tell you to call back to complain again at a more convenient time (e.g. at 2 am London time!).Grrrr. You'd also figure if they are sending these "sensitive documents" with UPS or FedEx, which they both confirmed that they do, they'd have a tracking number to find out where are the cards.By my now-heavily-British-influenced-thus-oozing-with-sarcasm blog posting, I guess you can tell if I have the tracking numbers :)

Anyhoo... on a brighter note (and I thought I almost saw the sun come out but alas, it was a passing headlight!) I thought I'd write a lil' about words that make u think (if you're not from London or Germany) - Bad Essen (a spa town - NOT bad eating), Butt Strasse (BUTT road - damn, I wish I had my digi handy), Handy (a mobile phone... why "handy" 'cuz you use in in your hand, innit!), Pants (undies... not those long things that go ontop of your underwear), takin' the piss (bugging someone as opposed to emptying your bladder), Cockfosters (last station on a tube line and NOT a dirty adoption program) and last but not least... if you pronounce this drink very quickly... it sounds like... Faa-khing-er. :) I promise to write cleaner when I get to India. :)

trouble in the kitchen in Hitchin

so... here's the update that some of you heard about today (the abridged version): Around 4am this morning, at 'M'&''S's house, while we were sleeping, burglars somehow entered the house through the backdoor and stole a number of things including 'M's wallet, laptop, watch and my jacket (which had my wallet and, stolen for a second time, my digi camera!).
The good news is that we are all safe and that they probably got scared off when lil''K' (now a healthy and super cute 5 months old) needed a feed around 4 am and 'S' was walking around upstairs.
The bad news (besides the immediate loss of cash and valuables) is the feeling of invasion in a supposed 'safe' place that lingers. And it is heightened by having a young child at home. I have to say that 'M' & 'S' handled it very well and we tried to make the best of a long day waiting to talk to the police (who came home) and a C.S.I. styled investigator who came to take the shoe prints left behind! Me, ever being the tourist (and to lighten the mood a lil') got photos of 'em! :) It certainly is a crappy feeling to be robbed in your own house esp. while you're upstairs sleeping. Now every noise for the next while will provoke thoughts of danger and alarm.
I am now on my old trusty film-backup camera so photo updates will be a while... but I think there are enough to keep ya'll happy for a bit... luckily I posted all the photos the day I landed in Hitchen.We're also lucky that there was no physical harm to any of us and mostly we have is the hassle of dealing with the beaurocratic process of getting things replaced.
Am now in Uxbridge and totally stuffed (once again!!!) so will sign off... as always... Mr. Lucky (even if 'M', jokingly, says otherwise!) :)

in the kitchen in Hitchin (England)...

so, like the title says... I'm at a friend's place in Hitchin and thank God that my hour flight was just that! As I type, I'm uploading more photos to the German album. Included are the photos of "the wait"... and sorry boyz, the two beautiful blondes are spoken for! :P
So, now its time for some Inglish Curry.. innit? post more when I get some time :)

Longest shorthaul flight EVER

ok... will write more about this as soon as I get a chance to calm down and then coherently vent... but have FINALLY made it to northern Germany (countryside) but got a short story about an hour long flight that ended up taking about 20 hours!!! Itsa crazy adventure filled story involving hot (yet oh so German) tempers, Motha Nature (in her full glory), Jalapeno Chocolates, beautiful blondes (beer and others!), slick runways, fight sequences (snowball ones as boarding the plane), Red Cross intervention, plane changes, missing (possibly exploded luggage)and more!
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all said and done... I am fine and getting fatter as am full of homemade Linzensuppe (german Lentil soup) :)

german mobi numbah 49-175-658-0034

So, the update is that I personally would NOT recommend T-mobile to anyone comin here!I havent checked if the others do the same in Germany but it costs ya to call their customer service!So, if you have a problem with their service, you have to call them and pay, by the minute, to speak to an automated service to solve your problem!Needless to say I needed help in doing the hardest of tasks... changing the number of rings before kicking into voicemail from 5 seconds to 30 seconds!Thanks to the ladies of The Phone House! :)
Ok... so now that the rant is done, the unusually warm weather here ends tomorrow morn and hopefully the snow wont cause a delay for me to get to Osnabruck/Munster!


This first foto is something you have to click on... and then try and pronounce!!!It essentially an egg cracker... or (say it fast in German 5 times!!!)EIERSCHALENSOLIBRUCHSTELLENVERURSACHER !!! Really!



For all ya'll Torontonians... here is the first... the Original TV tower. :)



For more photos, including those of the first smiling Gargoyle I've ever seen (Some of you know the fascination I have with these protruding architectural art thangs!), click here
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got it today... ´tis 011 (or 00)49-175-658-0034 :) lets see how T-mobile is in deutschland.

first foto batch up....

first batch o´photos is ready... albums 16 and 17. Look under LINKS on right side of this blog... there´s a link for NEWEST photos :) its da last two albums.
Enjoy!
jup
good nite all!!

Zurich... clean... cool... cash....

the subject is my description of Zurich. Now that that is outta the way... I've been mulling over life and timing... (and my traveling nick 'Mr.Lucky', which still holds true as described below... should I feel egotistically inclined to state so,which I do!)
ETA bombing at Madrid Airport a few days before arriving there
Catching and landing in Germany literally hours before the start of the BIG storm
Getting off the autobahn as news of the winds causing a truck on our section of the autobahn acting like a sail and toppling over causing serious issues!
Couple of hours here or there and things would/could be very different.I guess I'm stating the obvious and have no answers for the 27 people who didnt make it through yesterday's storm.Maybe its something I'm pondering as I'm not in the percieved safety of my home or once again witnessing and realizing the frailty of our 'normal' routine-oriented life.
I am passing my (wishing for) siesta time in a local Technology Institute called ETH and not paying the insane amount of approx CAD10/hour at an internet cafe thanks to some nice students of the Institute whom I was asking directions & travel advice for spending my afternoon whilst waitin' for 'P's girlfriend, 'B' who is working in downtown Zurich.
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only in Zurich have I ever seen a sign where the SALE price is HIGHER than the regular price. :)

on the way to swtzerland

so am on the way to zurich after arriving late last night to stuttgart and stayin with 'P' in scenic Esslingen.they are expectin a serious storm here today so am Mr.Lucky again as am not in a plane/airport today.had my first frankfurter here after searchin for them in TWO gas stations (which btw are are second in taste only to the ones in train stations).Hopefully this gets posted directly to the blog as have caved and borrowed 'P's CRACKberry.so,for now TSCHUSS!

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UK mobi: 44-7952239218

so my old uk mobi works... but I wont have it on till I return to London Jan 29th :)
Gotta get back to the Madrid sunday morn :)

Madrid phone: 34-617553691

uppdate from Zurich 19 Jan 2007
so, I never made it to 'Angel Caido' in El Retiro. But I did see many old friends, had many many types of tapas, vinos y vermut, napolitana de chocolate inside Metro Alonso Martinez, Chinese food near the underground parking in Plaza Espana and late night coffee an old haunt in Lavapies (with Ella & Louis singin' in the background... yes, not authentic spanish but neither is my memory or uncalled for cravings of VIPS burgers!)
I should be posting some photos soon!

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Madrid phone: 34-617553691
so my old mobi # doesn´t work anymore. Interestingly, my 2 year old unused chip from London seems to work here! Crazy crazy... So... sofar so good... its Sunday morning... I didn´t have a chance in hell of making it to El Rastro as Carlos and me were making early morn sandwiches at 7!
Well,gotta go and catch up with some old friends... hopefully make it to another afternoon goin' down memory lane in el retiro and see my favourite 'fallen angel' :) ciao!
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London part 1

So, I arrived safely in London last night... just enough time to come home (c/o M & fam) eat, nap, wake up, have dinner, great conversations and sleep again... which brings me to now. I'm off to Madrid in a few hours.Coming back to London felt great... drizzly eve, the distinctive smell of the London underground and the walk from the bus stop... goin' down memory lane... which apparently has been renovated in my decade away!The two pubs at the corner have been replaced by 4 multi-million dollar/pound houses!Anyways, I digress (as usual).
alls good... post from spain next... yay!!!

test post

hi everyone... this is a test post from email to blog.
I'm still trying to see if there is a phone text to
blog option! :)
cheers!
Jup

departing dearly...

so... everything is as usual... last minute... I leave tonight for approx. 3 months and I'm still trying to find one of the suitcases I'll be using to pack (which I still have to start!). A few odd things cover the basement floor... and a realization (while typing) that packing for visiting friends & family in Europe, Wedding in India and strawbale work in Pakistan all require totally different attire and somehow have to fit into the now lowered international baggage limits! Well, what would be a trip without some challenges! On the upside, we finally have snow! :) Maybe... just maybe, I'll sneak out taboganning (post-packing ofcourse!)
So, if all goes to plan, I'll be outta here at 1055 and arriving in London tomorrow at 11:15am (AC 858) and off the next day to Spain. I'll try and keep posting regularly... and more importantly will keep posting #'s I can be reached at etc.
BIG hugs to all ya'll and hope to see you soon (sooner if I'm visiting ya and are here to figure out when the heck am I arriving!!!)
:)
Jup
p.s. anyone know how to send a blog posting via a text message? :)