FETE DE LA MUSIQUE (Music Festival)

Every year Parisians (people of Paris) celebrate June 21 as the day of music. On this day the metro, the regional rail, the buses and the trams operate all over the night and you can travel as much as you want with a cheap day pass of 2.5 Euros. On this day any group with (or without) a music talent can play anywhere in Paris (I mean anywhere) without trouble from Police or anybody. It is like freedom to do anything anywhere you like. For the past two years it has been raining in Paris on this particular day and spoiling all the fun. However, this year the day was perfect and all of activity going on everywhere. Luckily for me I happened to be in Paris on this particular day.

It was June 21 evening, the day of Music in Paris. Kostas has been my tour guide ever since I got here and he suggested that I join him for the tour of center city Paris to listen to some good music and get acquainted with French culture. I was tired from the days work and wanted to avoid the outing. Somehow I convinced myself that this was a very good opportunity and I cannot miss it, and enthusiastically accepted his suggestion (well the real reason for the turnaround in my decision was, if I go to see Paris I would have something interesting to share with you guys).

We left from Ecole Polytechnique (the university where I am working right now) at around 7:00 pm. The plan was to first go to Kostas's home drop the bags we were carrying, eat something, and then set out on trip of center city Paris. We stuck to the plan. After dropping the bags, myself, Kostas, his girlfriend Harris and another of his friends set out for having dinner. Meat is an integral part of diet for people here, therefore it is difficult to find restaurants that offer vegetarian dishes. Nevertheless, there are a few middle eastern and Indian restaurants here and there and we had our dinner in a Lebonese restaurant that offers vegetarians sandwiches and meals. The falafal sandwich was very good for the price I paid. I had to pay only 4.5 Euros for the sandwhich.

The European culture is in someways very different from American or Asian cultures. People here love to go out and have a coffee, smoke, bear or dinner. Therefore, in all major centers of Paris you will find a lot of coffee shops (that also serve alcohol) with people sitting infront of the shops. For example, this is infront of a coffee shop in Montparnesse (close to Eiffel tower). If at all you come here and want to eat something close to Indian, ask for "crepe". This is close to chapati, but comes in different flavors (like honey, chocolate, cheese, meat or anything).



After having dinner we took a metro to get to the main concert infront of Eiffel tower. The metros were really packed with people. I dont know if it was because of the music festival, but lots of people were kissing each other (everywhere, on the trains, on the streets, in the stations, etc). And I sort of figured out why the French kiss is sooo popular. When they kiss they are pretty intense (I mean they are lost in some other world and dont move at all for quite some time, all the while closing their eyes). It was amusing to see even some kids kissing each other this way.

It was interesting to see that metros here run on rubber tyres. For most part the metro goes underground but when it is above the ground it goes on bridges. So you get a very good view of the city (most of the building in Paris are not more than three or four floors high and therefore you get good view when you are even on a bridge). It was from the train that I first saw Eiffell tower. From the train it looked good but not magnificient as I had imagined.

We got down at a station called Trocadero and went out to see the concert. I now got a good look at the Eiffell tower. It looked absolutely splendid from where I was now. What was adding beauty to the metal structure where the beauticully crafted surroundings. One thing I realized as soon I got into Paris was, if the people here have enough money, they can build the most beautiful things in the world. Afterall this is the land of renaissance of art. The surroundings of eiffel towere consisted of small water bodies, gardens, very wide roads where only pedestrians are allowed and most of the festive atmosphere.



If you ever plan a trip to Eiffell tower, plan to go there in the evening and furthermore plan it such that you are there exactly at the beginning of an hour (e.g. 8:00 pm, 9:00 pm, e.t.c.). Since, at the beggining of every hour, once it gets dark, they use a million flash bulbs to create a splendid effect that I am sure your eyes would feast on.

After hearing to the concert there for 10-15 minutes we left for another place. A river by the name La Seine goes through the city and many attractions of paris are located along the river. If one were to walk from Eiffel tower along the river in the west, you would encouter a palace by the name 'Invalides' where Naepolean was cremated, the famous and biggest meuseum of all 'Musee du Louvre', the biggest church in Paris 'Saint-Michel Notre Dame', the National assembly (where Sarkozy must be sitting right now) and many more. We left for a place near Louvre.

Here we walked around in the street stopping once in a while. People were really having fun. It was funny to see people making middle of the streets their favorites places and having drinks, chips and much more. Whenever a song was played you would see everybody smiling and dancing to the tunes of the music. Groups of people were gathered everywhere and everyone was in a rush to occupy the highest spot available in the surrounding region at get the best view of the performing troupe.

We went around until 12:00 pm and then I took a train back home (I would take 45 minutes for me to get home from center city paris). The best of the evening was actually just beginning. There was an african troupe performing on the platform of the train station. It was amazing to see how people forget barriers to enjoy music. Normally you would see discrimination or pejudice against african community here (as most of them are illegal immigrants). However when they were playing everyone around me were fully enjoying.

This is all I have to say about the day of music in Paris. My obserations for 4 hours. Alright everybody take care and I shall keep you updated about things here.

with love,
Vikranth.

My first impression of Paris

When I was thinking of the title for this blog, I thought it would be cool to use a Telugu title. With my limited Telugu vocabulary I figured it must be 'Paris lo naa toli anubhavam'. After giving the title I realized it might mean something else so I gave it the english title. Anyway lets get to the core of the blog.

Sooo many things have happending in the past four days from the moment I left home for the airport in Philadelphia to the first weekend in Paris (I arrived here on Tuesday). The best thing of all the events that occured in past four days is all of them were very pleasant.

Let me begin with the farewell at the Philadelphia airport. Santi, Shravan, Mounica and Prashanth were there to give me the sendoff. I should say I have always been very lucky with friends, and these were my nicest friends. It was a strange feeling leaving them after being with them for soo long (almost 4 years now). I wanted to give everybody a hug but for some reason I didnt. Just before I left for my gate Shravan surprised me with a gift: an ipod nano. I was very happy as I didnt expect it. At 6:00 pm I left for my gate (my flight was at 7). However the flight did not take off until 8:00 pm.

I was flying to Paris by AirFrance. The flight was new and good. I got a glimpse of what I had to face in France within 2 hours of boarding the flight. When it was time to serve the dinner, I was told that there was no vegetarian option. The airhostess suggested I eat things that are vegetarian and leave the non-veg part out. Any case it wasnt too bad. I ate things like yogurt, bread, fruit pieces and a cake. I got some sleep after dinner and since we started late we arrived in Paris 2 hours late. To my pleasant surprise the immigration was very simple, and quick. In fact there were no customs forms to fill out or customs check. Within 10 minutes of landed had finished both picking up my bagage and getting throught the immigration. My officemate Kostas Danas was supposed to come to the airport to pick me up. I was wondering if he knew of the late arrival of flight. I luckily found a telephone that operates with coins (Euro coins ofcourse, which I happened to have a few) and called him to find out if he was near. Luckily he enquired about the late arrival and was in the airport just at the same time as the flight arrived.

I noticed something were strange about the paris airport. There were no flat surfaces anywhere (ofcourse except the floor): the roof, the pillars and anything and everything you see had a curved surface. It was very pretty. Once I met Kostas we started out for the place I was to stay in. The baggage was very heavy (2 pieces nearly 30 kgs each) and I could not have made it anywhere without him. I was starting to get a feel for France. Anywhere I see in the airport I would see hoardings in French. But since it is the airport at many places I would also see the English translations. My practise sessions (for French) started right from the airport (with billets for tickets). After a 1.5 hours of traveling by train and taxi we finally arrived at the hostel. The first time I realized I need to be with someone to do anything atleast for first few weeks was when we engaged a taxi. I realized the French I knew was little and I need to learn a lot before I can really talk to somebody and understand what they are saying.

In the hostel after some paperwork (which took like an hour) I was given a small room. I had a table, tablelamp, a small bed, some cupboards and a washbasin. The view from the room was very pretty. With a green garden, big trees and a lot of flowering plants.


There were some 20 people living on each floor and we had to share a set of 3 bath rooms and a kitchen. Luckily the kitchen and bathrooms were in decently good condition.

Sorry it took me soo long to get to interesting details about France and French people. Since Paris is very north in terms of lattitudes right now the SUN SETS here AT 10:30 pm. The photos I am attaching here were in fact taken at 9:30 in the evening. A thing that stood out in comparison to US was I didnt see a single policeman in a weeks period. The crime rate is very low and it is safe to walk around even with a lot of cash on you at any time of the day. French people love plants, trees and greenary in general and here are a few examples.





There most favorite plant being the roses. I see roses in houses, streets, parks, almost everywhere.



The streets are pretty narrow but thats really a problem as most people commute by train or bus.



Now to the university I am working at: Ecole Polytechnique. One interesting fact about the university is, it is on a hill top. Consequently we need to take some 300 odd steps every morning. It is quite a walk. We are dog tired by the time we are in office.

My biggest problem yet has been with food and language. People here love meat and alcohol. They almost have nothing to offer for vegetarians except things like salad, yogurt, fruits and deserts. Somtimes there is pasta or french fries but with no veggie sause. I have been stuffing my stomach with all these. It doesnt complain but isnt too happy either. One thing that is really good about french cuisine is their deserts. They make awesome deserts. Thats the saving grace right now. THe combination of a lean diet and walking has already made me a little thinner :-). I like that.

There is a nice restaurant in the university where we have our lunch and sometimes dinner too. This is like our canteen. Food is pretty cheap here. Even after taking a lot of stuff it just costs 3 or 4 Euros. However food outside is pretty expensive. Also coffee is very cheap and good here. Can you believe it, It costs like 35 cents to buy a coffee even in the cafe shop inside the university.

On saturday I got the first opportunity to visit Paris. I went with Oscar. But since It was raining we had dinner, watched a movie and returned back.

Overall the first four days here have been pretty good. There is no phone or internet in the hostel so I havent been able to talk to anybody. I called home just today from the office. Why today and not before? Well we are not supposed to use skype or similar things here (defense lab fundaes) so I am kind of stuck on communication front.

Anyhow guys, I think this has already become pretty long. I hope to add more interesting things in future. Best of luck to you guys and me as well.

take care,
Love you,
Vikranth.

Gym and C1002

Gym and C1002


There is a gym in our apartment which was once very lonely. There were no regular visitors to the Gym and it lay there with atleast a couple of its parts broken. Then, one day everything changed in its life, someone had decided to give it a regular company. Yes, Vikranth had decided to be a regular visitor to the Gym.

For Vikranth, it all started when he went to the bodyworlds exhibition here in Philadelphia. This exhibition displays the anatomy of real human bodies (http://www.bodyworlds.com/). As he was looking at the amazing exhibits there, his attention specifically fell on a particular group of exhibits. These sections highlighted the exhibits which showed the contrast between the bodies which excercised and the bodies which did not. Vikranth observed that muscles of bodies which did not excercise seemed to grow randomly while the bodies which exercised had this definate and pleasing shape. For Vikranth, as he is, it was not hard to resolve that he would not let his muscles grow randomly.

From that day on, he started going to Gym daily. At that point, he would be the only regular visitor to the Gym. By the time the rest of the house woke up, he would have returned from the Gym. And, he would have left the house even before any of us really came to our senses. The energetic Vikranth had suddenly become overly energetic, the "kid" with a load full of strength. He would pay even more care about what actually went down his food pipe. He would also work late into the night and come back home by taking the last city bus. I guess the bus driver recognizes him as the only guy in the city of Philadelphia who takes his bus at that time. Most of his pants were beginning to become lose and all this definately gave an impression that things were working out wonderfully well for him. So inspiring was the routine of Vikranth now that even I decided to try out going regularly to the Gym.
















Now, I was a person who would most certainly need company to do any activity for a long period of time. At IIIT, i had tried to be a regular at Gym but it would generally mean a maximum of 6 days and then a break of 1-2 years :). Well, now was my chance to actually make it happen, by tagging along with unfailing Vikranth . I resolved to start going as soon as i got a little free from my work. So, as soon as i was free, it had started for me too.

Everyday, i would wake up at 7:00 and go to Gym with Vikranth. We would come back in 40 minutes and then go to school. I started becoming unbelievably regular with my daily routine. No longer would i wake up at 8:00 and think whether my presence in my office was really needed that day :). Vikranth and I would be discussing various workout routines and for some reason, everything that we talked during my first few days at Gym revolved around the concept of a healthy life, Ufff !

















So, Gym had become an integral part of the lives of people at C1002. Santi has also started coming to Gym ""quite"" regularly. Shravan is more into Yoga and Outdoor sports, so doesn't
think going to gym is a great idea. He is also probably the most fit guy around. He compares going daily to Gym to the 'daily wage labour' :)). Raja isn't much interested. He believes Vikranth, me and Santi are trying to build ours like his :). Well, nobody can definately deny that.


Getting inspired by Vikranth's energy, Sandhya and Yashwanth have also started coming. So, it nows looks as if the Indian (specifically gult) gang has occupied the Gym. Well, so it is mostly us during the mornings baring a few guest visitors. Thanks to Yashwanth's cell, we now also have telugu songs playing out loud.

















(to be edited and continued)

Well, now after 3 months. Things are back to square one. Gym is back to the way it was before. Atleast, it has had a few really good months !

Canoeing trip at Pine Barrens

The mail from Office of International Programs at UPenn came at around 9:30, 24th April about a day long Canoeing trip at Pine Barrons on 29th. I looked at the details, got amused and then choose to ignore it as I hadn't had great experiences at the events organized by OIP before. I almost forgot about the trip till Vikranth called me up at 10:00 and asked if I was interested. That call was enough to get me interested in the trip again. I rushed to take the tickets before they were sold out. Santi, Shravan, Raja, Sandhya and Mounica were unfortunately tied up for the weekend. So, it was going to be only Vikranth and me. I reached the OIP and asked for two tickets if they were available. Soon, I found out that we were the second on the list to buy the tickets. At that moment, It looked as if our excitement preceded the rate of tickets sales by a mile.

A day before the trip, we received a mail from OIP about the stuff we should bring to the trip and the stuff that we shouldn't. The mail contained a long list of instructions but what it wanted to convey was a list of three things

1) Get lots of food.
2) Get extra pair of dry clothes.
3) Sleep well before the trip.

So, we were all set on the day of the trip. We filled out backpacks as much as possible. We were supposed to reach the starting point (OIP) by 8 AM where a school bus would take us to the Pine Barrens. So, we started from our home by around 7 AM. Here are a couple of pics as we waited for the city bus.




We reached OIP on time. The trip from OIP to the Pine Barrens was only one hour long but it was kind of boring because everyone on the bus was half-asleep and more so because we didn't know anyone there. We reached the Pine Barrens by around 9:30 and soon, we were ready to go canoeing. The following pic is the place where we were allowed to choose our canoes :).



Mark, one of the organizers, took a small session telling people about the inventory of canoeing and about how to hold the canoe paddle etc.. It was a good session but we later hoped he had also told us about how to control the canoe :). Here is a pic taken at the beginning of our adventure ride.



The stream flowed at variable speeds. Sometimes, the stream would be still and it would make us feel proud at our canoeing dexterity. And there would be times when nothing that we did made any difference to the canoe and it would go randomly downstream or it would hit the branches at the edge of the stream. We didn't have too many accidents in the beginning of our course. However, we were witness to quite a few accidents of the other canoes. One of the canoes had capzised and they were waiting to get back on the track. As we realized we were doing quite well, we also felt the excitement of an adventure, the sense of danger and thrill of learning. It was far more exciting than I had hoped for and I was loving every bit of it. The following are some of the pics that we "managed" to take from our canoe. I was on the front and Vikranth was in change of affairs at the back of the canoe.






I remember an instance where Vikranth was so involved in taking pics (actually he trusted me to look out for danger) when he didn't realize that the back of the canoe was going to hit a branch. Somehow, he could save himself and the camera at the last moment.

The entire course was for 5 hours. After we had canoed for one hour or so, we decided that we should bank our canoe and take a few photographs of the beautiful surroundings and of the two of us together on the canoe. As we were taking the photographs, Mark who was holding the rear of our battalion also arrived indicating that we were now one of the last people in the group. Here is a pic which we took at that location.



We resumed our journey from there. As we almost reached the place where people had stopped to have their lunch, our canoe hit an underwater root of a tree as we tried to save ourselves from the projecting branch of a tree and it overturned. We couldn't believe, both of us were in water now. The stream wasn't deep and so we were able to stand there. But it was flowing at great pace and our legs were frozen. Hearing Vikranth's shout, I soon realized that my paddle has slipped out of my hands and was flowing downstream at great speed. It sounded impossible for me to go and catch the paddle. So, We decided to look for the paddle later and hoped it got struck among the branches somewhere downstream. Vikranth did a great job and gathered both our bags, his shoes and the camera as I held on to the boat. Now, the immediate goals were to straigten the boat and reach the bank before cursing our luck. The area where our canoe capsized was a camping area, so there were a few benches for us to dry our clothes. The water had successfully penetrated my bag and wet my clothes, Vikranth was lucky as he kept his clothes in a plastic cover. We put our clothes for drying and pounced on our lunch boxes. We laughed at ourselves and thought it would be nice to take a picture there. This was an incident that we would remember forever. But, we got another shock when we found out that a little bit of water had got into Vikranth's camera and it was no longer working. (The following are the last couple of pictures we had taken before our canoe capsized).





While we were drying our clothes, we saw two more canoes overturning at the same place where our canoe had capsized. Mark's was one of them. We requested Mark to find our paddle downstream as we couldn't find it by walking on the shore. Mark was an expert at canoeing and so we hoped he could find it real quickly. Soon after he traced our paddle and gave it back to us, he and his girl-friend also stopped for lunch at the same location.

It took quite a while for our clothes to dry and soon, we resumed our course. I sat at the rear now and was incharge of directing the canoe. We were extremely low on confidence now and every moment looked dangerous. We couldn't imagine our canoe capsizing one more time, it would be disasterous. But luckily, we quickly learnt about how to control the canoe effectively and now, we were paddling with great confidence and making the best manoevers. We reached a place where others were waiting for us. We had covered two-thirds of our planned course but people had decided to stop as there was not enough time to continue till the end. In our entire group, 5 canoes had capsized at some point of time which the organizers didn't expect. We returned our canoes and took the bus back home. Extremely tired but greatly satisfied with our experience.

The trip was just amazing ! By the way, the camera is fine now after Vikranth dried it in front of a fan for three days.

The residents of C1002

Here, we are !!!