An Evening in Paris......

That Saturday morning.. at 4:30 I was at the train station at Mannheim (Germany) to take my train to Frankfurt. My flight to Paris was at 7:40. I was excited and nervous. A friend of mine dropped me to the train station in the morning. I was traveling alone and to Paris….I had to Pinch myself...." what was I doing??? …. alone! When was I so brave?" I met a few others from my office who were going to Rome and were waiting for the same train to reach Frankfurt…. the first expression was 'You are going alone???? are u crazy???'... what do I do .. I had no choice but to travel alone.

The flight was short and I reached Charles De Gaulle.. the airport .. big and confusing. I was roaming around from one place to another in search of an information counter which had someone in it... but in vain...it was half an hour since I had landed and I still had no clue how to go about.. I was going mad...but finally found my way out that i had to reach the Gare du Nord station which is a center place to stay.

Then after finding a hotel and checking in.. i started exploring.....PARIS

Wow! What a place... It takes u into an age not known to you. It's simply is so different.. the place offers you so many things....I was amazed to see the number of people, the kind of people, the buildings there look old but artistic, the roads are straight and can be seen on the map no mater how small a street it is. The modernization has got a different view to the place..but the city still stands strong with the monuments so famous,every street looks alike but has a different life of it's own........

The museum ( Louvre )…. the world's biggest makes me go speechless... Anyone who has read the Da Vinci Code would wanna see this place...there cannot be a second one like this....

The main street Champs Elysess has got a beauty of its own... u name the brand and that store is there.. in a grand way..

The Eiffel.. What do i say about this..it's a beauty.. I feel the Eiffel in day light and the
Eiffel when lit ( and also when lit.. every hour the lights twinkle ) are two different wonders of the world on their own....I spent about 5 hours there…. which was not enough..

It's such a happening place that.... u can see streets full of life. It's called the most Romantic city and indeed it is.... There was not a minute that evening when i sat down at one place...……

The feeling there would be such that…. u feel so special just to realize that you are in Paris.... when you just stand amidst historical monuments.. the gardens, the grandeur.. the very feeling of being there makes u excited, makes u go high and makes u happy....

That was an evening in PARIS I spent…. which I can't forget… which has amazed me more than anything else in my life so far.....

I hope I get a chance to go there again.... and with this thought.. I sign off!!

My first time on an aeroplane

Finally the day came...when i had to travel to Germany. there was a lot of tension, confusion regarding the Visa...it had got delayed as there was a delay in me receiving the Invitation letter from Germany. The excitement in me had faded away because of the delay....but alas! everything fell into place.

I received my visa just 4hours before my flight. All aunts, uncles, cousins visited me at home. A good friend of mine came to the airport to see me off. This was the first time I would be travelling by air, I hadn't had any domestic flight travels also before this. I was excited....time was going by so quick. I said Bye to mom,dad,bro, my friend and moved on to check in.The officials at the airport were so friendly....they helped me with almost everything.

After the security check i had a long wait for 1 & 1/2 hrs....which actually didnt seem too long. I spoke to a couple of my friends. Then the final call happened...i called home and told a final Bye.

I walked through the corridor .. if that is what it called and boarded the flight.. yuppie i had a window seat.. the flight took off.. i could see the city beneath me.. all lit up.. it looked beautiful...i saw the ulsoor lake and the philips building.. these were the only two places i could recognize.

I was just checking out the books that were kept at my seat, it was about duty free shopping on board the plane... wow! shopping on the clouds :) ....they got us dinner.. me a total veggie....as such took the Indian Vegetarian meal but still cudn't eat anything much. i then slept.
They woke us up just after 5hrs of travel and asked us to wear the seat belt.. that was when i opened the slide on the window.. and wow.. i saw the sun coming up.. what a beautiful sight that was...unforgettable.. then i was looking out.. could see the plane moving between layers of clouds, could see the ocean below, the monitor in the plane showed that it was the caspian sea. later on i saw the snow clad mountains.. dunno which!!! , then i could see the meadows. The best of it all.. mainly when we were nearing Frankfurt...I could see many more aeroplanes flying at different levels and at different directions....

I was really on Cloud 9...as my friend said at the airport before me leaving.. you'll be on cloud 9 soon!!!! This was my experience... words are not enough to describe what i actually saw and felt.....this is just a small snippet.

Mixed feelings

Today has been day full of mixed feelings... I am not keeping too well... running temperature, but still at office. :( The only thing that I feel like doing is to hit the bed, but had to be at office today... just waiting for the 1st bus to leave from office such that I can go home.

But, something exciting happened today. My manager just confirmed my trip abroad for a month. So many things need to be done... heavy head, cold, bad cough... excited yet tired...

..... Just one of those days wherein there are contrasting feelings/emotions.....

My Brother's Birthday

It’s my brother's Birthday today :). He turns 19! My, my... I don’t believe it, he's still a small boy to me.
Had got a cake for him, and we had the 'cake cutting' party this morning (wanted to have it last night but was so tired that I had slept at 10:00).
He's invited all his friends home for Lunch…. I am gonna miss it all…. :( ….I will be at office...
Well...Here's Wishing you a very happy Birthday lil' bro!
Have a nice time!

Simple & Smiling

I was listening to a song from 'Sound of music'.. 'Raindrops on roses .. These are a few of my favourite things'.
I was just thinking about this...there are so many small, simple things that can make/keep anyone happy. Only that each person could realize that this is where the
happiness lies. Only when the person knows that there can be things which you see and do everyday can mean a lot to you.
There are so many such things which amuse me, excite me so much that i can easily forget anything that 'would' have been troubling me.
As i was going through Ashish's blog.. there was a snap he had posted of a lady sitting on the sea shore and reading a book.. wow! that would be one of the
best places to read a book.... this thought made me think of all the many things that i like.. and it ended up being a BLOG
.. so many things around might interest you. From the start of the day.. through the day, till the end….every aspect of the day/of your life has a beauty of its own………

The rays of the sun through the windows of your room while you are just trying to get the last minutes of your sleep,

A nice hot cup of coffee/tea in the morning, rejoicing it by sipping it reading the newspaper.

Smell of rain, the freshness around, the sight the plants /tress all washed green

Huggable puppies

A walk in the garden/park nearby, paani puris in the evening especially when it has rained,

Humming/Singing the song which has just a big hit on the charts, as you try your hand at the kitchen.

Surfing the channels on the TV and discover that your favorite movie has been aired.

The list can go on and on…….
.... I feel it all lies in the realization that the most common things can make you smile.
I hope that each person keeps the kid at heart alive to experience and rejoice the simple things in life!

Silence kills!!!

Yesterday evening, i got back from work, It was a long journey back from office.. traffic jams everywhere because of the rains. I got home quite late, just after about 5minutes after reaching home i received a call from 'X'.

'X' and me have been good friends, but somehow the friendship has been going through a lots of ups and downs from the very beginning. The last we spoke was a month back, i had called X and the call was disconnected every time i called after which i stopped trying.

'X' called and spoke about things happening on that end. I just listened.. when asked about me.. said a plain 'Nothing'.. why didnt i speak at all..... probably coz this friendship has been through this phase many times before and this time i really had nothing to say...i have had enough.

But today, i feel weird on how i behaved, i said nothing at all. I was mute.I am one person who has always worked towards making friendships happen, but have a fear what might happen to this. I felt bad that i have been having these 'late realizations' of late....