U2 U2 U2 U2 U2 !!!!

[It was March 2009 and I had just touched-down in UK following a 3 week vacation to India. My coach to Bristol had barely left the Heathrow compounds, when I got a call from Abhinav announcing that the Irish rock-band U2 were coming to town in August !!! I honestly couldn't have asked for a better news to welcome me back ! U2 was and is one of my favourite bands and I had always wanted to watch them live ! Abhinav agreed to pre-book 4 tickets as soon as they went out on sale....and I could instantly feel some of my jet-lag fading away ]

The 70000 strong crowd at the Millennium Stadium

Fast-forward 5 months …the date is 22nd August 2009 ! Over 70,000 fans roared in ecstasy as U2 took on the stage at the spectacular Millennium Stadium at Cardiff, Wales !!! It was the last European gig of their 360-degree World tour ….and about 30 metres away from the impressive and blaring stage,  stood Anil, Adarsh, Javid and I !!!

“Where the hell was Abhinav ???”, one may be compelled to ask. Unfortunately, the poor chap had been posted back at offshore just a month ago, as his project had come grinding to a close.  Nevertheless, we were compelled to go for the concert ‘with or without him’ !

Bono himself !

And what a concert it was !!! The music, as expected,  was stupendous and the effects mind-blowing ! The stage nick-named ‘The Claw’ reportedly cost 20 million quid to build, and it definitely showed !

Mind-blowing effects !

The band started out with singles from their new album ‘No line on the horizon’ and went on to play anthem after anthem from their classics  – ‘With or without you’, ‘Beautiful day’, ‘One’, ‘Sunday bloody Sunday’, ‘Where the streets have no name’, ‘Vertigo’, ‘City of blinding lights’ ….were all played and the screaming crowds couldn’t get enough ! Being U2, there were important political messages carefully placed in between ….and also a whole song dedicated to Burmese leader Aung Sang Su Kyi.

Aung Sang Su Kyi

I had been to concerts in UK before…..9 months ago, I was there in Birmingham to watch Coldplay ! But this was nothing like anything else ! For one thing, the crowd was much much much larger. A stadium full of fans [not just any stadium, but the Millennium Stadium itself] was by no means a joke …..and when all of them sing along in unison, the electric ambiance that it generates simply cannot be described ! And of course, this was U2 !!! These are the guys whom even Coldplay consider to be masters !

My personal favourites were ‘Sunday bloody Sunday’ and ‘Vertigo’ ….and two and half hours later, as we walked out of the stadium, to join the 1000’s of people swarming the streets of Cardiff, we could still hear the chorus being hummed by fans all around !

Cardiff Bay

The next morning we woke up to croaking throats, and after breakfast, Adarsh and I went on to explore Cardiff ! The weather was great, and it was exceptionally pleasant and lively around the bay area. A half-an-hour boat ride took us across to the posh locality of Penarth, where we set out on foot to visit the pebble beach and the pier adjoining it. The last time I had been there was in 2007, about which I had blogged in detail back then.  But frankly, nothing much had really changed.

Penarth Pier

Later in the evening, we walked back into the city centre and headed straight for Cardiff Castle.

However, just like the couple of times before that I had been there, we ended up not going inside the castle, but instead, just shot pictures from outside the massive stone walls ! Like most important English castles, this Welsh castle too had first been built as a strong-hold by the Roman invaders around 2000 years ago, and was later fortified by the Normans.

Cardiff Castle

Vacationing in ‘God’s Own Country’, 2009

It had been over a year since I last went home, and having roamed the breadth of Europe in the interim – right from Belfast to Budapest, it only seemed logical to take a break and head back to India [...lest the folks there start believing that I am merely a Legend ! ] However, 3.5 weeks of leave was all that I could manage, and from the very beginning it was evident that it would flash by even before I get to utter ‘Home sweet home’ !

Kerala !

From India – Feb/March 2009

Having just about 25 days in India [... but tons of friends/relatives to meet across half a dozen cities ], called for some expert planning and schedule management. Each and every day had to be worked out [...on MS Excel] - right down to the minute details, and the logistics arranged weeks in advance. Thus, on the 18th of Feb, 2009 - the very day my Schengen visa was set to expire, I set off in a Kingfisher Airlines flight from Heathrow to Cochin via Bangalore. Must admit, Mallya really does ensure that his passengers [..or 'guests' - as he calls them] are well taken care of….and I couldn’t possibly have kicked off the festivities in greater style !

Vadakunnathan Temple, Thrissur

From India – Feb/March 2009

True to its tropical nature, Kerala was horrendously humid and hot; and my initial couple of days there were spent settling in to the environment at Thrissur. Soon after, my folks and I headed off to Bangalore on an overnight train, hoping to escape the heat and spend a few days in the company of friends and family there.

But Bangalore’s days of glory, I must sadly admit, has been lost forever ! Now known as Bengaluru, everything seems to have gone horribly wrong for this erstwhile British colonial city, which until recently had been hailed as the ‘air-conditioned city’ and the ’Garden City’. Today Bangalore is one hell of a deplorable mess – chaotic, noisy, polluted, congested, hot and dusty place – a victim of its own success ! The trees and lakes are increasingly vanishing, and ugly concrete constructions are haphazardly infesting every inch of available space. Its roads and infrastructure are crumbling under extreme pressure and thanks to the Metro construction happening across the city [....which has mercilessly eaten up much of the already congested streets],  the dust and the pollution levels have made commutation absolutely hazardous ! :( Not to mention that though it was just the middle of Feb, and the heat was already unbearable !

With mom at Forum Mall, Bangalore

From India – Feb/March 2009

I remember, a few years ago, when I ranted to one of my best friends about his smoking habits, he had turned to me and asked “You think that’s air you’re breathing?”. Confused by his Morpheus impression [..a la 'Matrix'], I replied “Err, yea, I guess so”. And that’s when he elucidated me about a study published in the newspaper stating that Banglorean air was so damn polluted that breathing it was tantamount to smoking 40 cigarettes a day ! Today, I’m sure that figure would be much much higher !!!

Thanks to the traffic-situation [...which I had already touched upon], travelling around Bangalore with my folks was quite a challenge, and the fact that the places we had to visit were located across town in the far extremes, didn’t help either ! Nevertheless, it was great to be back in the city that I had so faithfully loved, and spend time with friends and family there ! Before returning to Thrissur, I managed to spend a day at my offshore office, catching up with old mates – very few of whom were still around in the company!

With friends from my offshore office, Bangalore

From India – Feb/March 2009

Back in Thrissur, the wheels were set in motion for the grand re-union of DeBatch2000 - the batch of 2000 from Chinmaya Vidyalaya. Swetha had first proposed the idea when she came visiting here in London back in December. But fixing an appropriate time-slot suitable to maximum number of stakeholders, and arranging the logistics had turned out to be even more complicated task than perhaps, scheduling the IPL ! But unlike the IPL, which got shifted from home to abroad, our Reunion had initially been planned to be staged offshore – at the Taj Fisherman’s cove in Chennai, however, a last minute development [...Swetha getting pregnant ], forced us to shift the entire event back home to Thrissur, at the Lulu Centre.

DeBatch Reunion at Lulu Centre, Thrissur

From India – Feb/March 2009

As expected, the reunion was a mega success ! We’ve had DeBatchians coming down from all over – within India and abroad ! Some arrived with their spouses, and some with their kids ! Some of us were meeting each other for the first time after leaving school 9 years ago, and that made the occasion even more special ! We revelled in some good ol’ DeBatch style fun and tried to catch up on the 9 year hiatus we’ve had between us !

Check out a slideshow video that I had created and was played at the event –>
Next up, it was time to indulge in the only real ‘touristy’ activity of my trip. I had booked ourselves on a house-boat at the world reknowned backwaters of Alapuzha. Along with my parents, my sis and her daughter Diya, we took a train to Alapuzha and spent a day on the house-boat.

House-boat on the backwaters of Alapuzha

From India – Feb/March 2009

The experience was one of its kind…unlike anything I’d ever done before ! For about Rs.8K, we were pampered with a 2-BHK house boat, replete with TV, air-conditioners, ensuite baths et al…..Not to mention, the lip-smacking Kerala delicacies that were served on the boat, as we blissfully sailed across the exotic waters of the Vembanad lagoon.

Relaxing on the houseboat

From India – Feb/March 2009

The locales were simply heavenly, and in the morning when the backwaters were blanketed under a thick haze of mist, we were reminded that this was indeed ‘God’s own country’ !

Pirate of the Backwaters

From India – Feb/March 2009

Once back in Thrissur, I set out to do justice to something that had been left pending for a very very long time  – visit my old school ! My old class-mate Ranjith Boban, was kind enough to accompany me, and we rode down to school on his scooter. Drowned in nostalgia the very moment we entered the gates, we strolled along the corridors and the grounds, soaking in the surreality of the moment.

Back at school

From India – Feb/March 2009

However, school wasn’t quite the same as we had known it – new buildings have sprung up on campus and the old ones have had facelifts, the teachers were generally new, the grounds were pruned and tiled and the school uniform had changed too ! Ranjith and I felt like fish outside water….Thankfully, we met a handful of our old teachers – some of whom who had taught us from the time we had joined school and had watched us grow ! We took our time surveying the length and breadth of the campus, reliving old memories !
We also visited Shyamala teacher – one of our first class teachers, at her home.

With Shyamala teacher and Parvathy

From India – Feb/March 2009

That done, it was time to head off to our native city of Calicut (Kozhikode) and meet relatives there. Cousin Chintu was getting married there over the weekend, and the preparations were going on in full swing. I took some time off though, and caught up with  ex-colleagues [and current IIM-K students] Arpit and Ankit, at a sea-side Hotel cum Bar named ‘SeaQueen’. It was my first time in a bar in Calicut….or rather in Kerala  and this place offered a pretty decent ambience along with some splendid views of the beach [perhaps, one of the reasons why its so popular with the IIM students]. We sat in an open-air deck on the terrace, facing the Arabian Sea. The cool breeze flowing in from the sea made the otherwise horrendous humidity seem quite tolerable! Meeting each other after almost 2 years, we had a lot to catch up on, and did just that over a few chilled Kingfishers.

With Arpit at Sea Queen, Calicut

From India – Feb/March 2009

We spoke of the old times, the company and inevitably the current market conditions. The recession had hit everyone hard, but it was shocking to hear how badly the placement scene had been impacted, even in a premier institute like the IIM !

Later in the night, I dashed into the Paragon hotel – supposedly the No.1 Biriyani outlet in Kozhikode, only to realize that they don’t do biriyanis at night Nevertheless, I settled in for some Porottas and Chicken Curry.

The next 2 days were quite happenning, with Chintu getting married to her colleague Anoop at the Azhakodi temple in the city. It was the first time someone younger than me in the family was getting married, and that brought about the unique opportunity of having someone touch my glorious feet for blessings

Chintu gets married

From India – Feb/March 2009

The wedding was good fun, and enabled me to meet loads of relatives and family friends together at one shot. Following a reception at the groom’s place at Tirur, I drove off with family to Coimbatore to spend 2 days there !

Diya at Coimbatore

From India – Feb/March 2009

Once back in Thrissur, it was already the final leg of my vacation, and was time to cater to the religious obligations. Thus, we drove off to Guruvayoor and visited the reknowned Sree Krishna temple there.

Enroute to Guruvayur

From India – Feb/March 2009

Later the next day, I caught up with Ranjith and Swetha for one last time before heading back to Britain.

Friday evening, we drove up to Cochin and spent 2 nights relaxing at our apartment there.

Taking a break at Cochin

From India – Feb/March 2009

Early Sunday morning on the 15th of March, it was finally time to bid goodbye, and over a 22-hour ordeal, I flew in from Cochin to Bangalore and then on to London [on a 11-hour Kingfisher flight :O ] and subsequently from there to Bristol by coach ! The journey was tiring, no doubt …but thankfully, I didn’t feel too hungover or home-sick, unlike the last time !

Strangely though, whilst the flight from London to Bangalore had taken me only 9 hours, the return leg took an extra 2 hours ! Perhaps its got something to do with the fact that on flying east to west, we’re flying against the rotation of the earth ???

I better be NOT that much into it !

Picture this -> 2 guys, spending the evening sitting in a dimly lit room, completely surrounded by 100’s of vivacious girls !!!  Wooooooooo ….sounds like the ultimate male fantasy??? Well, not quite !!! For Anil and I, it was a torture beyond comprehension…. ‘cos right in front of us, was a large cinema screen playing of all things, a typical girlie-movie …insanely titled ‘He’s just not that much into you’ ! [Trust me, the name wasn't really the worst thing about the movie ;) ]

3 of our friends had dragged us into this mess, and while they sat beside us chuckling and giggling at all the supposed-jokes that the movie seemed to be so full of, we were left scratching our heads trying to figure out what-on-earth was so damn funny about them ! I really can’t imagine what would have been going through the heads of the producers when they decided to make this chunk of nonsense! Agreed, that they had managed to pull in an impressive star-cast [...including the sultry Scarlet Johanssen]…but to drag the movie for 6 long hours ??? That’s simply unpardonable ! [Ok, maybe it didn't quite last 6 hours ...but it definitely did seem that long ] …..Frankly, had they suspended us heads-down and dipped us into a tank of boiling water, whilst simultaneously passing bolts of electric current through our backs, there’s a chance that the ordeal may have been a shade more pleasurable !

 Perhaps, what left me so irked was the fact that earlier in the day, while travelling down from Leeds, I had put the 3 odd hours that I had in the train to good use by watching yet another girlie movie called ‘27 dresses’! 2 girlie movies in one day was definitely more than what my permissible tolerance levels could take ! And the fact that we were seated in the 2nd row of the ‘Gandhi class’ at the theater didn’t help either ! 

I hate to admit this….but off-late, thanks to all the wonderful friends that I have [who either drag me to the movies, or at times, merely force me to watch them myself... just 'cos they have watched it ]; I’ve been subjected to quite a heavy dosage of girlie movies – right from the outright mushy romances, to the sentimentally outrageous !!! Thinking about it, I guess I’m starting to become an authority on the subject ! I’ve actually been offering expert advice on girlie movies to some of my friends here, and believe me, they’ve been quite pleased with the suggestions

But fear not …I can proudly declare that my all time fave movies still remain ‘Braveheart’ and ‘Shawshank Redemption’….and the occassional girlie movie for the sake of my dear friends should do no harm ! Atleast, that’s what I thought ….until recently, when some of my closest mates started pointing out drastic changes that seem to have swept across my life :O ! They allege that I’ve started to think differently…. and that my entire outlook has changed ! As a matter of fact, a little bit of self-introspection does kinda reveal the gravity of the situation !  I have indeed changed in the recent past !!!….but what role has all the movies from ‘Before Sunrise’ to ‘Music and lyrics’ played in this, I am not entirely sure :O

Looking back, some of my deeds in the past couple of weeks have even taken ME by surprise ! For instance, all my life, I’d taken pride in the way I maintain [...or rather NOT maintain] my cupboards. Basically, I’m one of those persons who never believed in putting so much effort into building something that had to be broken up at some stage anyways …..Which in essence means, that I normally just throw all my clothes right into any bit of space available in my jam-packed wardrobe ! Over the years, every single attempt my mom had ever made to instill some discipline into me had disastrously ended in vain… And believe it or not, last weekend, I actually spent nearly half a day cleaning up my wardrobe ! It was hard labour, no doubt….Nevertheless, the end-result was fantastic….I actually got all my shirts neatly folded and arranged in one stack …..and the trousers in another !!! Oh, and did I mention that the formals were stacked separately from the casuals ? :O As a matter of fact, some of those shirts and trousers actually got in contact with an iron box, perhaps for the first time ever !

Well, anyways, I guess these are all fairly innocuous habits to have developed….But the greater concern to me is that off-late,  I seem to have turned into an inveterate shopaholic ! Again, thanks to the influence of the ’society’ around me, I just can’t resist picking up goodies when I see them on display at the malls ! In the last 2-3 months alone, I’ve probably spent more on shopping than what I’ve done, in the whole of last year ! Obviously, this is not one of the best traits one could develop during the mother-of-all credit crunches !!!

The list just doesn’t end there ! 2 days before leaving to India on vacation, I was faced with an eerie feeling that I had never experienced in my life before - I was already done with my packing….all 45 kgs of it ! :O In my 26 years of humble existence, I’ve made innumerable trips, across 100s of cities in over 20 countries….and never once had I started my packing more than a night in advance !

Which brings us back to the million-pound question – what the hell is happenning to me ? It’s never been this bad before, and its definitely not the right kind of direction I wanna be heading in ! But I guess it’s not too late yet….Perhaps,all I need to do is to grab a few beers, download some gripping action thrillers, sit down and chill-out !  But will that get my life back on track ??? Maybe ……‘Definitely, maybe’ !!!

The Berlin Airlift !!!

[The economy is crashing ..the Pound is at an all-time low...Industries all over the UK are shutting shop and 1000's are losing their jobs ! Honestly, the year couldn't have started-off in a more depressing way ! So how does one get away from all the madness ? Well, as for us, we pack our bags and head-off for a weekend-break to Berlin ! ]

One of the things that has always fascinated me about European cities is the rich history that most of them possess. Whilst many of these cities have not really seen much action since the end of World War 2, Berlin conspicuously stands out, having had an incredibly tumultuous existence post 1945, as well !

Once the opulent capital of the powerful Prussian empire, Berlin’s power and influence had shot up during the Nazi era, when it became the nerve-centre of Hitler’s ‘Third Reich’ ! Completely laid to waste by World War 2 ….and the ‘Battle for Berlin’ which ended it, the city hardly had the time to recuperate …before it was torn apart again by the Berlin wall ! The Soviets had taken control of East Berlin and the Western Allies had the Western half…and the decades of Cold War that followed had far-reaching consequences for the city – which saw itself caught in the middle of severe Soviet-American tensions ! With the fall of the wall in 1989 and the subsequent re-unification of Germany, Berlin regained its spot on the map as one of Europe’s leading cultural and economic centers !

Day 0  – 16th Jan, 2009
================

Technically speaking, this was not my first time in Germany. Back in September 08, during a visit to the French border city of Strasbourg as part of our France trip; Bharat and I had crossed the bridge across the Rhine into Germany ….and visited a small town called Kehl. Though we had spent just about an hour there, it was enough for us to proudly proclaim that we had set foot on German soil !

However, the real opportunity to venture into the heart of Deutschland, knocked in the late hours of a cold October night, when I came across some dirt cheap [ £40 ] return tickets on Easyjet, to the German capital of Berlin ! Following a quick conf-call with my old bootcamp-mates based in Slough – Krishna and Adarsh, the deal was sealed ! Apart from the 3 of us, Shiva too joined the bandwagon later on.

Thus on Friday evening on the 16th of Jan, Shiva and I left office a little early and took the Easyjet flight from Bristol to Berlin Schonefeld airport. About an hour later, we were joined at the airport by Krishna and Adarsh,  who had flown in from London Gatwick airport.

Adarsh, Shiva and Krishna outside the Berlin Schonefeld airport

From Berlin – 2009

Shiva and I had originally planned to put the odd hour of wait required at the airport to good use, by checking out the exquisite stores and restaurants that we expected Schonefeld to have ! But incidentally, that turned out to be too much of a luxury to ask for - the airport was pretty scanty and quite unfitting for a major European capital !

Turns out, there’s a bit of history behind that as well ! During the days of divided-Berlin, air traffic into the city was strictly regulated and only the allies were allowed to fly into their respective sectors in the city. As a result, most International long-haul flights were routed through Frankfurt – a legacy which continues to this day. Besides, the authorities on either side of the Berlin wall were forced to build their own separate infrastructure, as they couldn’t use each other’s ….as a result, Berlin had 2 airports, 2 major railway stations and so on. Whilst Schonefeld had been the main airport for the Communist half of East Berlin, Tegel airport, had served the requirements of the West.

Back in 1948, when land-locked West-Berlin was completely blocked by East Germany with the intention of starving it to submission; the Western allies had defied the Soviets by airlifting all the necessary supplies into West Berlin. The operation, referred to as the ‘Berlin Airlift’ had cost the allies heavily, but ultimately enabled them to hold on to their stakes in Berlin !

Today, Schonefeld is the hub of most low-cost airlines flying into Berlin, whilst the better flights land at Tegel ….and that kind of explains why the former seems to be a few decades behind in terms of offering state-of-the-art facilities.

Before we left the terminal, we bought ourselves a few ‘Berlin Welcome Cards’ from the Tourist-office. For just about 18 euros apiece, it included a 48-hour unlimited pass to use any of Belin’s public transportation modes, maps of Berlin, discount Vouchers, post-cards and other goodies to serve the needs of any tourist visiting the city !

As we walked out of the airport, the first sight that greeted us [..besides the ice-covered terrain] was the long line of Mercedes-Benz taxis parked on the ramp ! Germany, quite evidently, is the home to Mercedes and every single cab around seemed to be a Merc ! However, we tried to ignore that and walked straight across the icy path, to the train station, which was about 5 minutes away. From there, an S-Bahn train took us directly into the heart of the city at Alexanderplatz , in about 45 minutes !

After taking a few moments to admire the huge, lit-up TV tower at Alexanderplatz, we walked across in search of  Hotel Agon …which was not too far away. The rooms at the hotel were quite comfy with pretty decent facilities…..and for just about 30 Euros per room for a night [breakfast included ], it was a steal !

Perhaps it had something to do with us being in the eastern part of the city [which had previously been under Communist rule],  but the cost of living in Berlin did indeed seem to be unbelievably low…….. in comparison to most other capital cities of Western Europe ! Not that I had anything to complain about …but this was turning out to be one of the most economical Euro trips I’ve made in the recent past !

The view of Alexanderplatz from the balcony of our room at Hotel Agon

From Berlin – 2009

Breaching the Berlin Wall !

Day 1 – 17th Jan 2009, Berlin
====================

We had all been banking on Krishna’s supposed German language skills to take us through our conversational needs in the city. Our man, had attended a 1-month course in German, few years ago at Bangalore. But that morning in the hotel, whilst having a crash-conversation with an elderly couple over breakfast, when he translated something that the lady told us as “It is too cold outside…so remove your shoes before you go !”, we kinda got a picture on how well he might have listened to the lectures back then

Anyways, thanks to all the travelling we’d been doing over the last 2 years across various German-speaking cities in Switzerland, France and Austria, I knew enough German to comprehend that the sign-boards reading ‘Herren’ and ‘Damen’ outside the washrooms meant ‘Gents’ and ‘Ladies’ respectively ! As for the rest, Berliners seemed to speak pretty decent English …and almost everyone we met had an impeccable accent as well ! [It so happens that in preparation for the 2006 football World Cup, most of the customer-facing officials in the city had been trained in English ! ]

Our original plan for the day was to go on a guided Bike-tour around the city. However, the moment we stepped out of our hotel, we realized that the entire city had turned into one huge skating rink ! The pavements, sidewalks and squares were all frozen and needless to say, it was extremely slippery and walking in itself, seemed to be quite a perilous task !

Walking on the icy paths

From Berlin – 2009

Thus, forced to drop our Bike tour plan, we resorted to Plan B [....for a change, we had actually been equipped with a plan B :O ], which meant taking the ‘New Berlin’ walking tour. Since we had over an hour until the tour began, we explored the area around Alexanderplatz and walked down to the Berliner Dom [ Berlin Cathedral ]on the banks of the river Spree . With temperatures at around -3 that day, it didn’t surprise us that the river had blocks of ice floating across it!

A while later, an S-bahn train brought us to the most famous landmark of Berlin – the Brandenburg Gate ! Being an iconic symbol of Berlin, the Gate appears on many of the Euro cent coins minted in Germany today !

Bridging the gap between the Soviets and the Americans at the Brandenburg Gate !

From Berlin – 2009

The ‘New Berlin’ tour meets right outside the Brandenburg Gate and by the time we got there, a huge crowd had already gathered for it. The tour is organized by the same ‘New Europe’ tour company, who conducts the ‘New Amsterdam’ tour, which I had taken when I was in the city on Xmas day. Must admit, they offer some of the most informative and entertaining guided walking-tours that I have ever come across, and I would highly recommend it (in any of the cities that they operate in) ! To top it all up, the tours are free, and operate on a tips-only basis [...which means, u only pay how much u want to, if want to  !]

Our guide for the day was a Swedish guy named Linus, and with about 30 other people in the group, we kicked-off from the Pariser Platz near the Brandenburg gate !  [The statue of Goddess Victoria that stands on top of the gate today, had been taken across to Paris by Napoleon, when he defeated the Prussians in 1806. 8 years later, the Prussians had defeated the French and brought the statue back here, and named the square as 'Pariser Platz' or 'Paris Square', ridiculing the French !]

Memorial to the murdered jews of Europe

From Berlin – 2009

Linus lead us past the German Parliament building – the Reichstag and through the sprawling ‘Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe’,  to an open parking-lot in the middle of a posh residential locality ! Except for a small sign-board on one corner, no one would have even guessed what lay under this innocuous parking-lot !

This was the site of Hitler’s bunker – the one where he and his mistress Eva Braun had spent the last few days of their lives…..until he shot himself in the head, on the face of defeat [...and Eva took cyanide ] !! The site had been deliberately kept anonymous and unremarkable by the East German government, who wanted to prevent it from being turned into a neo-Nazi shrine !

The site of Hitler's bunker

From Berlin – 2009

Next, we walked across to the erstwhile headquarters of the Nazi Luftwaffe (Air-force). The Luftwaffe HQ was a massive building, and at its time, used to be the largest office building in Europe ! Ironically, the building was untouched by Allied bombings during WW2, and it is surprising how a building covering an entire city block could be missed when the rest of the city had been bombed to bits !

A little ahead from the Luftwaffe, we came across one of the few remaining sections of the Berlin Wall ! To be honest, what I had been [wrongly ..] expecting of the wall [...given its cult status] was something as grand and as regal as, perhaps the Great Wall  of China !

The Berlin Wall !!!

From Berlin – 2009

But what it turned out to be, was something else altogether ! I mean, the compound wall in the backyard of my house in India was thicker than this [..maybe not as high, though] ! However, as the guide explained to us, for the 28 years that the Wall was in operation, it had served as a mighty, impregnable and brutal barrier between East and West Berlin….guarded round the clock by merciless Communist soldiers ! The No-Man’s land around the wall had infamously been known as the ‘Death Strip’, cos’ anyone who dared to cross over from the East to the West, would have been mercilessly shot dead ! In spite of this, many people had miraculously managed to escape, but over 200 were unsuccessful and ultimately paid with their lives ! Today, thankfully, Berlin is a free city and with no Commie Guards watching over us, we were able to freely walk across from the East to the West and back again !

From the wall, we were led to the area known as Checkpoint Charlie – where the famous border checkpoint between the American and the Soviet sectors of Berlin used to stand. Named after the 3rd letter of the phonetic alphabet [after Alpha and Beta], Checkpoint Charlie was an iconic symbol of the Cold War and was one of the only few border checkpoints along the Iron Curtain between the Eastern and Western blocs !

After a short break at a nearby Cafe, we proceeded on to see the Gendarmenmarkt Square – widely regarded as the most beautiful square in Berlin, and the Bebelplatz square – where in 1933, the infamous Nazi book-burning incident had taken place. Nearly 20,000 books that were deemed un-German by the Nazis had been burned here in one day !

The French Cathedral at Gendarmenmarkt Square

From Berlin – 2009

Opposite the Bebelplatz on the ‘Unter den Linden’ boulevard, stood a statue of the Prussian king – Frederick the Great ……who was one of the only persons to be referred to as ‘The Great’ during his lifetime. It is said that he always wore red coats to battle, so that his soldiers wouldn’t get to know if he was injured and bleeding. [...and according to our guide, it was for a similar reason that Hitler always made it a point to wear brown pants ]

The tour finally culminated at the Berliner Dom on ‘Museum island’.

The Berliner Dom

From Berlin – 2009

We left a 20 Euro tip to Linus and as we set off to grab some lunch, we came across something that we had least expected to find in Berlin – a massive protest march against the Israeli attacks on Gaza ! There were hundreds..or perhaps 1000s of Palestinians and Arabs out on the streets, chanting slogans and holding placards.

Protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza

From Berlin – 2009

Hoardes of German riot police were on stand-by too…however, the march was peaceful and we managed to grab a bite at a Subway outlet nearby.

That done, we headed back to the Reichstag – the German Parliament house.

The Reichstag

From Berlin – 2009

Out of all the monuments in Berlin today, I believe the Reichstag holds one of the most crucial places in German history, and perhaps that of the world ! Back in 1933, it was this building that got mysteriously burned down and a certain Mr.Adolf Hitler who had been democratically sworn-in as Chancellor of Germany 4 weeks prior, put the blame on the Communists and urged the President to issue a state of Emergency…That ultimately led to Hitler taking on dictatorial powers and the rest, as they say, is History ! [It had never been officially proven as to who caused the fire, but then, you don't need to have a surname of 'Holmes' to realize that the bloody Nazis were themselves behind it !]

The Reichstag today sports a huge Glass Dome on its roof and is accessible to the public for free, from morning till late night. Virtually anyone can walk in to the Parliament building and pass through the airport-style security-checks, and take an elevator to the Dome to enjoy the wonderful 360-degree view of the city that it offers. Besides, the Glass Dome sits directly above the German Parliament Chamber and presents a bird’s-eye view of the proceedings below. It has been so designed that, should the Parliamentarians ever forget where the real power lies, all they’d have to do is to look up and see the people watching over them in the Glass Dome !

Us, in front of a lit up Brandenburg Gate

From Berlin – 2009

By the time we got out of the Reichstag, it was pitch dark and we took an S-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz – an ultra-modern district of the city, dotted with massive high-rises and futuristic malls. Up until 2 decades ago, Potsdamer Platz had been mostly a No-Man’s land, with the Berlin wall cutting right through its heart. With the fall of the wall, came major redevelopments that radically changed the face of the Platz !

Potsdamer Platz

From Berlin – 2009

Whilst Krishna, Shiva and Adarsh headed back to the Hotel, I split up from the gang and went in for the ‘Pub Crawl’, again organised by the New Berlin Tour company. Linus, our guide during the Walking-tour had recommended this, and since the other 3 do not drink, I had to make up for it all by myself ! The tour turned out to be pretty exciting and was quite an eye-opener, as well …. For about 11 euros, I was joined by about a 100 co-travellers and 3 guides – who led us from one pub to another, giving us a crash course on Berlin’s nightlife scene ! Oh ….and, did I mention there were a few free drinks thrown in as well ?

The Prussian Capital

Day 2 – 18th Jan 2009, Berlin

=====================

It was our last day here in the German capital of Berlin. BBC had predicted heavy rains and sub-zero temperatures for the day …..but as it turned out, they were wrong on both the counts !

We checked-out of Hotel Agon following breakfast, and walked across to the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz.

The Berlin TV Tower

From Berlin – 2009

The TV tower, known as Berliner Fernsehturm, was built by the Communist rulers of the East Germany (GDR) during the late 1960’s as a show of Communist Power. Standing at 368 metres, it is a cool 40 metres taller than the Eiffel tower….and can be seen from almost anywhere in Berlin !

Tickets to go up to the viewing gallery would normally cost 10 euros, but with our Berlin Welcome Cards, we got them for 7.5 euros apiece. The elevator, though cramped, took us to the top in just under 40 seconds…and being a clear day, we were presented with some spectular views of the city of Berlin.

The view from the TV Tower

From Berlin – 2009

When the communists originally built the tower, people had doubted the quality of its construction….and often joked that if the tower were to fall, it would have spanned across the Berlin wall into West Berlin …and then East Berliners would only have had to take the elevator to escape into the West But thanks to
German engineering, that was not to happen !

Next, we headed off to visit the largest palace in Berlin – the Schloss Charlottenburg ! About half an hour’s ride in the S-bahn and a short walk later, we were standing in front of the gates to this marvellous Prussian palace !

The guys in front of the Charlottenburg Palace

From Berlin – 2009

The Palace was commissioned by Sophie Charlotte – wife of the Prussian king Frederick 1 in the 17th century, and had been inspired by the Palace of Versailles, though only a fraction of its size. The palace had been heavily bombed by the Allies during WW2, and most of what we saw, was the result of painful reconstruction. There were photographs displayed inside the palace, depicting the extent of the damage caused by the aerial bombings ….Having been used to seeing reminders of the German bombings back in England, it was interesting to finally see the other side of the coin !
After a quick tour of the impressive baroque interiors of the palace, we proceeded to the large gardens at the back – which again had been inspired by the Royal Gardens adjoining the Palace of Versailles !

Being the peak of winter, the trees had all shed their leaves, and the pavements & lawns were covered in thick ice. What was most impressive though, was the completely frozen lake at the end of the gardens !

The frozen lake behind the palace

From Berlin – 2009

It was just amazing !  There was a small kid blissfully playing across the frozen lake, and seeing that, I was quite tempted to take a stroll on the ice myself. However, the one thing I wasn’t quite sure of, was whether the ice was strong enough to bear my weight?

Well, there was only one way to find out ! I immediately called on the ever-ready-to-pose Shiva and offered him the prospect of a spectacular solo shot of him standing on the frozen lake ! He was skeptical initially, but the offer was too hard for him to refuse….He precariously balanced himself on the edge of the lake … “Go further inside, mate …nothing will happen”, I encouraged him   A few feet into the frozen lake and the ice seemed as solid as concrete ! My safety thus guaranteed, I moved in

Walking on ice

From Berlin – 2009

On our way back from the Palace, we took a bus towards the ‘Zoological Gardens’ stop, rather than taking the S-Bahn trains. This turned out to be a wise decision, as we got to witness the glitz and glamour of some of Berlin’s poshest streets.

Kurfuerstendamm boulevard

From Berlin – 2009

The Kurfuerstendamm boulevard that we passed through was perhaps the Champs-Ellysees of Berlin. Designer stores and swanky malls lined the entire stretch of the street. Gucci, Espirit, Tommy Hilfiger, BMW – you name it, it had it all ! We had a late lunch at Burger King, strolled the avenue to buy some souvenirs, and stopped by to admire the awe-inspiring ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Church.

Ruins of the bombed-out Kaiser Wilhelm Church (in the background)

From Berlin – 2009

The church had been bombed to this state during WW2, and being right in the middle of a swanky, upmarket district, it stood out like a sore thumb, as a testimony to the true horror of what the Great War had inflicted upon this city !

We had a few hours left for our flights back to Britain, but it was already getting dark and the shops were all closing down. Armed with our Travel Cards and nothing else to do, we spent the next couple of hours wandering the length and breadth of the city by all modes of transport that our Travel Cards would take us on – the S-Bahn, Trams, bus and the underground U-Bahn !

Finally, later in the night, Shiva and I boarded an Easyjet flight back to Bristol, while Krishna and Adarsh headed off to London Luton.

And thus ended, what could possibly be the last Euro trip on my current Schengen Visa, before it expires in Feb. Not bad at all, considering that since I got the visa in Sep 08, it had seen me wandering across France, Belgium, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Netherlands and Germany !

2008 – The year that was !

[2008 has been a big year, no doubt ! There's been so much happenning in my life - personally and otherwise; and so many Ups and Downs (..thankfully more of Ups than the occassional Downs   ) ! The year saw me stretching my travel escapades to unprecedented levels...setting foot in almost 11 countries ! But however much I've been wanting to blog about it all, I 've just not been able to keep up with the pace of events  ! So here's an attempt to do justice to it all and look back at the major events that shaped my life in the past 12 months !]

The year kicked-off back at home in Kerala. It was the eve of my brother’s wedding, and it was the first time in ages, that I welcomed the new year with so many relatives around ! The wedding at Calicut on the 2nd of Jan, in itself was quite exciting, except for the fact that I had to leave back to the UK on the very night of the wedding reception – which was held 4 days after the wedding !

The Wedding

However, a few weeks back in the freezing environs of Bristol, got me past the bitter hang-over !
In March, my good old friend from school – Ganesh, left UK to go back to India for good. Parties in London were never the same again

Ireland:
The first major trip of the year happened over the Easter Weekend in March. Bharat, his bro Abhay, Akansha, Anil, Rama, Ajitha, Pradeep and I flew in to Belfast, and spent 3 days going around the amazingly beautiful countryside and coastline of Northern Ireland !

The gang at Northern Ireland with Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge behind us

We had hired 2 cars, one of which I drove, and must admit – with winding long roads stretched out in front of us, and the clear blue sea on one side and towering hills on the other, this was the most fantastic drive I’ve ever had in my life ! Over the 3 days, we visited the remarkable Giant’s Causeway, walked across the flimsy, yet breath-taking rope bridge at Carrick-a-rede, became kids again at the Barry’s amusement park, stayed at an awesome house on top of the cliffs overlooking the sea, ran across the beach in the morning, trekked through the forests of Glen Arif, stayed at the Holiday Inn in Belfast and went around the city in an open-topped guided bus tour !

April brought the shocking news that one of my best friends from school in Kuwait – Spandan had passed away ! What was even more shocking were the theories behind his unfortunate accident. I had met him last during my visit to Kuwait in 2005, after a gap of over 7 years, and it was indeed saddenning to realize that we wouldn’t meet again !

When I met up with Spanny at Kuwait in 2005, after a span of 7 years !

Adventure in Lake District :
Come May, and what was meant to be a quiet, peaceful break along the pristine lakes of Cumbria (Lake District) turned out to be the Mother-of-all-adventures !!!

The gang at Lake District

From Cumbria – Lake District, England – May 2008

Rama, Pradeep, Akansha, her just-landed-from-India friend Ruchi, Rakesh, Ranjani and I hired a 7-seater Vauxhall Zafira and drove up to ‘The Lake District’ in Northern England, and on the evening of the second day, quite unexpectedly our tyre got pierced by a protruding rock and burst with a loud bang ….almost in the middle of an isolated countryside. Thankfully for us, a traditional pub [which was about the only building in the vicinity] happenned to be right around the corner and we sought shelter there, for well over 4 hours, until the Emergency services were able to recover our vehicle and drive us back to our hostel. The next day saw Rama and I shuttling between the towns of Windermere and Kendal [..an hour apart from each other] trying to get the burst tyre replaced, and finally by noon, we got going again and jammed up at the popular Rookin Farm house for a session of fun-filled, adventure activities !
However, disaster struck again…. when later in the day, while driving to the town of Keswick, a bent suspension [hit from the previous day's incident] rendered the vehicle dangerously unfit to drive. A couple of hours of continuous negotiations with the courteous ladies at the AA Emergency Services, and a very helpful girl named ‘Louise’ from the Enterprise Car Hire company, resulted in them recovering the doomed vehicle once and for all, and agreeing to give us a replacement.

Rama and I travelled all the way to the Enterprise showroom at Kendal and met ‘Louise’ , to realize that the replacement vehicle on offer was a massive 4-wheel-drive, fully automatic, diesel-powered Land Rover !!! Had we hired the vehicle ourselves, it would have cost us a cool £150 a day, but we got to keep it for free for the rest of the journey

The mighty LAND ROVER

From Cumbria – Lake District, England – May 2008

And to top it all, ‘Enterprise’ refunded the full rental amount that we had paid for the original car, as compensation ! Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for more. As they say, ‘all’s well that ends well ‘!

The Championships, Wimbledon:
In June, I fulfilled one of my childhood dreams – of watching the Wimbledon Championships live – thanks to Bharat, who offered me company in the venture ! We travelled across to London and queued up overnight at an open field at Wimbledon, braving the rains armed with nothing more than a sleeping bag each, and a pair of umbrellas, one of which was generously donated to us by a sympathetic passer-by

[Having slept on the platforms under freezing cold conditions at London's Paddington station not-once, but twice before, and 2 nights on the floor at Heathrow, and 1 night at Luton airport, this was just another great feather in my cap ! ] Ultimately, the struggle had paid-off, as early in the morning, we managed to get hold of Centre Court tickets, and to our luck, the first match of the day starred none other than the King himself – Roger Federer ! The ambience at Wimbledon was so fantastic, that I’m sure even non-tennis fans wouldn’t have felt bored amidst the colourful vibrancy of the place…and the chance to meet 1000’s of people from across the world …..relishing on some mouth-watering strawberry and cream

The king - Roger Federer at the Centre Court, Wimbledon

From Wimbledon Championships – June 08

My 26th birthday in August was the first time in years that I had cut a cake on the day – thanks to my wonderful friends who arranged it at midnight !  We later continued the celebrations at Pizza Hut in the mall on the evening of the 5th !

France:
Bharat, Anil, Rama, Akansha, Ruchi, Yathi, Ramappa, Pradeep and I applied for our Schengen visas in August and by the end of the month, flew over the Channel across to Paris – the universal City of Lights/Love/Fashion  …..etc etc etc ….

Us, on top of the Arc de Triumph, Paris

From France2008

Akansha and Ramappa were lucky enough to celebrate their birthdays in Paris, on the very day we landed ! For Bharat and I, it was our second time in the city, and was an oppurtunity to revive our French memories….On the second day, whilst the rest of the gang went around sight-seeing in Paris, Bharat and I took a TGV [First class ] to the beautiful city of Strasbourg along the French-German border, to spend a day exploring the marvels of the ancient city!

Beautiful Strasbourg

From France2008

We also managed to cross the bridge over the Rhine, across to Germany and spent an hour in the German town of Kehl, before heading back !

Enjoying some Bordeaux wine in the first class compartment of the TGV !

From France2008

Also, the one thing we had missed out in our first visit to Paris was Disneyland, so off we went with the whole gang on the last day…ultimately setting a personal world record by arriving at the Charles de Gaulle airport just 15 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time of our flight to Bristol …. and still managing to catch it ! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo :)

At Disneyland, Paris

From France2008

In September, I bought a brand-new bicycle – to be honest, the very first vehicle that I had ever bought with my own money ! Getting to office and back had never been this easy and so much fun ! 

My bike !

Belgium
September, also had us – Bharat, Akansha, Anil, Rama and I heading off to Belgium in the Eurostar for a weekend break ! It was the first time the 5 of us had gone on any trip all by ourselves, and we had one hell of a gala time in the Belgian cities of Bruges and Brussels !

The 5 of us at Bruges !

Adventures and mindless twists of fate, as usual, were never too far away from us, and we ended up missing a train and getting stranded in the cities of Lokeren and Antwerp in the middle of the night ! Nevertheless, it resulted in some unforgettable moments, and as a matter of fact, this was the last trip we went on before Bharat left to India for good !

Central Europe
October – time for more trips and this time we pushed ourselves much farther and wider than we had ever done before ! In 3 days, Rama, Anil, Pradeep and I set foot on 4 capital cities across 4 countries in Central Europe – Bratislava in Slovak, Vienna in Austria, Prague in Czech and Budapest in Hungary ! Akansha had been to these places earlier along with her cousin, and had been ranting and raving about it to us ever since !

Heroes at 'Heroes Square' , Budapest

From Vienna/Prague/Budapest/Bratislava 2008

And, she had not been wrong at all ! Prague almost swept us off our feet ! The beauty of the place was beyond comprehension ! Vienna and Budapest weren’t any bad either ! With the help of local guides, we were able to explore and do justice to the sights and sounds of these wonderful places !

Finally came December, and it suddenly felt as if time had directly leapt across to this stage from January, with no other months in between ! It so happened that the British altertative-rock band ‘Coldplay’ was holding concerts at various cities across the UK during December …and I managed to get hold of a pair of tickets to one of those gigs from a person in Orange ! Thus, on a cold Tuesday evening on the 2nd of Dec, Abhinav and I drove up to Birmingham in a rented car and had a rocking time at the NIA, where Coldplay enthralled the 13000 strong audience with a brilliant mix of music, light effects and visuals ! It was my first concert here in UK and it couldn’t have been bigger than this !!!

In the middle of December, Swetha and family descended upon London, and we had a mini-reunion of sorts; with Sreejith aka Maadan joining us in going around sight-seeing at London !  

With Swetha and Sreejith at London !

Though the weather wasn’t all that great, we all had such a wonderful time catching up on old school days, and honestly, never before had we laughed so much in the recent past ! Unforgettable indeed !!!

December was also the month of parties ….especially around the Xmas season…Dinners, team-outings, get-togethers, disco, movies ….we’ve had it all !

At an Orange Xmas party !

The Netherlands
But the icing on the cake was my much-awaited trip to the Netherlands to visit my brother and sister-in-law. I spent 4 days there over Xmas, and we went around visiting Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and a few other smaller places.

With bro and SIL, dressed up in Dutch attire

From The Netherlands – 2008

Ultimately, everything in life has to come to a close and the year finally ended with Anil Curpad, Akansha, Ruchi, Pradeep, Yathi and I braving the midnight chill in front of the ‘London Eye’ witnessing the spectacular fireworks-display that was held there to welcome 2009 ! 

The gang at London on New Year's day !

I’ll definitely look back at 2008 as one of my most cherished years – the year where I spent some of the best moments with my closest friends, and made some wonderful new ones as well !

Coldplay – Live at Birmingham !!!

[It was 9:00pm at the 'National Indoor Arena' in Birmingham. The lights were out and tens of thousands of people eagerly waited in anticipation ! Out of the blue, the murmuring silence was broken by the distinctive loud beats of 'Life in Technicolour' !!! The crowds instantly jolted into life and jumped onto their heels.....their reserved seats only to be used as coat hangers for the next hour and three-quarters !

As the crowds went berseck, the curtains rose slowly....and behind it, appeared the silhouette of the 4 lads from London...with lasers and the blaring lights creating a sort of mystical halo around them !!! Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting ....'Coldplay - Live in concert !' ]

The electrifying ambience

It all started about a month ago. It hadn’t been long since I had got introduced to Coldplay…and I had been feeding myself to a daily diet of their songs on my iPod ever since my manager Tony had written a CD for me with all their albums. Hence, when I came to realize that Coldplay were playing gigs all over Britain in December, I knew that I had to be there, by hook or by crook ! !

And then came the problem – all Coldplay gigs in UK for December were sold-out :(  All of them – London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Glasgow …every single one of them had sold out, nearly 6 months ago !!!

There were, of course, tickets being re-sold on the internet, but at exorbitant rates ! I remember how badly my good friend Ganesh had wanted to be at a Coldplay gig, while he was here in UK earlier in the year…But back then, they weren’t any happenning at all. In fact, the other day I was discussing with another one of our batchmates in London named Sreejith aka ‘Maadan’ that, had Ganu been here, he’d have gate-crashed into that concert by any means – even if it meant having to sleep with the Gate-keeper

Thankfully, I didn’t have to go through any such ordeals. My saviour came in the form of a guy from office, who had advertised a pair of tickets on the Orange intranet website, for the gig at Birmingham on Dec 2nd, 2008.

Wasting no time, I contacted him. Apparently, it had cost him £50 each for the tickets, and I started off by offering him £80 for the pair….only to be rejected outright ….which forced me to raise the stakes to 100 quid, but that wasn’t good enough either ! Finally, we settled for £115…which was not bad at all, considering that these were for very good seats and would easily cost much much higher on the internet !

Without giving it too much of a thought, I got hold of the tickets. I still had to find one more person to take along, and that turned out to be quite a problem as the concert was on a working day !

However, I knew there was only one man I could rely upon – Mr.Abhinav Gupta ! A quick phone-call to Cardiff and the deal was sealed

On the big day – Tuesday, 2nd of December, 2008 ….I went over to the Enterprise Car Hire office during lunch break, and picked up the car that I had booked. Though I had originally booked a 2-door Ford Ka, the guys generously gave me an upgrade to a 4-door Toyota Aygo Later in the day, I left office a little past 4pm and drove up to Parkway station and picked up Abhinav, who had taken a train down from Cardiff. The drive to Birmingham took longer than expected, as we were stuck in mindless rush-hour traffic through-out the journey. Certain sections near the Parkway station at Bristol, and along the Broad street in Birmingham, were absolute mayhem !!! At times, we found ourselves stranded in the middle of an endless sea of stationary vehicles…..and were forced to move no better than an inch at a time for over half an hour !!! Needless to say, it was extremely stressful and by the time we parked our car at the South Car Park at the NIA, we were totally hammered !

Thirsty, hungry and overcome by fatigue, we headed straight to the refreshments outlet at the NIA. Well, there was this other problem – Abhinav doesn’t drive, so that made me the sole driver of the car….and that in turn meant, I couldn’t drink !!! DISASTER !!!  Anywayz, what harm could 1 pint of beer do ?

So there we were …..armed with a beer, a cider, burgers, chips and cool drinks; we entered the huge arena and were ushered to our seats in Zone B…which surprisingly was just about 30 feet away from the stage ! Not bad at all !!! It couldn’t have got better than this for such a price !

The sell-out crowd at the NIA, Birmingham

The opening band was some unheard-of one …and no one really paid much attention to them . We on our part were busy doing justice to our food…and the beers were washed down in no time at all !

And then we all waited ….The moment of reckoning finally came at 9pm …when Coldplay ignited the stage and the whole arena with ‘Life in Technicolour’ !!! The quality of sound was amazing….Nothing I had ever heard before could match up to it ! The brilliance of the sound was matched up with spectacular visuals and lighting effects, that uniquely reflected each song that was being played !

The Stage !

The energy-levels of the guys, especially the lead singer Chris Martin, was unbelievable ! From start till end, he flung himself all around the stage, belting out hit after hit …..charming the audience with his vocals, unstated good-looks, spontaneity and sense of humour ! He didn’t just play and sing, but saw to it that the audience involved themselves too !

Chris Martin setting the stage on fire !

All through the gig, there were lasers shooting out from the stage, dazzling lights blaring all around, huge glowing globes lowered from the  ceiling, confetti falling all over, large screens with captivating visuals …..and on top of it all, add on the synchronized roar of tens of thousands of fans – and you’ve got one hell of an unforgettable concert !!! Each song had its own theme – the lighting would change, the backgrounds would change and the visuals would vary ! ‘Clocks’ turned the entire arena into Red

'Clocks'

 …….and ‘Yellow’ was, quite evidently Yellow ! ‘Speed of sound’ was played in near darkness, but with the whole crowd waving out their illuminated mobile phones, it was a different matter all together !

That’s when I realized ….that nothing can really beat the experience of being at a live concert – regardless of how powerful a music system/home theatre you may have at home ! Hearing a song on the sterio or watching a performance on the Tele is not quite the same as being there live, in the middle of the action !!! You could drive a Ferrari on NFS, but unless u actually take one on the road, its just NOT the real thing !!!

While most of the songs were taken off Coldplay’s new album - ‘Viva la Vida’, many of their older hits were played too …..‘Clocks’, ‘Fix you’, ‘Yellow’, ‘Speed of Sound’, ‘Scientist’,'Green Eyes’ …were all marvellous. When Chris Martin sang ‘The hardest part’, it was just him and his piano and the sheer power of his mesmerizing vocals ! Incredible ! The fans were swept off their feet !

'The Hardest Part'

For a moment in between, the guys disappeared from the stage, leaving us to believe that they were taking a much-needed break….only to reappear out-of-the-blue from the back of the arena, on a make-shift stage right in the middle of the crowd ! The audience loved it and everyone got their money’s worth !!!

Finally, at 10:45 pm, the boys called it a day, and bid goodbye ! But the roar of the crowds did not end there ….As we got out of the NIA and walked along the old canals of Birmingham to our parking lot, the chorus of ‘Viva la vida’ filled the air – being hummed by 1000’s of ecstatic fans heading home !

Coldplay

A rough set-list of the songs that were played are as below:

LIFE IN TECHNICOLOR
VIOLET HILL
CLOCKS
IN MY PLACE
SPEED OF SOUND
YELLOW
42
FIX YOU
STRAWBERRY SWING
GOD PUT A SMILE UPON YOUR FACE
TALK
THE HAREST PART
POSTCARDS FROM FAR AWAY
VIVA LA VIDA
LOST
GREEN EYES
DEATH WILL NEVER CONQUER
POLITIK
LOVERS IN JAPAN
THE SCIENTIST
LIFE IN TECHNICOLOR II

Check out some of the videos from the concert at the links below :

CLOCKS:

YELLOW:

Mumbai – The Aftermath !

Its been 2 days since the nightmare ended ! Mumbai’s 60 hours of bloody terror may well have concluded …… But is the worst far from over ? One can really not say !

Now that the guns have ceased and the last of the merciless terrorists slain, the political wheels have stepped up to full throttle ! Fingers are being hastily pointed, errors and delinquencies being covered up by scape-goats ! Ministers are being replaced and officials who have had the responsibility of ensuring the safety of our cities are conveniently putting in their resignations ! Within a span of 2 days, the Home Minister is gone,  Maharashtra CM and his Deputy CM have put down their papers …and many more would follow suit too ! “Moral responsibility” is what they all claim. But in reality, what better way to wash their hands off and run away from the job at hand, which they had hitherto so ineptly performed !

In no time, we’d have new officials swarming in to fill the vacated posts……and when the terrorists strike again, they’d be replaced too ! But is this the best corrective action the nation can possibly get ? Definitely not ! We’ve been testimony to this for far too long, yet nothing seems to have changed and perhaps, we have not allowed anything to change either ! In the meanwhile, the terrorists continue to move about, operate freely within our borders, and strike us where ever they wish to, in whatever manner they please and at whatever time they chose !

The last few days have exposed a complete failure of our core systems. The ineffectiveness of our Intelligence Agencies, the unpreparedness of our Governing bodies and the vulnerability of our cities have been ignominiously made evident !

Frankly, there’s nothing startling about the vulnerability. We had known about it all along ! The back-to-back terrorist attacks that gripped our country in the last few years, and especially in the recent months, had consistently driven home the fact ! Time and again they’ve had the better of us, and we’ve always paid the price ! They’ve tried to shake our will, but we have survived !

Today, the world commends our ability to bounce back to normalcy in no time ! Mumbai has been at the forefront of this resilience – to the effect that in spite of the just-concluded attacks that held the entire city to ransom, the Bombay Stock Exchange hardly took an impact !!! But is this really something to be proud of ?

The resilience, undoubtedly is good – it defeats the very purpose the terrorists wish to achieve through their heinous acts. But what’s the point of it all if we don’t learn from our mistakes and take preemptive measures ? We cannot let India be a punching-bag to just hang there and take on blow after blow of madness thrown at us !

Sadly, a little bit of self-introspection would reveal that the repeated attacks on our soil have made us thick-skinned, forcing us into apathy ! Perhaps this is where the resilience comes from ! Even before the candles at the graves of our victims die out, we’d have something new to bother about and a newer attack that the media can focus their frenzied attention upon ! It seems to be in our blood to forgive and condone ! We as a race have been remarkably tolerant, much through our history ! But how much can we really take ?

One thing however, stands out amongst all this madness, and that is the sheer valour and courage exhibited by our men in uniform and all the unsung heroes behind the scenes. These brave men who selflessly plunge into the heart of the terror zones to bring down the forces of evil, are the ones who reinstate our faith in the nation and keep us going !

Scenes of the elite National Security Guard commandos landing on the Nariman House from their helicopters and fearlessly plunging in to bring down the heavily armed terrorists holed up inside, will forever be etched in our minds ! Not to mention the bravery of the police officers or the Marine Commandos who put in the initial fight, or the Firefighters of Mumbai, who battled the blaze without even having the protection of bullet-proof vests, whilst bullets and grenades whizzed by !

I’ve always wondered what goes through their minds when they put themselves in the line of fire, without the slightest hesitation, or a second thought about their future or their families back at home ! Obviously, its the sheer patriotism and sense of duty that motivates them – something that if each of us in this country had, no force on earth would have been able to dent us !

Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte, Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Gajendra Singh and all the other martyrs didn’t deserve to die….and its our duty to ensure that they didn’t die in vain ! Their losses are irreplaceable, and the nation will forever be indebted to them !

ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, who had been at the forefront of the investigations into the Malegoan Blasts, had recently come under the wrath of right-wing politicians who feared the consequences of his unbiased investigations. Yet, when he died, they were the among the first to come forward and try to earn political mileage out of his supreme sacrifice ! Posters have sprung up across Mumbai carrying photographs of the martyred officers, and along side them – the politicians, who from the comforts of their air-conditioned offices, had ordered to put them up ! Isn’t this vote-bank politics at its worst ?

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s funeral took place in Bangalore on Saturday. A 31 year old, Kerala-born, product of Frank Anthony Public School, Bangalore; Major Sandeep is said to have been shot dead while trying to shield an injured comrade, during the siege at the Taj. The sight of his mother crying over his body, flashed across all news channels, echoes a billion cries of grief and pain ! Yet, what kind of treatment does his family get from the Kerala CM Achuthanandan ? Nothing, but a much delayed offering of condolence (more from the lure of political mileage and the growing flak from opposition parties, than out of sheer respect), and remarks to the tune of - “If it had not been (Major) Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have glanced that way.”

Is this what Major Sandeep sacrificed his life for ?

CM Achuthanandan,  who had been snubbed by the Major’s father for failing to acknowledge the supreme sacrifice laid out by his son,  had turned up at his house in Bangalore a day after his funeral concluded…. much to the opposition of the Marty’s father – who had earlier desisted any politician from entering and desecrating the sanctity of his house. Yet, is this the best manner the CM could have reacted to a bereaved family ?

Reports suggest that the terrorists had arrived by sea from Karachi. The operation itself is said to have involved the hands of Lakshar-e-Taiba, and funded by Dawood Ibrahim, both of whom are harboured within Pakistan. The captured terrorist Azam Amir Kasav, all of 21 years, is said to be singing like a canary ! The terrorists supposedly, had undergone their training in Pak occupied Kashmir, and evidence collected from their satellite phones suggest they were in communication with sources from across the border. The GPS they carried had a return map to Karachi fed into it.  Almost every single piece of evidence has a clear Pakistani stamp on it. Yet, how do we tend to act ?

We suspend rail and air links with Pakistan indefinetely ! We call-off cricket tours ! We even go to the extent of threatening to mobilize our army along the Pakistani border. [The last time the Vajpayee Govt. did this, following the 2001 Parliament Attacks, it had cost India 6500 crores of Tax-payer's money ! ]

Perhaps, it was American pressure, but it is now known that India has ultimately refrained from such an act. Build-up of Indian troops along the border would lead to a reciprocal mobilization by Pakistan. And that would mean cutting down on some of their forces on the Western Front, where they are supposedly engaging the Taliban currently. The US obviously wouldn’t be looking forward to that !

PM Manmohan Singh has rushed the Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon to Washington DC, to brief the Americans about the terror attacks and the evidence we have in our possession corroborating Pakistani involvement. But why on earth do we need approval from the Big Brother to defend or retaliate a blatant attack on our soil ? The Americans had far less substantial [or hardly any] evidence when they decided to attack Iraq. And did they ever consult our opinion ?

We need their expertise, no doubt . We could use all the technological and logistical support from the International community, that we possibly can. There are definitely positive signs though….a team of FBI sleuths have already arrived in the city and kicked-off their investigations. Also, reports suggest that an Israeli team of Anti-terror experts and Forensic Analysts are due to arrive to assist us in the intelligence gathering. This is in spite of India turning down Israel’s intial offer of sending their crack commandos to Mumbai while the siege was on !

Israel had ended up losing 8 of its citizens in the attacks, and by no means is it a nation that would take an attack on its citizens lightly….no matter which corner of earth it is perpetuated upon !

I also happened to read a report on the BBC a couple of days ago, that Scotland Yard officials had offered to send in their experts to help with the Investigations and Forensic analysis, but apparently, even after 48 hours, their request was still stuck at the Indian Interior Ministry, waiting to be cleared – much to the chagrin of the British.

But one does wonder how a bunch of 10 young terrorists could reign so much terror, engage our elite commandos for so long, and force the entire nation on its knees. However, it is evident that these were no mere lads from around the street. They were highly trained, hardened and motivated terrorists, who had come prepared to die and determined to kill until their last breaths. The fact that they kept innocent civilian hostages as shields didn’t help either.

There’s no doubt that these youngsters had been radically brainwashed to the core, and perhaps may have even believed that their deaths would earn them 1-way tickets to an eternity in heaven …… with 72 virgins thrown in, as well ! I read a user-comment to an article on Rediff that said that the only way to humiliate the slain terrorists is to bury their bodies alongside pigs. That would, supposedly ensure that they go to hell.

Nah, I guess they are hell-bound anyways. Why send the poor pigs there as well ?

A friend recently had this on his status message on Gtalk - “Its up to God on whether to forgive the terrorists or not, but fixing them an appointment with God is our job” !!!

Belgium 1 – The Channel Crossing !

[It had come as quite a surprise that Bharat aka Borat was leaving to India for good. The guy had been around in Bristol ever since Rama, Anil Curpad, Akansha and I first set foot on British soil back in 2006....Hence a week before he was scheduled to bid goodbye, the 5 of us got together and embarked on one last memorable trip - this time to a rather unconventional destination - Belgium....and by means of the Eurostar - the high-speed train link between London and Continental Europe via the channel Tunnel !]

The Channel Tunnel :

The ancient Romans had called it ‘Oceanus Britannicus’ and the medieval Dutch sea-men – the ‘Engelse Kanaal’ ! The French call it ‘La Manche’, but to the rest of the world, its simply known as the ‘English Channel’ – the arm of the Atlantic ocean that separates France from England.

Believed to have been created between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago by a series of glacial lake outburst floods, the English Channel has served as a key natural defense system for Britain throughout history, blocking invading armies from the continent – the Dutch, the Spanish, Napoleon, and more recently, the Nazis in World-War 2 ! The only major exceptions of course, being the Roman invasion of Britannia at around the beginning of the first millennium, and the Norman conquest in 1066 by William the Conqueror. The former had resulted in the founding of many of the English cities we have today, including Londonium (London) and the latter had established the current arm of the Royal family – Queen Elizabeth 2 being a direct descendant of William the Conqueror !

For centuries, ideas for a cross-channel link connecting Britain and France had been dreamt about, and if Asterix comics are to be believed, our very own Obelisk had proposed the idea about 2000 years ago, after having crossed over by boat in the rain

Obelisk proposes the Channel Tunnel

However, it wasn’t until 1996 that, as a joint-venture between the French and the British,  the Channel Tunnel was dug out under the Channel, and that gave birth to the Eurostar …connecting London, for the first time in history, directly to Paris and Brussels on the mainland !

The Channel Tunnel is widely proclaimed to be one of the greatest engineering feats of modern times…and the Eurostar, is nothing short of a marvel in itself. Having been developed using French TGV technology, it happens to be the fastest train on British soil [...though it hits its peak speeds only on the French side on tracks built to carry the TGV ! ]

Well, so much for introductions ….let’s get on with the story !

Day 0, Bristol :

Friday, 5th Sept, 2008

3:30pm: We knew that the trip was going to be one hell of an adventure, right from the moment we kicked-off ! Having taken permission to leave early from office, Bharat, Akansha, Anil Curpad, Rama and I sped off in a Euro Taxi from Aztec Centre to Parkway Station, hoping to catch the 4 pm train to London, only to realize that all trains in the region were either delayed/cancelled, thanks to the flooding of a tunnel in Wales ! Fortunately for us, a 2pm train to London was running late and just as it was about to depart from the platform at 3:45, we barged in. [It so happened that this was about the only train to London that afternoon, and had we missed it, even by a whisker, we may very well have spent the weekend in Bristol itself ... having forfeited our Eurostar tickets in the process !] !

Further delays and 2.5 hours later, we arrived at London Paddington station…and quickly took a Tube to the St.Pancras International Station – home to the Eurostar !

The last time I had been here was in Nov 2007, when on a weekend trip to London from Middlesbrough, I had visited the Station soon after it took over the Eurostar services from Waterloo Station, following a £800 million renovation. All that money, undoubtedly had been put to good use, as what we have today is an architectural marvel in itself, blending the Victorian elements of the old St.Pancras with ultra-modern designs and facilities to rival any major airport !

At the St.Pancras International Station, London

We packed up some sandwiches for dinner, and proceeded through the airport-style security and Immigration clearance desks. Though there were other services to Paris at around the same time and loads of passengers coming in, the formalities were impressively swift…quite in contrast to airports !

As far as Eurostar tickets are concerned, depending on how early you book, they cost more or less the same as flights. However, according to me, traveling to Western Europe by the Eurostar is a much better option compared to flying ‘cos of the following reasons :

• * The journey times are comparable, and if you consider the time spent in traveling to and from airports and through the long security/immigration queues, the Eurostar wins hands-down !
• * No cramped seats as in flights, and no seat-belts ! You get to sit with your mates facing each other, and have the freedom to visit the loo whenever you want
• * No baggage restrictions, and you don’t have to restrict liquids and gels to 100ml.
• * Last, but most important – the highly reduced Carbon footprint !

We took an escalator up to the level where the trains were stationed. Our seats being in the very first compartment, meant that we had to walk the entire length of the Eurostar – which with its 18 compartments was by no means a short train !

At sharp 7:30pm, the Eurostar set-off from St.Pancras and we were charging towards Brussels ! In about half and hour, the train dashed into the Channel Tunnel at Dover…..20 minutes of darkness later, we zoomed out into France at Calais, accelerating up to the maximum speed of 200mph ! Following a brief stop at Lille Europe in France, the train pushed on across the Belgian border, finally arriving at the Brussels Midi Station at 10:30 pm local time.

We got off the train and joined the hordes of people waiting for the platform gates to open. The scene was kinda scary…as we had Security men in plain-clothes coming up and demanding to examine our Passports. Having completed the immigration formalities back at London itself, there was no real need for any of that here at Brussels, however, the officials did random checks on whoever they felt suspicious …..and being south Asians, it didn’t really help, I guess !

Down at the entrance to the station, greeting us,  was a huge mural of Tintin - Brussels’ very own local boy ! [It was here in the city that Herge first created Tintin back in 1929 !]

At the Brussels Midi Station

From Belgium 2008

Few photographs later, and on taking directions from a couple of friendly locals, we walked across to the nearby Hotel Ibis ! However, it turned out that the Ibis that we had booked into was a different branch, which was in the city center, and that meant having to shell out another 15 euros in a cab to get there [..the actual price was only 10 euros, but since there were 5 of us, they charged a little extra ]

The first thing that struck us about Brussels was the pleasant weather – typical of continental Europe ! It was just perfect ….neither too cold, nor warm…The sky was clear, and we didn’t hesitate to get rid of our jackets – something which we can only dream about back in England at this time of the year !

We checked-in to our rooms at Hotel Ibis, and in no mood to sleep early, set-off on a midnight stroll ….exploring the streets of Brussels ! The city centre was massive, and quite surprisingly, it was buzzing with life even at that time of the night. We went in to one of the many ‘Sultans of Kebabs’ outlets and treated ourselves to a lavish feast of Falafels and Shawarmas !

Midnight, on the streets of Brussels