Stop Cribbing !!!

The Irony is: most of my friends who shout against Aamir Khan’s comments now, are those who were standing in front of the US/European Consulates at 5am early in the morning, complaining everything about India and flew outside years ago :)

Common-on guys, just think…, lets’s not forward/repost every catchy stuff we see on social media !  #aamirkhan #intolerance

Stop Cribbing !!!

The Irony is: most of my friends who shout against Aamir Khan’s comments now, are those who were standing in front of the US/European Consulates at 5am early in the morning, complaining everything about India and flew outside years ago :)

Common-on guys, just think…, lets’s not forward/repost every catchy stuff we see on social media !  #aamirkhan #intolerance

A DAY TRIP TO BRUGES / BRUGGE

I was little bored of monotonous work and thought a short day trip to another place might give me a chance to get energized a bit. Since Bruges is not too far, just an hour and half from Antwerp, we gave it a try and was pleasantly contented with the trip !

We took train from Antwerp to Bruges Central, the City center is very close to the central station, so we thought we go into the city later in the evening (we had time till 10pm, It’s one of the bright days of Belgian summer :). We headed directly to the #boudewijnseapark.

Boudewijn Seapark is a water theme park located at Sint-Michiels, Bruges, roughly 15 minutes of Bus trip from the Central station. I would say it’s an ideal theme park for small kids, my 4 years old kid enjoyed every moment of it. Dolphin show was the coolest thing to me. The park also provides Sea lion and Seal Show. There was an indoor playground, and bigwigs aqua's splash was fun. We felt sad that we did not carry our swim attire, otherwise would have enjoyed little more fun with my kid in the waters!

If you’re with a small kid, I would recommend this place to give a try. For adults it may be little small and boring, again it depends on person to person.

Around 4pm, we came back to the historic center of Bruges and the Markt were just fantastic! We enjoyed the beautiful architecture and happy people watching around the entire square. We’re bit late to climb the historic bell tower to experience the incredible panoramic views of the Bruges!

I heard that there is also an remarkable brewery in Bruges called the Half Moon Brewery. They have some of the best beer in Belgium and it is certainly worth taking the tour as well! This would be a great mid-day stop in Bruges. But, it was not a thing for me. Many people also recommended to visit the Basilica of the Holy Blood, which actually believed to have the blood drops of Jesus, I missed that too.

We’re really short of time for the museums but we at-least wanted to go for the #Dumon Artisanale Chocolatier., but so bad that too was closed when we arrived. I should reserve them for my next visit.

Anyway, we just enjoyed a perfect mix of walking, culture, exploring and of course little bit of fries and waffles. Though it was really a short trip, we felt we happy and very much pleased.

Grand Place - Grote Markt , Antwerpen

Grand Place building is nothing but the #Stadhuis or townhall of #Antwerp. But, It's not just an ordinary town hall.

If you’re touring Antwerp, this town hall is something that is hard to miss - it's the large beautiful building with all colorful flags flying, on the banks of river Scheldt. The town hall is so beautiful and steeped in rich colorful history. It an attractive example of #Brabantine Gothic architecture, which was constructed in 1565 and still standing strong. (Infact, the city is celebrating it’s 450th birthday this year in a grand way! )

The town hall is an impressive architecture and located in an equally impressive square. So far, we have not gone inside, but I heard that the inside is also so gorgeous and has some excellent paintings. No wonder it is a #UNESCO World Heritage site.

The square has an attractive statue in the centre – “The statue of Brabo” which has an interesting story behind. It’s childish!!, but still let me share what I heard ;P 

The story goes like there was a Giant who controlled the river. If you were unwilling to pay the toll he would cut off your hand. One day a sailor, Silvius Brabo, challenged the Giant to a dual. Brabo won and cut off the Giant's head and hand. He threw the hand into the water, which is #Flemish for hand throw or "#handwerpen". That is how Antwerp got it's name ! 

I have been here in the day as well during the night time. Hands down!!!, the building looks amazingly beautiful at night as they are lit up. You should come here both day and night to compare for yourself!

If you’re on a short tour, It's a quick stop but is definitely a worthy to visit and spend some time over this wonderfully-crafted building and on the river side cafes, pubs, relaxing spots around it (the area is called as #GroteMarkt). You’ll not be disappointed! 

Will "Bharat Ratna" add anything to Netaji's stature?

There’s a speculative news that Former PM Vajpayee, hockey legend Dhyanchand, freedom fighters Subhash Chandra Bose and Madan Mohan Malviya are likely to be recognized with India’s highest civilian award “Bharat Ratna”. Soon after the news start spreading, Subhas Chandra Bose' Family said they would "not accept" it and demands the government to demystify the death of Bose, first.

What Netaji's family said is absolutely correct. Will the Bharat Ratna add anything to Netaji's stature? I say a “BIG NO”. Giving this award to one of the greatest personalities of Freedom Struggle after decades (that too after many actors, sports persons – influenced by politicians to fix-up their image) , has absolutely add nothing to the great pride of Bose.

It is a shame to even think, personalities like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at par with other politicians , sports persons, and media/cinema icons. Leaders like Netaji are immortal and beyond the descriptions of these awards. Let us not use our limited knowledge to judge them and let us stop humiliating these great leaders by giving a medal.

This would be a kind of de-recognizing or “fixing a price' for their great sacrifice to the country. And the people of the country (not just Bose’ family) has a right to know what forced Netaji to resign as Congress President and had to leave India in a mystical manner. Let the government (both BJP and Congress has the responsibility) reveal the hidden secrets first.

ZOO Antwerpen

#ZooAntwerpen is just next to my office. And my company allows all their employees to take lunch from the Zoo cafeteria on cheaper rates. So we occasionally go to the zoo for lunch :). Otherwise, I am not a big fan of Zoos!.

It is one of the oldest Zoo's in the world and has a very decent variety of animals to look around. The elephants are the most popular animals, especially since the birth of #Kai-Mook (Belgium's first ever baby elephant). Apart from them, you can take a glimpse of some strange animals such as aardvarks, armadillos, tree kangaroos and koalas to name but a few (I haven’t seen them anywhere before; learnt these words only after going there).

The Zoo is just next to the central station, that makes it as the first tourist attraction to most of the visitors of Antwerp. However, the smaller area keeps much of the creatures locked up in small cages. They are not befittingly kept :(. I guess Antwerp should relocate the zoo to some other bigger place outside the City and make a better use of this central area.

This is a good place to go in Antwerp, especially if you have kids. I haven't visited that many zoos, but this is one of the good ones that I have seen so far. 

Fell in Love with Venice !

When I told about my Venice plans, almost every friend of mine said we should see the Venice, but warned that I might get disappointed too. Crowdy, Dirty, and much touristy most said (funny is that these were said by some of my Indian friends :).

I have to admit the first couple of our hours in the Venice was not that great. First of all, our bus got so much delayed, and we lost about 40 minutes trying to find our hotel amid the alleyways. We reached our hotel only by the noon almost. We had to have a very short lunch and run for the sight-seeing. It was very hot, we had to wait and stand in a crowded bus before we finally reach the City Bus stands.It was around 4 Ò clock in the evening, when we’re presented the beautiful view of St. Mark’s square. 

But every minute, after those first couple hours was a pure delight !!!

Venice – the city is full of history, romance and grand architecture, there are countless places to visit. But, we really underestimated, had only 2 days, so focused mainly on the city's major sights and attractions, on day-1. We had a great trip all over the historic Basilica di San Marco and the surrounding Piazza San Marco constitute the heart of Venice. On the 2nd day, we enjoyed one of the best beaches, Glass factories, and the colorful houses at the Murano and Burano’s—both neighboring islands that are just a short boat ride away.

Without any doubt, we thoroughly enjoyed the complete trip. However, I always feel the same or more happiness and excitement when I sit in front of my computer for hours, trying to write more about that trip too.

Well, am not sure whether my travelogues are going to help anyone; but I’m happy that these writings make me feel like re-living the cherished moments of the trip again, whenever I read them, even  after many days, months, or years. So let me put together all the moments of this trip too in the coming posts @ TRAVELOGUE-VENICE-ITALY

I believe in God - but...

A recent share on Facebook is the inspiration of this post. I read today, and it certainly made me to think..

The story is plotted around a dispute between the priests of a baptist church and a local Bar owner.

The Bar Owner begins construction on a new building to increase their business. The local Baptist church doesn’t want the Bar in their locality and they start a campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers. They begin to pray that God would intervene and stop the bar.

A few days before the bar is scheduled to open, a heavy lightning strikes the structure and burns the complete bar building to the ground. The people of the church are surprised but pleased - until they received a notice that the bar owner is suing them. The bar owner contends that the prayers are the sole reason for the collapse of his building. But, the church goers and priests deny the charge.

The trail goes to the local court and the judge become clueless and goes away with a remarks as "At this point I don't know what my decision will be, but it seems that the bar owner believes in the power of prayer and these church people don't."

How will you reach if you were in the position of the judge? Do you favor the bar owner who believes the power of prayer to his core or the people who chant bible all the day and discards the existence of God?

The story may be an exaggeration of its essential moral, but isn't the reality today? Don’t we set aside our faith, and it’s pride, when faith becomes problematic sometimes? Do we really stand up for our principles, their beliefs and proudly proclaim them, even when they bring some discomfort, difficulty, money-wise or otherwise?

Bangalore Traffic - "It's awful!”

I was recalling as how relax a weekday would start about a decade ago, …

would wake up at 6.30 AM, take a walk to the nearby nayar tea shop,  get ready to office and leave home by 9.00 AM, it would take just 10 minutes to travel to my office, park my vehicle and then complete my register signing formalities and by the time I get to my desk, it would have hardly taken about half an hour since I left home. On my way back home it used to take just about the same time as the onward travel.

But in the last 10 years, traffic has increased by leaps and bounds, and reaching office and going back to home has become such as hectic task. Travel time has increased to more than one hour, if I had been to travel to same office place. Well, the situation has changed now.......and am in a different city – Bangalore, where the traffic is even horrible.

                             

Tell me, Will a 4 lane serve our bumper-to-bumper traffic at rush hour, or even a 8 lane road?. The important question is not how many lanes must be built to ease congestion, but to go for some proven alternates like carpooling, Cycling/using 2 wheeler, and public transport….etc.

Most of us know that widening roads to fight against traffic congestion is like buying larger clothe to fight back your obesity :), but still why do we cry for road widening ,while killing 100s of good old trees. It’s awful !!!

Tulpenpluk 2015

Well, this weekend we went to Berendrecht #Tulpenpluk (translated as Tulips Pick) and  I must say, "We just loved it".

It’s a fantastic initiative by the City of Antwerp. Every year during November time frame, the district commune of Berendrecht plants thousands of tulip pulps on the meadows near the Berendrecht Port. And all these pulps bloom beautiful during april., and be opened up to the public to come and enjoy!

This year Berendrecht meadow was filled with 160,000 colorful tulips and we’re all allowed to pick upto 10 tulips per person and take back to home :)

We went from Antwerp Central to the Berendrecht by public transport; from then there was about 15minutes walk to the tulip meadow.

 By the time we reached, the crowd had already turned out well over and we joined-in over the long queue. But it was not that bad, the queue was fast moving.; and in about 20mins of queue, we got straight into the meadows !

The meadow with all colorful tulips looked so beautiful, under the bright spring sunshine. We snapped hell of nice pictures and grabbed a  few beautiful tulips for home too.

Furthermore, there was a lot of nice events such as a ducks ‘parade, children's village, hay stack maze, kids painting, picnic area  ...etc. 

After spending a good amount of time, we returned home, and our house got brightened by the beautiful bouquets :-).