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...

          7 April, 2018 (Saturday)           We woke up early and got ready for the prayer session which was at 6.20 in the morning. It was a punctual start. It was some quiet time for reflection and meditation. I have not had much of that in this trip and was grateful. I could not concentrate my mind though, similar to when I was at the Onsen in Nagano, where also I could not focus. I seem to have more gentle thoughts when I am walking or when I am naturally resting rather than when forced into a quiet situation. After the prayer session, we gathered in the dining room for breakfast. The breakfast was not very filling and not as good as last night’s dinner. Plus, there was no one around to explain to us this time what each dish was. It felt like the service level had dropped down a notch.            After breakfast, Kanu, GK, Kunal and Khushboo decided to head back to Tokyo while the rest of ...

6 October 2016 (Thursday) As part of the Whatsapp discussion for our Vegas trip in December, some of my friends who are travelling onward to San Francisco have been looking for accommodation there. There has been a very tempting deal they found on Air BnB from the property owner named Tinca. However, there have been a few red flags which have been raised about the listing (invalid mobile numbers, automated replies etc) and there was some chatter going about on the topic. I came up with a classic that got laughing smileys from everyone: [10/5, 22:15] KK: Man! She must be regretting listing her flat. We have called her on UK phone and US phone, we have emailed her. We have dug up alternative email id from God knows where and messaged her. We have whatsapped her. All this within less than a day!!! [10/5, 22:25] AK.: Well, if she does turn out to be fraudulent, we can always claim: [10/5, 22:25] AK.: Chor ki daadi mein tinca. [10/5, 22:27] SG: 😂😂😂😂 [10/5, 22:42] KR: 😬😬😬😬 [10/5, 2...

February 27, 2020 (Thursday) We reached Howrah station at 2 pm. It is the oldest, busiest and largest railway complex in India. Howrah is where life in all its different forms – from the radiant to the uncelebrated – manifests itself. There is madness for sure, and the method to it is less obvious. There are people busily going about their daily business regardless of its challenges. People chattering, people sipping tea, people laughing, people selling things, people begging and people sleeping. Often in such an out-of-context mode to their surroundings that it makes you dial back a few notches to simply get a frame of reference. Disabled, disfigured, disgruntled – you find them all here. Amidst thousands of others.  There is probably only one thing that keeps them alive – routine. Like the very trains that depart from here every hour, life chugs along in steady beats. They find their own ways of making do. They have some abi...

1 February, 2019 (Friday) Eight of us flew out of London to Zurich for our St Moritz ski trip. I worked from home today and took a cab to City airport for the 17.20 flight. Some of us took the flight out of City airport, while Shilpy flew from Heathrow and Monika from Luton. We all met at Zurich airport in the night. The eight of us in this trip are: BH (the only non-Indian), GK, SS, SG, MK, SS, AS and I.  SS and MK had told us on Whatsapp that their flights had been delayed by up to an hour due to snow conditions in UK. SS suggested that I alone should wait for them at the airport while the others can take the other car and leave. There was some amusement when I exclaimed “Powder me in sugar and call me a doughnut.” MK replied that that was one mental image she can never shake off now! When we landed at Zurich airport and were still on the plane, I was anticipating a text message from O2 stating that I can use my UK minutes and data freely in Switzerland i.e. there w...