Trying to revive the fallen spirits

"The Voodoo Room" - tucked in a remote corner in the centre ;) of Edinburgh, Scotland. Took us 1hr of walking to find out!

...so I took the train and headed up North to Scotland

and visited Glasgow and Edinburgh and their umpteen castles, old style buildings and locks. I never liked Nessie much. A detailed report with photos will follow soon.

My road to Europe ends here

This may sound silly, but I wanted to travel on TGV, ride a Ducati in Bologna and explore the major cities by walk/bicycle. But all this came to a dead-end today when my visa was rejected for the second time because of some silly rule that means nothing. But thankfully, the person at the counter was friendly and unlike the fickle one from my last experience. In a positive light, I have saved a lot of money in this process!

Winners and Losers, the race is still on

Why do winners always take home the trophies? Why not award the fighters and the gracious losers when you need them for the game? Why do we make heroes of winners and boo at the losers? Are we those fickle-minded people that our parents warned against?

Food, food, everywhere!

but not a morsel to EAT

Betting on the underdogs

I have my doubts against the people who bet on the winning horse. What is the thrill of winning when everyone knows you are going to win even before the start?

Steeped in tradition

Evaluated by performance

Salomon Oppenheim Jr.[1772- 1828] turned an entrepreneur when he was just 17 and laid the foundation for what it now the world's largest privately-owned bank. I spent my summer working under the direct command of his portrait's line of sight. Thanks to Jonathan for the picture.

Good samaritans are closer to you

Good samaritans are closer to you than you are to them

I realized the importance of being in a group of good samritans - the people who care for others, who go that extra mile to make a difference, who give up small benefits for the greater good of humanity, who are selfless, who are less attached to material possessions. In short, these people seem like God at times. Recently, I went through a bad patch because of sheer bad luck, and was desperately in need of 'some help'. I ran from pillar to post hoping that some of my 'well-wishers' would help me, but I only found shut doors. Even those who derived direct benefit of my association turned their backs on me leaving me literally on the streets. This led me to some deep introspection...

As always, my good samaritan emerged out of an unusual place and saved me from hitting the rock bottom. I owe this person and those like him a zillion thank you notes, but these people are not looking for thank yous as they ve probably earned several of them and probably have gotten tired of them. All they want you to do, is to become more like them, start helping others and pass on the good deeds instead of paying back, for some things can never be paid back. So, for every help you get from someone make sure you multply it and pass them onto others in need - just like you. Probably, this will make this world a better place to live.

For the third time in as many years

I spent 24 years in one country and then the next 3 jumping across continents as many times, with all those carbon footprints! This was not fueled by my wanderlust, but by a sequence of moves that will benefit my life and hopefully open new options for my career. This also takes away from me certain things while also teaching me some of life's hard earned lessons. I certainly miss the people network, the food, the comforts of the familiar... as always to acquire a new set of everything and the process repeats itself again. This is usually accompanied by curiosity, joy, sadness, frustration, flooded memory et al. My diminutive memory is the first to be exposed and it starts with phone numbers, addresses, events, bus and train routes and so on. But as always time is a great healer!