Sydney Diaries (#4)

Letters to home (#4)

Warning - it is a very lengthy mail - so all office goers - please read in installments at your own spare time!

Hi All,

Nama Nama to everyone :)
How have you all been? It is midway between summer and monsoon in India - take care of your health - we are all prone to viral fevers in this period - so be careful.

The past weekend was one with brilliant weather in Sydney and nearby areas. And I utilized it to full extent - well, at least for one of the days on the weekend. After having researched on the weather forecast for the weekend in the Blue Mountain area - I was glad that it was clear and sunny. Next thing to do was to call up my friend (the OEC batchmate) and plan for the weekend. Idiot that my friend is - he had visited the Blue Mountains in an earlier weekend with his manager and his manager's wife - his interest lying with his manager's wife (who was apparently pretty and flirtatious) and not the Blue Mountains! So I was annoyed - because there went my chance to get some snaps of mine with pretty scenery in the background - I mean the pretty scenery of the Blue Mountains, not the lady in question!

Nevertheless - I had to use this weekend. Since my departure is now fixed for July 11th, I had only three more weekends to do any sight-seeing/shopping/meeting friends. Since all three are priority events - I decided to go alone. I could atleast see some wonderful places and etch them in my memory - if not in my snaps with lovely views in the backdrop. The plus factor was the fact that Saturday the 21st June was the day for the annual Winter Magic festival at the Blue Mountains - and that was the day I had decided to visit the place.

I woke up early on Saturday morning (5.30 A.M) because the first train to the Blue Mountain area was at 7.18 A.M. (one train every hour). The station is about 1.5 km from our place, and though there are buses - they are not that frequent in the early hours of the morning. I left home around 6.30, hoping I will catch some bus or the other. After reaching the bus stop I realized that the next bus was only at 7.10 - too close to comfort. I started walking - worrying that I might miss the first train and will therefore loose an hour in the process. Thankfully I was not late, there was no queue in the ticket counter, and hardly any passengers in the train! The trains in Sydney are double decker - and I took up a window seat at the upper deck with my camera ready to click snaps if I come across pretty sights as the train chugged along. The journey was pleasant - and not many passengers boarded my coupe. And yes - I was too lazy to click any snaps from the train - because I was engrossed at looking outside the window at the countryside. As the train approached the Blue Mountain area, I was surprised to find the stations in the Blue Mountain area so empty and vacant. Since it was the festival day, I had thought the area will be overcrowded with visitors and tourists like me. But on the other hand - there was barely any person on the platforms.

I arrived at Katoomba, my base station, at 9.15 - the journey taking approximately 2 hours. And the moment I came out of my train coupe, I felt the chillness in the air. The coupe was warm and cozy and I had to remove my jacket. But the platform scenario was different - cool breeze flowed around and my fingers were frozen immediately. I just had a jacket with me and I thought a set of gloves would have helped a lot. Katoomba is the main tourist destination in Blue Mountains. My train ticket was clubbed with an Explorer Bus which took to all important landmarks in Katoomba and Leura, another town/village in Blue Mountains. The bus usually started from the main street of Katoomba, which was right across the railway station. Since it was the Winter Magic festival day - the route was altered and the bus started from the other end of the railway station. I walked down the main street, and people were starting to put up stalls for the festival. There was a bit of hustle but then the numbers were not huge by any strecth of imagination. I thought it must be a quaint little festival in this village/town and decided that I will come back to the festival area later after I had visited all major places.

I boarded the bus at stop 1 around 9.45. The driver was a pleasant old man who greeted all of us on the bus and was very informative about the stops in the route. With not many people on the bus, I was wondering if Blue Mountains are as appealing as it sounded when I went through numerous websites acclaiming it as one of the prettiest places on earth. The entire Blue Mountain area is listed as a World Heritage site. The first major destination was the skyway station for scenicworld - a company which provided skyway, cableway, railway, and broadway services for certain areas of the valley. The skyway would have taken me to the main scenicworld station - where I could catch a railway or cableway to the Jamison valley down at the bottom of the cliffs/hills where Katoomba & Leura are located. But I decided to skip the skyway because I wanted to walk down to the valley - there is no otherway I could see the rainforest in full details. I got down at the stop which led to the Katoomba cascades - the start of the waterfalls in Katoomba. The cascades were - well, a touch disappointing because the water levels weren't too high. With such heavy rainfall in the recent past - I thought the waterfalls would be flowing with huge quantity of water rushing down the slopes. Nevertheless the site was pretty and my interest levels increased with the lush green surroundings.

I continued further down the valley along the waterfall route in what is called the Furber Steps. The walking/trekking path was narrow and was concreted at times, while on other occasions it was muddy and damp. I wondered that in a pleasant day like this the conditions were soggy on the trekking path - what would it be like when it was raining. And contrary to what it felt when I landed in the railway station, the rainforest was warm and cozy. With huge lush green trees covering the valley, the openings for wind and sunlight to come down to the valley were few. And since I was walking with a jacket on, I was actually pretty warm (and sweaty in the arm-pits). I just saw a single bird in the entire time I spent in the valley - though I heard a lot of noises throughout my trek. I could not identify what it was, but from the looks of it - it seemed like a pea-hen. Again with such dense forests, one would imagine there would lots of animals/birds around. Probably the presence of people made them go deeper into the valley where there are no trekking paths. Speaking of people, there were long durations when I was walking alone and I hardly saw anyone doing it the hardway - maybe they just went to scenic world on the skyway - few nature lovers perhaps?

I trekked on to the scenicworld railway station in the valley - and visited an abandoned coal mine site nearby. Apparently, the scenicworld railway is the steepest inclined railway in the world (52 degrees) and it was initially used to haul up the coal from the mines to Katoomba town above the cliffs from where it was transported to Sydney. With the mines gone a long time back, the railway is now used for tourists by the scenicworld company. I went up the railway with a one way ride costing 10 Australian dollars. It was a 3-4 minute ride up, but was thrilling and scary for whatever length it lasted! Once back up - I went to the scenicworld base station and bought some souveniers - koalas and kangaroos that is :) The explorer bus came to scenicworld after some time and I hopped on to go to the next stop - the echo point.

Echo point is one of the locations where toursits keep yelling to hear their echoes resonating across the valley. With so many toursits (the numbers had swelled from the morning), I could not differentiate which one was my echo and which one was the one the others were yelling. From that area, I could see the famous 'three sisters' rock formation. This rock formation is very reknowned and there is a mythical story behind its name. The following is the abstract from wikipedia that I found online:

"The modern day tourism industry has created a legend that says that three sisters fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe, but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. Battle ensued, and the sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back. This legend is falsely claimed to be an Indigenous Australian Dreamtime legend."

With having seen the pretty sights from the cliffs - now it was time to either take lunch or go down the valley again towards the Leura waterfalls. I decided to skip lunch because I wanted to be finished with all trekking so that I can end up in the Katoomba Winter Magic festival. I could eat something in the festival and therefore got down at the trekking stop for the Leura waterfalls. By this time I was already tired and I just egged myself on for some more trekking. The trek this time was more strenuous and the valley was deepre than what it was near the Katoomba falls. But as the adage goes, more pain - more gain. Leura cascades were much more beautiful than katoomba cascades. I wanted to see the entire might of the waterfalls deeper in the valley. I chugged along, going down steep steps and inclines. I also realized that the way back up will be tough as it would be very steep back up. I saw an alternate path which was connected to the Katoomba scenicworld railway station - though it mentioned that the trek is rough and dangerous and is advised only for experienced trekkers. I could have walked straight from scenicworld to this place - only - it would have taken me 3-4 hours :)

The trek back up was difficult and after overcoming several tough stages, I was fortunate to get lovely lookouts of the entire valley floor beneath. It is a breath-taking place and is ideal for hoenymooners I guess - provided one is able to walk for long durations along steep inclines. Tiring yes, but rewarding all the same! I skipped the George falls - I was too tired and hungry by then and it was almost 3 in the afternoon. And I had had enough of rainforests by then :) At the point where I came out of the trekking path was a small toy and railway model museum/house. Entry was worth 12 dollars and photography of the toys were prohibited. I entered and saw one of the oldest houses in Leura. It was filled with toys on two floors and I was amazed at the collection that was available - certainly it would be a child's delight to visit such a place. The railway models were also very beautiful (and tiny). They were working models, one could press a switch and get the trains to move across dummy stations, tunnels, and valleys.

I boarded the explorer bus again to go back to Katoomba and then I went to the main street to see the festival. By now, the crowd was huge and the street was jam-packed. Street performers, musicians, dancing groups, clowns, small shanties which sold everything from clothes, to face masks for kids - it was festive atmosphere all around. It seemed like 'fancy dressing' with people dressed as dragons, witches, clowns, animals, etc. And it was a welcome change for me with so many vivid colours all around me. Over the past 5-6 weeks, I have seen mostly black, white, and grey in the usual clothing of Sydney folks. Here people were dressed in several colours and it was a vibrant joyful scene. I clicked a single photograph but I managed to get more from the web. I ate Chicken Satay sticks (well, seemed like kebabs) from a Thai food stall. It was cold again and my hands were freezing. With the festival dying down, I decided to go back to Sydney. I caught the 4.25 train to Sydney and almost dozed on my way back.

It was a hugely satisfying day and I was very tired at the end of it. I did not go anywhere on Sunday because I wanted to take some rest. I have captured a lot of photographs and have put comments wherever I could. Have a look at them at the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sumitspeaks/BlueMountains

Ok, that's it for now - sorry for the long mail - but that is me - loooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnng descriptive stories :)

Regards,
Sumit

Sydney Diaries (#3)

Letter to home (#3)

How is everyone doing?
I am good - the long weekend passed by without anything significant happening. I had planned to go to Blue Mountains with my OEC friend - but he had some other plans. Saturday was a good day for outing as well - sunshine and pleasant weather all throughout the day. My roomies did not want to go out - so the less I write about them the better. Finally I managed to convince them to atleast come with me to the Opera house and Harbour Bridge (I had been there - but I had a vested interest - I wanted my snaps with the Opera House in the backdrop). They agreed and we went there and took a lot of snaps.

We then went to the casino - and I gambled :) I have managed to learn only one game (and like everything else - it is entirely luck based). It is a big wheel with multiple number slots. You have to guess which number will come and there are odds for winning. I played for 100 dollars - and after about 2.5 hours, I ended up with no profit no loss. It was fun - but yes, I learnt that you needed a lot of patience to play in a casino. The more cash you carry the more chances of winning - but equally big chances of loosing. I had pre-decided I will play for 100 dollars and will not bother even if I loose the money. And probably that is why I managed to even out at the end. The Senior Software Engineer, Suresh lost money after having won a lot initially.

I did not go anywhere in Sunday. There were two reasons - it rained almost all throughout the day - and there was another software engineer, Anand, coming to Sydney in the evening. Nobody had come to pick us up when we landed - nor did anyone assist us in our accomodation seach. I did not want anyone else to face the same set of problems. I picked him up in the evening - the others did not come. Monday was again gloomy and dark - though it rained less. We went to the casino (again). This time we had done a lot of calculations with respect to our safe bets for the game. We were accompanied by Anand as well. Again we played for about 1-1.5 hours. This time I won 150 dollars and backed out of the game after making profits. Suresh kept playing and again lost money. When we left the place, it was raining heavily. We somehow managed to come back home.

Though the long weekend was damp and gloomy for most part, the best thing was the manager was not around :) He had left for India on Friday and will join us only in the coming Sunday. It is such a relief that he is not around. And yes - I have started cooking on my own and am not eating the ready-to-eat stuff the others prefer to eat. The mushroom curry I prepared was fairly nice - though my experimentation with fried brinjals bombed. Actually I tried to add some curd with haldi, salt, and chilly powder (since we didn't have anything else to make the paste like coating). It would have been good except for the part that the curd was veryyyyyyyyyyyy sour :(. The vegetables here are very fresh - though a touch expensive.

All in all - I am surviving still. The manager will inform me about my return date once he comes back. Do send me a mail or two whenever you feel like it.

Regards,
Sumit

Sydney Diaries (#2)

Letter to home (#2)

Dear all,
so tomorrow is kuny baby (jigna's) birthday - guess everyone at Bangalore are eager to celebrate her first birthday - dekhu dekhu 1 year palei gala! nani - mora jou party miss houchi seita tu aau mu aau thare celebrate kariba, ok? bhala jaga re khai jiba - our usual pact.

well - i spent the past weekend looking around places near to where I stay currently - one was Darling Harbour - and the other was Bondi beach. Bondi beach is world famous (or so I have heard). However by the time we went - it was getting dark - and since it is winter time here - not too many people were there in the beach. Quite a few of them were surfing - it is a popular sport here. Not much to describe about the place - except that it is semi-circular - and a very clean beach. Relax - this wasn't a nude beach :) As you would expect, the beach is dotted with resorts/apartments/eateries - all of which are pretty expensive. We strolled the beach for about 15 minutes and then had a look at the shops before heading back. Maybe if it gets sunnier sometime later, I might want to take a bath at the beach.

Darling Harbour is very much the area I live in currently. We walked to the place - crossing a Fish Market. There were lovely sea-food items on display - and since most of it was frozen, there wasn't much foul smell. I got attracted to huge prawns/lobsters/crabs. Once my accomodation gets finalized, I will bring home a few things and cook - to hell with my veg manager!! We have anyway started bringing eggs and cooked non-veg items :)

After the fish market area - we went to the Darling Harbour area. It had a maritime museum - whose entry was free. Went in there and had a look at old Australian navy stories. Missed out on the aquarium in the area (have heard it is very good) - thanks to the unenthusiastic group that I am with. But I will make sure I go out there sometime in this visit. At the end of it, went to a mall called Star City. There was a casino in it - but then there were dressing restrictions - and all of us were not dressed appropriately enough. Even a jeans with shoes would have been ok - but I was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt - so could not check the casino.

We also bought some Indian grocery from a nearby area (as in 3-4 kms away - so all in walking) - the south indian morons live only on rice - so all they wanted to bring was rice (10 kgs of it - imagine!)....and ready-to-eat curries (none of them can cook). I bought some ginger garlic paste, and a curry powder.

That's about it now - we are looking for accomodations (preferably for longer duration) - but getting one is not easy (especially with what facilities these guys want). They cannot adjust to community kitchen, or shared bathrooms. That hikes the costs - and also makes availability an issue.

Work is not very amusing as of now - there is no pure Business Analyst work in here. I am doing things which I can - but if things get too technical - like designing/coding things, I might decline doing it. One - it will be difficult for me since I have lost touch of these things, two - I haven't done my MBA for nothing, it is a coder/designer's job! Even if it means coming back soon - I am more than happy with it. I am missing home already :(

and yeah - I sleep late and wake up late - no more acting as an alarm for the manager - it is he who gets annoyed when i switch on the lights late at night :)
I watch some TV till late (around midnight)...

Ok - enjoy the birthday and the subsequent party!Give lots of gela to kuni baby.

Regards,

Sumit

Sydney Diaries (#1)

Letter to home (#1)
Hi,

How have you all been?
I am fine - I just remain a touch busy because it is a client location.

I reached on Sunday evening at Sydney - the flight was on time - reaching around 7 in the evening (2.30 in the noon at India). However the customs clearance took a lot of time. And in the clearance they took away my maggi, and the curry powder. They don't allow cloves to be taken inside Australia. Unfortunately both these items had parts of it as ingredient. In fact there are more restrictions - they even checked my formal shoes which I had packed - just in case there is some dirt. One has to necessarily declare these items when they give the immigration pass on the flight - if caught, you are penalized heavily. So I declared, and some of the items were removed and I was then allowed to go - of course without any penalty. It took a lot of time however - by the time we left the airport - it was 9.15 P.M. It was chilling the moment we left the Airport - cold breeze was flowing - the temperature hovered around 15 degrees celsius. It might rain later in the week - light showers at most.

Sydney becomes dead after 7-7.30 in the evening - shops shut down, and there are very few people on the road. We have taken up an apartment close to the city center (around 3.5 km). yet it was very lonely on the streets. The apartment was around 9 kms from the airport. The apartment is very good. It is a two floored apartment - the ground floor has one bedroom and an attached bathroom. The top floor has another bedroom - non attached bathroom, a kitchen area (with all facilities - fridge, microwave, toaster, gas, electric chimney, grill, utensils & crockery), a living room kind of an area with TV - dining table - music system and a 3 seater sofa, and a small room with two bunk beds. The entire area is carpeted - and one has a vacuum cleaner to clean things. The bathroom on the top floor has a washer and a dryer for washing clothes. The shower area is an enclosed one and everywhere you get both hot and cold water. And yes - the toilet is with the tissue - no taps around to wash! So one necessarily takes a bath after one completes the daily routines.

The nearest station is about 1.5 kms away - and then the office is just 2 stations away - again a 0.5 km walk there. However even for this short journey -the ticket costs you 2.6 Australian dollars one way. The office is in a place called Martin Place - it is the Central Business District of Sydney. There are a lot of offices around the place - and one usually sees people dressed formally. Contrary to what I hear about the U.S, the Australians seem a lot more formal at office. Many of them wear suits, and some wear formal shirts and pants. Not many wear a tie though - which helps us. So after the first day we just wear formal shirts and trousers, without the ties. Ladies are dressed formally as well - skirts/trousers with shirts. And some have suits. We sit in the IT department area in one building. The business sits in another building across the street. The area has several shops. And a lot of food areas, However everything is a touch costly in Sydney. One paratha with a bit of chola cost me 6 dollars. So you can imagine it is tough going. Each office floor has a pantry - you can take biscuits, tea, coffee, breakfast cereals, fruits. So that helps in the morning. Lunch is the issue as of now.

We return back aroun 5.30 or 6 in the evening. Go back home - I take a bath again - and then to the kitchen. These south indians can do anything and survive on rice. My manager is pure veg - he didn not want non veg to even come to the house. Thankfully one of the other guys has brought non-veg pickle - so that opens the gate for me to bring in non veg when I feel like it. The first night sine all our maggies had been disposed - we survived on maggi soup. The next day these people were content with rice (which was more a khiri) and pickle (andhra pickle - highly spicy). yesterday i prepared some curry from frozen mixed vegetables - I took that with rice (again - more like a khiri). I take up a banana or bread in morning and then come to office.

People in Sydney are multi-cultural - there are a lot of chinese (or chinese looking) people around - less Indians than I had imagined - Dubai and Singapore had hoardes of them - here there are few people. I can understand most of their accent (thank goodness!)....but am yet to understand my role in the project - will get more clarity over a period of time.

That's about it - the daily routine is more like - wake at 6-6.30...go to office at 8-8.30....leave office at 5.30-6....cook at home from 8 in the evening - and then sleep at 10 amx (insisted by the manager since he sleeps early)!!

I am very annoyed with my manager - I share the room with him - he sleeps early, and he wants me to wake up eaely (because he wakes up early to do some yoga!) - not that he wants me to join him in doing yoga - but the fact that I can act as his alarm - and simultaneously use the bathroom so that he ain't interrupted when he wants to use it. All this - plus the constant nagging by him every 5 minutes - what is the status, what is happening - etc, etc - I have always had managers who were not THAT eager to get updates. And to top it all - he brags about himself - the first day he mentioned about how he has been working very well - how happy his customers have been - I am already tired!

That's about it - I have taken up a SIM card here - but outgoing is very costly - I will also buy a calling card - it will be cheaper for outgoing calls. Anyway my contact number is +61-449841496
Hou - rahili - everyone please take care of yourself.

Regards,
Sumit

Dream Job - DUREX Super Tester!

Back off Harsha Bhogle and Star Cricket - your dream job sounds kid's play in front of the one that Durex is offering.

And yes - it means getting involved in the world's most popular sport - sex!

Durex has come up with a new job to enhance their product offerings - the Durex condom tester. With 1000 positions up for grabs and a grand prize of 25000 INR for the top-tester, it seems there are new ways to enhance your (s)experience.

Before you start imagining "objects" for testing, the Durex site mentions you will get a test-kit with a feedback form which you have to send back to Durex post use of the test products. So finding the "objects" of your imagination has to be your own effort!

And let us not get sexist here - positions are open both for men as well as women!

Stop imagining - and start applying!

Introducing the newly weds - Lopa & Sumit

Contrary to popular belief, I am relieved after my wedding. It has erased so many uncertainties in my life. And the best part - there is a certain "feel good" factor that has been imbibed to my overall attitude towards life. Life seems more perky, adventurous, wonderful, and happening.

This does not mean there is a dearth of the "never-ending" shopping lists - for the house (nay, the home); for the people visiting us; and ofcourse - for her highness - my beautiful wife, Lopa. Apart from the regular chores of a household, suddenly there is a lot more social camaraderie to be shown - and my huge list of "known people in the planet" seems to have doubled. I have to admit Lopa is more shocked than I am about the sudden increase in acquaintances - she can't be labelled wrong if she starts believing I might have been a postman at every post office in the country at some point in time.

Time has zipped by since our wedding - we married on the 2nd of December 2007. We are back after a hiatus of more than a month or so. In between we have managed trips to multiple locations in Orissa; visited different localities in Kerala to claim having better knowledge than local tourist guides; and visited all possible shopping destinations in Bangalore which sell curtains, bed sheets, pillow covers, and the like! However, things haven't changed in the workfront for me - except the location of my office. I have moved to the Electronic City office premises, and I still get paid with no hint what-so-ever of possible work. And surprise-surprise, Lopa has managed to get a project allocation within a fortnight of her transfer from Bhubaneswar to Bangalore!

Till I write more - take care and have a nice time.