A well-deserved break...

It's my penultimate day at work for 2006... from wednesday, i'm going to chill at home, but only for a couple of days. On friday, 22nd december, Shashwat and I will be off on a trip that we have been planning for 2 months !

Grenoble ---> Venice ---> Munich ---> Amsterdam ---> Brussels ---> Paris

I was feeling kind of jobless this weekend, so i thought i'l make one of those maps that they show in these adventure movies, typically like "Around the world in 80 days", or "The Mummy"... the red line going all over the place, showing plane crashes and shipwrecks...

Here is my version for the upcoming trip !
See you all next year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !

Enter the Matrix !

The mornings in Grenoble are particularly hard, with the temperature hovering around -4°C when i leave home every morning. I step out of my building, and when i see the ice on the cars parked in the street, i know the temperature is below 0 !

Apparently its going to get worse, since winter "officially" begins on 22nd December, and i've chosen that day to start my 10-day Europe trip... Great!

I noticed a very wierd thing in Grenoble. When it gets cold, everyone (including me) are wearing black. You remember that scene in "The Matrix" where Morpheus is leading Neo through a crowded street, and everyone is wearing black... it's exactly like that. In the buses, in the bars, in shops and even the lovey-dovey couples in the tram stops are all wearing black...

But yeah, there is the occasional "Woman in the Red Dress", and you cannot help, but turn and "look again"...... ;-)

A New Discovery....

We're having a Christmas party at work tomorrow, and to my consternation, my colleagues demanded that i bring "something Indian" to the party. Now where in this land of wine and cheese, will i find something salted and spicy??

I made my way to Rajah Market on saturday, which is the only place in Grenoble where i may find something "Indian". Ironically, this store is run by a Tamil. I say "ironically" because he is not an "Indian" Tamil. He is a Sri Lankan Tamil !! Here is how i found out...

On saturday, at the store, when i was rummaging through the piles of Haldiram's soan papdi and aloo bhujia, i happened to look up at a wall in the back of the store and caught a glimpse of a poster. Staring back at me was LTTE supremo Velupillai P(i)rabhakaran !! Army fatigues, pot belly and all. To add to it, he had his hands on his hips, and i couldn't help but think "Whats that? The MGR look !"

So Mr.Rajah Market is an Eelam sympathiser. Ok, accepted... but where, oh where do you find a P(i)rabhakaran poster??

I paid and left... a myriad thoughts in my head.
Incidentally, that day, Murali was wearing a T-shirt that said "Peace sells, but who's buying?"

Anyway, i'm glad i found a can of Haldiram's Rasgullas !

The name is Bond...

Holy cow!

This is the most pathetic Bond film i've seen to date!

For some reason, Daniel Craig takes the Bond image in your head, smashes it against a wall repeatedly until you cry out loud, then lets cold water run over it and watches you make up your mind never to watch a Bond film ever ever ever again.

So he's tough. Nice action hero stuff. First scene, kills a guy by smacking his head on a toilet seat. No finesse, and has the smile of a goat.
When asked whether he wants the martini shaken or stirred, he says "I dont care".
And i dont remember Bond ever (EVER) falling in love with a woman.

He runs like Forrest Gump, and walks like Arnie in T2. The difference being that Arnie did that after having half his face and 1/3 of his internal mechanism ripped out by Mercury Man, and this guy does it to get to his car !

And to top it off, the trademark "Bond, James Bond" is the very last dialogue of the film, just before the credits roll in. Frankly, i think it was put in just for the heck of it, after they finished the production and then realised "oh crap, we missed something"

Chamrousse

It's December, and the French are now worried that it hasnt snowed yet. Everyday i get to hear sighing colleagues who claim that last year by now, they were skiing and enjoying the winter.

So amidst all the hype, or rather the lack of it, i took off to a ski resort last sunday. Not to ski, but just for a walk in the mountains, and to get away from the weekly boredom called "sunday".

Chamrousse is about 45 minutes drive from Grenoble, in the mountains called Belledonne, south-east of Grenoble. Around 1800m high, and still no snow on the slopes. Yet. The resort claims that it will snow this week, and the slopes will be open to public next saturday, 9th.

The 3 of us (Jean-Eudes, Stephanie and I) took a 3 km walk in the mountains, to reach a lake "Lac Achard", which was partially frozen. The place was really really cold, and on 3 occasions we lost our way.

I also saw and touched snow for the first time!
And it isnt going to be the last... we're planning to go back in 2 weeks time, for some real skiing action. Hopefully by then, my colleagues' fears will be buried in a metre of snow !

(Will post some pictures soon)