Sorprendente, Sirmione !

TAKE-ONE :
The open hair of a beautiful lady leaves a refreshing aroma around. I inhaled a lot of air trying to get more and more of it, with my eyes closed and face trying to find the source of it. The golden tone and a bit tanned flawless skin, the perfect set of teeth, big and sparkling blue eyes. The gaze which was as much confident as was innocent. I almost fell in love, not with that women but the imaginative power of almighty ;)Then there was another, this time I started to get a bit jealous that I dont live there and just had couple of hours. I almost felt I had a divine intervention, the world around me slowed down. It was in slow motion that the fine breeze blowing from the lake side, cleared off a strand of hair which was tickling her cheeks. The Chihuahua in her arms was as calm as an elephant sleeping.
Chihuahua BTW is a breed of dog, Tiny, about the size of a pepsi tin and fits into the ladies handbag.. Usually very active, aggressive and expressive(I meant the dog).

It had been almost couple a hours that me and Tushar were just gazing around. For first time after the vacation started, we were so busy doing nothing.
As I walked back towards the cruise, I thought, that was one of most beautiful girl I had seen. But there were absolutely no ends to our suprises. Another angel walks along.

And to top it all, there was a 60 year old boyfriend with this 20 yr old !.
This time I did'nt even see her the second time.

Because I was already fuming and frustrated with the inequality in this world !!, I wanted to jump into the lake!.

Why are all these beautiful people living so far off from where I live ! .. anyway Buddha's words came to mind- Desire is the main cause of misery - which had proved to be very true. Deciding not to make myself more miserable, I sailed in peace watching the endless blue waters..

Also, we had to return early because that was the last cruise from Sirmione to our camping place. But we decided we'll drive and have lunch the next day in Sirmione, before starting back to Munich.

TAKE-TWO:And because we did not have to rely on the cruise to get back, we thought we have all the time in the world to spend in Sirmione. It was just 45 kms from our place of camp by road.
All the 5 guys were excited. When all 5 had same opinion, and said "YESSS" to a plan then that had definitely gotto go wrong somewhere. But where could it go wrong ? the plan was so simple, drive to Sirmione, park the vehicle, roam around, have food and drive back to Munich. Nooo, as if things were really exciting the last few days this plan also had to get screwed up. There was a simple problem, there was no single parking space in 2 cities along the lake.
And more than that, traffic was moving at 2 kmph. The search for free parking turned into "Pay anything for one parking space". Still no luck. To our dismay, after roaming around the city for 3 hours, we started bac

k. 4 of 5 guys never got out of the car.
Well, Take 2 for Sirmione ended not so great. Just dragged ourselves back to Munich.

THE BEGINNING:
It had all started with me planning a trip back home, to India.
Trip to India would always mean there were some preparations probably from a week before the journey. The shopping, packing and informing friends for meetup. But more recently the excitement had died down.
Now it had come down to shoving few clothes and passport into travel bag, scanning the MacBook for any nice thin

gs present already.. ;) You never know with the kids at home, who find all sorts of things while searching for cartoons.
Unfortunately the little preparation I had done was useless when I had to cancel the trip in the last moment. I almost started to slip into depression from the thought of spending a loooong weekend home. But the compass took a U turn, and fortunately had a chance a join my friends for camping in It

aly .. :)

Probably for the first time we started off in time from Munich, which apparently was an indication of a not so exciting trip.
We were one short of a IPL team, 10 people with 2 five seaters. One of them was a Merc SUV, which felt like trying to kill a dog with a fighter jet.
Though you have all the power under the hood, you'll never use it. We just had 4 hours of driving to do. The other BMW seated 2 couples and a bloke from UK, who was apparently a good photographer. H

e had a tough time putting up with drunk people trying to learn british accent ;). One tip we would never forget though, how do you say butter in British Accent ? well forget the double T's always - it is Buh-er.

Atleast some kind of learning in 4 days !

BACK TO CAMPING :
At the same time I wondered, when we pay 50 Euros a night to sleep under a tree in a Van - something's gotto be wrong !
And you have trailers of al

l the things that make you feel home, small kitchen, small bed and small bath.
Only thing adventurous was having a bath. You hold the shower head, switch it ON, then wait until hot water starts to flow. After u are half way through, suddenly a gush of very cold water flows in it.. and make you move your arms erratically to point the shower head in other direction. And that is where you get bruises around your elbows.
Its 1 Sq mt of space you see, with lot of steel protruding.
Talking about bathrooms, when you spend less time cleaning yourself, and more time cleaning and drying the bathroom later - You're definitely in Europe.
But there's no match for a summer in Europe, enjoy while it lasts ;)

The last breath of a burning man to the last meal of a hungry nation

One befitting reward for a noble soul, Anna should have his next meal in a free India.

December 17th, 2010 Tunisia. The charred blood of a 26 year old Mohammed Bouazizi inhaled by millions of frustrated and raging for Justice citizens sparked off a revolution. It took a can of gasoline, a match stick and a life lived under corruption and bullying by the people "with connection" and in power to make his then ruler to visit him in the hospital. He had just lighted himself, everybody else woke up.

The Middle east revolutions have opened up a chapter and given faith to people. The faith that their voice can be heard too. A cry of pain can be neglected, but for how long ? .. It is that faith in the strength of middle class mass that has made all the difference. Why not in India ?

The patience of middle class has no boundaries, but its very important not to be tested. The incidents like these are like a slap in the face of society which is asleep in its own lethargy and difficulties. We need an awakening. Too many of our concerns and too many of our heroes get buried up in our day to day fight for bread and butter. How many of us have felt that pinch of a guy "with connections" overtake us ? .. How many of us have just let it go. Almost everybody.

We should just hope the anger and frustration now built up doesn't get lost in only "liking" the FB pages and watching news channels excitedly. It has to turn into action. Just inspire one more person next to you to join the force, you will have done your part, perfectly. Probably 60 years of free india has some effect on its people. Lethargy, status quo. Most of Civil services candidates interviews in magazines give out a aura of maintaining a status quo. That has been what we have spent most of our lives trying to achieve. Trying hard not to change the things. Or is it time we change ?

1.2 Billion people, but still very very less leaders for causes they believe. India has great entrepreneurs, greatest of business minds that ofcourse give birth prosperity to millions. But it just has been lacking one main corner stone. Many have been born with firm resolutions for bringing about a good social change. But most of the attempts have been getting diluted. It is getting diluted as much as value of a 100 Rupee note compared to its value 10 years back. Remember it will continue to get diluted with each crore added to pockets of corrupt.

And what else can be a perfect proof of constant degradation except for this ..

"There is no doubt that our grievances against the British Empire had a sound basis. As the painstaking statistical work of the Cambridge historian Angus Maddison has shown, India's share of world income collapsed from 22.6% in 1700, almost equal to Europe's share of 23.3% at that time, to as low as 3.8% in 1952. Indeed, at the beginning of the 20th Century, "the brightest jewel in the British Crown" was the poorest country in the world in terms of per capita income. " - (Prime minister's quote from Wiki)
I think millions would be pondering on the idea, may be it would be better if Manmohan singhji was India's dictator. He would'nt have to listen to anybody.

It is indeed time for change.
It takes a lot more than a world cup win, IPL, bollywood to bring about a change. They don't even know what the last 5 digits in their bank balance look like. It is the working class that has to make all the difference.

Some people with money and power do support the cause, but it is the middle class that has to carry the baton forward. Each one has to believe that he can make a difference. Even a line written by you, a message spread by you or one firm clasp of the jaw can still make a difference. But the best, go out there and feel it. I still wonder how many youngsters would have imagined themselves in the place of Bhagat singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, may be not feeling so happy that they themselves did not get a chance to show the undying patriotism for the country. Now, is the chance.

Of all the things that are going on, the most wonderful thing is that Anna is a Gandhian. No amount of Violence can bring about a change so everlasting. The change has to come today, and what a way to get it. India was freed that way, and would be freed from devil that way too. It definitely has bought a new and refreshing feeling in youngsters who once felt, things are never going to change, Is desh ka kuch nahi ho saktha.
Not until we make it happen.
And one fine day we wake up into a world where once again we get to hear the Gandhian tone of "Raghupathi Raghava Raja Raam... ".

Amazingly, Pathetic

Now that mother and sister of all the matches is over, I wonder what the news channels will term the FInal... some already called it Rama Vs Raavana, Ramayana-2011.. !

For last couple a days I was looking for how was Japan was doing, what's Gadaffi upto and all I could see and hear was one "salwar kameez" clad reporter with a mike, who probably ran around for a while to pump up her breathing to give an aura of excitement to her statement which she has made for 153rd time in 5 hours. Ajay Jadeja's hair has gone white answering the same questions in different ways and arriving at same conclusion each and everytime - "its just who plays better that day, that matters". Gavaskar has just few left for that matter..

Then I just fail to understand why they analyze so much..

After that come the non-cricket factors that can influence the outcome..

This match does not have a political angle to it, as compared to Indo-Pak match. So, the much lacking creativity of the media might be tested with this one. I'm sure the last option would be to start the analysis when thousands of years ago how Rama had led his team to Lanka to get his "cup".

And now, after thousands of years the cup had to be kept safe from Lankans taking it away !

"India Vs Srilanka, In Mumbai, in front of home crowd, in the World cup final which could most definately be Sachin's last, and Murali's last.. i mean it cannot

get better than this !!"

-- I can bet a bunch that we will get to hear/read above statement nearly twenty thousand times in 2 days

Media has become insanely Extremist, in the sense its just extremes nothing in-between. Either a player is hopelessly a failure who would kill himself if he watches news for an hour after a bad performance, or he is just the super human who can change everything into gold.. there cannot be just a normal player who played sensible cricket and carried his part of responsibility well.

Probably too many dreams of "aam-aadmi" get shattered in the monotonous day to day lives, that people search for a hero in someone and try make him perfect. When he fails for a moment, the frustration just flows...

On a lighter note, I sometimes wonder how the job interview of a reporter nowadays goes :

Interviewer : Do you know any superlatives ?

Candidate : Yes sir, many. "Amazing, pathetic, awe-inspiring, breath-taking, shameless, pinnacle, rock bottom, peak performance .... "

Interviewer : You'e in !

For what its worth, it will definitely be 8 hours of pure nice cricket, minus the politics this time ! ...

Have a good one !...

V Luv Banana

- A Series of unfortunate events.

Chapter 1) Read the offer document carefully before investing.

Dheeru and myself saw DJ coming to S-bahn station from far off.. as usual he had forgotten something and had gone back to get it. But this time we could not miss the train, hurriedly we reach and enter the train. Munich S-bahn's are unusually quiet during office hours. We were just trying to find a comfortable place to lean against when - "Please turn left in 200 mts, into Fasanengarten strasse" - the voice of female Lara from the Navigon GPS device alerted us, rather loudly. I switched the GPS OFF hurriedly. Suddenly there were smiles on everybody's faces and we were LOL ! .. Nice and funny start for the road trip, we thought. We were still in train to get the car .. There were no ends for our excitement since BMW was waiting for us to be rented out for the trip. We hurried to the rental company,
finished up all the formalities. I just casually asked the guy, "Does this car have insurance covered for Croatia ? ".
"No Sir, You should have asked for that before u booked the car. And you cannot take a BMW to Croatia." he said.
Then, the excitement came down as fast as it had gone up. We took the Opel Insignia and took off..
First time we tried planning a trip to Croatia, we landed in Budapest, Hungary. This time trip was meticulously planned to start at 4.30, we left at 7.30 sharp. Ahem.. by DJ's standards we were on time.

Chapter 2) Always try and speak to Bade Saheb.

Driving along the way, crossed Germany border, Austria, Slovenia Borders.. All part of the great EU. Don't know what's great about it, except the country borders are seamless, small boards "Welcome to Austria" and like. Then you know you are no longer in the "No speed limit" Autobahns of Germany to 130 Kmph Austrian roads. By that time Sandeep and Dheeru had managed to burn some hindi numbers into Audio CD's. And we were blasting off to the music of bollywood. Filling up whenever we felt hungry with "ein burger" understood as hamburger by the McDonalds guy, when another south Asian guy frying Pommes, "recognizes" us, would turn up for help with translation.

It was 13 Deg C outside and raining, when we reached Croatian border. This was the point where we would have a memory of a lifetime when we were returning..
We handed out a bundle of passports of all of us. The guy checking them could hardly pronounce our names, comes out and says " You cannot enter Croatia, You need Visa. You have to go back. " - Yeah, like hell. By this time Sushant was plotting our road trip, alternate trip we would take incase we HAD to return. We drive for 8 hrs, and all hotels booked to meet this Police guy at border to turn us back ! .. Then when we tried to convince we were German residents, he asked to park aside and come inside to Bade Saheb.

One thing about developing countries strikes me, the hierarchy of Bureaucracy. The "show off" of power is inversely proportional to actual powers. The Police man takes me inside the office where the Bade saheb was seated. He just saw our passports and gave a look to the policeman "just let em go, its valid and they just wanna have a good time". Nevertheless the Policeman still was trying to show off his powers, and asked us to return to Germany by the same border checkpoint. And we nodded our heads in chorus.

Chapter 3) Enter Croatia

Was time fo fuel up the car, in Croatia. Saw a huge sign which said "PETROL". We had double confirmed with rental car guys that our car was petrol and not diesel engine. We pulled up in front of a petrol pump, with Petrol written all over it. One of us tries to fill up the tank, nozzle doesnt enter the tank ! .. was already midnight and we had had enough, just get over with it. Somehow managed to put some 4 litres into the tank when someone noti

ces a small tag which said "DIESEL". Shit.. did we just fill up

Diesel in a petrol vehicle ? .. I go and ask the store keeper and he starts laughing.. yeah ok, laugh it out. But can u just point me to the PETROL pump ? .. it was just the next one. How the hell should we know that the station's name itself is PETROL

! ..

Amazingly, the petrol engine car still moved with 4 litres of Diesel in it.. hope the car rental guys dont read this .. ;)

Away we fled, into the Croatian country side where we got a glimpse of India, broken car, roads with a bit of craters, and one lane road but homely and lovely feeling. We reach the Plitvice Lakes, a world heritage site, at 2 AM. Could not find the address for our hotel, we found a information centre. At this time the amazing leadership qualities of everybody comes out, just that there is nobody to listen to them. Five people, 4 different ideas for every situation. 1 Guy was busy worrying about where to find Vegetarian food, thank god. First time in last couple a years we got scared of stray Cats, more than Dogs. Finally mustered up enough courage to cross it, and enter our hotel. Slept like a log.. as they say.

Plitvice lakes will have to be most beautiful site i have ever seen until now (US, EU, India included), but only if it was sunny. We wake up to find the rain gods pouring with blessings, we just did not need them that day so bad. Again everybody's brains started working, (because we were outside office) and decided we continue our journey to Dubrovnik right away. This for a change turned out to be good decision..

Chapter 4) Getting UP to the hotel, Villa Banana.

We reach Dubrovnik, with some beautiful scenes and drives along the way. We had covered around 400 kms, reached the centre of city Dubrovnik. GPS showed only 1 Km for our hotel. Lest we knew, 1 Km would turnout to be one of longest journeys of the trip. The city is full of mountains and steep roads, either up or down, never straight. I had not walked up anything that steep, let alone drive. But still managed to reach the top of a mountain on a rainy night. My buddies were already scared hell out of their A**. Car revving up in first gear, and only I knew where the next turn would be, and that too until it was just about time. Finally found a bit of flat land, and handed over the vehicle to DJ before engine got switched off for 5th time in 4 minutes. Each passing vehicle would honk and make me nervous, and the honks felt like "get out of the way you .. whatever" ..

We reach the hotel, and here lies the secret which gave the blog its name. The Owner of the hotel was a Banana merchant near Mumbai 30 years ago. And he did not know english. "Banana yougoslavia, Banana Maragova.. 1 kg Banana.." he went on with his stories, and we went on trying to hide the burst of laughter. People still took turns to go out of his site, laugh their heart out and come back again. His hotel too was named after it "VIlla banana". Ofcourse we understood only "banana" of whatever he said in an hour...

Chapter 5) Respect the local store timings.

We drive to split after Dubrovnik, reach around 11.30 to hotel. Freshened up, went out to have dinner. Every restaurant which looked colorful and yummy when we were driving in were now folding up their last chairs. One small sandwich shop, we just hoped we could atleast get a slice of left out bread, but no.. god had planned something else for us. With hunger raging, we decided to take the car out again and go on highway petrol bunk to eat. After half an hour, we find a petrol bunk and grabed as much frozen sandwiches as we can.. could'nt wait until we reached hotel. This is what it looked like when we started grabing sandwich packets , right on the street...

Chapter 6) Perfect team work, but turned out to be ....

Was perfect holiday, finally got a good day at Plitvice lakes which were the star attraction. Crossed few villages, where probably we were first Indians to step on its soil. Every passing car used to slow down, people in it look at us like aliens. Not only the driver, he used to tell and show the rest of people in his car, pointing his face at us. I now perfectly understood the state of a foreigner wearing their "usual" clothes in a country side in India.. well, atleast most of it.. ;)

On our way back we suddenly realize we just had few cents in cash with us. Five NRI's and may be 4 or 5 Euros in cash, did'nt look good, atleast to pay for the road tolls. We reached Slovenia border, cleared the passport check and other formalities. Parked just beside the border, and 2 guys in front seat left to washroom. I decided to withdraw some cash, went to ATM. Other 2 guys were still in the car, and the car keys too. By the strike of brilliance, the guys felt they needed to eat grapes. And worse, they felt like washing them before eating (may be first time), so they take the bag of grapes to washroom. Meantime, I return from ATM where my card didnt work. Saw the open doors of car and nobody inside closed the doors and walked to washroom as well.
2 mins later we returned together to car, but car was locked, keys inside on driver's seat and our jackets too. It was may be 15 degrees outside.And it took 15 seconds to realize that we were "locked out", middle of road, on a transit country, on a cold evening, without jackets and a bag of grapes. As usual, we started to find out who did it... but yeah, turned out to be team work.. everybody was spared. Somehow god was a bit helpful that moment, and we got a emergency number. We called up a mechanic.

For 2 hours those grapes were our companions, each grape was savoured as long as it could be, slowly biting off first half, and then half a minute later the second. There was no coffee, no food, just washroom nearby for which we did not have enough stocks..

That guy took 2 hours to come to the spot where we were stuck. After his usual cursing to us for not knowing deutsche, and 140 Euro bill.. the magical sound of car unlock was heard. We started clapping our hands, which made that mechanic think he can easily take 10 Euros as Tips without we offering.

- After all things getting screwed up, was still one of best road trips of our lives... ;)

Speed Limit 60 Mph

People are always more interested in other people's tragedies .. May be including me and you. The amazing enthusiasm that comes out of no where when u see a damaged car which had lost control a couple a minutes ago on a ring road, due to his mistake or other's. SOmetimes it strikes me, how caring are the fellow citizens to stop by for an un-fortunate person, but the hard truth is.. people just stand and stare because of an inherent nature of a person, i.e to be interested in somebody else's tragedy (not necessarily being part of it !!) .. that is the reason there's always crowd near a fight, near a accident, near a robbery .. just anywhere where something has gone wrong. And then that person instantly becomes a celibrity, atleast for that moment. Attention is just as basic need as food and water and luv .. thats the reason u r sad, its the same reason which gives u immense joy, when u get it frm ur beloved. Un-fortunately, people are not so fortunate. Its just that everybody has his/her story for tragedy, or something close to it. It is exactly this moment which shapesry his time in future. It either generates a deep fear, which will eventually inhibit his growth. Or, the best one, it liberates him of all related fears. He just sets himself free of any attachment or obligation.
-- Moral of the story:
The heading need not bear any relation with the content..

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New Year 2008

ummmmm... ummmm.. uhooon .. my friend Arun was desperately trying to imprint his thoughts on our minds through his actions. No, we were not dumb but were playing DC amidst famous "raja seat" garden near ( in? ) Coorg. Ofcourse there was no Raja nor a seat to rest his a**. Madhu and manjya were comtemplating on their next movie name to throw upon our face. It was soon after the sun had set, bringing in gentle cold breeze. And the public was waiting for dancing fountain. As if undisturbed by hundreds of people conversing and kids playing around, as the cool breeze blew over our skin millions of hairs stood up as if to combat the cold, unaware and steady, Ajay's eyes were stuck at some far sight, a goal which Swami vivekananda might hav seen thru his eyes... only now that sight for Ajay was the smile of a young lady in a red T-shirt.
It was quite a long time we had ever sat so joblessly, but there it was .. the countdown for yet another new year. As though suddenly everybody became so "professional" and health conscious, Wine became the unanimous choice of drink for the big night .. 3 bottles of Grover, and we were accelerating back to our home of 3 days. Arun, Ajay and Madhu with his trade mark doddana style arranging the woofers, Manjya taking a quick nap and Sunil trying to find himself. There was tons of silence when suddenly enrique's "i Donno whaaaayyaayaya ... " broke out. Full throttle, was the first thing came to my mind. What a way to begin the new year amidst deepest and darkest coffee estates, 3 bottles of Grover, a camp fire, cool breeze, fish fries and ofcourse ourselves.. Perfection was something which 6 of greatest analytical minds of RV would always crave, and thought we had struck it that night to some extent. But then, if we ourselves could do something so perfectly then why would God settle into less than perfect creatures.. (who?)men. WINE OPENER. We had just forgot to carry a wine opener and everybody was high and dry for the moment... but then we had to do what almighty has sent us to, no matter what we face.
.. And rest u can guess.. ;)