.... and Everything !

I'm back to updating my blog through my heavy schedule. Actually i have some time at hand now, being the Armstice weekend... free time now poses a strange problem - we dont know what to do with it. We're so busy all the time, that work is like an addiction !

Anyway, the last 3 weeks have been BAD ! we had 3 midterm exams (stats, plus accounting and fin markets). We had classes alongside, which means the usual 3 assignments per week. To top it off, my group had to present on "Talent Management in China" for the HR course, and that happened to be on the same day as the accounting exam. Yeah... the last 3 weeks have been BAD !

I've been thinking a lot about Grenoble. I miss the place. The mountains, the first snow, the chilly breeze at this time of the year, the rain (as shitty as it can be at times). I even miss my hairdresser (Jouy en Josas has only 2 hairdressers, not much choice). I should go there more often... Geoffrey and Magali were in Paris last weekend, it was good to meet them. Reminded me a lot of the good times in Place Notre Dame in Grenoble. I think it's the people in Grenoble that make the place so special for me !

Oh, and i got my French residence permit, so now i'm a legal resident in France. The process was "incident free" (read : no questions about my Mauritian decent or origin).

This morning, I paid my income tax in France (yes, i worked here all of 2007). I now need a bailout plan to save me from certain bankruptcy !

Updates...

My schedule is packed with classes, seminars, team meetings, presentations, mid-term exams and the likes, and i must be excused for not updating my blog more often.

I've been to Paris twice since i arrived on campus, so you can imagine how busy i am... besides, getting to and back from Paris on a saturday night is a real adventure (as we found out 3 weeks back) and i'd rather spend a quite saturday evening listening to good music than venture out into Paris !

I started climbing again, and it feels really good. The wall at the campus gymnasium is under repair, but the school organised for us to climb at a place close by. Nice wall, good routes and great company to climb with !

Had a big birthday dinner last friday, my classmates were nice enough to organise it in one of the 2 restaurants in Jouy (yes, not much choice) with a bottle of champagne and all !

I have 3 midterm exams coming up in the next 2 weeks, but i'm looking forward to the 4-day Armstice break in November!

L'Ile Maurice

No, dont get too excited. I'm not travelling to L'ile Maurice. Not yet, atleast.... For the ignorant, "L'ile Maurice" is french for "Mauritius" !

The reason for this post - I'm surprised at the number of people who ask me if i'm from Mauritius !!

It all started back in November 2007, during this trip to the Netherlands. We all remember how i was stopped and frisked by the police in Paris Nord, which eventually led to missing the connecting train to Grenoble. What i did not mention in the post was the stupidity of this french cop who stared at my residence permit (which clearly stated my nationality as "indian") and still asked me "Vous etes de l'Ile Maurice, monsieur?"

6 months later, in April this year, i was back in Bangalore and on Commercial Street with some french colleagues. Obviously, i was taking every given opportunity to practice my french, and our conversation was overheard by some random customer in a saree shop where my colleague was deciding what to buy for his wife back in France... next thing i know, the guy walks up to me and says "Vous parlez francais, vous etes mauricien?"

And now i'm back in France, and in the past 2 weeks i have been asked thrice if i'm from "L'ile Maurice". This includes the security guard at HEC, one french classmate and a staff member of the MBA program. An american classmate thought i was indian by origin, but born in france...

Of course, i can assume that this confusion is an indicator of my level of french, but that wont be too modest. But it's funny i should be perceived as a Mauritian in this place. We had a session on "stereotypes" last week, trying to teach us that at a certain point our cultural/national identity stops and our personality begins, and each of us draws this line at a different point. I guess you dont meet too many indians who speak french !!

Integration Weekend

After 5 parties in 8 days (and all the integration possible), my class headed out to Normandy on saturday (13th) morning for a weekend of "integration".

Agenda : Outdoor activities, picnic, party, Mont St.Michel, food etc...

We were about 120 of us, had 2 buses and 2 cars and drove for about 4 hours from Paris to get to Caen by around noon. Had a nice lunch in Mercure hotel before heading out for some "Accrobranche", which is basically a mixture of climbing trees, zip lining and the assorted monkey tricks one can think of on a tree... it was a good reminder of how unfit a bunch of late-20 year old's can be, and we came away mostly vowing to do more sport and stay fit (yeah right, i see that happening, no time to eat lunch at noon out here !)

What followed was nice picnic, over some wine and snacks, mostly discussing history, politics and culture among our new found friends. This part was really amazing, simply because of the sheer diversity of my class at HEC !

We drove back to Saint-Lo, chilled for a while, ate dinner and then off we went to party at a nightclub that had been reserved for us ! The party went on until really late (or early next morning), and people got back to the hotel at 4 a.m. on sunday morning !

8 a.m. generated some of the most comic scenes outside the Mercure hotel at Saint-Lo. People with hangovers, some tired, others sleeping on the steps, some with bad stomachs and others just unable to speak ! And off we went to visit St.Malo, which is a historic fortified town in Normandy... When we got to beach, there were some random jokes being made about how we all looked like terminally ill patients who were brought to the beach to fulfil their last wishes. I dont think some of my friends appreciated that...

But the beach had a good breeze, and that did us some good. People felt a lot better while we were getting onto the bus to head to Mont St.Michel. We had a huge lunch before heading to the real abbey, and once there, we were met by a dignified lady who was to be our guide. Honestly, i have never seen a guide speak so passionately as she did, and she even made tons of jokes in between and kept us interested throughout our visit of the magnificent and historic monastery.

Everyone slept on the way back to Paris, especially since we caught the sunday evening traffic. We made it back to campus by midnight, and crashed !

This morning we had a seminar at 8:30, and people were still walking in at 9:15....

HEC - First Impressions

I had been waiting for 4th September for an unbelievably long time, and time had almost crawled to a standstill. I left Grenoble at 4:30 am and took the train to Paris. After a hurried walk to Gare d'Austerlitz, an automatic ticket machine that wouldn't accept my debit card, a turnstile that wouldn't let my suitcase through, and a 1-hour train ride, i finally made it to Jouy-en-Josas !

Allow me to go off on a tangent here for a moment. I once abused Shashwat for living in Angouleme. It wasn't his fault. He was just there. Angouleme just happened to be so "in the middle of nowhere" that i took it upon myself to poke fun at him. Dude, honestly, you can now go ahead and insult me. Jouy is 10 times smaller, has 7000 people, 3 main streets, 1 supermarket and really is "le trou du cul du monde" !

More importantly, HEC is located there, and i took a short bus ride (thank god for that, HEC is on a hill) to campus and went about my paperwork and check-in etc...

The more interesting aspect was meeting my new classmates, many of whom i had exchanged emails/messages with since the admissions. Meeting them and all the others was very very interesting (you will see why a litte later)...

The first party was the same evening, and what followed were 3 others in as many days, all weekend ! However, things did get a bit more serious today. We had a solid first day of orientation, along with a conference in the evening. Tomorrow starts with a French evaluation test, followed by French oral interviews.

Coming back to my classmates... To mention some of the backgrounds :

A French "gendarme"
A Canadian who was working in Panama
An Indian merchant navy captain
A "Quebecoise" who isnt really a Quebecoise
A Georgian woman entrepreneur
A Russian software engineer (who sat across the Georgian at lunch one day, but no gunfire was heard...)
A Portugeuse guy who wants to go to Goa !
A Greek electrical engineer with whom i discussed MV cables !
A Japanese automobile engineer (there's a cliche) who knew that Toyota has a plant in Bangalore
A German lawyer with a great sense of humour (he even said "ich bin ein Hamburger")
A Chinese guy who never worked in China !

I have a session on "Cultural Stereotypes" on wednesday. I'll keep you posted...

So Far, So Good...

It's been a week already !
It was great seeing all my wonderful friends, catching up, walking those same streets again. I stepped into Grenoble and felt right at home. It didnt even feel like i had been away for 6 months !

Tomorrow morning i take the TGV to Paris, to start my new life at HEC. I'm a bit anxious, as to how it will turn out. But then it's part of the deal, and i'm sure i'll cope with the feeling once i get to school tomorrow, get my studio, meet my new classmates etc.

Oh, and i tried to change the address of my blog. Apparently blogger allows you to do that (good thing!), but unfortunately someone already took "lifeinparis" (bad thing!). So i guess i'll just have to keep writing at the same address, and ignore the fact that i no longer live in Grenoble !

I'll put up some pictures in my next post. Maybe of the HEC campus, my studio and the French Summer !

I'm Back !!!... Again !!!

I know, I know, it’s been a very long time since I blogged. In fact it’s been so long, I actually wondered why I’m still using a such an old picture for my profile on blogspot !

For all those who have been in touch with me outside of the blogsphere, I guess you know what’s been happening…

For all those who don’t… here goes!

It seems like I’ve just returned to India, but it’s been 6 months already. Since then, a lot of things have changed. For starters, and this may shock some of you, I quit my job!! I came back to India in March, wrote the GMAT in April and applied to a few business schools in Europe. With 4 admits in hand, I chose the best of the B-schools at my disposal. I’m back in France, and will soon (like, next week) start pursuing an MBA at HEC, in Paris.

So, while I figure out how I can change the address of this blog to “lifeinparis”, rest assured that you will read a lot more from me in the coming days. Maybe I won’t be travelling as much this time around, considering I no longer have an income and my budget is the thinnest possible shoestring… but I’ll surely report the little happenings, my continued exposure to new cultures (HEC promises a lot of that), my personal learnings and as suggested in the title of my blog, “everything” !

Oh, and in the meantime, Bangalore has a new airport and I was lucky to be on the first commercial flight to take-off from there. On the flipside, the security checks are more stringent than ever before thanks to some lunatic who decided to pack explosives with nuts/bolts and place them in bus stops all over the city. Bangalore also has more potholes on the streets, thanks to the rains over the past month.

Otherwise, Shashwat got married, Tim returned to France after 4 months in India, and I am currently in Grenoble catching up with old friends before I can start school next week.

Talking of Grenoble....I took the bus from Lyon Airport to Grenoble yesterday, and i had a sudden flashback. I remembered the first time i landed in France 2 years back, and how i took that first bus ride feeling edgy, not knowing what was in store for me in a place where i didnt know anyone ! This time around, i knew the place (and i love it !). I knew people were waiting to see me in Grenoble... it felt strangely different from the last time...

Shots Fired !

As usual, i've been a bit busy with work and other assorted things. I really dont want to make it a habit to write when someone urges me to write, but somehow that is how it turns out !

This time i have something really interesting to write. And i hope everyone (read : Indians) will take it in good spirit. Something i thought was very normal 2 years back, but now i am completely shocked by it.

Allow me introduce Timothee. A Frenchman, colleague and most importantly a very good friend. Timothee is now in Bangalore for 3 months as part of an internship that he needs to execute in a foreign country, to obtain his degree. He arrived in Bangalore about 10 days ago.

Last night, frantic call from Tim at 2:30 am (yes, ungodly hour). He sounds really disturbed, and says he hears gunshots in his building, and i can hear the same over the telephone. The stray dogs are whining on the street outside, and he thinks someone is shooting them. I called Hashir, who lives in Indiranagar, and asked him if he could check out the neighbourhood and see if all is well.

Hashir calls me back in 10 minutes and tells me that there is a huge crowd of people taking out a procession from a temple nearby. The procession included an idol, a truck and lots of firecrackers. I'm not surprised that someone who was a stranger to these sounds would mistake this to be gunshots.... We called Tim, explained the situation and personally, i was very embarassed !

Which brings me to my point of view on the matter. There is a lot i can say, but i will keep it short and sweet....

Firstly, we seems to think worship is effective only when it is done at the expense of someone else's peace of mind. What happened to privacy and personal space?

Secondly, what is the whole fuss about? Are our gods asleep? Is that why we go "Hey, listen, we're worshipping you now, so you better wake up" ??

The prodigal son

It's been about a month since I stepped out of the Air France flight from Paris to Bangalore. Life has been quite hectic since then. Going back to work in Bangalore, getting a cell phone, setting up an internet connection (and putting with appalling low speeds), buying a car, meeting old friends, shopping etc etc.... they have all kept me too busy to really sit down and write a few words.

Through most of my "re-integration", I kept going back to Grenoble, mentally. Not a day has passed without me thinking about Grenoble, my apartment, the mountains, the cold. I still cant quite believe i wont take a flight back soon, and show up in front of 108 Rue d'Alembert. A few experiences in this past month wanted me to drop everything and fly back. But reality kicks in soon, and i realise i'm back in Bangalore.... atleast for now.

Going back to work here isn't easy either. I guess i picked up a lot of habits in France. Notice that i dont say "good" or "bad" habits. I'm not judging. But its true that the habits dont quite fit in to India and it's work culture...

Time to adapt again? Or do as i feel is right? Individualist or collectivist?

Of course, it goes without saying that i now notice small things about India (and Indians) that are odd. Mind you, i found these things completely normal before. But after the way the past 2 years have changed my life, i am downright shocked with a few things ! And i totally intend to write about these not-so-obvious things that seem to make a big difference in society. Especially in a society as populous as India !

Maybe my next post will be on the proper usage of "Please" and "Thank You"

Stay tuned !

Grenoble's Greatest....

So here goes... as promised !
(in no particular order or ranking)



Friends/Acquaintances (Well, this one is surely rank #1)
People i met in Grenoble/France have all enriched this experience in several ways, big and small. I would not have made it without some of them (they know who they are) . Others taught me important lessons in life, even though they may not know it.


The mountains !

The Isere river, no matter how many times you hear the story of the 8 drowning students.

Sadistic tram drivers who refuse to open the tram door when they seeing you running towards one.

Wine and cheese !

O'Callaghan's and the saturday night crowd, even though it meant bumping into project managers from Schneider.

The Coke vending machine that never worked, below the telepherique station.

The telepherique and La Bastille !
(and the view of the Mont Blanc massif to the north-east)

The Chartreuse (the mountains and other things that go by the same name !)

"Grenoble. Ici, Grenoble"

Food !
(yes, all of it !)

Druid's and his awesome playlist...

Alliance Francaise, Monsieur Thomas, his map of France, and his 'par coeur' discourse on the origin of Kir.

The winters. Waking up to see the sun rise over the snow-covered mountains had it's own charm.

Travelling.... everywhere !

Attempting to ski...

Place Grenette and the wind that threatens to deposit you at Victor Hugo.

Saying 'bonjour' and 'merci' to the bus drivers everyday !

My neighbourhood boulangerie "Les gourmands disent".

Strangers asking you for cigarettes !

Monaco and how it tastes "like a dream"!


These are a few things that i am going to miss... I'm sure there are others, and i'll realise it only once i'm gone. Will report back.

I think this blog is going to move in a new direction now. I am inclined to start writing about my return to India, shocks i encounter, and how previously 'normal' things may not seem so normal anymore.

Stay tuned !

So Long, and thanks for all The Fish

In about 10 days from now, i would have given up my apartment and will be ready to go out one last time with friends in Grenoble. 18 months have flown past in the blink of an eye, and as i said to Malene the other day : all good things must come to an end !

I remember how and when i arrived in France.
http://lifeingrenoble.blogspot.com/2006/08/so-this-is-it.html

I remember who and what i was at that time, and how my thoughts, perceptions and myself have changed over this period of time. When i first arrived here, i knew it would be a life-changing experience, and i couldn't have been more right ! It has been one hell of a roller-coaster ride, and i enjoyed every bit of the highs and took lessons out of the lows.

Life in France has been different and truly enriching. I guess when you stay out of home, especially alone, you tend to look at things with a certain benchmark in your head. For me, that benchmark has now moved. It may not be good to expect the same things again when i relocate again, but what's the harm in trying to change yourself if you cannot change things/people around you?

I will miss Grenoble dearly ! This place has been my home for the past year and half. I have been happy to come back here each time i travel, glad to hear the familiar sound of the tram when i get off the train. Some people have not understood this when i explained it, but in this town there is a certain warmth and character that i am yet to find elsewhere.

I took some friends out for a drink one evening last week, and as we raised to toast, everyone asked me to list out what i loved most about France/Grenoble. Obviously it was impossible to list out right there, since there is so much. But i promised to write about it in my blog. That list will soon be here...

The "Motherland"

After 5 months of delay after delay, i finally took the TGV to Paris last week and applied for my Visa to the UK. The company payed (for everything, since it was a business trip), and what more, i got the visa on friday 25th and flew to Leeds on sunday 27th. 3-day stay, to return on wednesday 30th to Grenoble.

So away i went again, flying from Lyon to Amsterdam (i've lost count, honestly !) and then Amsterdam to Leeds. Both tiny aircraft. The first one as small as the Milan-Lyon flight i took on the way back from Greece, where one could feel every small air pocket and the descent felt like the pilot was dive bombing the airport. The second one was small too, called "KLM cityHopper"... So you can imagine !

Bumpy landing at Leeds !!!
The pilot warned us that there was a heavy wind blowing across the airstrip, and did we feel it ! It was the roughest landing i have ever experienced, the one where you really have your heart in your mouth and when it's over you realise your jaw is locked. The pilot promptly put us down with a thud, and then missed the runway exit to the terminal ! He braked hard, and when he started drifting to the right, i had a bad bad bad feeling. Thats when i realised he was actually making a U-turn on the runway, cuz he had missed the exit ! Either way, hats off to him for even landing that plane, i'm sure it wasn't easy !

Passed through immigration, where i got my first whiff of the "English".
"How long would you be staying Mr.Srinath?" with a thick accent ! I wanted to point and laugh, but i had to control myself...

Anyway, exchanged some Euros to Pounds (and noticed that there are probably 10 different varieties of 20-pound notes !!) and booked a taxi to the hotel. And even as i was doing that, there was a big commotion in the airport. Out of nowhere, a man of south-asian decent (read : indian/pakistani) was screaming "ooh maa, ooh maa" (yes, in hindi), and the cops were all over him. The general public obviously was convinced that he would blow up anytime, and were all shell-shocked !
Welcome to the "Motherland" (ref: Russell Peters)

My taxi driver greeted me with a "Are you alright?". For a moment i thought he meant did anyone get hurt with the fiasco in there... (more about this later !)
He turned to be very very talkative (in a nice way). In the 15 mins ride to the hotel, we discussed the following:
1) Where did i fly in from? What do i do in France?
2) Leeds Airport is on top of a hill, thats why the wind !
3) Indian Independance and Partition (touching upon Bangladesh too)
4) The floods in Leeds 2 weeks back
5) Kashmir
6) Why he didnt become a pilot
7) Curry and where you can find the best on in Leeds (place called Akbar's apparently)
8) How i should call his taxi company for the ride back, since all the others are "stealing".

The next 2 days was mainly work, sorry i cant speak much about that. Although i must highlight a couple of things about the general environment in the UK.

Everyone wears a tie at the Schneider plant in Leeds !!
Everday !!

The English always greet you with "Are you alright?". The first time someone asked me that, i wondered what was wrong. You know, I hadn't been hit by a truck !!! And then everyone was asking me that, and i figured that is just the way they greet each other !!!

The funniest instance was when the guy who was organising my visit actually said to me "You speak good English, where did you learn it?". I really wanted to laugh, but i did tell him that it was thanks to 400 years of his ancestors' presence in India.

I think the Security check at Leeds Airport needs a separate blog entry... more about that later !

Whats been happening....

As usual, it has been a while since i wrote, and this time the only excuse is that i've been busy. I will not mention why, just that i have been busy.

Since my trip to The Netherlands, i have done the following :

1) Weekend at Sancerre with Caro, Louis and their friends (super wine tasting experience)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swaroopsrinath/sets/72157603256679233/

2) Having a good time with friends in Grenoble

3) Work

4) Grenoble-Bangalore-Grenoble for Christmas ! Big surprise for my mom, and boy was she surprised to see me at the door at 6 am in the morning !
(also flew business class, thanks to my flying blue membership with Air France... too cool!)
http://www.sevenstarsandstripes.com/newsletter/newsletter34/AirFrance-BusinessClass.jpg

5) Weekend at Mehdi & Caro's place, a short distance from Grenoble.

6) Lightning visit to Paris for a UK Visa (which i still havent got !)

Voila !
Standby for more updates in the coming days, regarding my departure from Grenoble....

Hail, Drugs and Lots of Trains...

After 5 days of exhaustion, a very boring training, recovery and another plan for the coming weekend, i've decided to write about my 4-day trip to the Netherlands last week. And what a trip it was !!

I took 2 days off from work, and left Grenoble early on the morning of 8th, and made my way to The Hague in Holland, passing through infamous Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels. I got there early in the afternoon, and hung around in the centre of town until Amogha could finish work for the day.

Amogha has a duplex apartment on the beach, paid for by the multi-national software company that he works for. Obviously this prompted me to get back to old habits, and i once again ended up abusing software engineers, the fact that they are spoilt, and how they dont deserve all the stupid perks that they get.(If any softies are reading this, you can leave your abuses in the comments column, and i will get back to you. But rest assured i will justify each of my points and leave you wordless)

Anyway, there was a storm that night, and on the morning of 9th i had the impression that i would not be able to visit the city at all... it was raining, accompanied by strong winds.The sun eventually came out by 10 A.M, i left for the city centre to do my usual "walking tour", and was warmly greeted by a hail-storm !! One which lasted all but 30 seconds, but rendered walking difficult !!

I spent the rest of the day discovering The Hague, and found that it is not a big place, and like most European cities, "all roads lead to the central square". I also found out how easy it is to get run down by a Dutch tram. They run everywhere, there is not distinction between a tram track and a pedestrian path, and they sneak up on you when you are looking elsewhere. And they cost a bomb !!

Dutch women, however... they have beautiful noses !Once you meet a dutch woman and you get a glimpse of her nose, everything else fades into oblivion...

Dont ask me why and how (i dont want to abuse Amogha's planning skills), but on Friday night we ended up watching Om Shanti Om. I dont believe i went all the way to the Netherlands to watch Shahrukh Khan act like a jackass (which is usually the case with him anyway)

On Saturday we took off to Amsterdam. Need i say more?
We went out again that night, and (i dont want to abuse Amogha's planning skills) we got back home at 3 A.M, despite the fact that i had a train to catch at 9 A.M

Sunday 11th Nov. is a day that will always be remembered !
I warn you, what follows is an account of a harrowing experience. As funny as it sounds, it was not !!

I got to the train station at 8:30 A.M, all groggy and droopy eyed, waiting to get into the train to Brussels so that i could catch some sleep. Can you imagine my consternation when i see that this train is cancelled, and my shock when the guy at the counter says i need to make 4 changes to get to Brussels???

I did it... Hague to Rotterdam by train... Rotterdam to Rosendhal by a bus... Rosendhal to Antwerpen by train... and finally Antwerpen to Brussels by another train... by then i was exhausted, hungry and had already missed by train from Brussels to Paris. To top it off, at the Thalys counter i was told that the next train to Paris leaves in 3 minutes, and i need to buy a new ticket if i want to take this train. I ended up loosing my nerve with the woman at the counter, and she then punched some numbers into the computer, promptly told me this ticket is valid since it is insured, and told me to take any seat in the train once it is moving !!

I ran !!
And got into the train even as they were announcing "Fermeture automatique des portes" !!

I spent the next hour calculating and planning my transit from Paris Nord to Paris Gare de Lyon for my next train, the one that would take me home to Grenoble. I calculated that i need exactly 25 minutes to do this one (yes, from previous experience and averages, taking into account shortest routes)

I arrived in Paris Nord at 14:10, and my train was scheduled to leave at 14:34... 24 minutes !!Could I?
I told myself i could, was the first one to get out of the train, and i made my way towards the centre of the station to get down to the metro.

Thats when it happened.

Out of nowhere, a cop jumped into my path and asked me to present an identification. And i knew i had lost my race already... Better yet, i knew why this guy was stopping me. I was coming from the Netherlands, and let me not even mention my appeareance. I had shaved last before leaving on Thursday, and a 4-day old stubble doesnt help the druggie look. I hadnt slept much over the past 3 days, and i sure looked like hell. Of course they were going to stop me.

So i waited while one guy check my papers and another frisked my bag for marijuana as he asked me the stupidest questions about my work, like he knew a lot about circuit breaker design !! I was at my wits end when he saw my onward tickets, glanced at his watch and then tells me that i am going to miss my train !! But i knew better than to lose my temper with a Parisian cop, especially in Gare du Nord. They do wicked things to brown men in that place...

I got to Gare de Lyon, in a record 25 minutes (including cop time)... only to see my train pulling out of the station...

I had to buy another ticket, the one i had was not insured. In fact this one wasn't even paid for. I got it from the miles that i had accumulated in France, and it wasn't insured or exchangable.

I was back in Grenoble at 7 P.M... I have never had a problem with trains in France (as much as they go on strike as often as they do), but apparently it is very common to cancel trains in the Netherlands !!! My return trip turned out to be a quick roadtrip... 6 changes in 1 day !!

Vallée de Valgaudemar

I haven't blogged in over a month, and people are beginning to complain. That is a clear sign that it is time to write again, especially when there is something to write about.

Right. So Louis decided that he's going to take me up into the clouds (literally), by foot ! We decided to spend a weekend at 2500 metres, trekking all the way up. Saturday 6th October, 5 of us set off from Grenoble by car. Louis, Caroline, Jean-Eudes, Stephanie and myself. We drove south of Grenoble for around 2 hours, to a valley called Valgaudemar, not very far from Louis' hometown.

Changed shoes, clothes, equipped ourselves with the backpacks and started the climb towards a refuge in the mountains. We walked, crossed mountain streams, several chamois (i dont know what they are called in English, but they are like mountain goats!). 4 and a half hours later, we were are 2500 metres above sea level, and at the small wooden cabin that was the destination. We were lucky, because the weather changed drastically, got very very cold, visibility was very low and the rain came down soon after !

We shacked ourselves up in the refuge, played cards with some fellow trekkers who arrived at the same time as us and made a superb "Fondue Savoyarde" for dinner !!

The next morning the weather had cleared up, and at 7 am the sun was bursting through across the valley. That is when we saw that we were well above the clouds, and the valley below as covered in a bed of clouds !

We decided to finish what we had started the previous day, and we climbed up to the summit, at 3000 metres !!That is the highest i have been on foot, and i live to tell the tale ! I dont remember what the pressure reading on Louis' barometer watch was, but the air was quite rarified when we were at the summit, looking at the glacier on the north face of the mountain....

Our descent was quicker than the climb, but harder on the legs. After two and a half hours of buckling knees and tensing calf muscles, i got to the starting point with little energy in me. My legs were trembling, i was out of water, and starting to feel hungry. The huge pie that we bought at the nearby village did me a world of good !

All in all, a great great weekend, although very very tiring. It took me 3 days to walk normally again, but i'd do it again if i had the chance. (no Louis, not saying this just to please you. Write a comment if you want to add something that i forgot !)

All photographs with titles, at the following link :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swaroopsrinath/sets/72157602331045323/detail/

A Little Adventure

Just something i did the past weekend... The pictures speak louder than anything i can write !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/swaroopsrinath/sets/72157602044691505


PS :
long pending : a write-up on 1 week in Sweden
been a bit lazy to write, and also a bit busy...