Crowded Buses and Long Queues

So I see this add on the Oulu city tourist website – “The world’s largest sailing ship SEDOV will arrive in Oulu at the Oritkari harbour” You could watch the ship’s arrival from several places including Nallikari. But that would be on a Friday afternoon, and with the way our UAT was going I had a strong feeling we wouldn't be able to get out for an hour or so in our lunch time to see the arrival. That was a bit of a disappointment, as I would have liked to see the sail ship with all its sails open.

But then there was this other option to visit the ship that weekend. The tickets which included the bus transport from and back to the City center and entrance to the ship’s public spaces was only 5€. That was a bit of a pleasant surprise since generally Finland is quite expensive and the minimum bus ticket fare (one way) is 2.90€. But what surprised me a lot was that they hoped (that's the word used on the brochure) that everyone will buy their tickets in advance. I was thinking…how many people are there in Oulu, that we need to get tickets in advance!!!

Was I shocked? U bet! When we approached the bus point we could see several people getting on to the bus. That was still OK. When I reached closer and entered the bus…IT WAS FULL AND PEOPLE WERE STANDING!!! Like a bus in India. Not Oulu!!! There were days when I got late at office and I would be the ONLY one on the bus.

Bus on the way to Sedov Ship!!	Bus on a normal day!

 

Well…the shock didn't end there. When we reached the ship, I saw a queue of about 25 –30 people and I was like...oh no!what a long queue!!! After an hour on the ship, I just looked over and what I saw made me thank my stars that we came when we did. WOW...that was some queue!!! But the amazing part was, like in all other parts of Europe, how everyone including the small children were standing in an organized way and waiting so patiently for their turn. It looked as if the whole of Oulu was there. Later I read that 20000 people visited the ship that weekend! I couldn’t stop imagining if this was in India…there would definitely have been a stampede. This is one of THE things that I wish we could somehow enforce in India… no cutting queues!!! By the time we left the queue was some 250 people long at least and the waiting time would have been close to an hour. Even on the ship, people weren’t just roaming around at will, but moving slowly in a queue to take a complete round of the ship. so damn organized!!!

The ship itself was a beauty! Sedov, so named by the Russians when they acquired it after World War 2 after the Russian polar explorer George Sedov. The big modern cruise ships are no comparison to the traditional sailing ship. This one in use since 1921, holds several records…world’s largest sailing vessel still in use, also the longest training ship which is used to train the marine cadets since the Second World War when this vessel was used as a school ship in the Baltic Sea. And that’s why we saw young sailors  boys and girls on the ship. It can accommodate round 100 cadets being taught navigation and engineering. In its Cargo carrying days it used to take only 92 days to reach the Isle of Wight from Sydney.

As we left the ship, I couldn't help wishing that I too get a chance to sail on this beauty...It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning.

O-India, Cycling, Indian Cultural Evening in Oulu!

I heard of an Oulu India group when I first came to Oulu. I tried to get in touch with one email id given on that site, but didn’t get any response and then just let go (I was told later that they don't entertain emails from official IDs. They want our personal IDs.). I nearly jumped out of my skin when about 3 months later, as Harsha and myself were window shopping at Rotuaari, we heard a loud, jolly voice asking us – are you Indians? It was Jacob Uncle and then he went on to explain to us about Indian community …the surprise being that there are nearly 200+ Indians in Oulu!!! and he was their patriarch! We were introduced to the term Findian – Indians staying in Finland. He gave us a quick rundown on how he had landed there etc. Told us to visit his blog and add ourselves to the Google group.

2 days later, I bumped into Renuka in the market square, a girl we had met at Nallikari when we first came to Oulu. She told us about some Cricket match that was happening and we decided to go with her…and who do we see there? Our very own Jacob Uncle!!!

What a day!!! Met several Indians and came to know what an active social life they keep…what with cricket matches, cultural programs and just general get togethers.

But the best part of the day was the Cycling! Wow…after nearly 20+ years I tried cycling again and in 2 mins I had overcome all apprehensions and doubts…it is true…YOU NEVER FORGET CYCLING!

Rubini had got her cycle along to practice, but between me and Harsha we didn’t want to return it to her. In fact we didn’t want to give anyone else a chance. Once she had it she didn’t want to give it to me and when I had it I didn’t want to give it to her! Rubini could have earned a few quick bucks if she decided to loan out her cycle for 30 mins!!!

After the match got over, we went to Jacob Uncle’s office just to hang around. There are 4 flats there that he rents out and loads of cycles. So while some played Badminton, some Carom, I got him to unlock a cycle for me and went off again!

It was awesome! I was so excited that I wanted to get myself a good second hand cycle and started asking all the people around if it is possible. Arun, from the university promised to help me and even tried. But unfortunately, the last week of May when many students return and decide to sell of their stuff, I had to go to India for urgent work and couldn’t get hold of a cycle. :-(. But the search continues!

After few days I heard that Oulu Indians are planning a Cultural evening on 12^th June, what with a full toosh singing and dancing program. Went for one of their planning meetings and was amazed to see the enthu that these people had. They had booked a nice YMCA hall and had nice professional posters printed and put up everywhere…including my office.

It was an excellent program around the Seasons in India, with all of them doing nice Bollywood numbers that went well with each season. I guess for me the surprise package was Bala, which I did tell him. Rubini, his wife, I kinda expected would dance well as I had seen in her one of the initial meetings show everyone a sample. But Bala had this ‘kuch toh kar layngay’ approach – we’ll do something…like this..like that.  But he did dance very well!!!

I had invited my friend Sirpa for the evening and she looked beautiful in the Indian outfit I got for from India. Infact she was quite happy as someone mistook her for an Indian and she took this as a compliment!!!

Kudos to all who the O-Indians who organized the event so well and to all the participants who put up such a great show!

Astronomy Course/Workshop– May and June 2009

Ruchi and Poorvi often discussed joining an Astronomy course...I wasn’t really interested so never got excited and didn’t really encourage them. But then on a busy day at work I got a call from Ruchi. She had just spoken to Mr Rao from ABAA and there was this 6 weekend beginners program which was fast getting sold out. I was just telling her that I may not be able to attend all the classes but she was like...neither will I, but its only Rs 200/-

I agreed and don’t regret it one bit. I so looked forward to the classes and when I visited Delhi in the middle I planned to come back on Sunday in time for my class!

It was a bit theoretical but Mr Rao, the course coordinator’s passion for Astronomy used to flow in the lectures. Apart from that he is so knowledgeable and would often speak about Philosophy and quote from the Upanishads and Vedas making the lectures all the more interesting.

When in the first lecture he said that Astronomy tends to make you more philosophical, I couldn’t understand how...but a couple of lectures later I started thinking that I should read something on the Upanishads and Vedas.

In between this course The Bangalore Astronomical Society conducted a 2 full day workshop on Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites with Vishnu Reddy. Obviously we decided to attend that too!

It was very good and more focused on finding new Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites. However, that is not where my interest is really, coz I don’t really want to search for new stuff, but just enjoy the beauty of what is already there.

But still the lectures were very interesting. He actually had access to those really huge telescopes 34” ones sitting in some remote place in USA which he accessed from here remotely and showed us some of the objects…quite impressive.

On Sundays we could stay back to look at the sky but May/June are not very great months for sky watching in Bangalore. But October is supposed to be beautiful and ABAA members meet every Sunday at the planetarium and get out their telescopes. And that is where you are going to find me on Sunday evenings in October!!!

Horse Riding Camp – Summer 2009

During an outing with Ruchi and Poorvi I mentioned that I wanted to learn horse riding...and what a coincidence – both were interested too. So Ruchi was given the task to find out some where we could get enrolled.

She did some amazing R & D and found out that Bangalore Amateur Riders Institute (BARI) which is under the guidance of Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) was organizing a ten day Horse Riding workshop for beginners to promote amateur riding in April-May 2009.
Each day there would be one hour of riding and on 2 days they would add half an hour of stable management where participants would learn how to handle horses and groom them and eventually develop a bond with the horses. A visit to the equine hospital in BTC was also included...sounded quite interesting, so we decided to join the camp.

First 2 days I had a horse called Soldier. There is a person (Srinivasa in case of Soldier) called a 'Side' who leads the horse and so all went well. Managed to get on and off Soldier, do a basic walk and some trotting AND importantly with no casualty. I was thoroughly enjoying myself. Day 3 the sides were asked to let go off the horse but stay close by. I was a bit nervous but luckily again the day was uneventful.

The following day my horse was changed to Al Habib...a young fellow. I just couldn’t get my rhythm with him and unfortunately I developed a severe back ache :-(
Somehow rested for a day and went back on Day 6 after the pain got better but the pain started again and so with a lot of difficulty I decided to stop the classes :-((((

It was really a difficult decision since we all were enjoyiong ourselves so much - some of my friends at the camp even created a blog (Horse Riding Notes) specifically for learnings from the camp and other useful information using mind maps, videos and the works...

And because I was feeling really bad I didn’t even go for the show that was organized for the last day where all my friends participated...

However, what raised my spirits was that Anita organized VIP Race Passes for the 1st day of the Races at Turf Club for us. An SMS from her read – “Tomorrow’s dress code for the races – Men: Jacket and Tie. Women: smart- no jeans, though trousers are allowed”. Hats and summer dresses came out of the cupboard as we got ready for the races.

Loved the VIP treatment ...for people in the VIP lounge they arrange lunch and high tea too!

Great races and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we got initiated to the world of horse race betting.

Human emotions are amazing – though we enjoyed the 1st race where we didn’t bet, the excitement levels were distinctly lower than in the following races where some of us decided to bet. At the beginning of the race we were seated but slowly rose from our seats and as the horses came closer to the fishing line we could be heard exhorting our favorite to run faster.

It was a different experience altogether...and one which made me understand how people get addicted to gambling. It takes a lot of will power not to bet in that kind of an environment.

Even though I found myself poorer by Rs 100 at the end of the day, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. But yes...I don’t want to be a regular at the races:-)

Red Bull Air Race - London 2008

Red Bull Air Race - the name said it all…high energy and excitement…and I was not disappointed! It was awesome!
Red Bull Air Race is an international series of air races held in different cities. The pilots have to navigate a challenging obstacle course made up of a series of huge inflatable cones called ‘air gates’ in the fastest possible time.
Pilots must not only be fast but deftly accurate as hitting these air gates, missing an air gate or flying through at an incorrect angle incurs various time penalties. Quite death defying!
Pilots fly individually against the clock. There are 2 types of penalties – the 3 sec and the 10 sec one, which basically means that either 3 secs or 10 secs will get added to their clocked time.
Apart from that if they do what qualifies as dangerous flying – flying too low or crossing the crowd line they get disqualified.
If the plane hits an air gate, it is designed to break apart. Course personnel nicknamed "Air Gators" replace the damaged parts of the air gate. They were quite impressive. They took barely a few minutes to bring up a fallen air gate.
The races are held mainly over water near cities, but also at airfields or natural wonders.
And this year in London, River Thames against the backdrop of the 02 arena was the base for the race. Seating was arranged on both sides of the riverside. The air gates were floating on the river.
The day started with some other side activities before the qualifying races. There was the skydiving where a few guys jumped from the helicopter leaving behind them a trail of orange. That was good but what followed just took my breath away. The Helicopter Spinning or back flipping was mind blowing. A helicopter is a much heavier aircraft than the usual aircrafts used to do acrobatics and when it spun around in the air it left us all gasping with admiration. It's one thing to see a fixed wing aircraft do manoeuvres like that but it's totally different to see it being done in a helicopter. Then there was the Helicopter rescue sequence, which was also quite good.
And finally the excitement of the actual races as the pilots zoomed about. It wasn’t long before we had our favourites and mine was Péter Besenyei, the Hungarian.
All in all I had a great time!

Independence Day Celebrations @ London Office

The dress code was Ethnic. However, only 5 of us went in ethnic clothes. Of these 2 were British women – bless them!!! Dawn wasn’t in Indian clothes but she was very sporting and innovative – she wore the colours of the Indian Flag. What hurt me was the lack of enthusiasm among my Indian colleagues. These days I think they only want free food and free beer!

Robin Hood Events

For team building Logica organized an archery day out for the AON onsite team members...
A first look at the website for Robin Hood Events and I was totally excited and fully charged up for the day out.
It sounded like great fun...we don't shoot real animals or people - more the pity, because we could all think of a few candidates we would like to shoot!!!
Started in a coach from London at 7:30 AM, chocolates to munch on the way, general banter and chatting and before we realized we were in Canterbury by 9:30 AM.
This is a ’after a simple but yummy breakfast just before the event’ snap...

3 women – so we were divided into 3 teams...The Clueless led by Pam Lewis, The Little Johns led by Dawn Eyles and The Punters led by yours truly...

Equipped with our bows, quiver with 5 arrows each, protected with our finger tabs and arm bracers we started with 3 quick practice rounds on a normal target...one of the shots in the 1st session was a bulls eye...wish I had been able to shoot like that the whole day!!!

Competitive rounds of shooting different animals from huge bears to tiny owls followed this.

And not all targets were stationary…we had birds hanging with string and it being a windy day they were moving!!!
That’s our moving target

And then there was a speed round…15 secs to shoot the 5 arrows that we had. While in the other rounds we were shooting randomly (each one was identified by a unique combination of the cock and hen feathers on our arrows) and in the end checking the targets…for this round we were shooting as a team.
This is my team in the speed round…

The negative marking round not to be missed – a wolf and a coyote in the middle of several sheep. If you hit a sheep...lose points.
This is a picture with the hits on the wolf and coyote…at the back you can see the hits on the white sheep…

A hit or a kill – many animals had an area marked out…you hit in that…it is a kill. Anywhere else it is just a hit.
That’s a kill!

Volleys- pictures of people we would like to shoot had been provided to the organisers in advance. These were pinned to some of the animals and you had a volley if you managed to shoot them.
And this is a volley…its also Murali who managed to get into all the snaps irrespective of whether he managed to hit the target or not!!!

Finally a knockout round to decide the Archer of the day…that’s all of us competing for the title that was eventually a close contest between Luke and Simon.

The final scores

Clueless - 202

Little Johns - 184

The Punters - 183

Ankh

At the Tutankhamun exhibition...the one thing that really captivated me was the ankh symbol - the Egyptian hieroglyphic symbolizing Life…
In various forms and styles, it was ubiquitous.
2 of my favourites - The gilded mirror case

And the turquoise one...the colour was sooooo beautiful...

Romanza – Act 2

(contd from Romanza - Act 1)

The opening of Act 2 is a scene from a cemetery. Vampires skate past as a huge American-style black coffin slowly moves towards the middle of the rink…a creaking sound as it opens slowly…
The body of Dracula, lying horizontally in the air, is slowly lowered into the coffin and the lid closes. Several vampire creatures take off and show a spooky flying ballet…
The scene changes…a group of elegantly dressed ladies with long white dresses and hats seem to be taking a walk... London police men are on patrol, when Mina appears.
Dracula seduces her against the backdrop of heavy metal music. She falls for his charms to a beautiful rendition of “I will always love you” which climaxes with her getting bitten by him.

Forever unforgotten is the secret and tragic relationship of Italian nobleman Romeo and the beautiful Juliet. Against the backdrop of ancient Italian newspapers informing us about the tragic happenings in Verona, where the families of Montague and Capulet live, there is a feast going on in the house of the Capulets. Romeo, dressed up so he would not be recognized catches sight of Juliet and they fall in love and meet secretly after the feast.
A lovely decorated balcony is placed on the ice in front of the stage on which Juliet appears in a red dress to see her secret love, Romeo. But unfortunately their love was ill-fated.
Romeo kills Tybalt, nephew of Countess Capulet, and gets banned. More newspaper headlines tell about the tragic events. Juliet is being forced to marry Count Paris…she swallows a drink which makes her unconscious in order to avoid the marriage. Romeo does not get the information that Juliet is only unconscious and decides to kill himself. After their last kiss he poisons himself and dies. Juliet awakes and realizes what has happened. She takes a dagger and kills herself.
The entire Romeo & Juliet number is staged most romantically and with lovely Italian love songs.

Warnings to resist temptations of the seven deadly sins echo as skaters in Spanish costumes painted with neon colors skate in with things that look like trees and transform them into small bistro tables. The femme fatale appears and starts to make fun of an ugly toreador who has got huge ears and a horrible nose. She pretends to seduce him by stripping for him. With “You can leave your hat on” she takes off one piece of clothes after the other. This scene is fantastic as we can see only the neon colored clothes and tables but no faces. It looks really funny as the clothes that she still wears seem to hover in the darkness.

Next is my other favorite of the show…it revolves around the sins of laziness and gluttony…its about the Passion for chocolate. 8 chorus girls lay down on huge cushions to give in to their addiction to chocolate. Gula, the gluttony, brings in a huge inflated chocolate cake with cream and cherries on the top. The girls start to bite into the pieces of the cake that start to move around on the ice. This number really funny one and the song “Everybody wants a chocolate!” is thrilling! At the end of the number the girls disappear into the huge chocolate cake. And come out again- fat as marshmallow men and hardly able to move any more. The only thing they’re still able to do is to fall down on their cushions, raise their fat legs like a beetle on his back and moan!

The other sins like Avaritia, the greed follow…The girl skaters enter the casino, dressed as illuminated slot machines. The boys are eager to win and try their best when suddenly the projection pictures on the screen indicate that the jackpot has been hit. Everybody starts chasing Greed and his huge bag full of money while the golden coins are falling down like stars.
Next it’s the turn for a card game. Some chorus girls mingle with the players, dressed as playing cards and of course roulette can’t be far behind.
The entire chorus performs like a life-size roulette game in a precision wheel-routine, also doing fast movements and tricky splices. They are dressed either in tight shimmering red or black suits with numbers on their backs and the two center skaters dressed in green as “zero. As soon as the croupier demands the 4-spoked chorus wheel that quickly was formed starts spinning with a principal skating around it in opposite direction as roulette ball. One by one the skaters form a wheel with “Owner of a lonely heart” and the speedy “Round and around and around we go”. Everybody joining the wheel switches on a little spotlight. The way the wheel is completed is most impressive.

Romanza’s last principle number is a beautiful one with everybody dressed elegantly in pure white….

As the show ends one is just left awestruck and wanting more…

Romanza – Act 1

Last weekend I went to watch an ice skating show…called Romanza from the world famous Holiday on Ice group.

It is a romantic trip through history, telling both happy and tragic tales of passion, emotion and love from through the ages. Amazingly skilful skating from 46 world-class skaters, artistic choreography, exquisite & colorful costumes and lighting and what a use of props! And if that is not enough…there is flying, fire and magic! A truly breathtaking performance

I realized during the show that there was no break in between the various numbers and what I learnt later was that during this show NOT A SINGLE costume change is made in the dressing room! All the changes have to be done right backstage! There’s no time for the skaters to make their way to the dressing room, not because of the distance but because of the required quick changes during the entire show.

The show begins with the creation of the heart…and the chorus team all dressed in black suits with red and green electroluminescent light cords on their bodies, shaped like hearts and in wavy lines skate onto the rink. Wonderful routine with many ice skating tricks!

This is followed by the story of Adam and Eve… Colourful paradise birds and other animals in neon pink enter the ice.
The skating by Adam and Eve was mind blowing…how he just lifts her and turns around in the same place…or when he swings her from her leg…so fast …I was like…if he lets go…she is going to go thrashing across the rink, probably onto the stands…
A huge heart with illuminated veins in red and green is moved forward on the ice. Silently a huge pink tree with apples makes its way to the middle of Garden of Eden, followed by an awesome snake, trying to seduce Eve to pick one of the apples for a bite which she finally does.

This leads us to the next scene about the seven deadly sins - Luxuria, the lust, Invidia, the jealousy, Ira, the anger, Gula, the gluttony, Acedia, the lazyness, Superbia, the pride and Avaritia, the greed. All the skaters personifying the sins were so aptly dressed and again mindblowing skating routines.

Next is the story of Samson & Delilah…The scene starts with a farmers’ dance, performed by the chorus boys with stacked up wood which is set on flame – a technical trick that was really outstanding.
Then there was a routine of a Stone Age gym. The girls exercise with huge rock handles while the boys work out their muscles with weight-lifting on Flintstone-like benches. Very, very cute…
Samson is the popular hero who can withstand any danger but cannot resist the charm of Delilah. He is seduced by Delilah and she chops of his hair which is the source of his strength rendering him completely powerless.
The skater playing Samson (he also plays Ceaser later) was the most energetic skater/dancer…twice he nearly skated off the rink…

Geishas enter the scene, carrying huge red lanterns which are being placed around the ice. Beautiful props creating a very intimate and romantic set….this has to be the famous Japanese story of love and betrayal of Madame Butterfly and Pinkerton…
A bed under a huge pavilion rolls onto the ice and there is a dream sequence where he remembers his wife in USA …so he deserts Madame Butterfly and flees

The next scene is a parade of famous couples in history - Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf…who suddenly freeze as the next couple enters: The frog and the princess and finally a bit drunken, but happy in love, Popeye the sailorman as he tells his beloved, Olive: “I wanna be loved by you”.
They are joined by girls’ in golden dresses and blond wigs, happily jumping: “I’m a barbie girl in a barbie world”. And where there’s Barbie, Ken is not far away. The chorus boys as Kens in fine white jackets with yellow hearts, yellow shirts and black trousers take their Barbies out for an excursion.
Danny and Sandy from Saturday Night fever are next with “You’re the one that I want”, before a Dirty Dancing sequence ends this number with “Time of my life”.
And then one of my favorites…a solo girl in a red dress skating to “The lady in red”…. Superman appears and takes off on an invisible cable, taking his Lois Lane with him.

The last part of the Act 1 begins with a parade of Egyptian girls, beautifully dressed in basketwork dresses, personating Egyptian amphora. Fantastic!
Then the curtain opens again and an enormous Sphinx statue with a black face is being positioned to demonstrate the arrival of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra.
When she steps down from her throne, she pulls behind her extra long golden train like a never ending waterfall.
Her entire court surrounds her with “Walk like an Egyptian”.
Caesar tries his best to seduce Cleopatra who is not easy to get…and there is a love triangle with Mark Anthony. He says “She drives me crazy” (and this is the same energetic fellow who played Samson earlier)
Lust is there to help him reach his aim, but is there a rival in the plot? Jealousy, the next of the seven deadly sins is there, too…he is killed and Cleo is off with Mark Anthony.

Act 1 ends with golden banners in a breath-taking finale! Act 2 to follow.

Winter Wonderland and Themepark simulator rides

The Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park was not really as impressive as I expected it to be…not very large and the rides there seemed to be more like for kiddies really…an old-fashioned carousel, a haunted mansion, sliding down an ice slope on tires, jumping on a trampoline while tethered to pulleys by bungee cords, a ferris wheel etc.

There was also the much hyped largest outdoor ice skating rink in England. I would have expected a far more festive and much larger ice rink (looking at the pictures on the adverts for this event) but it didn’t seem that huge… regardless of that it was packed with skaters.

But I did get my first taste of a simulator ride here…like my cousin said …it was as close I could get to getting on to a roller coaster. (Since I had just been telling them how much I enjoy roller coasters).

It was one of those high-tech simulator-ride capsules…quite small – it takes up to 14people at a time. It was just loaded at the back of one of those heavy equipment trailers –what a space saver and flexible too…just drive it to the next location.

My first impression (as I looked at it from outside it just seemed to be moving very little) was it won’t be anything great…probably again only for kiddies… but I guess I was wrong…
It was quite amazing….the theme for the one we got onto was the galaxy…and while sitting on the ride all I could think was – such a small capsule and capable of creating such fantasy …and what thrill…I guess speed was quite high coz we actually were moving from one end to the other on the seat.

It still cannot replace a real roller coaster…but when one does not have an option for a roller coaster this will do!!!

Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium

When my cousin called and said she had got tickets for a car racing event and that I should keep my Sunday free I thought it was some local racing event. Moreover since I was crazy busy at work, doing late hours I didn’t even get a chance to check out the event on the net.

So it was a total surprise …and a pleasant one at that when I reached there and realized that all the world champs were there…

Called The Race of Champions, it brings together drivers and racers from all forms of motorsport to see who’s the fastest. It’s unique as the competitors use exactly the same cars on a parallel track so that the drivers’ talent behind the wheel becomes the deciding factor.

There are 2 titles to be won – The Champion of Champions at the individual level and The Nations Cup to decide the fastest motor sport nation on the planet.

The likes of F1 Champion Michael Schumacher, F1 drivers Jenson Button and David Coulthard, World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx, Triple Champ Car Champion Sébastien Bourdais, Tom Kristensen, Mattias Ekström, Jimmie Johnson took part in this event.
Former World Rally Champion Colin McRae was supposed to take part. But due to his untimely death a couple of months back his seat was offered to his brother - Alister McRae.
The National teams (of two drivers) that participated for the cup were England, Scotland, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Finland and USA.

Wembley Stadium had been turned into a mini motor racing circuit. The race was in a knockout competition format …so we had a short races one after the other…
The cars (and drivers) seemed to have too much power for the narrow track. Moreover the track seemed too small and with too many turns...many times while maneuvering the curves I felt that the car moved horizontally and would just go off the track…Upteen times they brushed against the walls and dividers…all of which added to the excitement in the crowd…

In between the races, while the cars were being prepared for the next race, we had the other car events on the track as well as motorbike display riders
I think it was Travis (not sure)…who really entertained everyone with his car antics on the race track. He performed what is called the doughnut- literally he made the car go round and round in the same place…and after giving it a lot of race he jumped out of the car…and the car kept going in circles…it was toooooo kewl…
And then as part of a funny act - he got into another car and was about to speed off…but was stopped…so he jumped back into the car that was moving in circles and drove off the track….Amazing….

The motorbike riders were also excellent…Its like.. they fling themselves into the air and the bike seems weightless in their hands as the turn over mid air…

Many times we see car races and motor bike riders performing on TV…but live …is another experience altogether….
Thanks to my cousin for an unforgettable day…

VIP Day

1st Dec was VIP (Very Important Pedestrians) day in London.
London's West End... the famous shopping streets - Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street were made traffic free from 10.30am

Though the sun was out, it was pretty windy and chilly...but we braved the chill since there was to be street entertainment ...live performances from street theatres, musicians, bands and 2 of UK’s best aerial street performances – the spectacular Heliosphere show and the extraordinary conedancers...

As we walked down we realized that most people coming from the opposite site were eating the same chocolate…and as we reached Selfridges we saw several people dressed as elves distributing chocolates...

Munching our chocolates as we moved down Oxford Street we heard the typical Pipe Bands...dressed in the Scottish attire (a lot like the ones in Braemer)...and imagine my surprise when I realised that the whole band was Indian!!!

We turned towards New Bond Street and noticed a Punjabi dhol band walking down... suddenly they broke into their act...its that kind of music that just wants you to take off dancing…unfortunately we could not join them...as we did not wanna surprise the Londoners...though I am sure if this had happened in India we would have had everyone and everybody from the street dancing!

At the end we could see a cone shaped baloony structure...that was the cone dancers...we decided to go watch them...but were distracted on the way when we saw a shop where a girl was standing in the show window and a guy had cut up her tee in some places and was knotting it up and converting it into a designer tee. He really was brilliant and the tee looked good...the funda was that this guy was some designer from USA (I couldn’t get his name), you purchase a tee from that shop and he cuts it and knots it up for you as you are wearing it...A guy said that if this guys scissors touch a tee its price goes up to 400 quids!!! Sheena was apprehensive about standing in the show windowing and modelling...and I didn’t have the figure (coz the tees were those figure hugging ones...so we couldn’t have a go at it :-(

We killed some time in the shops in that area as the Cone Dancers had a show after 15 mins...the wait was worth it as they were excellent... Set to music, two performers danced effortlessly on the outside of the giant eight meter high air-filled cone. It was an extraordinary acrobatic performance giving the feeling of an amazing gravity-defying illusion.

As the show got over we decided to walk to Regent Street and catch the Heliosphere ... using music, lighting and the location, the Heliosphere creates the illusion of flying. Spiraling and spinning and seemingly weightless, a lady was suspended beneath a massive helium balloon. The balloon was being managed by 3 men on the ground working on the strings. Looks easy...but while we were watching the men could not control the ropes and the lady nearly came crashing down...though she managed to balance out...

Somewhere in between we also watched some skateboarders...there was a setup for them to show off their skills. There was a really small boy - maybe 8-9 years who was really good...

And then suddenly it started raining…and brilliant Manpreet hadn’t got her umbrella...we decided to get into some shop...after browsing there we realized that it still hadn’t stop raining. I needed to go for a wedding reception later and since it was VIP day I needed to walk and get a bus from outside the VIP area...this was getting serious :-). We decided to walk to John Lewis and pick up an umbrella...
I bought the umbrella - a beautiful mushroom transparent one - and as we walked towards the exit...Sheena exclaims...itz snowing...I couldn’t believe it...we rushed out and realized it was John Lewis creating artificial snow :-)

And obviously the rain had stopped as I had bought an umbrella!!!

Braemer Gathering - Sept 2004

I was lucky to be in Scotland in Sept …I got an opportunity to visit Scotland’s oldest and biggest highland gathering – the annual highland games in Braemer. It’s very popular and the Queen herself comes to take the salute here.

The bus ride from Aberdeen to Braemer has the most amazing scenery…it takes a lot to keep me silent…but that is just what the picturesque region did to me as I just eyeballed the spectacular Deeside scenery…native Scots pine and a variety of wildlife such as red squirrels and crossbills kept me engaged.

This drive is also known as the Royal Deeside as it follows the River Dee with some royal sights along the way, including the famous Balmoral Castle.

Passing through several pristine villages we finally reached our destination – Braemar… The whole place was dotted with good-looking men in skirts…the Scottish traditional kilts in green/blue/red-checked tartan…

Scots are a friendly lot and were more than happy to pose for photographs with us… One gentleman went to the extent of explaining in length the accessories like the Sporran and the headgear and the significance of the feather in his headgear.

Our photo session was cut short by the sound of the traditional pipes bands…The pipe bands are supposed to be the best and I have no doubt about that as I recall seeing them march down the road towards the field. It is known as the massing of the pipe bands because as many as 20 or more pipe bands will march and play together. The leader of the band – the Drum Major, carries a mace – a shoulder-high stick with large metal head - which at regular intervals he will toss up in the air and catch – without breaking a step

The play field is encircled by hills – one of the events is the Hill Race where the participants have to run up the hill and back – it is a unique climb as it is the only one in Scotland, which starts from the centre of a town.

There were these huge logs in the field – like telephone poles – I was just wondering what they were there for when I saw a man pick it up and toss it around – Yessss…that’s Caber throwing – a traditional feat of strength!!!


The day provided a perfect contrast – as the men showed off their strength with events like Caber throwing, throwing the hammer, the shot putt and tug-of-war, pretty Scottish girls continued with their highland dancing in the background.

A quick walk around the village and even quicker shopping… and then we rushed to get on to the last bus back to Aberdeen!!!

Photo courtesy: Sudip Saha