Yours truly is in new york these days. as with everywhere else in USA its freezing cold. And I took a nice big long walk of about 10 miles. I might be exagrating a little, but in any case I did walk from the new york youth hostel till the UN. En route I walked thru most of the interesting sites of Manhatten.
first up was central park. I entered the park at the 103 st. gate. Its a big park, took be about 1.5 hrs to walk it. There are several interesting things in CP, and I would recommend anyone in NY to take a walk thru it. Here is what I saw: a big obilisk from the 16th century BC called the cleopatras needle. Its got stuff written on it in heirographics, and the translations are written on a brass plague below it. Then there is a nice big pond and several smaller ones, a place to do boating and a ice skating rink. There is also a small arctic zoo (fitting considering the temperatures) and a children's petting zoo. you can also get horse buggy rides in CP.
Then I came out on the 5th ave. Here there are a row of buildings with all embassies. Next up is the swankiest shopping district with the biggest names in shopping - cartier, bvulgari, etc etc.
Also here is the sweetest disney store. there are all the disney characters out here - in toys, games, watches, salt an pepper shakers an what not.
Next up the rockafeller center. this place also has a nice little skating rink and i guess the 2nd tallest building in NY. The 1st being empire state ofcourse. Then I started walking to the 42 street - thats where the NY public library, grand central an the UN are. all safely captured in my camera. the snaps will get posted one day :)
an by this time it was sun down, so i took a bus to times square, had dinner here at sbarro, and then took the metro back to 103 st. to the hostel.
(This is a very rough cut post written out of a internet cafe, and i have had no time to edit. so do not complain)
Monday, February 27, 2006
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Taking a walk in a 1 deg C night
Yours truly is without a car this week. So I now have to walk from the hotel to any restaurant nearby. Normally this is not a problem but this time its different since its 1 deg C outside. In simple words its icy cold. I dont need to walk more then 500 meters which I can do in 5 minutes, but that is enough to get a nice chill. At first, your ears and nose go cold. Then your head starts getting a dull headache. Then hands and legs. By this time I am generally indoors.
Kinda fun. Only not to be done too often.
Kinda fun. Only not to be done too often.
Monday, February 06, 2006
The amazing google local
So I am all alone in my hotel and wondering what to do for dinner today. The hotel does not have a restaurant or coffee shop either so I need to go out someplace - only trouble is where?
In steps google local, a short query later I have a list of restaurants near my hotel along with directions and a map. Not just this, I can also get directions to my office from the hotel and from any place to any place in general.
This is just brilliant. Can't wait till they get data in such detail for India.
In steps google local, a short query later I have a list of restaurants near my hotel along with directions and a map. Not just this, I can also get directions to my office from the hotel and from any place to any place in general.
This is just brilliant. Can't wait till they get data in such detail for India.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
San Francisco
and its fabulous golden gate bridge - which I did not get to see :((
I had planned to wake up early on saturday morning and get to the train station at 8 to catch the weekend hourly Caltrain that would come by at 0819. I finally woke up at 1100 (which is not unusual) and got ready to go by 1150 (which is a record). Not wanting to miss the next train at 1219, I took a cab from the hotel to the train station, which was a good thing I did, cos I got there just in time. Now these Caltrains are just huge. They have two decks and are over 30 feet tall. Its a very impressive sight to see them running (they can be spotted from the RH office). An hour and 15 minutes later I am at San Francisco. Only I am about a mile out of city center. So I leg it onto the 4th street till I hit market street (city center), which just like any city center is full of shopping malls, showrooms, boutiques and the like. On my cards this day was to visit the fisherman's wharf (there are sea lions to be seen here for free:) ) and the golden gate bridge.
Getting to fisherman's wharf is an experience by itself - you do this in a cable car from market street. Cable cars are a 19th century invention which are still running today (and hence are expensive to run as well). The one way fare is $5. But its the experience which counts. A cable car is not much bigger then a mini bus, it runs (quite slowly) on tracks laid on roads, is powered by underground electricity cables, and you can hang out on the footboard (much like mumbai local istyle). One half of the car has covered windows, which is a good place to sit if it rains. The ride to fisherman's wharf goes through a lot of traffic, the roads are crazy steep (like > 45 deg) and the neighborhood is a charming place to be in. I recall having seen these roads in some movie in a car chase - where the cable car speeds out of control with the villian on board and the hero following in a car. There is also that amazing strip of zigzagging road going from top of the hill to the bottom. So the cable car ride takes about 15 minutes, landing near a historic chocolate factory right next to the wharf. There are a number of piers here, and walking all of them would take forever.
The first interesting sight is pier 43 (or 41 i forget which) where there are a lot of antique ships moored and you can go on board for a price. You can also see Alcatraz which is the prison island from the movies (Pictures coming later ;)).
Then there is the Boudin's bakery which makes sourdough bread shaped like crabs and lobsters and crayfish and other crustaceans. They also serve you clam chowder soup in a sour dough bread bowl, which is very yummy. The best part is that you get to eat the bowl after you finish the soup. I tried doing this, but only managed to eat half of the bowl. I bet a lot of bread gets wasted in this manner. I also had a tuna fish sandwich which was just passable. And that was lunch.
(It starts drizzling post lunch.)
The next most important feature is Pier 39. This is where you get pure unadulterated commercialised tourism. Souvenir shops, whacky toys, cafes, the works. There is a joint here that makes movies of you riding a magic carpet. You stand on a carpet in front of a green background and act as if you are really on a magic carpet. They then mix the movie and show you flying all around the world.
The best part here are the sea lions - who are the permenant residents of pier 39. Most of them were sleeping but there were a few playing around, jumping in the water, fighting, and barking loudly. These guys definitely are fun to watch.
By now it was 1700, the sky was getting darker, the rain was falling harder and I started looking forward to getting back to the hotel. I would have loved to go see the bridge, but it was already late, I was all damp, the hotel was over 45 miles away, and I had no car. So I decided to start back home.
(This piece was written when i was in SFO, I only got a chance to edit and post it now.)
I had planned to wake up early on saturday morning and get to the train station at 8 to catch the weekend hourly Caltrain that would come by at 0819. I finally woke up at 1100 (which is not unusual) and got ready to go by 1150 (which is a record). Not wanting to miss the next train at 1219, I took a cab from the hotel to the train station, which was a good thing I did, cos I got there just in time. Now these Caltrains are just huge. They have two decks and are over 30 feet tall. Its a very impressive sight to see them running (they can be spotted from the RH office). An hour and 15 minutes later I am at San Francisco. Only I am about a mile out of city center. So I leg it onto the 4th street till I hit market street (city center), which just like any city center is full of shopping malls, showrooms, boutiques and the like. On my cards this day was to visit the fisherman's wharf (there are sea lions to be seen here for free:) ) and the golden gate bridge.
Getting to fisherman's wharf is an experience by itself - you do this in a cable car from market street. Cable cars are a 19th century invention which are still running today (and hence are expensive to run as well). The one way fare is $5. But its the experience which counts. A cable car is not much bigger then a mini bus, it runs (quite slowly) on tracks laid on roads, is powered by underground electricity cables, and you can hang out on the footboard (much like mumbai local istyle). One half of the car has covered windows, which is a good place to sit if it rains. The ride to fisherman's wharf goes through a lot of traffic, the roads are crazy steep (like > 45 deg) and the neighborhood is a charming place to be in. I recall having seen these roads in some movie in a car chase - where the cable car speeds out of control with the villian on board and the hero following in a car. There is also that amazing strip of zigzagging road going from top of the hill to the bottom. So the cable car ride takes about 15 minutes, landing near a historic chocolate factory right next to the wharf. There are a number of piers here, and walking all of them would take forever.
The first interesting sight is pier 43 (or 41 i forget which) where there are a lot of antique ships moored and you can go on board for a price. You can also see Alcatraz which is the prison island from the movies (Pictures coming later ;)).
Then there is the Boudin's bakery which makes sourdough bread shaped like crabs and lobsters and crayfish and other crustaceans. They also serve you clam chowder soup in a sour dough bread bowl, which is very yummy. The best part is that you get to eat the bowl after you finish the soup. I tried doing this, but only managed to eat half of the bowl. I bet a lot of bread gets wasted in this manner. I also had a tuna fish sandwich which was just passable. And that was lunch.
(It starts drizzling post lunch.)
The next most important feature is Pier 39. This is where you get pure unadulterated commercialised tourism. Souvenir shops, whacky toys, cafes, the works. There is a joint here that makes movies of you riding a magic carpet. You stand on a carpet in front of a green background and act as if you are really on a magic carpet. They then mix the movie and show you flying all around the world.
The best part here are the sea lions - who are the permenant residents of pier 39. Most of them were sleeping but there were a few playing around, jumping in the water, fighting, and barking loudly. These guys definitely are fun to watch.
By now it was 1700, the sky was getting darker, the rain was falling harder and I started looking forward to getting back to the hotel. I would have loved to go see the bridge, but it was already late, I was all damp, the hotel was over 45 miles away, and I had no car. So I decided to start back home.
(This piece was written when i was in SFO, I only got a chance to edit and post it now.)
Saturday, February 04, 2006
An evening with the great dictator
I am all by myself in Boston today with nothing to do, so I decided to see one of my favorite movies, 'The great dictator'. At the end of the movie is one of the greatest speeches you can ever hear. While one might think it was made to showcase the stupidity of Hitler and his dictatorship; the speech is just as relevant today as it was then.
The root of it all lies in an unfulfilled soul causing limitless materialistic desire leading to greed and insecurity. And the problem today is much worse then it was during Chaplin's time.
The root of it all lies in an unfulfilled soul causing limitless materialistic desire leading to greed and insecurity. And the problem today is much worse then it was during Chaplin's time.
Look Up, Hannah
Final Speech of The Great Dictator (also known as "Look Up, Hannah") by Charlie Chaplin
Schulz: Speak - it is our only hope.
The Jewish Barber (Charlie Chaplin's character): Hope... I'm sorry but I don't want to be an Emperor - that's not my business - I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.
We all want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful.
But we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men's souls - has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.
We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say "Do not despair".
The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people, will return to the people and so long as men die [now] liberty will never perish...
Soldiers - don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you - who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder.
Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate - only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers - don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty.
In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written " the kingdom of God is within man " - not one man, nor a group of men - but in all men - in you, the people.
You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let's use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfil their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfil that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.
Soldiers - in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
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