Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Shylock Land ... !!

He is one of my all time favorite fictional characters ... for some reason I like the villains who have this aura about themselves and didnt Shylock have that? A mean guy who was mostly correct in expressing his views ... but not necessarily in the correct way ... and I am going to Shylock land for Easter ... along with another childhood-dream place ... Roma ...

Shylock happens to be the evil twist in one of the very few comic plays by Shakespeare called The Merchant of Venice ... a legendary play that takes me back to school everytime I remember it ...

We were spared the nuisance of Julius Caesar coz our batch was the first to start off with The Merchant of Venice after most of our senior batches went through that ordeal called Julius Caesar ... and we had Mr. Guzder to teach us Literature at school ... who better than Mr. Guzder I say :P

The Merchant of Venice is a play set in Venice and is a story about 2 friends ... Antonio and Bassanio ... where Antonio is a ship merchant while Bassanio is his spend thrift friend ... and Antonio always helps him out in all his endeavors ... Bassanio is in love with Portia who lives in Belmont ... Shylock is also a merchant but he is a Jew and his angst against non-Jews has been portrayed so amazingly ... Shylock and Antonio never get along ... Shylock has a beautiful daughter in Jessica who is in love with one of Antonio's close buddies Lorenzo ... and there is the clown Launcelot Gobbo ... all in all its a twisted plot with Shylock always trying to gain on Antonio in some way or the other ...

Bassanio needs some money from Antonio to go to Belmont and woo Portia ... Antonio's ships have still not returned and he is a bit short on cash so he decides to borrow money to help Bassanio ... and surprise surprise ... only Shylock is ready to lend him money in Venice ... but he has a shrewd condition if Antonio doesnt pay him the money on time ... he will cut a pound of flesh from Antonio's body ... :P

The play can be divided into 2 parts ... the first part is all about introducing all characters and there is more of Antonio and Shylock ... but the 2nd part is more about Bassanio and Portia and how they come to Venice to help out Antonio ... Portia steals the show in the last quarter of the play ... but its a gripping play and makes you chuckle a lot ...

I remember that Biwi and I spent a lot of time discussing Venice for our honeymoon ... but since we got married in December ... we were a bit wary of the snow ...

But it looks like we are pretty close to realizing our dream ... we will be in Rome on April 1,4 and 5 while we will by roaming in the gondolas at Venice on April 2 and 3 ...

I hope we come across Shylock ... Bon Voyage ... Cheers ... !!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Helsingfors ... !!

Well, thats the name of Helsinki in Swedish and I thought it is appropriate if I somehow used both Swedish and Finnish in some way :P

I had been to Helsinki last weekend to meet Biwi and throughout my flight I kept going back to that horrendous day in October when it seemed like every path I was taking had an invisible wall that I was banging against ... and who would have thought on that day that I would be meeting my beloved in Helsinki of all places ... but am I complaining? No way ... :)

The thing I like about Europe is that office hours are only till 4 pm which gives anyone ample leeway to plan something on a Friday evening. I boarded a train from Malmo to Copenhagen (since that's my closest international airport. Malmo has its own airport but it does not have too many good direct international connections) at around 5:30 pm. It takes around 20 minutes to reach Copenhagen airport (the train station is located at the airport called Kastrup Lufthavn) and I was at the airport at 6 pm ... still 2 hours away from my 8 pm flight ...

Copenhagen airport is quite huge (I have not been to too many airports to be honest) and I thought its the right time to explore the airport. And a person like me has to head straight to the liquor section, isnt it? Well yeah.

It took me around 40 minutes to check out all options and short listed a few that I will get to India in 2 months time. But I took some wine biscuits for Biwi and after paying in Euros, I received some Danish change. Man ... I was suddenly carrying Euros, Swedish Kronors, Danish Kronors and INR ... all at the same time ...

It was a 90 minute flight to Helsinki and Biwi had promised me that she will be at Terminal 1 at 2230 local time (Helsinki is an hour ahead of Copenhagen) but I did not find her when I reached. It was 2300 and there was till no sign of Biwi and I was starting to worry a bit ... coz I did not have a cell ... neither did she ... and there was no way to contact her if she doesnt turn up ...

But she finally came at 2315 and I was relieved at first and then extremely happy to meet my wife after 2 months ... I was so emotionally drenched ... thats what I call ... Moments ..

We boarded a bus that took us to Helsinki Central station (called Rautatientori) and its quite some distance from the airport. From there it was a 15 minute walk to Biwi's place ... and we had some planning to do for the next 2 days ...

Saturday morning and a bit of afternoon was consumed in making some food and it was early evening when we headed out ... along with Biwi's 2 colleagues ...

It was colder than Malmo the wind was making it worse ... but we went to The Rock Church first. I must say I have never seen a church like this in the sense that it does not look like a church from outside but once you are inside ... you feel like remaining inside ... its beautiful and has a arena atmosphere about it ... there is a gallery too and the view from the gallery is even more special ...











From there, we went to Zoological museum but that was already shut but we managed some pics ... and then we visited the Parliament house ... I couldnt believe that the President of Finland stays just down the road with zero security ... :P







Helsinki is quite picturesque ... the trams, the statues and small over-bridges make it very pleasing to look at ... Swedish is the second language in Finland and everyone knows both Finnish and Swedish since its part of basic education ...







We then went to The Cathedral ... this is the standout place in Helsinki for me ...

It reminded me so much about what I have read about St Peter's Basilica ... the statue of Alexander in the open space in front of the Cathedral gives you that great historic feeling ... if thats a valid phrase ;)







Unfortunately, there was a procession in place inside the Cathedral and we couldn't quite get inside ... we then roamed around in the streets which was magical ... a typical European evening ... there are people who come out on the street and play music ... just amazing ...





We checked out a few malls. Biwi and I also went off on a metro tour :P ... this was my first time in a metro train and its really something to behold ... Biwi also told me that the metro in Helsinki is the world's northernmost metro ... Kudos ... :P

We then headed back home ...

Sunday morning was also consumed by food and we headed out post 1 pm ... it was funny though ... day light saving had started and there were 2 huge tower clocks in the centre of the city which showed different times ... it was hilarious ... fortunately we had set our watches to the current time ...

We went back to The Cathedral and managed to get inside this time ... and it was even more prettier inside ... there is something about these churches in Europe that does not allow you come out again ... but we had to ... sadly ...

We checked out some more malls and managed to get some Euros for myself and my colleagues back in Malmo since our cards don't work in Sweden and Denmark coz Euro is not the default currency there ...

Back home ... I was eating away since I was not going to get any food till 11 pm coz my return flight was due at 2115 ... Biwi walked me till Rautatientori from where I was supposed to board the bus to the airport ... these are the times you hate being part of ... leaving your loved one after spending some magical moments ... but we are going to meet again and I am sure we are gonna have more fun ... with that I waved good-bye ... reached Copenhagen at 10 pm and then Malmo at 10:30 and was back at my room at 11 pm ...

And as I put up as my status message ... I need a unique scissor ... a scissor that cuts wings ... wings of TIME ... so that it never flies when I am with my loved one ...

Alas ...

Till the next fun trip ... Cheers ... !!

Sunday, March 07, 2010

A Regrettable First ... !!

Its my Dad's birthday today ... and its the first time I am not at home on either of my parents' birthday. Yes ... its a regrettable first ...

March is a festive month at home with both my parents celebrating their birthdays along with their anniversary ... and its the first time I will be away from my parents in March ...

Happy Birthday Daddy ...

And ... this may well be my shortest post ... since there is lot more to feel than write ...

I hope my absence hasn't dented the atmosphere in any way ... Enjoy Mummy and Daddy ...

This is one of my favorite family photos ... times when we did not have a lot but were much more happier ...



Cheers ... !!