Category: Travel

This week’s Economist has 2 very useful tips:
1. Try not to venture out too early in the morning. The bombers spend all night psyching themselves up, then say their prayers at dawn, and go off to murder. A second helping of Corn Flakes could save your life.
2. Always try to get a hotel room between 2nd and the 6th floor. This way you are far away from the shootouts, car bombs, robbery etc. and yet not too far away that the fire brigade’s ladders cannot reach you.

I don’t know if it is true, whether it is technically and economically feasible. However I like the idea.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Ig19gYP9o]
AMAZING : Chinese Concept – The train that never stops at a station:
A brilliant new Chinese train innovation – get on & off the bullet train without the train stopping. VERY COOL CONCEPT !
No time is wasted. The bullet train is moving all the time. If there are 30 stations between Beijing and Guangzhou, just stopping and accelerating again at each station will waste both energy and time.
A mere 5 min stop per station (elderly passengers cannot be hurried) will result in a total loss of 5 min x 30 stations or 2.5 hours of train journey time!
How it works (view the movie – in mandarin though!):
1. For those who are boarding the train : The passengers at a station embarks onto to a connector cabin way before the train even arrives at the station. When the train arrives, it will not stop at all. It just slows down to pick up the connector cabin which will move with the train on the roof of the train.
While the train is still moving away from the station, those passengers will board the train from the connector cabin mounted on the train’s roof. After fully unloading all its passengers, the cabin connector cabin will be moved to the back of the train so that the next batch of outgoing passengers who want to alight at the next station will board the connector cabin at the rear of the train roof.
2. For those who are getting off: As stated after fully unloading all its passengers, the cabin connector cabin will be moved to the back of the train so that the next batch of outgoing passengers who want to alight at the next station will board the connector cabin at the rear of the train roof. When the train arrives at the next station, it will simply drop the whole connector cabin at the station itself and leave it behind at the station. The outgoing passengers can take their own time to disembark at the station while the train had already left. At the same time, the train will pick up the incoming embarking passengers on another connector cabin in the front part of the train’s roof. So the train will always drop one connector cabin at the rear of its roof and pick up a new connector cabin in the front part of the train’s roof at each station.
Innovation?
Courtesy: Email forward by Neeraj

As Big Bang theory humorously depict, a lot of my Indian friends (including myself) are awkward in the presence of girls. A friend of mine who is unfamiliar with this phenomenon once remarked… You guys are so cold when I first met you. How can you call yourself close friends when you greet me with a distant hi or a formal handshake?

On the other hand an Indian friend of mine was recently offended when someone tried to greet her in the European way.

However these extremes examples apart, what I have observed are that people are much more accommodating while interacting with other cultures. For example parents of one of my friend demand that, at least in the first meeting, their daughter’s friends greet them formally. However a Columbian friend of mine greeted the same parents in a very casual and informal manner and they were cool about it.

This is probably because while interacting with people from other cultures, most people are very accommodating. Unless the person has a predetermined bias, they tend to take time in knowing the person before even forming the first opinion about him/her. Even after that the person is judged not on the basis of his actions but on the basis of their intention. This is a luxury that often people don’t give to someone from their own culture.

However it does not mean that one should not spend time in understanding and learning different cultures. In many high context societies there could be a stark difference between the verbatim and the literal meaning of any word or action. Hence often unknowingly one tends interpret the gestures, facial expressions and actions of others in accordance to the unwritten but widely accepted standards of their own culture. This is very true during courtship and dating where often things go so fast that the poor guy does not even realize what he did before it’s all over.

Sometimes even if you spend a lot of time in understanding and conforming to the etiquettes, your preparation is wasted when you meet someone whose parents are from 2 different cultures or someone who is not well integrated into the culture of region where you first met.

I was listening to this 20 year old Indian song. In this song a single line “By mixing your tune with mine, it becomes our tune” in 14 different Indian Languages.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstRrEmTcBc]
Lyrics: Souce
[hi] मिले सुर मेरा तुम्हारा तो सुर बने हमारा

सुर की नदियाँ हर दिशा से बहते सागर में मिलें बादलों का रूप ले कर बरसे हल्के हल्के मिले सुर मेरा तुम्हारा तो सुर बने हमारा मिले सुर मेरा तुम्हारा … मिले सुर मेरा तुम्हारा …

[ks-dev] चॉन्य् तरज़ तय म्यॉन्य् तरज़ इक-वट बनि यि सॉन्य् तरज़

[ks-nast]چأنِۂ ترز تدذ تَے میأنِۂ تدذ اِکوَٹہٕ بَنِہ یِہ سأنِۂ تدذ

[pa] तेरा सुर मिले मेरे सुर दे नाल मिलके बने एक नवा सुर ताल

[hi] मिले सुर मेरा तुम्हारा तो सुर बने हमारा

[sn-dev] मुंहिंजो सुर तोहि देसा पियारा मिले जडें गीत असांजो मधुर तरानो बने तडें .

[sn-nast] مُنهِنجو سُر توهِ ديسا پِيارا مِلي جَڊي گِيت اَسانجو مڍُر تَرانو بَني تَڊي

[ur] سر کی دریا بہتے ساگر میں ملے

[pa] बदलाँ दा रूप लैके बरसन हौले हौले

[ta] இசைந்தால் நம் இருவரின் சுரமும் நமதாகும். திசை வேறானாலும் ஆழிசேர் ஆறுகள், முகிலாய், மழையாய், பொழிவது போல் இசை, நம் இசை.

[kn] ನನ್ನ ಧ್ವನಿಗೆ ನಿನ್ನ ಧ್ವನಿಯ, ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಧ್ವನಿಯ .

[te] నా స్వరము నీ స్వరము సంగమమై, మన స్వరంగా అవతరించే

[ml] എന്റെ സ്വരവും നിങ്ങളുടെ സ്വരവും ഒന്നുചേര്‍ന്നു നമ്മുടെ സ്വരമായ് .

[bn] তোমার সুর মোদের সুর, সৃষ্টি করুক ঐক্য সুর.

[as] সৃষ্টি হো ঐক্যতান.

[or] ତୋମା ମୋରା ସ୍ବରେର ମିଲନ ସୃଷ୍ଟି କରେ ଚାଲଦୋଚତନ .

[gu] મળે સૂર જો તારો મારો, બને આપણો સૂર નિરાળો .

[mr] माझ्या तुमच्या जुळता तारा मधुर स्वरांच्या बरसती धारा .

[हिन्दी] सुर की नदियाँ हर दिशा से बहते सागर में मिलें बादलों का रूप ले कर बरसे हल्के हल्के मिले सुर मेरा तुम्हारा तो सुर बने हमारा मिले सुर मेरा तुम्हारा … तो सुर बने हमारा

Throughout history, I have seen French as a country proud of its culture and heritage. During the first 8-9 decades of the 100 year war, it was clearly evident that French knights are not an equal match against the English Longbow. Yet they fought hard and long enough to turn the tide of the war. In the First World War, they were able to force the Prussians into a long expensive stalemate. However against Hitler the French surrendered, faster than the German tanks could march. Paris was declared as an open city and Hitler simply marched in.

This event always puzzled me. Because although some brave citizens did put up a strong resistance, it was not formidable enough. It was only during the weekend, when I visited Paris could I understand. Each and every road in Paris has so much history around it. The buildings are both beautiful and antique. In 3 days, I could barely touch few of the important monuments and it will take me atleast 2 more weekends before I am somewhat satisfied.
I am not convinced that:

It is easy to terrorize the civilized world into submission because they have too much to lose.

This was the statement made by Atilla the hun, when he tried to summarize the reason for his unprecedented success against the Roman and forcing them to pay a hefty tribute. Even today this explains the terror tactics of Jehadis and why USA is unable to curtain them.

If you haven’t visited Paris, then you have really missed a lot