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The BLOG!
 
Read my biking Blog on http://bostonbiker.blogspot.com 
 

You Tube!

Check out someof my videos on youtube:

My Video of Skydive Jump:

 

From my trip to Spiti Valley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5-WbeFtpGw

 

Tribute to GIR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9c0D_u8x1s


Peru Trip
 
I went to Peru for spring break. We were a group of 30 people from Babson who went for 10 days to the wonderful country.I learnt in business school that instant gratification is what everyone looks for. So here are the pictures from the trip

There are two albums

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106292&l=e2a95&id=748825715

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106401&l=83c4e&id=748825715

City for Lima: We reached the city of Lima and stayed with our friend’s family at his mom’s house and saw the best of Peruvian hospitality. The city is very diverse. Although located on the coast, it is very dry. We got a lot of sun (coming from cloudy and snowy Boston, it was a welcome relief). Downtown financial district has beautiful buildings, the place we were staying at had beautiful houses and places to visit. But driving through the city, we also saw some real poor sections of the city. I saw two Indian auto companies in Peru – Bajaj and Mahindra. I saw lots of parallels between Lima and Delhi but still they are as different as…..Delhi and Lima….what else did you expect? We went out to a few clubs at night and the music was amazing. The crowd, the music and everything was fun. Once we had dinner at our friend’s place and had Pisco Sours – a traditional Peruvian drink. I would leave the task of researching about it to you guys.

The city tour was a little boring because of the long bus ride but still saw a lot of interesting places. We also visited Babson’s partner University in Lima – University of Centrum. The most interesting was to see a display of bones in a cathedral which was built by the Spanish back in 1500’s. The cathedral had three floors of graves below the building since it was built. About 50 years ago some Japanese researches thought that digging out the graves would be a good idea. And then they came up with the idea of putting them on display.

Cusco: We then flew to Cusco which is up in Andes and about 3,300 mts. Some of our friends got sick, I mean really sick. SO next time you fly to high altitude be prepared to first adopt to the new altitude. It’s a beautiful city, a great combination of old and new architecture. The city square has medieval look to it and with clobber stones, around, u feel someone has transported you back in time.

Had the first sample of Coca tea. To give a context, Coca leaves are raw material for cocaine. The leaves are not toxic by themselves. However, one would fail a drug test if they were to go through one after having coca tea. It’s a refreshing drink especially in high altitudes.

Sacred Valley: We then took a bus to Sacred Valley, a beautiful valley on the foothills of the Andes and where the old Inca ruins start. The best part for me was hanging out at this lounge bar which was all wood, with rugs of lama skin lying around and a few swings. Just lied down on the rug with a beer in hand and listened to local music. Loved it.

Inca Trail: The next day we took a small bus ride to the start of the Inca Trail. Again a beautiful drive but I really missed my motorcycle as we went through the curves. Inca Trail is more than 500 year old trail built by the Incas to go to Macchu Picchu. (Please click on links to see more details over these). The hike was going to be for four days but we did it in three. Babson students always do things faster, better. We hiked for 38 kms in 3 days, went upto altitudes of 4,200 meters, faced rain, falling rocks and ferocious animals. Worst of all no access to phone, internet and the blackberries were not working. Not even an TV! How the hell I was supposed to get updated on the Brittany Spears news? Anyways, these turned out to be the best hike for me ever. We had a team of porters with us. At lunch of the first day we had a surprise. We had a proper tent pitched with tables laid out complete with cutlery and clean plates and they even had warm water and soap to wash our hands. We were treated to fresh cooked food unlike most camping where you have to do with canned food. After lunch we left, the porters packed the tents and everything else, went past us and when we reached our night halt spot, they already had our sleeping tents and everything else already pitched. It was a great experience. Had some beer (thanks to an entrepreneurial lady who was selling it) and had a nice sleep in the beautiful valley. Next day turned out b tough to me, thanks to a heavy backpack I was carrying, my tendency to get AMS, heavy rains and 1,200 meters climb and then all the way down. This is when we first saw the clobber stones put up by the Incas and the architecture of old ruins. I can write in full details but it will go on for pages. We reached Macchu Picchu on day 3 evening and caught up with the rest of the gang (they took a train from Cusco). On Day 3 me and Andy were on a roll (a good day after my disastrous day on Day 2). We climbed down 800 meters and like a million steps in 2 hours. The path was all stones, with no proper structure. We were tired like hell and did not want to see anymore steps and our worst fears came true when we realized we had to still climb a lot of steps from the bus station to our hotel. Anyways, saw civilization, cars, phones, TV after three days. It was great to realize I can still live without them. Took a much needed shower, shaved, relaxed the muscles and hit the town! Had some nice Pisco Sours, dinner and chatted with the rest of the group.

Macchu Picchu: One of the seven wonders of the world, deserves that recognition. The old stone houses, the architecture, layout of the city looks like they used latest SimCity to design it. I was wondering who might have had a larger market share of construction equipment when they were building these cities: Caterpillar? Kawasaki? Or some local company. I do not know if these companies were global back then.

I was wondering all the way how the hell they managed to break those stones and form them into cubes? They used just to tools – A Wooden widget and water. These rocks back then were still soft as they are volcanic rocks. They would make small slots in the rock, insert wooed wedges and pour water on top. As the water froze, it expanded the wood the rock, being soft from the inside cracked open revealing smooth sides. We then went up Wayna Picchu. The mountain u see in all the pictures of Macchu Picchu. It turned out to be tough especially after three days of intense hike but it was worth it. The view from up there is breath taking. As the clouds flew over Macchu Picchu in the valley below, I just stood there and absorbed the essence of nature, human spirit to build these structure 600 years ago and human ability to achieve anything they have ever wished for. Hiked down, took the bus back to town and then the train and another bus to Cusco. The drive was beautiful. You will see in the pictures. I did wish I was on my bike! But I was in company of my friends, something I cherish as much. Partied like crazy in Cusco and left for Lima the next day

Beach House: We spent about two days in the beach house. We bought food supplies, beverages to complement the food. The beach was amazing. The waves were big, beers were cold and sun was bright. Everything we wanted. Most played beach volleyball while I and Vijay built a Babson logo on sand. It was a lot of effort but it paid off. We literally left our mark! In the night, I partied like I have never before. WE went to this awesome club, great music, open air and our own private table. Alex knew the owner of the place and we were taken well are of by the bouncer and the bar tenders. Had a lot of Vodka, Chivas Regal, red bull and water. We danced till 07:00 AM. Yes till 7 in the morning. It was crazy. I have never seen the sunrise while partying. Next day was again at the beach for most people but I was working on a paper I had to submit on Monday.

 
15,000 ft and below
September 30, 2007

(For links to pics and video please scroll down but do read the blog for the whle experience)

What gift did you give to your mom on her last birthday? I gave her shivers for hers. 30th September 1955 was the year when the most beautiful woman on earth was born, 52 years her crazy son jumped off an airplane.
I called her a day earlier and told her I had bought a bike. She was silent and then very upset that I had done something very stupid. I told her I was kidding and then told her that I was going TANDEM SKYDIVING. All she said was be careful and have fun. She is the best mother ever. She encourages me to live my dreams or just that she knows she cannot help it.
We drove up to Lebanon. Not the one in middle-east but the one in Maine. Five Indians, driving in a German car in US to a city named after middle east country to do a sport invented in Europe. Sounds crazy? It is. It was me, Raghuraj, Abhishek, Veer and Amol. We left early morning to get there on time but had to wait for a long time to get on the plane. If you are going skydiving and your reservation says 08:00 AM, it probably means you will take off not before 01:00 PM. We saw the plane taking off, going around circles to gain altitude and then leaving behind small black dots all over the sky. Abhishek was really worried that the plane was not reliable and it was leaving debris behind. Soon these dots were getting bigger and finally he realized that they were not plane’s debris but skydivers. We could make out who were experienced divers and who were tandem jumpers. The cameramen came the fastest and landed with high speeds followed by solo experienced jumpers. Then came the tandem jumpers with two people tied to one parachute. I do not know what is more dangerous, trusting tow person’s life on one parachute with one of them expert or one person per parachute who might know little about skydiving. I prefer the later but chose the former for some other factors.
Our names were finally called out. The first batch was Veer, Amol and Raj. They got dressed, prayed and got on the Cessna Airplane .Soon they were floating down like birds. I shot a few videos of them landing. Next it was our turn. My instructor was Paul and Peter would be my cameraman. I got dressed in a nice red jumpsuit. Got a video shot and got onto the airplane. Now if you see this airplane, it is nothing like the ones you have flown in. First, there are no air hostesses, no drinks are served on board and the good part is no annoying pilot announcements. There is a irony though. Whenever you fly in passenger jet, there are like a 1000 instructions for safety and all you do is stick to your seats. Here, when we were actually going to jump off the plane, no announcements. They could’ve said “You guys are gonna jump of an airplane, please tie the person behind you to yourself.” We got up to 15,000 ft. The last time I was at this altitude, I was riding my bike. It was in Spiti Valley. So different. Last time I riding on a straight road at 60 mph and this time falling vertically down at 120 mph. Jumped off the airplane. A lot of people might think I was scared looking at video but I was far from it. I was just trying to listen to the instructor. Anyways, it was much less scary than you think it is. We did a Barrel, which is basically flipping on the back. The ground was still far far away but I was approaching it fast. Then Peter (my cameraman) was shooting me flying below me. I was surprised how much control he had. It was pure ecstacy. The speed, the wind, the sound of wind, the beautiful green valley below and the sheer rush of adrenaline were at levels I had never experienced before. Jumping off 15,000 ft is less scary than being hung at a height of 200 ft which I have been in a few rides. After a great free fall, the parachute came out. I was suddenly being sucked up into the sky and once the parachute was open and I saw the ground, I was consumed by the earth. I floated over the green meadows and flew through the clouds, the whole experience was heavenly. Paul let me control the parachute for a while and I will say, I go the hang of it. I did pull it too hard once and took a sharp left turn but then got a hang of it. We landed pretty fast compared to other jumpers. The first thought I had after landing was ‘when should I do it again’.
Got my DVD and my camera roll of the fall and hit the road. Thanks to Veer who let me drive his BMW 5 series, the end of the day was awesome too. It was a wonderful car to drive.
SO ladies and gentlemen, if you want thrill in your lives, go skydiving, otherwise just visit my webpage to hear my experiences.

The pics of the adventure:
My Video of the Jump:
 
Hiking, Biking and building friendship along the way
Septem 19th 2007
 
I am back. After getting hold of my life managing between classes, on campus job and partying, I got an opportunity to do what I love the most – Outdoor activities. My friend called me and asked me if I would accompany him and his roommate for a camping trip. My friend could not accompany us so, me and Nakul decided to go together. I knew Nakul for sometime through Babson Energy Club and realized I should’ve been friends with him long back. Renting the equipment – tents, sleeping beds and pads, Bunsen burner took a lot of time. We could hit the road only by 1300 hrs and we knew we could not summit today. We drove to Mount Mansfield, VT. The base is Stowe, a very wealthy city. I had never seen two Rolls Royce in one single day. There we many classic cars in the city and not in museum but on the roads. Aston martins, Masserratis, Jaguars, Porsches, you name it and it was there. After a getting a little lost, thanks to a strange map, we finally reached the base. We parked the car and started hiking. We camped at 2400 ft because regulations do not allow to camp beyond that. We chose a area in the wilderness as we did not want to camp on the regular camp site. Cleared the area and pitched the tent. When we opened the tent to pitch it, I told Nakul that this was the first time I was camping. There was this moment of silence in the middle of a forest, he looked at me probably he was thinking – this is the first time I am camping too. Luckily he had camped before. However, with my engineering skills I did not take any time to figure out how to pitch the tent. In fact since Nakul had never worked with this tent, I had to figure out the most parts. Once we got settled down, we started cooking. We had ready to eat Indian food and some soup and stuff. Thanks to amazing culinary skills of Nakul, we had the best meal ever. It was pure art – ripping the packet, pouring the contents in the pan and then stirring it to heat it. It was pure art and takes a seasoned chef to do it perfectly. After eating a hearty meal, we cleared everything out and realized that there are a few hungry animals out there and the smell of food would attract them. We took care of that and went to sleep. Got up, packed and left for the hike.
We were hiking from the west side and took the Sunridge trail. It’s a C rated trail so the hike was not difficult and offers great views. I would suggest this trail for amateurs and families. As we ascended towards the summit, the vegetation was changing. There is a little detour on the trail which takes you to ‘cantilever rock.’ We took it and saw a huge rock hanging on our head. We got out of its way just in case. Headed back on our main trail and soon we climbed upto the Tundra line. The vegetation was much sparse and the trail was now mostly on flat rocks. The most inspiring were three ladies who must’ve been in their early 60’s but were hiking pretty fast. In the valley below, the colors were changing but real fall was still a few weeks ahead. We finally made it to the summit, called the Chin with an elevation of 4,300 ft. The scene was beautiful with mountains and lakes all across the valley. Rested our butts a little bit and took another trail down (Hell Brook Trail). This one was DD rated and hence was much tougher. Take this trail only if you are a seasoned hiker and its better if you take this on the way up. Most of the trail was just the stream and lots of loose rocks. Nakul tool a little fall on his knee and it started hurting real bad. So be careful and look out for loose rocks. I also slipped on one and luckily was holding a tree and I was swinging on it. Slipped twice more and landed on my back and thanks to all the equioment I was carrying, I did not get hurt. Made it to the base and Nakul was waiting for me. WE had found a Moose antler the night before and had left it near our camp site. WE tried to look for it but it was missing along with the trash we had left behind (to be picked up later) . I think we left them too close to the trail and someone took them. Anyways, soon we were back on the road. Missed the exit to I-93 because we thought we had to take the I-95 and ended up in Western Mass about 70 miles away from home. Got back to Nakul’s gf’s place at midnight. She served me some great chicken korma and dal. Got back home at about 01:00 AM. It was a great weekend where I conquered a mountain and made a great friend.
The pics are at:
 
Biking
Now that I found another crazy guy who also finds ways of pushing his abilities to the limits, I also got a chance to do what I had been planning but did not do. We went out biking to Calahan state park in Framingham . It was a great bike trail with some great slopes to speed and lots fo plces where you can jump your bike. We got back a little early thinking of the long week ahead and then he taight me how to ride long boards. I got a little hang of it but I need to practice more.
 
Deutschland
I went to Germany for a week. Check out my experience.
  
Coming back to Babson
August 10th - August 21st 2007
 
After a great summer in Canada it was time to head back to Boston. I was up for a surprise when I got back to my place in Wellesley. The house was now occupied by China. It was a total invasion. Not that I am complaining. I had three chinese girls from the in-coming first year living in the house. They were all excited to start the new life in a new country and a new school. Reminded me of my earlier days in Basbon with hope in the eyes and ethisiasm in everything I did. After a year, the hope is a reality and enthusiasm has given place to new ideas.
I met all my friends and it was good to be back. Its strange how the perception of home keeps changing. A place which was so alien a year ago is suddenly home.
 
Before the school starts there were more exciting things to come by. Germany trip being one of them. We were supposed to fly on Friday August the 17th from Boston. Got the VISA sorted out on Tuesday of that week and I had no idea what the trip had in store for us. On Friday, some truck driver decided to get a little drunk and drove his truck across the median on I-93 blocking the traffic at both sides and hence making sure that some of us missed our flights. Yes, I missed my flight. The airline said they could put us on the next plane for a minimal charges of $2,200 per person. Meeting Andy at Frankfurt, Autobahns, historical city of Berlin, meeting with our clients and our German colleagues seemed to be impossible. After making all possible efforts to convince the airline officials that we need to get to Germany at all costs, we decided to go back and talk to our coordinator at Babson.
On Saturday we decided to head to Boston instead of sulking in our rooms cursing ourselves and the airline. It turned out to be a great day. Four Indians hung out at Quincy market, ate various cuisines of the world, watched an Indian movie and ended the day with a spicy Indian dinner. Shweta's non-stop chatter, Balaji's profound thoughts, Pawan's never ending stream of (supposedly) knowledge about everything on earth and incredible GPS made sure we never had a dull moment.
 
On Saturday night we got an Email from our program coordinator that she had booked us on flights to Germany on Sunday. I do not know how to thank her.   
 
Here are a few pics from the day in Boston.
Shweta still wondering why a short train ride should cost Rs. 80.  
 
At Quincy Market
 
Hopewell Rocks - Natural Wonders of the world
July 29 2007
 
Last weekend, I decided to visit the wonders which Bay of Fundy provides. One of them is the Reversing Falls in Saint John. The bay experiences high levels of tide activity. During low tides, then river flows naturally into the sea but the high tides are pretty big so as they rise, it starts to oppose the flow of water. The river flow starts to slow down and at a point one can see standstill water when the force of river coming down equals that of incoming tide and then river starts to flow in opposite direction. This happens twice a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (366 days during a leap year) and 100 years a century. I tried to capture the different stages on camera but it will be difficult to make out from the pictures as it cloudy. Then on Sunday, I decided to visit 'Hopewell Rocks' - one of the natural wonders of the world. The whole geography of Bay of Fundy is unique. The depth of ocean floor at Hopewell Cape is very shallow and gets deeper and deeper near Saint John. Due to this, when 100 billion gallons of Atlantic high tides comes into the bay, the tides go upto as high as 14 meters. Due to this phenomenon, there is a lot of movement around the rocky hills of hopewell cape and hence the rocks get shaped in beautiful sculptures. It is like nature has been working for thousands of years to produce one master piece after another. If you are interested to learn more, I guess wikipedia will come in handy. Now for the road trip to Hopewell Rocks. Sunday afternoon, a phonecall to Ryan. Answers the phone and I instantly know he just wants to take some rest. So I hit the road on my own. As the turn the ignition of my Chevrolet Monte Carlo, the engine comes to life and the green monster roars to get on the road. I love the way this car behaves on a highway. Its great around the corners and hitting 90 mph is very easy, given cops are not in sight. Remember its a 1999 model. No wonder it wins so many NASCAR champinships. Anyways, back on the road. The dirve across the Bay of Fundy was beautiful and sunny and very scenic.
 
Soon after crossing Alma, saw the three elements of nature in perfect harmony. Clouds floating above the sea with hills in the background. Man was I missing my girlfriend at that time.
 
After reaching the cape, I headed straight to the rock formations. Entry fee is $6.75 with student ID.
 
Did I tell you that during low tides one can actually walk on teh ocean floor. See it to belive it. Now it was time to take a stroll on the 'ocean floor' and click numerous pictures. The shapes of the rocks keep changing and older foramtions keep falling! 
This one is my favorite
 
 
Soon it was time to hit the road again. Did 200 kms in a little less than 2 hours.
 
Funny Business of Matrimony
Updated August 1 2007

My friend Balaji wrote about this in his blog and I agree with him. I then started thinking of Online Matrimonies. I can never understand that how can you decide to spend the rest of your lives with someone after the exchange of a few emails/small messages. Also, the qualifiers for a ‘suitable’ match are always woven around the something which has little to do with the compatibility of the two people.

Here is a typical one:
I am 27 yrs old, working in a Topmost Private Bank (Corporate Office) in the Credit Division. I have done MBA (Finance) from a highly reputed Mumbai based institute and am earning a salary of Rs. 6.00 Lakhs p.a. My height is 5 feet 11 inches. & my body type is average. My hobbies include driving & music.

If I was a girl, he is exactly what I am looking for. Seriously, I mean the ‘private bank’ is ‘topmost’. Of course if it was the bank which did not have more than 100 branches within Delhi or it was a state owned bank, he would not qualify as my husband. Also, he is working in ‘the corporate office’. If he was in branch office, no way dude! If the MBA institute was not highly reputed, I would reject him right away. I mean how does it matter how his personality is? How does it matter if he likes to slop around the house whole weekend and I am a more outdoorsy person. Salary is whole of Rs. 6 lac p.a. If he was making even a rupee less than that, I would reject him. Please bring your Income tax file for proof. Hobbies: Driving and Music. Music: that’s a hobby no one else has! Driving: could be interesting if he knows what the bhp of his car is and at what RPM.

The qualifiers have nothing to do with how he is as a person. It looks more like a resume. Does he like socialising? Does he like being alone? Since he is so successful, is he looking for someone who is equally competitive? Whatever happened to things which define a relationship? My brother had an arranged marriage and I can say he could’ve not asked for anything better and my bhabhi (sister-in-law) is happy too and they make a great couple. But why it was different that online matrimony was that the families knew each other. My dad knew how close her family was and what kind of values she had and before anything was finalised, my bother and bhabhi had met and found each other compatible. That works. But a profile which was written in 15 mins with loads of spelling mistakes, without a decent photograph and more information about job than the person/family is a bit scary. Come to think of it, if this is how serious people are while presenting themselves in front of their expected life partners, how serious will they be in daily life, scares me. I am not against arranged marriages or even online matrimonial but I still have to find a profile which can tell about the person and not about their jobs. I think if anyone is looking online for a partner, they should pay attention to the profile presentation as it reflects on the person. If the profile is the free one, I have just one word – kanjoos!

 
Gross National Happiness
Updated July 29 2007

What the heck is Gross National Happiness? Unfortunately there are no dollar values attached to this so it is hard to quote in figures. Quiet obvious it is the measure of well being of the country, health care and general happiness of the people. Who started this concept? I give you three guesses. Canada? Wrong. India? Again wrong. Its gotta be US, of course stupid! Again wrong. It was Bhutan. Where the heck is Bhutan? You would know if you were not staring at the pretty girl in class during your geography classes.

Gross National Happiness as a concept is catching up with quiet a few conferences being organised in the recent past and more to come. I find this concept a great way for all economies in the world to gauge the happiness of people irrespective of the size of the economy. So we can have a country like Bhutan whose GDP is less than the half revenues of a Las Vegas strip, still has very content citizens, everyone has access to healthcare and education. In fact television was recently introduced in the country. However you may argue that for having good healthcare and education anyone would need money and therefore higher GDP as we know it. However we do not see that good healthcare and education become more expensive when you have high salaries to pay because salaries are determined by overall purchasing power of currency. If almost the whole economy was agriculture driven like Bhutan’s and basic facilities were maintained by government, it would not be too difficult. Even within developed counties, if we calculate GNH, it would give a measure of how efficiently the money being invested in these facilities is.
What are the reasons that in spite of having all creature comforts people in the developed world are unhappy? Why are there shootings in schools? Why there are riots with 15% unemployment while so many other countries with much higher unemployment rates are living in peace? I think what will also matter is how you define good healthcare. How many hospitals in the country can sure cancer? How many psychiatrists are present per 1000 people?

Here is my next question, were all these existing before we discovered wealth and started gauging it against happiness? Why are there so few cases of cancer in Bhutan? They are very healthy people. They live healthy in high altitudes without needing oxygen cylinders but they do not have too many psychiatrists. They do not need one.

It is quiet debatable how happiness can be measured but if really ask ourselves what happiness is, I am sure we all can agree one thing and you know what that is.
 
Tags that Media puts
Update July 20
 
I have been writing about my personal experiences and what i have been upto. Today I am going to write about what I think about a few issues. What do you guys  think of the tags whic media has attached to so many things? Here is my take on it
 
The media these days has a huge influence on people’s way of thinking and societal norms. TV and movies bring in new fads, rip the old ones off and most often that not put ‘labels’ on people. They always show world as white and black. Everything is in extreme, there are no averages. In movies (especially Indian) either people are very poor or they are filthy rich. Either they drive around in Maybachs or they can not even afford to take a bus. Where is the person who has made a good career by studying hard and getting a good job and drives a Maruti and though he works hard, he still loves to go on high speed bike trips on weekends? Where is the strong woman who is aiming to be an IAS and leaves no stone upturned for it but still enjoys moments with love of her life? Where is the woman who balances personal and professional life so well it would put acrobats to shame? Are these fictitious characters?

Giving another example, if you switch on the TV, Gays are wear pink, they would always be in the fashion business, will act like females and all they care about is how they look. I have met a few gay people and none of them fits this description. They play the toughest sport out there and they are definitely not into fashion. Bikers are always wearing leather, do not have a good career and are womanisers. Then does that mean I never had a good career? I would like the second myth to be true though! As for the first, if you ride bikes wear good gear, its for protection and just not fashion.

There is another myth which even I had when I was coming to the US. It was that western people are too liberal in terms of sexuality. Yes there are certain norms which are considered liberal but then within those norms, even they are conservative. Is it bad or good? It’s just a fact. I am not being judgemental. I do not want to be. One of my friends (an American) told me that his mom thinks he is a virgin and she would be really upset if she came to know he was not. I am not going to say his name just in case his mom reads this! He was brought up as a catholic and virginity is an important factor in all religions. Does that mean who do not follow it are not religious? Or is sexuality a factor more related to religion that the country/society or just an individual’s choice?

Does society need tags? I guess it does, it make things spicy, gives a chance to people to laugh on others to shed their frustrations from their mundane lives
.
 
Hiking at Fundy Trail
Update July 17
 
This weekend we decided to explore the unexplored jungles of Fundy. We drove for about 50 kms, a beautiful drive and started our hike in Fundy Trail. I will write more about it, but for now, enjoy the pictures.
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2090061172
 
I also took pictures of the city. Check them out.
 
Saint John Part 2
Update July 13
 
Now armed with my new arsenal (spelled new digital camera), I decided to take a few more pictures of the city. The first stop: Irving Nature Park. After having spent last saturday mostly at home not doing anything other than watching TV or answering emails, I decided to put  write a million word story. 'Million Word' Story? They say a picture says a 1000 words so decided to take lots of pictures. It started raining as soon as I got at the park but within minutes it stopped raining. My first stop had to be the board walk across the marsh. Met a family and clicked their picture.
Anywhere in the world, you will not have to walk too far to see few south asians. I could see a few gusy sitting at the other end of the walk and I knew they were Indians. Turned out they would;ve been Indians before 1947 butnow they are called Bangladeshi. After a brief chat and a few photographs, moved on taking pictures of the trail and the green surroundings. Then went upto the Viewing tower and got a gret viewof the whole park and the highway which takes be back to
Boston!
  
July 4th celebrations and and Trip back to Saint John
Update July 6
 
After having spent a great weekend I worked for two days at Portsmouth and also bought my new digital camera.
Its a Sony DSC H7. A point and shoot with a few SLR like options. I can add Wide Angle lens and a Zoom lens to it. I am taking donations to buy one. Please be generous and help out a poor kid to realise his dreams of taking breath taking photographs for the benefit of mankind.
I got a great opportunity to test my new camera's capabilities and my intrinsic photographic abilities at a pot luck and during July 4 Fireworks. 
 
DG: The Great cook: You all agree that I have gained many skills over the past years as a biker,  photographer, engineer, management student, writer, programmer, web site designer and lady charmer (if any of my gf's is reading this, you are the only one I have charmed) to name just a few. Considering how modest I am, I feel a bit uncomfortable in admitting that I am also a great chef. When anyone eats a morsel of my preparation, they lick their fingers and they say they will serve me as a slave for the rest of their lives. I am against slavery so I just let them eat for free. It was pot luck at my friend Lunar's place and not only got to meet friends and eat great food, had very interesitng chat with future entrepreneurs. I had made butter chicken and everyone loved it. Here are some pictures from the luncheon.
 
I then started driving to Saint John, Canada so that I could be in office the next day. The drive this time felt more tiring but still was a beautiful one. I took a stop at Bangor, Maine to see the Fireworks. Here are some pics:
 
Now that you are impressed by my great photographic skills, wait for more.
 
Updated July 01 2007
Weekend in Boston!
 
It was a long weekend in Canada being Canada day on July 1st and holiday on July 2nd. I had to pick up my Social Security number and meet friends and it turned out I will be working out of the Portsmouth office for two days. Finished work a little early and left office at 4:00 and hit the road by around 4:30. It was a tiring day and this time I just wanted to get home as soon as possible. I realised that if you take driving as work, you can never enjoy it and seems so much longer. I felt the drive was much longer although this time I did it in 8 hours instead of 10 hours which I took while going to Canada. Fatigue was getting on to me. Has my appetite for eating miles gone down after not having ridden bikes for almost a year or is it because I crossed the magic age of  25?
 
Anyways, reached late night on Saturday night and had jet lag! Couldn't sleep the whole night and got some sleep only after 7:00 A.M. I changed time zones, remember! In the morning me and Balaji decided to go out and not waste the day sitting at home. We had no idea that there was a nice nature trail so close to Babson. This 'Wild Life Sanctuary' is on route 16 in South Natick. The lady at the counter tried to sell us a 'family plan'. Lady, we are not a gay couple! Anyways, the maps were all screwed up and we went around the numerous trails numerous times. It was good nevertheless.
 
Nice Boardwalk which goes across acres of marsh.
You do not want to fall over the edge!


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
My friend Balaji. Doesn't he remind you of Rajnikanth? Any single girl is welcome to get in touch with him if you are looking for someone who is rich (he has 300,00 chicks, he owns a poultry farm - what were you thinking?), manly (drives an SUV), homely (he is a great cook) and intelligent (Babson student). As far as being cool is concerned, I am working on it. Not enough? Girls, you will never be satisfied. 
 
 
Its a Waterfall! The map said to look out for Waterfalls and this was the largest we saw. Reminds you of Niagra?
 
Who am I kidding?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Flower Blooms! Balaji tried out his photographis skills and came out with this piece of art.
Anyone looking for professional photographers?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ended the trail at noon and had some Thai food. Later in the day I went out to meet a friend in Boston. Ended the day by meeting two new Babson mates Veer and Swati who have joined in the One year program. 
 
Check out Balaji's Blog: http://godofbigthings.spaces.live.com
 
Updated June 23 2007
Irving National Park - Nature Unlimited! 
My manager showed me aroud the city again on Thursday and this time in a car so we could go out further away and to all the important places in the city. I saw the reversing falls. I will tell about that later when I visit there again for a better view. Saw the city from a hill top and saw the diversity this little town has. Then drove around the Irving Nature Pak, a nature preserve owned and maintained by J D Irving group. It is interesting to note that the Irving family is definitely wealthy but there are far more wealthy people out there. Even then Irving family has given a lot to this Saint John and basically to every community it has been a part of. They paid for the full scale development of a major park in the city including pavind the tracks, building a beautiful fountain and maintaining the gardens lush green. In 1992, they bought a nature preserve and turned it into a great place for nature lovers. They do not charge anyone for using the facility and they have not shyied away from spending money on it.
 
On saturday, me and Ryan decided to head to the Irving nature park for a hike. Once we reached there, we chose a path which goes along the coast and then passes through the middle of the jungle. The trail was very well maintained. They have the whole trail covered with rubber matting and well laid out leaves and twigs to prevent any slush. This gives the ground a soft feel and prevents it from becoming slush int he high moisture. Since it passes through green coniferous forests, the path feels natural. As the trail gets closer to the coast, the soothing sea breeze adds to the amazing experience. 
Then we met a friend.  
The squirrel was really funny. It came out and approached us. As soon as it came close, it ran away along the trail and then turned back to us. It kept going back and forth for a long time and gave out a call to so many of his friends. Then we came across a large opening where we saw about a dozen squirrels. They were gnawing at the food thrown around for them and were expecting us to give them some. We were following the park's rule which says 'please do not feed the squirrels'.
 
Squirrels definitely have a huge appetite. They would not stop eating. We said goodbye to our friends and ended the great hike with the idea of coming back the next day for a run. After a nice nap, we had a BBQ in the porch. The pork skewer was great so were the pork sausages. The day that it was. I am glad I am here in Saint John and having time to enjoy rather than being in Portsmouth because I would have to then drive everyday for two hours , one-way, to get to work and weekends would just go by sleeping. Looking forward for tomorrow.
 
Check out my pics in the Gallery for the pics from the Road trip.
 
Updated June 19 2007
Saint John - "Welcome to the Greatest Little City in the East"
Saint John is a city with a great history. I had read about its history briefly before I came here and the buildings tell the story of its history. Ryan, my colleague from school and also doing his internship here had been here for a week so he took me out for dinner. Since its one hour ahead of EST and its up north, the sun sets pretty late. When we went out for dinner at about 9:30, a most of the places were already closed and we ate at a restaurant which felt more like a pub and were clearly told that the place will close in 30 mins. Had a cool beer and the waitress was quiet chatty and it turned out to be a good dinner anyways.

After my first day in office, my manager took me for a walking tour through the city. He had tremendous knowledge of the history. He knew which building came from which era.
 
The city was discovered by a French gentleman Samuel de Champlain and he named the river Saint John because it was Saint John Baptist day when he saw the river. Then a lot of people came down from Britain to go on to Boston. It costed more to travel to America directly from London because of higher taxes after American Civil war. Then came the Irish. The city developed very strong ship building skills and it also built the fastest ship during its time. This trade made the city very rich and hence a lot of new buildings came up. 
 
In 1877, there was a huge fire in the city which level almost whole of the city. Since the money was good, houses and trade centres were rebuilt. What stated was the 'City Market' which still stands strong and thats where I had my first breakfast in the city. The City Market has a very old age feel to it with no 'aisle' shopping.. A Lot of small time traders sell freash fruits and vegetables, small eateries prepare great tasting muffins and you can get yourself a good salad for lunch. When the city was being rebuilt, architects were called all the way from Boston (the culture of inviting very smart people from Boston still lives on :-) ) and Montreal. The three schools of architecture which existed during the same period resulted in diverse building designs. Its not hard to identify building designed by Bostonians. They are red and have the typical design of large pillars which serve as extensions of rooms coming out of the buildings.  Then in World War One because of its strong ship building capabilities, the city became very important for the British Empire. 
 
I could write on and on about the city. It might not be most fun city but I am looking forward to spending time here.
Updated  June 18 2007
Reporting from Canada
 
Yesterday, I made my first 'trans-country' trip from Boston to Saint John, Canada. This was the first time that I drove across an International Border. I have walked across one. No, I did not enter United States illegally. I paid a lot of money to buy sir tickets. I walked across the border between India and Nepal when I was about 10 years old. Still remember it and it was a story i told my friends for years. This drive from Wellesley, USA to Saint John, Canada is as much memorable for me.
 
I had packed my bags a day earlier (so much unlike me) and it was because I was so excited. I started from Wellesley at about 11:00 PM and after a fuel stop about 20 miles out and then after crossing NH, the drive got better. I-95 highway though not the widest highway around is definitely one of the best ones in New England area. It does not have ugly looking side skirtings but has lush green divider dividing the North and South. 
 
I had heard a lot about J's oyster from my fellow intern Max and I had to stop at Portland, ME. At that time I did not even know the name of the place. I asked a few people but they di dnot know. I went to the wharf and parked my car. Portland for its size, gets a lot of tourist crowd. I saw a lot of cars all the way from Connecticut who had driven down for amazing sea food which Portlans has to offer. I saw J's oyster and I knew it was the place. Sat down at the bar with Shipyard summer ale beer which was very refreshing. Shipyard people if you are reading this, please send me a cheque of $5,000 for promoting your beer. If police, you are reading this, I had just one beer in one hour, which is permissible (and if you do not trust me..ha ha , I am already in Canada).  It turned out be a long break a good one nevertheless. Then the scenery got better and better. I made a few photographic stops and could not help but curse my luck for not riding a bike instead. A lot of bikers were out enjoying the sun and hating the rain. Through my entire drive, I saw the best of sun and the worst of rains. It waould be raining heavily for about 10 miles slowing me down to permissibel speed limits and then there will be bright sun out. Left US at 6:30 PM and entered Canada at 07:30 PM. No its not because it took me an hour to cross the border, its because I crossed into a new timezone (Atlantic). 
 
Hit Highway 1 and saw a signboard: Maximum Speed 100! Thank god more liberal Canadian laws. I pushed the throttle and before I could reach the speed limit, I realised in Canada, they measure like rest of the world. They use kms. DAMN!!!!
 
The highway was beautiful. It is a two lane highway but had green meadows on both sides which made the drive interesting.
 
Reached safely, at Saint John at 8:00 PM. Checked into my apartment which is really nice.
 
I will upload the pics soon.
 
Updated: June 16 2007
Am I a Gypsy?
 
Sometimes I feel that I was born a Gypsy who never stayed at a single palce for too long. When I was three months old, my father moved from Rae bareli to Delhi and back to Rae Bareli when I was three. I then moved back to Delhi to stay with with my grandparents and uncles and completed schooling there. Moved back to Raebareli for a year and then back to Delhi, this time in a hostel, when I got admitted to DCE. During summer internship I moved to Mumbai for two months. Continued to stay in Delhi till 2006 and then came to US for my MBA and now for my summer internship, I am moving to Canada!
 
I do have lost cound how many times I have packed my bags, not for a week but for moving! I hate to do it but then just the joy of seeing a new place or just going back to my family is is far more than the pain to pick up tonnes of baggage and figuring out what to leave behind!
 
Packing is an art. One has to be sure that there are not too many bags to carry and neither you throw away the things you might regret later. Drawers never seems to get empty. Things keep popping out of nowhere and I find things I had lost untill I loose them again. Worst is the papers. Its hard to keep track of them and as soon as you throw away a paper you thoguth you did not need anymore, a need for it will arise.