Entertaining Diversions

23 May 2019 Ten of us started our Slovenia-Croatia holiday today. Kunal, Kanu, Gaurav, Anshuman, Ashwani, Sneha, Kabir, Shalini, Mishti and I. Kabir and Shalini had added themselves much later, and will be staying in a separate hotel and hiring their own car. Some of us took a cab to Stansted from Credit Suisse at 4 pm and we were on our way. Our Whatsapp group for this trip is called ‘Slovaaania’. This is because Ashwani was on a date and the girl asked him where he was going for his next holiday. Confused between Slovakia and Slovenia, he came up with Slovaaania. Best of both worlds…or not. He hasn’t heard back from her since. There was some leg-pulling going on on Whatsapp as the start of the holiday neared. [5/22, 23:17] Mishti: Those leaving from CW tomorrow, please reach the meeting point at 3.50pm so that we can leave at 4. We don’t have a lot of buffer time if we hit traffic on the way [5/22, 23:56] Amit K: True joy is in havin...

8 April, 2018 (Sunday) I have made note of a few more observations and findings about Japan. ·    People here are very polite. They listen attentively but still stick to the script with their answers. For example, at our hotel in Kyoto, while entering the breakfast room, we were were trying to get a discount of 10% (as it said on the board) on top of a 10% discount voucher from reception. They patiently listened to me explain what we were after, and then simply took the voucher and ushered me into the room, courteously describing which one was for continental and which one for the Japanese breakfast. ·    Japan has self-defence forces but no military for offensive purposes after the second World War. ·    Every train or have taken in Japan has been bang on time. Even the hotel shuttle bus that refused to wait for Khushboo’s nature’s call. ·    I found out yesterday that some metros here have a women's only compartment, and also fast trains. Like M...