Holidays..Recession...Layoffs...Satyam....Obama

Its been a while since i wrote in my blog....well I donot write at all.....let me try....

2008 has gone...what i found in 2008..well facebook and because of that few old friends...

Had our holidays to India and for the first time in my life i visited along with my finnish friends as a tourist...we went to Bengaluru...Mysore...Hyderabad and Bidar and it was kind of interesting to see these places...which i used to usually drive by in my Scooter...

A few thoughts..

Bengaluru is getting dusty year after year..thanks to Metro project...please someone please finish it yaar...but the spirit of Bengaluru still remains visit the Brigades..MG's and the commercials...

Mysore has always been my favourite place and even though the road to Brindavan was hell it surely was worth the trip and thanks to my coolest friend Kevin we had a wonderful driving trip to this place once called retired persons paradise...i wonder what they call it now...

Loved Hyderabad cause it still has the old city look and feel around Charminar e.g but yeah its less dusty and the traffic even though heavy still is on the move...great places to see there and shopping at Charmas is still my favourite hyderabadi hobby...and you should never miss the biryani there....btw i was there when the NOT SO "Satyam" owners were about to be busted cause of the murky business with "Maytas" which my cabbie informed is the opposite of Satyam... so ulta-pulta haan !! I happen to see their new addition the Ramoji studios which is a big investment and worth a visit...but I still think that it needs efforts to make it an international attraction....Ramo ji are you listening ;-)

On to...Bidar a relatively unknown place thanks to its new collector at office has a lot of places to see and the India I grew up in still intact...the old town has my school and went to see the school which has now a new building and old classrooms are now used as houses....

Spent time with my parents ...had a wonder Christmas with the relatives and friends..New Years with our dear friends in Bengaluru....went visiting our relatives and friends and shopping in Big Bazaar....and now back to the snow filled Helsinki with a lot of flu to fight with.... :-)

On the other side was not totally moved by Obama's inaugural speech....but I hope he will make the dreams of millions come true.. that is peace among people..jobs in plenty...the sound of the word recession is almost like depression and it is affecting our daily thoughts and how we go about doing our work..we need to cheer up folks put in our best effort at work and at home....

And wishing you all a very good 2009 and soon it will be 2010...

End of 2007

Folks !! Last night my classmate and friend send me these wonderful pictures of a place called Kasauli in the State of Himachal North of India. We were both studying in the school ie St. Mary's Convent School and I did my 5th to 10th Grade here in this beautiful place . She happen to visit it after almost 2 decades I got to see these wondeful pictures and with her permission I have posted few on my blog..After seeing those I have now decided to visit this place with my kids hopefully in our next trip to India.We have been for the past one year trying to get in touch with our classmates of those years and hopefully hear from them someday.
With the 2008 concern being Global Warming and we here in Finland awaiting the snow since ages..I wish everyone of you a great year ahead. Thank you for the comments and good wishes all through 2007.. Here is wishing you a Very Happy New Year !!

The Pictures form Kasauli - Thanks to my friend...

Christmas Greetings !!

Have you noticed how discordant Christmas Carols sound in the month of May? Or in the monsoon? They don’t even sound right at Diwali, do they? There is something about Carols that make them typical of the Christmas season. They get you ‘into the mood’, don’t they? Some people like me make the most of the season. We start listening to Christmas Carols even as the Church ushers in the First Sunday of Advent.

The nostalgic memories of Christmases gone by leave me a little emotional (you know what I mean). I think of the wonderful times with the family around the dining table busy making Christmas sweets... while surreptitiously dipping my fingers into the cake as it was still a sweet, sticky dough. Oh for the times we sang Christmas Carols with the family during those chill December evenings after dinner and before bed and went Carol singing door to door. All of us were tired having done something or other to contribute to the joy of Christmas. It was the giving that brought us that joy so typical of the season.
At the risk of sounding like a ‘wet blanket’: I could never much take to Christmas ‘songs.’ (mind you, not ‘carols’) They seem to have quite a ‘selfish air’ about them…Admittedly their words were picturesque… evoking all kinds of images but the ‘spirit’ seems to be missing…Think of titles like…I’m dreaming of a White Christmas, I’ll be home for Christmas ..All I want for Christmas…I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus... and many others… I suddenly became aware of how ‘selfish’ a secular Christmas can be in comparison to a Good Old Catholic Christmas. The very Carols speak for themselves…Come all ye faithful…Silent Night … Away in a Manger…Go tell it on the Mountain …There was something peaceful, devout, generous and thought-provoking about them…The carols have a way of quickening the Christmas spirit. They will do this same for us even as we sing (or try to sing) them again this year.
You have to admit that Christmas ‘songs’ only encourage you to be a little more self-centred and a lot more selfish. Christmas is a time for giving and helping, soothing and supporting…but we find ourselves, helping ourselves, hoping to receive, yearning to be pleased… That’s where we miss the ‘Christmas-point’ with such songs entering our repertoire…We become obsessed with our ‘first person’ celebrations while others are helped only in as much as ‘I get my slice of the pie first.’
It’s Christmas once again…so how generous will we be this time?... You’ve got a real chance to open not just your purse but your heart and your home to anyone who needs your love…so that when you bless those around you from the goodness of your heart…you’ll notice a thaw in your frosty greetings and not just a melody but harmony in your discordant Christmas carols…Then ‘giving’ will be simple…I pray your heart overflow with Christmas joy…because in giving you have already received much more than you gave...(Text Borrowed from Fr. Ian Doulton sdb)

Merry Christmas Folks !!

Our Holidays to India

We had our vacations to India just completed and before we start enjoying the beautiful Finnish Summer here are few thoughts on our Summer Holidays to India..May is one of the hottest months back in India with the temperatures touching a max of 44C in the regions we visited namely Gurgaon in the North, Hyderabad, Bidar and Bangalore in the south. It was a maiden trip for our little girl who celebrated her 1st Birthday in India with all her dear relatives and we managed to capture most of our vacations in pictures...
To start with Gurgaon who the caby mentioned is the new Japan of India..I met my very dear and Old friend who i knew during my School days. We had a great time with his family and spent lot of time in the ever so crowded mals of the new metros of India...

My wife's home town Bidar is a very historic place and it was great to get back there as things are pretty much the same there and I love the atmosphere there..kids had a rocking time playing in the water tub and also the Birthday party we had for my little one was not less than a wedding you have here in Finland :-)


Finally we docked on to the IT capital of India ie Bangalore and met lots of our relatives and few of our friends though we missed meeting lots of my friends as kids were suffering form flu and fever...since it was a re-uniting of family it was good being home with Dad Mum and my little Sister with her little bundle of joy who had traveled all the way from Melbourne to have sort of family re-union minus my brother-in-law who could not make it as he had no holidays...


Finally, I have put together some picture which I thought were pretty amazing and which captured our holidays and the mood of India which we so cherish and enjoyed...


I would like to thank all my friends and relatives who made this holiday ever so wonderful and I am sure we will have many more fun filled holidays in future...

This is Deepak reporting to you live from Helsinki :D