A hunky SUVs, some offroading etc

Today I thought I would walk around the Airport area itself. I am staying at the Sheraton which is bang opposite the airport - not even a 5 minute walk. So, I take off after lunch, sticking to the cycle / pedestrian lanes, slowly leaving the Hotel behind. I see a rabbit (or is it a hare) scamper and get inside a burrow, like the prairie dogs I saw at Denver. Waited for some time for it to come out, with no luck. 

Anyway I continue walking and I should be like 2kms away the hotel when I come to a junction with big buildings - one of them being the Microsoft office. I click  few snaps and wait there thinking whether to return back to the hotel or continue forward. 

That is when I see a hunky blue SUV cross by. I think I have seen the same one earlier and glance back to look at it. There is something written in dutch on it, which I assume (wrongly, as I learn later) to be the name of the company it belongs to (that part was correct). As I glance at it, the occupants (2 males) in the front seat look back at me. 

And then I see them slow down and take an illegal U-turn on the road itself, which surprises me because folks don't drive like that here. And what the driver does next zaps me. After coming over to my side of the road, he just drives the SUV over the grassy stretch separating the road and the pavement I am standing on, gets onto the cycling track and stops near me. 

Now, this is not an offroading range for someone to try such driving. So, realization immediately dawns on me. It is the local cops. Well....

As I stand there, the Jeep parks a little away from me. While I am wondering what it is that I did wrong, the cop in the passenger seat jumps out and comes towards me, saying, "Hello". I wish him back and ask him if there is any problem. 

He asks me a series of questions, "Why am I walking around here?", "Am I alone?", "Where do I stay?", "What am I in Netherlands for?" etc etc. I tell him that I am here on work, am staying at the Sheraton nearby and I am alone. He asks for an ID and I show him my passport. He wants a business card - I hand over one. He takes these to the guy driving the SUV - they talk for a couple of minutes and then he returns the documents to me. 

He tells me that everything is OK. I ask him if it is not right to walk around. He says it is perfectly OK to walk around, but with the threat of terrorists, they have to be careful and thus the quick check. He adds. "It is nothing personal". 

Throughout the conversation, he was polite in his conversation. And thank God he knew English (pretty fluent too), else I would have had a tough time explaining myself. 

Note to self : Blue is not just KLM's colour. But also that of the local police and their uniforms. :-)

Back in Europe. My favourite place on earth, after India.

I landed in Amsterdam on the morning of 15th November and will be here till the 20th when I move to Belgium for a week. The last time I was in Amsterdam was in 1998, when me & some friends drove down from Belgium. But that was to the Amsterdam Central area which is where all the action is.

This was my first touch-down at Amsterdam Schiphol airport which is a pretty funky airport. For one thing, when you land, you can see freshly ploughed fields just near the runway, which was pretty cool because usually the runway is kind of fenced off. And the other interesting thing is that Schipol is not just an airport.
It is also the train station from where you can take local and international trains. And it also has a big shopping area inside with a variety of dining options.

One of my favourite things to do in a new place, is to walk around and explore the place on foot. While this is comparitively tougher to do in winter, it becomes even worse if it is raining. And from the time I landed here yesterday, it has been drizzling almost all day. But the good side is that the drizzle is mild and nothing to drench you. 

Yesterday I caught a train from inside Schipol Airport to Amsterdam Centraal and walked around the whole place. Like last time, the canal-network reminds me of Alappuzha. If only our government were to take some effort, it won't be long before the canal-network of Alappuzha could be a big selling point. 

Anyway, I am enjoying my time here and the food, especially the wide variety of breads/croissants available for breakfast. My last visit to Belgium was in 2002 and goes without saying that I am really looking forward to being back there this week. 

Contentment vs ambition.

Last weekend I was rummaging through the junk stacked in the terrace at our home in Kerala, looking for a
foldable kiddy-seat. We had thrown it there because it was not stable and Aman used to fall off it, when he
was a baby. Now, she had found some use for it and so the search.

Along with it, I found some other stuff that I knew the kids would find interesting - a toy-pistol, a plastic
cricket bat, a green Kawasaki Ninja replica bike, a toy binocular etc. I wash the dust of all of them and
immediately they are lapped up by Aman and Ishaan. While Aman takes the binocular and bat, Ishaan takes
the pistol and Ninja.

Ishaan is a sucker for bikes and cars and is already dreaming of riding my SheeBeeAar (as he pronounces CBR) to school when he grows up. Once the dust was washed off, the Ninja in its signature green colour was gleaming and for some time I was lost in the bike's looks.

Sheena looks enquiringly and I say, "I should have bought the Ninja, instead of the Honda CBR250".

The Ninja was the bike I wanted, but did not buy because I wasn't sure how serious a rider I was and also
the sales & service points were some 100 kms away in Trivandrum. It also cost double the CBR, but that
was worth it, since it is a direct import from Japan - quality would be better.

Sheena asks, "Do you regret buying the Honda ? Don't you like it ?"

"Well, I do like it and enjoy riding it. But since I keep automobiles for a long time, the next chance of buying
one would be light-years away, by which time I might be old to ride and thus I should have bought the one I
yearned for."

"Hmm, I thought we should be content with what we have."

"If you are content, there won't be a drive to achieve.", I reply, though I don't mean a word of it.

"I know only one person in this whole world who is absolutely content with what he has. And it is 
you."

She had the last word and she was right too. I am content with the CBR and the Ninja is just a fleeting wish.

Maybe once Aman & Ishaan grow up and reach riding age, I will get them a Ninja. And live my dream through them. That is, if Sheena allows it. No bikes for them, as per her. Due to safety issues. 

Where do they stash all this money ?

I am writing this from the 12695 Trivandrum Superfast to Kerala. OK, ignore the "Superfast" part, which as with most qualifiers used by Indian Railways, does not really mean what it is supposed to mean. Given that we have the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) and TGV running at close to 300kmph in Japan and Europe respectively, calling a train that does an average speed of 60kmph (922kms in 15 hours) as Superfast is the heights of imagination. I remember taking a Shinkansen from Tokyo to a customer place some 800kms away and reaching in 3 hours. Now, that is superfast. 

Anyway, coming back to topic, as is common with most Indians, an elderly gentleman is yakking away on the mobile phone. In a voice loud enough for people sitting couple cubes away to hear. Obviously we can't hear the response from the other side, but that does not matter. He is talking (shouting, would be more correct) : 

I have a nice land deal available for you. It is a 68 ground plot (one ground is like 5.5 cents) and the going rate is 3 Crores per ground. Which puts the total value of the land to a little over 200 crores. I can wring a good deal for you, but make note of the non-negotiable payment terms. I need 85 crore of it (which is the Government prescribed guideline value) in the form of a Demand Draft, with the rest in cash (black).  

Yes, he mentioned "black" and did not even lower his voice. 

200 Crores is a lot of money. And while I don't doubt the deal per se, I doubt any sane person would go around blabbering about such money with all to hear. Especially about the tax-evasion / black-money part. 

Anyway, assuming the deal was finalised at 200 crores, of which 85C was paid in the form of a DD, what about the rest of the 115C. Where would the seller stash such a lot of money ? Banks today won't take cash deposits of more than 50K. Actually even for that they will ask umpteen questions about the source of the money. So there is no way one can route it into the banking system. 

So, how will one manage such a lot of money without worrying about theft/burglary etc ? Or worse, getting into the hands of the taxman ?  Put it in a bank locker ? How much cash can a small locker hold ? Even assuming all the money is in the highest available 1000Rupee denomination, we are looking at 11,500 bundles of Rs1000 banknotes each. You will need many lockers. 

If at all you are planning to spend it, it will take a lot of shopping before one can exhaust it. The costliest car in India today would be yours for max. 6-7C, which still leaves a lot of money. I am getting a headache just thinking about it. But then I am glad I don't have that kind of money. And the accompanying stress.

Selective grief / outrage !!!

You see a puppy on the road groaning in pain after being hit by a car. Does your heart not go out to it automatically or do you grieve only after ascertaining its pedigree ?

What if you came across a suffering human (in person or on the news) ? Does his/her race / religion / ethnicity make any difference to your grief ? One would hope not.

So, it never ceases to amaze me when I see folks reserve their sorrow / emotions / empathy for only those that share their religion / language / ethnicity.     I mean, can we not just look at the unfortunate folks as humans, instead of bothering about their religion / ethnicity ?

Background for the above rant :
- Till recently, we had Muslims praying for the Muslims being killed in Gaza.
- Latest is Christians praying for Christians being killed in Iraq by ISIS.
- In the past we have had Tamils concerned about Tamilians suffering in SriLanka.
- Before that were voices concerned about Hindus being persecuted in Pakistan.

And so on ......................

How situations bring out the best/worst in you.

This happened a month or more ago. Sheena was returning from work & had boarded a train at Trivandrum Central and managed to find a seat and was looking forward to an uneventful 1-hour ride home. A lady boards the same compartment with her kids and they take some time to settle down in the available seats.

The lady is speaking Tamil and having spent quite some time in Chennai, Sheena can understand the language and can even hold a conversation. The lady is getting out foodstuffs / drinks for the kids to have during the journey and is addressing the kids very lovingly as Kanna, which is a synonym for Krishna and a common petname used by folks in Tamilnadu. Actually the other week, I heard my sister call her son as Kanna, and we are Christians. :-)

Anyway, what follows is a constant litany of "Kanna, come have this" or "Kanna, drink this" or "Kanna, why don't you go to the upper berth and lie down?" etc. Sheena sees how sweetly the lady is addressing her kids and mininstering to their needs with patience and starts feeling guilty thinking of the times when she has been angry with Aman/Ishaan or when she had berated them. Guilt turns to a silent determination to avoid hurting the kids and to instead be more patient with them henceforth.

Only a few more minutes for the train to depart and Sheena is lost in her thoughts of more loving child-rearing when someone sitting nearby mentions the destination of the train as part of their conversation. And that is when the afore-mentioned lady learns that she has boarded the wrong train. She panics because in a minute or so the train will leave before which she has to get off the train with the now stowed away luggage and the kids.

She urgently asks the kids to get their stuff together and get off the train. The kids, oblivious to the mistake Mom has made, neither comprehend the situation nor the urgency and just sit there wide-eyed, wondering what has happened to Mommy dear. Having lost all patience and in her panic, Mom comes into her true self and starts blasting the kids. The endearing "Kanna" has now been replaced with "Naaye", "Kazudhai" etc. Somehow she manages to drag the kids out of the train just as it slowly pulls away from the station.

It is now Sheena's turn to sit there wide-eyed after seeing the transformation of the woman from a loving, gentle Mom to someone possessed. It hits her that it is OK to admonish the kids depending on the situation and there is no reason to feel guilty after getting a brief & incomplete glimpse into someone else's life.

Welcoming a new member to the family

No, not another kid. We are happy with the two kids we have, though I occasionally wish how great it would have been if one of them had been a daughter. But, yeah, you cannot have it all, I guess.

The new addition is a spanking new quarter-litre bike (a baby superbike, if you will) which we brought home on the 24th of May 2014. An amazing looker in black. Me and Sheena both have a preference for black when it comes to automobiles and so the color was a no-brainer. Though I did linger briefly on the Repsol edition, but was quickly brought down to earth by Sheena's comment that it is more of a college-kids bike.

Which is to mean that having crossed 40, it is not for me. Well, wasn't hard to agree with her and that was that. 

Welcome the new All-black Honda CBR 250R, which is essentially a gift from me to myself and would essentially be a bike for me to use at Kerala when I am there during the weekends. 

Let the pics do the talking. 

At the showroom before delivery.

Divya and Ishaan with the bike

At home, raring to get going

Frontal view

 Kids with the bike

Ishaan near the bike - on our first ride to the beach

Love the bike. Just that I wish I had more time to spend with it - a weekend is just not enough. 

Nothing's holy anymore. Not even the front page of the newspapers.

Some weeks ago, this was how the front page looked like for all the 3 newspapers our office subscribes to.

Whoa !!!  Yeah, we understand you need advertisements to run newspapers in a world where the subscribed readership is reducing by the day and many big names in the US / Europe print-media have already shut down. Add to it the cut-throat competition that makes you sell a copy for 3 bucks - does that even cover the cost of the newsprint ?

In contrast, a Malayalam newspaper that has only maybe half the pages sells at double the price. Which means they can actually print news on the front page, instead of using it as a big paper billboard like the English press.

Atleast retain the sanctity of the front page, guys !!!