It's a pleasant surprise to find that AID India has put a link to my blog on the Indian Ocean concert on their web page to describe "How did you like the concert?"!
:)
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A meek attempt to capture the fun that we had in a day trip to Monterey and Santa Cruz beach!
Santa Cruz beach is usually pretty crowded. As it is just an hour's drive from the bay area it is a preferred weekend get away for most of the folks. Unlike Indian shores nobody enters into the sea water as the pacific waters are too cold! People were just chilling out having a sun bath or playing beach volleyball.
Santa Cruz beach has a lot of joy rides and this is the best way to spend time if you are not in a mood to relax. I took a joy ride called 'double shot' (as seen in the above pic) and it was too good! It takes you up like a rocket and you can view the entire beach. Good fun though Minu will disagree:)
After having lunch at Santa Cruz beach we left for Monterey. The road to Monterey goes through the fields. You'll be surprised but it's a rare sight here. I have traveled quite a bit in US by road and haven't seen much of the fields. I always used to wonder where do these Americans grow their vegetables!
This is the first view of Monterey beach! Isn't that heavenly? The horizon looks like a painting in splendid shades of blue.
We visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium which when compared to National Aquarium of Baltimore is mediocre. It has otters, penguins and the usual stuff. But the coolest thing there was the jelly fish! There were about 15 exhibits of different varieties of jelly fish. Have a look at the pic above and you wouldn't disagree:)
After the aquarium we went to the 17 mile drive and the pebble beach. The pic above was taken when we had just started. Unfortunately we couldn't take any pics of the drive. By far it was the best part of the day! Nothing could have served better as a grand finale to the memorable trip!
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To mark the 100th post here is a beautiful poem by David L. Weatherford.
--
Have you ever watched kids
on a merry-go-round
Or listened to the rain
slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last
Do you run through each day
on the fly
When you ask "How are you?"
do you hear the reply?
When the day is done,
do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last
Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow
And in your haste,
not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
'Cause you never had time
to call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last
When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away...
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.
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Food for thought
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Thanks to Parag that I learned about this awesome Indian Fusion band - Indian Ocean. Back when I was in Calsoft Parag had told me about one of their songs called "bandeh.." during our usual coffee break (I miss that man!). I didn't bother much about it till I listened to their truly amazing song 'Kandisa' after coming to Hopkins. Thanks to Minu for that! After watching Black Friday I became their devotee. So I jumped at the opportunity when I heard about their concert in Hayward on Sat (7/14) organized by AID to raise funds for Right to Information (RTI) movement.
Their performance was truly memorable and they played most of their popular songs such as ma rewa, kandisa, bandeh... Their lyrics are from different (mostly obscure!) Indian languages most of which are based on folklore. Add a touch of Indian classical and percussion (tabla) to catchy lyrics with a lot of acoustic and bass guitar and drumming and you get a fantastic Indian fusion song!
Read the description of the band members on their website. It's really hilarious!
Off Topic:
After the concert on my way back I listened to almost all of their albums that I had in my iPod. It was the best way to spend time in a 4 hr long one way journey! For the record I have traveled in almost all possible public transports here such as VTA,Caltrain,Samtrans,AC transit bay and BART! I can tell from experience that you need a car right from the first month of your stay in the bay area!
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VMware had taken all the interns to a (base) ball game between SF giants (the local team of San Francisco) and LA dodgers. Even though the match was kinda dull and Barry Bonds didn't break the record, the view from the stadium was awesome!
Nevertheless me and Gud boy reverse engineered the rules of base ball:) Now I know why Americans are so crazy about ball games. No matter how the match goes is but hanging out in the stadium is fun!
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Now it's also one of the world's new 7 wonders!
(It's the 8th wonder that I came to know about the news before it became too stale!)
Did you vote for it? I did!
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Disclaimer - I don't understand stock market fundas very well.
After reading this news simple demand supply logic (Demand goes up as the supply becomes scarce) tells me that VMware employees will most probably make big bucks!
It will be interesting to see what actually happens when the IPO comes out.
update: 7/27
Following Intel Cisco also jumps in!
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vmware
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On US Independence Day I was lazing around at home watching Spanglish when Rajat called up and within no time I was on my way to San Francisco. We did not visit any fancy places but they were no less than spectacular and it’s the company that matters and not the place, isn’t it?
This lake no better than Panshet/Khadakwasla I must say:) It was after this historic lake that the fault is named –
Once upon a time this beach was famous for the world’s largest swimming pool establishment. This structure was destroyed in fire in 1966 and now one can see the ruins. Nothing spectacular about the baths in particular but the beach is at a nice location! In the evening the place looks beautiful.
After a whirlwind tour of all these places I was really tired but in the end it was worth the pain when we saw the fireworks on the bay from Ghirardelli square.
Have a look at the videos of the fireworks here.
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