Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Friday, December 16, 2011

Bangladesh....part 1- the good part

Consulting is a strange profession - you crib about doing things- and when those things are over you like them...the last couple of projects have been different - i enjoyed doing them as well, and the last of these took me to Dhaka in Bangladesh - so it was good work plus some travel that I so wanted to do ( the other bit being Pakistan where I really want to go - to know the other people)


Well, Dhaka !! just an extension of Calcutta... is the first thing that hits you the moment u get out of the airport - same graffiti on the wall, same people, just this that the cars are very different - no yellow ambassadors :) the car for the hotel pickup was a Toyota Land cruiser!!! in fact- Dhaka is full of Japanese cars - Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi - all large saloons- too much for a poor country :) (almost all cars are refurbished as told to me later by locals, and its a matter of pride to have a large car - and that s why smaller refurbished car has not takers, new small cars have no takers, and well no other small cars have no takers) - the government is even worse than India- politics overwhelmingly omnipresent in everything, and yet Dhaka has managed to complete feats which we have always backtracked on - Dhaka is a no polythene city - YES - it is maintained as such - and for all the crap heard in Delhi against it remains such - veggies and all stuff is given out in paper bags or nice sweet thread bags...(Too much of democracy of pittance in India - we can not even impress this upon ourself) - the other really nice thing - Dhaka has all private vehicles running on CNG- all autos, cars et all....

Random mumblings

Almost five months after taking the wedding vows, I am a changed man!! or so says, Gopal jee....one of the nice people I know from the old world school of thinking.... (incidently, I am a misplaced concoction - lost between new world and old world ) - i don't really agree


What i do agree to is the fact that things have changed - my house, my job and my life - and so have some of the thoughts and beliefs I lived with all these years - am trying to put some of them into perspective, words don't do justice to the complexities of life though :)
  • Marriage isn't demanding - but the way we are born and brought up in life requires us to be nice people to the others around, and others may include wife - and so you start restricting yourself, so that the lady who has moved in leaving her life behind does not face the brunt of your adventurisms -- in my case "Biwi" has been supportive and never said a thing , and YET I have drastically reduced the outings and parties - this is also partially because my office is now 40 km from my house, and half the time I am more happy beating the traffic at rush hour, than plan late evening jists with friends
  • A wise friend once told me "don't change three things together - house/city , work and social circle" - in my case the all 3 have badly changed and it shows up - i am still lost like a zombie!
Well, am planning a 15 day vacation sometime in January - February, and just can't seem to finalize the place...help me if you could - initial thoughts - Sri Lanka-Maldives or Bangkok-Cambodia-Vietnam or the north east...any more suggestions - welcome








Thursday, December 2, 2010

The quest of happiness

beyond the mountains
and past that unsurmountable passes
there would be a place
which lies untouched

by the corporate liars that we are
untouched by the luxuries, we should live without, but cannot live without
where the air is not polluted by greed and one-up-manship
where the water is serene and pure

where the beauty is not measured by lowest deep cut blouses
and there's more to admire than skimpy business suits

where time is not dependent on blackberry schedules and outlook calendars
and you are not running for the next tight meeting

when all u meet is nature, beauty and a little bit of you
where the clear skies clean your views.....

Happiness - spelled for now as Sikkim, snow capped , in December....my next destination.....( the following pic made the decision)


Picture Courtesy - http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/travelogues-east-north-east-india-f64/north-sikkim-switzerland-east-winter-t19019-2/