Nostalgic Sunday (Stay In France part III)

Hopefully you have read all the previous posts in this series but in case you haven’t this is where it all started with a flip

Now last Sunday since I was staying in Bordeaux only I decided I would go do some thing totally Sunday like. Now on Friday when I was getting back from work I saw this big board about some international fair in Bordeaux so I googled it and it seemed interesting so I thought it would be a good place to spend a Sunday afternoon, plus the fair ticket came with a all day pass to travel by bus and tram, so even if I did get bored at the fair I could roam around the rest of town. Now in France there is an interesting thing about cigarettes, it can be very annoying at times but everyone smokes, so there are naturally a lot of cigarette shops which the administration has conveniently turned into retail outlets of tickets and passes basically like the mother dairy in Delhi. So I walk to the nearest cigarette shop and buy a ticket for the fair along with which I get a day pass for travel so I board the next bus I see and head to the fair.

If anyone has been to the India international trade fair this one was just like that, only it was a Bordeaux International Trade fair, so they had this one hall that had stalls from all over the world and a few other halls that had French companies with their stalls. I was roaming around the stalls from Africa and was very impressed by some of the wares of the Chinese stall. They had on display all various sorts of knives and daggers including the Samurai Katana which is an extremely interesting weapon. Lingering there for a while I went on to some of the other stalls when I heard some music in the back ground that had me cock my ears and listen with joy.

The music seemed to familiar to be true, and I could not believe that they were actually playing Aaja Nach le, being drawn by the Hindi words I went towards the source of the music to find a stage held by four sari clad girls dancing to the song. The first thing that reminded me of course was Sindhu, and then I thought about it and it had been over a week since I had heard a Hindi song, or spoken to anyone in person in Hindi, and I felt nostalgic about the language. 

Almost as though there was someone listening to my thoughts this voice came from behind me saying ‘aur bhai saab kahan ghum rahe ho?’ a guy from Delhi had also come there to put up a stall. So I waited and chatted with him in Hindi for a while asked him how things were and he told me that business was bad and that no one in this city buys anything, they are all here just to roam around, and when I looked around he was right hardly any one was carrying any bag or evidence that they had been buying something, they were all just roaming around, just like me enjoying a Sunday afternoon. Then I continued to roam around in the vicinity hoping to run into some more people that spoke the language that I did, the dance got over and that was followed by some Egyptian dance. Time and again after that the troop that had done the first dance on the Hindi song kept coming back and dancing on different Hindi numbers, the dance was good for someone dancing on bollywood numbers in France but I was much happier just listening to the Hindi words. While still roaming around I ran into the girls that were the Hindi Dance troop and I just felt like going and speaking to them because they obviously had something to do with India, so I went and congratulated them said the dance was very nice, asked them where they were from, had random small talk for about 45 seconds and then they needed to get back on the stage for another dance so I went on roaming around. Soon the Hindi songs stopped and I shifted to other halls saw some very interesting gadgets that I just could not imagine using back home. After a few hours of roaming through different halls including one that had farm animals apparently in their natural environment, nothing in comparison to what we are used to seeing on Delhi Roads…. Farm animals in the natural environment.

Having spent a few hours walking I decided to get out of the fair and roam a little on the other side of the river. The only glitch with that plan was that I had no idea what was on the other side of the river, none the less, armed with my full day travel pass I got into the tram that was going on the other side of the river, traveled a few stations in until I felt really hungry and spotted a Quick just at the tram station. I got off and entered the burger joint, stared at the menu for a few moments asked the lady at the counter if she could speak English, receiving a negative response I proceeded to point out on the menu what I wanted and within a few moments was served and seated.

Fed and ice creamed I decided to call it a day and head back home. Once I got into the tram I felt this sudden nostalgia for bollywood and Hindi songs in general and then it hit me that I had my phone and handsfree and some songs on it. So I quickly setup the apparatus and was swinging to the tunes of Bollywood.

Now as such that’s all that happened, I listened to music on my way back, but the feeling was very different, and so was the effect. Now till a point I can take a tram or a bus but beyond that I need to walk and that is roughly 5 and a half kilometers from where I stay, so I was walking in the direction of the place of residence snapping my fingers to ‘kisi ki muskurahaton pe ho nisar’ when I thought….if I started singing loudly no one would understand what I’m saying so it really wouldn’t matter, and that’s what I did, I started singing on the top of my voice that song and the next until my phone decided that it was time to take it to the next level. It played ‘masakali’ now we all know that its impossible to not sway to Rehman’s tunes when ‘masakali’ plays. So I was not only singing on the top of my voice I was also swaying to the tunes on the road while cars are passing by at all sorts of speeds. The most interesting was this car had stopped at a signal and I needed to cross that road, now I was a little far away from the crossing and pedestrian signal turned red so I stopped still swaying with a tune on my lips and earphones in my ears and the lady in the car signaled me to keep going even though she had the right of way, I think it was because I was practically dancing while standing there but it could be she was just good natured and normally lets people cross, either way I’d like to believe it was the former. I got back listened to some more Hindi songs for a while changed the songs on my phone and now when I’m walking I’m singing. 

Living an Experience (Stay in France Part IV)

Now technically im supposed to first sit and write about the  Sunday after that Saturday I spoke about which btw was also very interesting and I will tell you about it later but today I had one of those days which you remember in detail for the rest of your life, those days when you live an experience so I’m going to tell you about it right now while I can still feel it and tell you about that Sunday in the next one.

Today being Friday was a holiday for no reason I can think of, ya the French do that, and the company I’m working for they like doing such things, Thursday was a holiday because the French people don’t work on this day of the year so my company decided to make it a long weekend and give Friday off as well. Now there is this gentle man by the name of Mr. Laurent who is a friend of my fathers and works for the same company stays in Bordeaux has a wife a little child, now his wife’s company was not as benevolent. So long story short he was free on Friday and decided that he could spend it with me show me around. So a couple days back we were sitting in office discussing the weekend, and after a long drawn discussion I decided that on Saturday and Sunday I’ll go to this French town by the name of Tours and Thursday I’ll do something near by and on Friday he’ll take me some place. 

So today afternoon he came and picked me up in his nice Audi A3 and off we headed to Biscarrosse Plage which is a little further than Arcachaon which is near the Dune.

This place had a park called Aventure Parc where they had these adventure games. The unique and interesting thing about this park was they had built on the trees a whole maze of paths consisting of different arboreal tasks like climbing over a cable using the support of another or walking over suspended logs of wood that would swing with every step or using a pulley to slide down a cable or swing on a rope like tarzan and crash into a mesh of rope that you catch hold of and then move on. Basically lots of fun… good physical activity for the afternoon something new never done before.

 

The expected reaction to the afore said is probably along the lines of yeah that sounds interesting might like to try it sometime but what is the bug deal. But that’s not all Aventure parc has.

 

You know there are these certain things that change a person turn the person from one who has not done it into a person who has, things that differentiate the have dones and haven’t dones, things that you do once changes something un explicable inside you, the things they say that have a virginity. Today I did one of those things, and it was amazing. I jumped off a tower by the support of nothing but a very strong rubber band. Yes. I bungee jumped.

 

I after the arboreal exercise I decided ‘lets jump’ so I went to the tower they had built for the purpose where one of the instructors strapped me into this funny harness and then put some more belts on my feet and then asked me to climb a ladder up the tower. It was supposed to be just 20 meters and I thought that a jump that low may not actually be that great and for the last few days I was actually thinking if it was worth it or not, but that ladder cleared all my doubts it was high, for those who know it was higher than the bungee swing in Singapore, so I kept climbing up the ladder and it just dint seem to get over then I understood why they had even harnessed me to a cable on my way up the ladder. Finally I got to the top and it was high. There was this instructor who was a French guy who spoke English but the typical French English so he checked my harness checked the belt on my feet and said it was ok. Then he told me how I was supposed to look at the trees look at the houses and jump, how if I jumped quickly it’d be easier. How I should hold my arms wide open because that would be better. I listened intently and then I asked him if I could retie my shoe laces cos they felt a little loose, and he looked at me amused and said that I could but it wouldn’t affect the jump. Then he attached the big rubber band to me one piece to my harness and another thing to the belt on my feet, and I was all set, harness in place shoes tied rubber band attached. I was standing there on top of the tower and I could hear his voice at the back asking me to look at the trees, all I could see in front of me was a blur of green maybe because I wasn’t wearing my glasses maybe it was just the moment, I looked down once saw it was far away thought to my self that if I look for too long I might start thinking and before I could realize it I jumped, arms wide open I just jumped into the abyss I could swear it must have been a couple of seconds and I realized that I was falling right down and then there was this HUGE pull on my feet and I was flying upwards the earth and trees spinning around me my head towards the ground my heart was beating so fast I could practically hear it. And then I remembered to shout, and while I was swinging from one side to the other I went WEEEE HAAWWWWW. A few moments later I was just hanging there suspended from a stretched rubber band between the tower and the ground. The instructor on the ground said something but I couldn’t understand he asked me to do something with the rope and from what I understood me meant release the rope and I yelled back “NO”, and then the guy at the top shouted something along the same lines and I was thinking I’m not releasing anything slowly they brought me down and later explained that what they meant was they wanted me to catch hold of the rope so that I would be in an upright position while descending but I think I liked my way more.

Heart still beating fast adrenalin rushing through my veins I came back to the ground having done something new and absolutely, totally, and most awesomely breathtaking.

 

Next one about that Sunday btw I’m headed to Tours tomorrow and I wont be carrying my computer so I wont check my mail until I get back until then ciao. 

They should have a class for this (Stay in France Part II)

One of the very nice things about doing an internship in a country like France is that they have very interesting work laws. There is a 6 week compulsory paid vacation; people are not permitted to work for more than 35 hours a week, which can obviously be covered in the first five days keeping the weekends nice and long. I decided to make the most of the weekend and explore the city and behave like a proper tourist after all I am one. So this is what I did, Saturday morning I woke up had a quick bite and left to go to the city of Bordeaux. I was relying on this map the receptionist at the place where I’m staying had given me. So I somehow located the nearest bus stop, but I was confused about the direction I headed and therefore the side of the road that I was supposed to wait on. I tried asking one person but he couldn’t understand a word of English and I couldn’t explain to him in French what I was looking for. Then a bus came to that stop I got on it, asked the driver for a ticket but he refused to give me one, I couldn’t understand why. Two stops later the bus halted and everyone got off, I then opened my map in front of the driver and pointed out this bus stop in the city called Gambeta and I asked him for a ticket. Answering the later first he said that he dint have any and it was ok as for my destination not only was I standing on the wrong side of the road I also got onto the wrong bus. Thankfully at that stop the other bus also stopped so the driver told me wait here the bus No. 50 will come take that. I understood that part, so now I was on the right side of the road and knew which bus to take but still had no idea where I could get a ticket because their website (in French only) mentioned something about some tobacco shop. While I was waiting this elder lady was passing by with her 2 kids or grand kids, so I asked her. At first she dint quite understand what I was trying to say but then I tried some more tried speaking in the limited French I know instead of a mixture of English and dumbcharads. So I managed to tell her that I wanted a ticket. Then at a complete loss of translation I took out the English to French Dictionary I was carrying with me and found the French word for ‘go’ (aller) and then I told her “J’alle au gambeta. Ou (then I checked the word for buy) achete moi le ticket (I know its billet)” and she got it. Then for the next seven and a half minutes she explained to me how I could buy the ticket from the driver who is also the conductor and that I would cost me one euro forty cents and then something I did not figure. Then she went on to tell me how as such a ticket doesn’t cost so much because you can get a ten tickets together which will cost you 10 euro 10 cents but this single ticket will cost you one euro forty cents. Now either she gave me a lot more information that I just could not catch or she knew that I could not catch a lot of the things she was saying so just kept repeating what she said, either way I knew that I’d get the ticket on the bus. The bus came I gave the driver 1 euro 40 cents, I told him I wanted to go to Gambeta, he understood I was new to the system and started explaining to me how it works but again I could not make head or tail of it he mentioned some three and some hour and some other things but I just couldn’t understand. A long bus ride later I got to Gambetta. There I started walking in the direction that seemed the most interesting since I hadn’t seen any part of the city so I could see any part of it. Its either a law student thing or just my luck the first significant place I found my self at was the National Academy for law or their National Law University. 

A very interesting place, on the side walk near the entrance they have embossed their constitution on 30 steel plates (ya they only have 30 sections) and stuck them on the pavement, and a big one for the preamble. Then I went to visit this place called the grand theatre very old very cultural kind of a place. There I remembered that all sorts of bus and tram tickets were sold at the tram stations, so I went to the near by tram station and checked out this automatic ticket machine. Thankfully it had an English mode. I browsed through the entire system and now understood what the lady and the bus driver were telling me, they have an interesting system; a single voyage is considered as any number travels in any bus or tram for one hour. I took this day pass for the trams and busses, which basically meant that I could travel in any bus or tram all day long. I then roamed around that part of town seeing all these really old buildings and stuff very old world and picturesque got tones of pictures. 

Then I was walking along the bank of the Garone River where they have built a modern monument called the water mirror. It’s a large expanse of foot path which is depressed 2-3 inches and there are these openings in the tiles that sprout out water. So there is basically a large space which has 2 inches of water in it. In the evenings there a lot of people go there to hang out, couples strolling through the water wetting their feet children somehow managing to wet them selves in totality, nice place. There I was just walking along taking some pictures when I heard it. I hadn’t heard anything like that in a while so I was excited. Someone was speaking in English, I turned around and saw these two girls talking in reasonably fluent English, so I went up to them and spoke to them asked them what was nice to see in Bordeaux chatted for a min complimented their English and then moved on. By this time I was already quite tiered had been walking for a long time in spite of the bus and tram. So I decided to head back to the room.

More Coming soon...

Morning of Mishaps (Stay in France Part I)

If you know what the dune is and what flight I missed please continue reading else you might need some catching up to do please go to the bottom of the page and start reading from 'Flip (welcome to france part I)'

The next morning had to wake up early…. Really early because dad had to catch the early morning flight, so we wake up he gets ready and then when he’s about to head out of the door it began to pour… the car was parked a little far away so I take the umbrella (not ella ella ella ) and go with him and we decide to take another route out so that we might be able to avoid exposure to the rain. Finally find a way out and we are a little closer to the car but still a whole minute and a half away so dad takes the umbrella while I hold on to his bags he gets the car we make the exchange and he’s off. I wave at him saying buy to the only person I knew in France who was driving away in a nice big blue Citroen C4, optimistic that I’ll get to know more people and determined to have a nice time I go back to the room and seeing that if I went back to bed I’d have only 20 minutes before I had to wake up again I decided to go online waste some time randomly.

After the scheduled randomness I started getting ready, shaved, took a shower wiped my self dry and for some reason I can’t remember now I was wearing my glasses and my pants as well I was trying to hang the towel to dry over the rod meant for the shower curtain in my room when I swung the towel over it, it came crashing down on my nose. Yes, on my nose, just a few millimeters under the bridge of my specs making a simple straight line of a scar. I was dazed for a few seconds then I noticed the small little wound on my nose was bleeding a little; I cleaned it up and put some aftershave on it. That having being settled I went on to get ready since I still had to go to work and had to find the way also. I picked up my new white shirt and wore it only to take it off since it was too transparent, so I wore my old white shirt that was not so transparent but then I took that off also because it was missing the second button from the top and I was really getting late for work. Then I just put on my yellow shirt and finished getting dressed. Then since I really should have been on the road, I quickly had two cups of yoghurt, picked up the map and was on my way.

I got out of the building took a left, it seemed like I was on the right path… so far so good… then I found a point on the map that was there and I got happy although there was no reason for me being happy since I had only established that there existed a point on the map that was a real place on the earth… which is what maps are meant for… a nother way of looking at it could have been that I knew on the map where I was… but that I already knew since I was just a few meters from the building I started off at and I still had no idea what direction I was actually headed in. So then I asked someone the way to another point on the map and he told me to go in the direction I thought was the opposite of where I was supposed to go. I figured he had a much higher probability of knowing where the place was and went that way… I was right about the probability part and he was right about the way, either way I finally reached this long road that had no signs on it and it seemed like I was supposed to walk on it till I found some direction so I was doing just that while this silver Renault stopped in front of me and one of my dads colleagues who had taken us out for lunch offered to give me a ride… I was delighted both at the fact that I would not have to walk the rest of the distance and that I was on the right path.

Got to work earlier than I had planed to but that’s ok. Nothing very unusual at work except I had lunch there for the first time which was quite an experience more about that later. I left work at an hour when people usually leave work and walked back. 

On my way I noticed this farm or more like a pasture land which had these beautiful horses grazing there, that time I dint have a camera but the next day I carried a camera with me to work just so that I could get pictures of them they were these beautiful creatures that were lazily going about their business while the rest of the world zipped passed them on the highway at 120kmph. What also got me interested in these horses was that they noticed me, I actually saw three of them lift their head from the grass and look at me and not just look at me watch me go by, I don’t know if it was the fact that I was moving at a speed they could move faster than or if it was the fact that I was probably the only human they had seen wearing a suit and tie walking down that road that caught their eye but either way I caught their eye and was happy to have been noticed. Finally got back to the building at around 1730- 1745 and this is now the part when I talk about the place I’m staying at.

It’s called All suits Home located just off this highway somewhere. It a small building of apartments or studio apartments as they call them, as you enter on you right is a small kitchen complete with a stove, chimney, fridge and all the crockery and you can need. As you move down further there is the room, its got a cosy little bed, a table with two chairs a couple of lamps, a useless TV that only has French channels and attached to that is a bathroom. Small little place much bigger than our hostel rooms much smaller than my room at home, comfortable place to live in for a month.    

Anyway I had promised some people that id post something tonight therefore I am completing this post before I sleep even though I am quite tiered, today was Friday night so I insisted on going out somewhere, at first I decided to go to Bordeuax center but then it hit me and I’m glad it did that I could take a bus and go there but after 2200 the busses stop plying and I’d have no way of getting back so I just went to explore merignac the area where I’m staying, I set out at 1930 and got back at 2200 and all that time I was only walking. This is a very funny town, they have so much day time and they just don’t value it all the shops were closed the super market I found was closed not that I had to buy anything but it was just all shut, so for two and a half hours that I spent walking I actually did nothing but find a place where they sell bread and a place where pizza is available for an affordable price.

 

Anyway I started writing about this trip of mine for a couple of reasons, firstly lots of people kept telling me to tell them how my trip was and tell them about my new experiences, and I promised them that I would and so to keep my promise to all the people I figured it’d be a good thing to write about it. The other reason was… well if you’ve been reading this blog you know my ear theory, every one needs one. For all those who know me, I talk a lot, not even comparing to Bongs and Adhirath, and I need a ear and since in this place no one can understand what I say and there is a limit to what one can say on the phone I began to write it on my blog. People who read it I would sincerely request you to not act like these French people who can understand English but refuse to speak it, please comment it’s a sign that you’ve heard what I’ve had to say I have one more ear. It really means a lot, and for those who have been commenting regularly thank you very much :D please don’t stop.

 

The Weekend is here so i should have some story to tell

They call it a Dune (welcome to France Part III)

Having spent a good portion of the last three years in Jodhpur, a desert one would think I’d know what a sand dune is… either I don’t or the French people have an extremely warped sense of definitions.

Day two of my stay in Bordeaux, I go to work along with dad, he goes for his meetings and I go to my office. I’m given some work that I am doing, some time in the middle the boss comes along to see how I’m doing, she sits for a while and then goes back expecting me to finish the work by evening. While leaving she says that my dad’s colleague has invited me for lunch and I should be at the gate at 1330. It’s good, why say no to a free lunch. Come 1330 I go with them for lunch to this typical road corner French restaurant that are very expensive (I know they are on the road, they are in fact on every street corner in the country and they are all expensive, at least for me) and there we sit to have lunch. The menu is in French, I can read a few key words here and there but the majority of it was like Greek or Arabic or for all you know French to me. As for starters I just followed my dads que asked for some salad which was a huge plate of leaves with some tomatoes and some ham thrown in and topped of with a half fried egg. Different, interesting, edible and to an extent tasty also, the main course however I thought copying that would be a little too much, so I decided to use my French reading ability and looked for the most recognizable thing on the menu and I found the word ‘poisson’ which I knew meant fish and along with that there was the word ‘riz’ which is rice. So I knida put two and two together and thought this must be some fish and rice preparation which is usually safe. What came was fish… and rice…., but as far from a fish and rice preparation you can ever get. There were six different varieties of fried or dry cooked sea food and a small bowl of bolied rice, which would also be quite fine since they had prawns and shrimps and other fish that I have eaten and are quite edible only if I was someplace else like India or even Singapore for that matter. The trouble with the French is that they insist on eating everything with a fork and knife, now I could not for the life of me imagine how one can eat a king prawn with its shell on with a fork and knife or how can you eat a fish that is full of thorns with a fork and knife. So helplessly I ate what could be eaten, ate all of the little bowl of rice that was there and the shrimp and left the rest.

Then came back to the office finished the work I was given mailed it to the boss and then left with dad to back. On the way we decided to go sight seeing so we then turned around to go change since both of us were in suits, it would be a little funny roaming on the beach in suits. So we went back changes and then headed around 65Km away towards this place called ‘Dune du pyla’. From what I know of dunes they are humps of sand that have a tendency to shift normally found in a desert and are very misleading as far as direction is concerned.

Headed there we were driving down this road that seemed like a mountain road, lush green trees on both sides, clear blue sky some fir cones lying around on the side of the road and the GPS takes us through all of this and then to a parking lot where we stop get off and walk another 30-40 meters to see what they call a dune. It is a massive mountain of sand around 100 meters high and extending till as far as I could see. On this ‘dune’ they had built a permanent staircase for people to climb it. We went up and the scenery only got more beautiful because on one side of this dubious mountain of sand was thick dense forest and on the other was the wide open sea with the sun setting in the horizon. Then taking inspiration from a high spirited golden Labrador and a seemingly high owner we decided that the appropriate way to go down the dune was not by taking the stairs, so we half ran half walked half tumbled down the 100 meters of sand… it was fun :D 

   

Then we went to this small beach town called Arcachon which is a small peaceful strip of beach with a cool sea breeze. We walks along the beach for a while admired the scene and then decided to head back home.

On the way back we remembered that there are no clothe hangers in the room so we should stop by at some place to get some and we would have to do it on the way because it was already 2030 and most of these shops close at 2130 or 2200hrs. I changed the destination on the GPS to a hyper market that was on the way back (you have such a setting called points of interest en route) if found a hyper market called Auchan a familiar name so I keyed it in and we were on our way. Somewhere 25Km from Bordeaux it asked us to exit the motorway, we complied and then it took us to some town that I doubt will even be there on the map, through streets that seemed to have been formed by the last car that passed being. Without option we complied, and one second we are moving between what seems like two warehouses and the next moment out of the blue a huge outlet of Auchan right in front of us just like that, impressed with the system we went got hangers and some other stuff and it was straight back to the room after a quick bite at McDs.     

That's all for today... more later

Enter the office (welcome to France Part II)

Thales, a very large firm that does a lot of high tech things, is what I would have described the firm as a few days back, but after the few minutes of reading on the Delhi airport, I’d describe Thales as one of the largest defense equipment manufacturers in the world having a presence in a lot of countries with a very large and highly developed legal cell. So 2pm on the 11^th of May I was standing at the gate of Thales, Bordeaux. Along came a young French lady by the name of Crystel who escorted me to inside the premises and into a building, while telling me that this is the first and last time I shall be permitted to enter this building, adding apologetically that it was no fault of mine but being a non-French I could not be allowed to enter the building un escorted. She then took me to what she called the security wing of the company. There a kind gentleman asked me to sit on a stool and switched on some lights here and there with an umbrella positioned someplace he asked me to perform my best smile, yes they had a fully functional photo studio in that place. Then while some machine was doing something in the background I was explained the do’s and don’ts of the place.

Rule number one: you may not come to office before 0720 hrs also you may not stay after 1930hrs.

Rule number two: this is a military grade security building you may not enter it, your office is a little far away.

Rule number three four and five: in case of emergency call this number in case of fire call this number, and in case you see someone spoiling the environment call this number.

Then I was asked to sign some papers which basically said that if I invent something, its theirs as long as hey give me some credit for it. (I am so not inventing anything).

And finally I was given my ID card; yes all that jazz and all. It’s a proper card complete with a magnetic strip that opens doors and has a very stupid looking picture of me on it nicely placed in a protective holder with that small clip thing that you attach your clothes.

Rule 0: Oh BTW this card must be visible at all times when you’re in the premises.

Signing a few more documents they had for me I was taken to the office.

A few minutes walk from the gate through a lush green forest like area revealed a line of small cabins just next to the restaurant or the mess. Walking along the cabins we reached the last one. She asked me to swipe my card there and I did, the door opened. The door actually opened because I swiped my card there :D . Behind the door I enter a room that’s almost double the size of my hostel room, a couple of tables a few chairs a computer lying in the middle. She says this is your office, I hope its ok? The only thing I can say its it’s lovely. Later when I’m alone in the room I sit on the chair, it rotates and moves around, and then I examined the computer, beautiful 21 inch LCD with a decent processor and all, only trouble is that the OS was in French not that I could not work it but then they allowed me to bring my laptop so why not.

And thus I was introduced to ‘my office’. :D

Flip (welcome to france part I)

Hey, how can one tell when the vacations at NLU begin? The city of Jodhpur becomes peaceful, the net quantity of content in the world goes up by leaps and bounds and Adhirath starts blogging again. Now I’m not sure if he has started his internship yet and has got enough bored to blog but my internships started and its actually not boring at all, in fact this time my internship promises to be an experience of a life time, and therefore I’m blogging about it as it happens.

9^th of May 2009, 11:45 am…. I am sitting in an exam hall writing an exam on RTI which is the most useless subject known to law student kind. It was basically write what you can about what you know for three hours and we will mark you for that.

9^th of May 2009, 1200 pm…. I am a free bird cruising across the skies of freedom headed to the mess for the last mess meal of the semester; I got a call from Subhash, the 5^th year who is going to pass out very soon, he said he needed me in his room urgently. I obliged to find him sitting in the middle of what was once a place that looked, felt and seemed like Subhash. He was packing away at break neck speed and had a whole pile of books that he thought I might need sometime in the next two years. Along with that came a horde of other things that altogether made a huge carton full or articles that were to stay on campus until further notice.

Having finally finished packing his room I had to come back to pack mine. Relatively I took no time to pack my suitcase and a half and was ready to leave the sun bathed Jodhpur for greener pastures.

An auto ride and train journey later I was back in Delhi where I was welcomed by home and the loving arms of family, and the divine taste of good food, add to that the fact that I had the company of very good friends and that was something I really could get used to but this time I just dint have that much time.

I packed the bags I had unpacked and at around 2130 hrs I left home to go to the Airport, I was headed to France. Went through all the usual boring flight stuff got in the plane, not a great seat but that was trouble for the guy sitting on the isle seat. A few hours into the flight I felt like I wanted to drink something, a coke or my current favorite apple juice with sprite. I called for the hostess a couple of times to no avail, mildly annoyed with Air France I gave up on my drink, decided to go have a stroll. After troubling the gentleman on my right I went up to the back of the plane I found the hostess and I asked her for my drink. Her response will make a lot of my friends very very jealous, she pointed me in the direction of what I gathered was an open bar, a drinks counter with all the drinks you normally get on a plane complete with a stack of thin lemon slices. A few glasses of apple juice and sprite later I was back on my seat sleeping through the rest of the flight.

I had to take a connecting flight from Paris to Bordeaux and I thought I had enough time to make it from one terminal to the other, turns out the first flight got a little delayed and there was a huge queue at the security check where while I was standing with the tray in my hand my phone decided to ring (it was an alarm) making me drop some of the change I was carrying into the tray (thankfully) and at that very moment the security check person called me forward so I somehow stabilized the tray on the x-ray machine switched off the alarm and went in for security check, a few questions later I was out of the security area and was running to gate 55 only to find that the flight had left without me.

So I went to the people that change your flight and asked them to put me on the next flight to Bordeaux which they nicely did, also gave me a food coupon, so I had a nice croissant and some tea while waiting right outside the gate this new flight was to go from.

Finally reached Bordeaux and was received at the airport by the warm secure face known to me as dad, who was driving this huge shiny blue Citroen C4 Picasso. We went back to this place that’s going to be hostel for a month, more about that later. A shower and shave later I’m on my way to work, Thales.

This post is getting very very long and will get boring so more about the rest later.