Chinese meal was something taste buds demanded to mark the end of this bank holiday weekend. So we decided to try out the ‘My Asia’ Chinese restaurant in Northallerton! Guess this was the only one restaurant left to try out in the high street as this one always gave the impression of a not so great place. When we decided to try our luck last night we were quite surprised and impressed by the standard of the place. The ambience was great inside and so was the quality of the products! Infact the service was great too unlike some of the Chinese places where we are expected to finish off in a hurry.
Yeah, you get for what you pay; the place is expensive! But didn’t complain much as we both enjoyed whatever we ordered. As always I had my doubts on quantity while ordering but struggled to finish off the mains after starters; so desert was sacrificed! Then comes the bumper, fortune cookies! I was seeing it for the first time and was not particularly interested, just wanted to pay and get off. SreeRaj opened his cookie and it said, "You will make many changes before settling down satisfactorily!”. And we we got interested; SreeRaj knew there was a story behind fortune cookies and asked the customer service girl about it. She said, “ No story!”. Guess she has a bit of language problem. We left the story thingy there and now I wanted to open mine though didn’t want to have it as I was so full. There comes mine ,” You will be graced by the presence of a loved one soon!”. I was like, “Woah! This is good”. Now I wanted to try it out and it tasted good too – fat free, vanilla flavour plain flour simple cookie!
We were both happy with our fortune cookies!!! And then I badly wanted to know what the story behind this is. Here it goes (from a piece of google search)
“For many centuries the Chinese have marked special occasions and festival times such as harvest and New Year with the giving and receiving of Moon Cakes these were made from Lotus Nut Paste.
During the 13th and 14th centuries China was occupied by the Mongols. When plans were made in Peking for a popular uprising to oust the invaders, much thought was given how news of the date of the uprising could be circulated without alerting the Mongols.
The story goes that the Mongols had no taste for Lotus Nut Paste and so the Chinese hid the message containing the date in the middle of their Moon Cakes replacing the yolk with secret messages. Patriotic revolutionary, Chu Yuan Chang took on the disguise of a Taoist priest and entered occupied walled cities handing out Moon Cakes. These were the instructions to co-ordinate the uprising which successfully formed the basis of the Ming Dynasty.
Thus the tradition of giving cakes with messages was born and became a popular way of expressing wishes of goodwill or good fortune on an important occasion.
The origins of the Fortune Cookie as we know it today were laid down by the Chinese 49'ers who worked on the building of the great American railways through the Sierra Nevada into California.
Work was very hard and pleasures were few in isolated camps, those hard workers had only biscuits with happy messages inside, to exchange at the Moon festival instead of traditional cakes with happy messages, thus the FORTUNE COOKIE was born. This became something of a cottage industry and as the Chinese settled in San Francisco after the railway and the Gold boom the custom continued. Today it is almost impossible to have a Chinese meal in America and Canada without finishing with a Fortune Cookie.
More and more businesses and even governments are having promotional messages printed on the opposite side to the fortune. The HONG KONG police used them in anti - drugs campaigns and the US followed.
The first automated production of Fortune Cookies took place in America in 1964 before that they were made by hand. In recent years fully automated facilities have been set up in the UK to produce Fortune Cookies that are now gaining increasing popularity in Chinese restaurants and Take-Aways across the U.K. and Europe”
Interesting!!! A good selling point too – fortune wrapped in a piece of paper! Who wouldn’t like to see pleasing things like this though you believe in it or not!
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Travelling alone :(
Travelling is fun for me if I have the right company. I have always enjoyed travelling with family and friends whether it is a fully planned trip or an instant idea. Both has its own charm. Start of a drive in the morning and randomly pick a place which you want to visit or see with your better half – its simply wonderful! If you get your friends joining in for this it is even better. With not much expectation but with great pleasure you set off for it. And then you have the full planned itinerary ones which you have dreamt, planned and the much awaited ones. With high expectations you set off for it and needless to say most of the times the outcome is pleasurable.
No matter how good the travel or destination is (even if it is going back home) I don’t enjoy travelling alone. And I am not good at travelling alone. Let it be airports, train stations, buses, even walking distances I hate travelling alone. Even for my up and down train journeys I long for company. It is relatively a better journey as I know clearly where I am supposed to reach as it is a routine and the route has a ‘feel at home’ feeling by now. Otherwise travelling alone gives me a lot of stress most of the times. Having real poor direction sense things get messed up a good amount of time. And again I hate to manage the sign posts, directions and anything of that sort on my own. I know I am pampered! Then again if the journey involves any waits where I have to kill time on my own, my frustration goes up and high and it is at its worst if I cannot get connected to the world! Less luggage more comfort logo adds onto it. Even if it’s a trolley bag I feel I am in pain. The bottom line is travelling alone is a pain!
No matter how good the travel or destination is (even if it is going back home) I don’t enjoy travelling alone. And I am not good at travelling alone. Let it be airports, train stations, buses, even walking distances I hate travelling alone. Even for my up and down train journeys I long for company. It is relatively a better journey as I know clearly where I am supposed to reach as it is a routine and the route has a ‘feel at home’ feeling by now. Otherwise travelling alone gives me a lot of stress most of the times. Having real poor direction sense things get messed up a good amount of time. And again I hate to manage the sign posts, directions and anything of that sort on my own. I know I am pampered! Then again if the journey involves any waits where I have to kill time on my own, my frustration goes up and high and it is at its worst if I cannot get connected to the world! Less luggage more comfort logo adds onto it. Even if it’s a trolley bag I feel I am in pain. The bottom line is travelling alone is a pain!
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Four more weeks to go at work before a break!!! In fact a long break.
Guess I have been working continuously for four years and the longest break I had got in between would be of two months during the marriage. Straight to University from there! And then started work before the course finished. Now looking back at it, things were hectic though it kept me occupied all the while with not much time to complain. Anyway, I am really looking forward to the break now.
The past months had been absolutely busy with so many trips, Sruthi fifth annual event and with not one spare weekend to wind off. But then I guess it was enjoyable to a great extent. Met a lot of new people, got more time with friends, got lots of shopping done and so on.
The Fort William trip was AMAZING. Absolutely fell in love with the place!!! And it was a perfect holiday, didn’t want to come back. My initial feel about the holiday wasn’t great as I expected the 6+ hours drive would kill me. But to my surprise I enjoyed every bit of the drive (for a change!) and didn’t even doze off once. You don’t want to miss anything on the sides I guess, that picturesque it is. The lively Oban Marina and drive arounds nearby make it perfect destination to for all sorts of people I guess – panoramic as well activity oriented from walks to scuba diving!
Now with the start of May you feel more at ease as you are spoilt with two bank holidays. One is already down and you get more and more reluctant to get up on Tuesday mornings to start the working week. However, the weather has not changed much in North Yorkshire as I am still on my winter jacket (may be its just me). But occasionally you get sunny days too. The next long weekend is already blocked with a walk organised in the Dales with some friends (a BIG group in fact) followed by a BBQ. And I am sure I will need the next two days for rest after this! And then I will be left with just another 1 week before I leave. God, time does fly!
The to-do list for me just goes on and on and the deadlines are in four weeks time. All four weekends are already blocked as you tend not to miss anyone/anything during this time. Maximum catch ups with people!
The next scary thingy is on swine flu! I tend to suspect on myself all those symptoms I get to hear on various illnesses. Now that I have a cold that’s been running for a while I wanted to check if its swine flu. But I am sure it is not; but I wanted to check. My next air travel is in five weeks time to India, I just hope the viruses would be settled by then. Today in office, there is a notice put up in rest rooms, ‘If u feel sick, please be at home! Don’t pass on the germs!’ How true and I highly appreciate the idea.
Guess I have been working continuously for four years and the longest break I had got in between would be of two months during the marriage. Straight to University from there! And then started work before the course finished. Now looking back at it, things were hectic though it kept me occupied all the while with not much time to complain. Anyway, I am really looking forward to the break now.
The past months had been absolutely busy with so many trips, Sruthi fifth annual event and with not one spare weekend to wind off. But then I guess it was enjoyable to a great extent. Met a lot of new people, got more time with friends, got lots of shopping done and so on.
The Fort William trip was AMAZING. Absolutely fell in love with the place!!! And it was a perfect holiday, didn’t want to come back. My initial feel about the holiday wasn’t great as I expected the 6+ hours drive would kill me. But to my surprise I enjoyed every bit of the drive (for a change!) and didn’t even doze off once. You don’t want to miss anything on the sides I guess, that picturesque it is. The lively Oban Marina and drive arounds nearby make it perfect destination to for all sorts of people I guess – panoramic as well activity oriented from walks to scuba diving!
Now with the start of May you feel more at ease as you are spoilt with two bank holidays. One is already down and you get more and more reluctant to get up on Tuesday mornings to start the working week. However, the weather has not changed much in North Yorkshire as I am still on my winter jacket (may be its just me). But occasionally you get sunny days too. The next long weekend is already blocked with a walk organised in the Dales with some friends (a BIG group in fact) followed by a BBQ. And I am sure I will need the next two days for rest after this! And then I will be left with just another 1 week before I leave. God, time does fly!
The to-do list for me just goes on and on and the deadlines are in four weeks time. All four weekends are already blocked as you tend not to miss anyone/anything during this time. Maximum catch ups with people!
The next scary thingy is on swine flu! I tend to suspect on myself all those symptoms I get to hear on various illnesses. Now that I have a cold that’s been running for a while I wanted to check if its swine flu. But I am sure it is not; but I wanted to check. My next air travel is in five weeks time to India, I just hope the viruses would be settled by then. Today in office, there is a notice put up in rest rooms, ‘If u feel sick, please be at home! Don’t pass on the germs!’ How true and I highly appreciate the idea.
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Vishu
Today is Vishu, the start of Malayalam year. The harvest festival it is and is more popular and celebrated widely in North Kerala. Though I am from South Kerala Vishu was always special for us. It is not that we did big do’s on any of the Vishu’s, but the making of Vishukani and Vishukaineetam was always special. Vishukaineetam used to be one of the catching times when you were younger as it is the time when your pockets get filled up. Though the great Malayali feast, sadhya was not always there but Amma always managed with a mini sadhya and a payasam.
All the previous years I managed to be at home with either of the Mums during Vishu. Cant really say I am not at home this time, but it is always different with just both of us. The main thing being you miss everybody back home and you tend to compromise on celebrations thinking, ‘oh its just two of us!’ Especially this time Vishu falls on the working day very next to the Easter long weekend. Having had a weekend with late nights and wandering around with friends you are too tired to open your eyes next morning on the working day. But this time, for a change we managed to make a small Vishukani with available resources last night before we hit the bed. The traditional flower used for celebrating Vishu is the state flower in Kerala, Kanikonna is no way available in North East England. That is one big tree which marks the season in Kerala with absolutely no leaves at this time and fully flowered in bright yellow. I miss that!!! However, I had thought daffodils do give the same feel of the colour or atleast yellow chrysanthms. But, being a holiday yesterday we couldn’t sort the flowers out until evening, reason being we forgot about it. So for the Vishukani we managed with some white lilies, some fruits and veggies, a gold chain, a mirror and the available resources at home.
Got up an hour earlier than usual so that we get ample time for Vishukani and to catch up with family on phone. I should say getting up early and just opening your eyes infront of Lord Krishna with a Vishukani in front of him and then a look at Vaalkannadi make you feel great. Yes, the feeling is the same wherever you are in the world. Made sure I was not late for the trains as there is a saying that your entire year will somehow have the same effect if you mess up with the starting date. Superstitions never die however confident or convinced you are on their possibilies, sometimes you just don’t want to take a chance when it comes to you.
All the previous years I managed to be at home with either of the Mums during Vishu. Cant really say I am not at home this time, but it is always different with just both of us. The main thing being you miss everybody back home and you tend to compromise on celebrations thinking, ‘oh its just two of us!’ Especially this time Vishu falls on the working day very next to the Easter long weekend. Having had a weekend with late nights and wandering around with friends you are too tired to open your eyes next morning on the working day. But this time, for a change we managed to make a small Vishukani with available resources last night before we hit the bed. The traditional flower used for celebrating Vishu is the state flower in Kerala, Kanikonna is no way available in North East England. That is one big tree which marks the season in Kerala with absolutely no leaves at this time and fully flowered in bright yellow. I miss that!!! However, I had thought daffodils do give the same feel of the colour or atleast yellow chrysanthms. But, being a holiday yesterday we couldn’t sort the flowers out until evening, reason being we forgot about it. So for the Vishukani we managed with some white lilies, some fruits and veggies, a gold chain, a mirror and the available resources at home.
Got up an hour earlier than usual so that we get ample time for Vishukani and to catch up with family on phone. I should say getting up early and just opening your eyes infront of Lord Krishna with a Vishukani in front of him and then a look at Vaalkannadi make you feel great. Yes, the feeling is the same wherever you are in the world. Made sure I was not late for the trains as there is a saying that your entire year will somehow have the same effect if you mess up with the starting date. Superstitions never die however confident or convinced you are on their possibilies, sometimes you just don’t want to take a chance when it comes to you.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
A typical afternoon lunch/bite
Having been too lazy or too tired to bring in my lunch these days I have been grabbing something for lunch from the shops. Leeds, supposed to be spoiling you by choice offers a lot; but sticking to the vegetarian side for the past few months it is difficult to grab something of interest. If you are not fond of cheese, cold pastas, chutneys in sandwiches and the likes vegetarian options aren’t much. Most of the days you just have to make yourself happy with a soup and bread or a jacket potato with beans; unless you are on a proper eat out to the restaurants with friends or colleagues.
Well, I do give in for the veggie patties from Subway which is the only one thing I can consume from there. Subway teaches you to be really prompt in a way – to answer for a number of questions within a second.
One of the lunch orders I placed with Subway and the result
Subway Guy (SG): What is that you are going for?? Looking at their meal deals and offers. Is that a bit rude? No, he doesn’t really know to please, looks like still in training; definitely not an English guy!
Me: Just a veggie patty please
SG: Which bread and size
Me: Italian herbs and cheese please
He has already taken out a 8 foot long and started placing stuff in itMe: Excuse me, please wait, just a normal 6 inch one please
SG: Oh ok! (Cutting it into half) Any cheese?
Me: No, thanks
SG: Want it heated? (already the patty had gone into the oven)
Me: Yes please, thank you
SG: What salads would you like? (already placed a load of lettuce into that)
Me: Sorry, can you please take those lettuces off
SG: Oh sorry, what else (tried taking out a good portion of the lettuce placed in)
Me: Can I have some cucumber and tomatoes please
SG: placed them in the sub on top of the patty (organised!)
Me: Can I have some extra olives and jalapenos please
SG: placed a good deal of olives and a GOOD deal of jalapenos as well. The extra is misunderstood for jalapenos too. I could have made it clearer as just extra olives. By then I lost my patience and left it, didn’t bother to take the extra jalapenos off
SG: What sauce do you like?
Me: Can I have just a lil bit of Chilli Mayo please
SG: Had poured the Chilli sauce all over the sub.Me: I was lost now!!! ‘I said Chilli Mayo’ ..can you please take this sauce off please
SG: Oh is it? You mean the western??
Me: This one please…pointing to the Chilli Mayo bottle….
SG: It was practically not possible for anyone to take the beautifully distributed chilli sauce off the sub. This poor soul tried digging out the sauce and the whole thing looked pathetic by now. ‘Can I replace the patty for you Madam?’
Me: YES PLEASE
SG: threw another veggie patty to the oven. ‘please wait for a minute’
Me: Thank you
SG: By the time the new patty came in this guy forgot the ‘lil bit’ for the Chilli Mayo sauce. He had poured a hell lot of chilli mayo within a fraction of a second into the sub to make me happy. ‘Here you go’
Me: Didn’t bother anymore. Just wanted to run off. THANK YOU!!!
SG: Any drink? (Already had a cup taken out for that)Me: No thanks. Paid and left the place.
Enough for the lunch deal. Just then noticed the ‘spicy lentil soup’ boards in Bagel Nash; should have gone for that though I would feel ‘I can make a better dal anyday!’ Allright, need a break - thought will go for a browse at the office cyber café as I had some stuff to do from my personal email account. Now, when I opened the sub, it was a real MESS. It was too big for me to take it in my mouth in the first place. And it was too damn spicy with all the chilli mayo and jalapenos!!! Taste buds have had quite a change in about two years time and spice levels had come really down. Spent another five minutes cleaning up the sub to take out the unwanted bits and pieces to wash it down my stomach. Some of my colleagues who were there gave those looks which said –‘Oh you are too fussy with food’!!! Can’t complain much on the looks and comments here now as I am fussy with food. But then wasn’t angry or unhappy at the end. I did enjoy the sub at last; clubbed with a browse and a ten minutes google chat with nephew who was telling me his holiday plans.
Well, I do give in for the veggie patties from Subway which is the only one thing I can consume from there. Subway teaches you to be really prompt in a way – to answer for a number of questions within a second.
One of the lunch orders I placed with Subway and the result
Subway Guy (SG): What is that you are going for?? Looking at their meal deals and offers. Is that a bit rude? No, he doesn’t really know to please, looks like still in training; definitely not an English guy!
Me: Just a veggie patty please
SG: Which bread and size
Me: Italian herbs and cheese please
He has already taken out a 8 foot long and started placing stuff in itMe: Excuse me, please wait, just a normal 6 inch one please
SG: Oh ok! (Cutting it into half) Any cheese?
Me: No, thanks
SG: Want it heated? (already the patty had gone into the oven)
Me: Yes please, thank you
SG: What salads would you like? (already placed a load of lettuce into that)
Me: Sorry, can you please take those lettuces off
SG: Oh sorry, what else (tried taking out a good portion of the lettuce placed in)
Me: Can I have some cucumber and tomatoes please
SG: placed them in the sub on top of the patty (organised!)
Me: Can I have some extra olives and jalapenos please
SG: placed a good deal of olives and a GOOD deal of jalapenos as well. The extra is misunderstood for jalapenos too. I could have made it clearer as just extra olives. By then I lost my patience and left it, didn’t bother to take the extra jalapenos off
SG: What sauce do you like?
Me: Can I have just a lil bit of Chilli Mayo please
SG: Had poured the Chilli sauce all over the sub.Me: I was lost now!!! ‘I said Chilli Mayo’ ..can you please take this sauce off please
SG: Oh is it? You mean the western??
Me: This one please…pointing to the Chilli Mayo bottle….
SG: It was practically not possible for anyone to take the beautifully distributed chilli sauce off the sub. This poor soul tried digging out the sauce and the whole thing looked pathetic by now. ‘Can I replace the patty for you Madam?’
Me: YES PLEASE
SG: threw another veggie patty to the oven. ‘please wait for a minute’
Me: Thank you
SG: By the time the new patty came in this guy forgot the ‘lil bit’ for the Chilli Mayo sauce. He had poured a hell lot of chilli mayo within a fraction of a second into the sub to make me happy. ‘Here you go’
Me: Didn’t bother anymore. Just wanted to run off. THANK YOU!!!
SG: Any drink? (Already had a cup taken out for that)Me: No thanks. Paid and left the place.
Enough for the lunch deal. Just then noticed the ‘spicy lentil soup’ boards in Bagel Nash; should have gone for that though I would feel ‘I can make a better dal anyday!’ Allright, need a break - thought will go for a browse at the office cyber café as I had some stuff to do from my personal email account. Now, when I opened the sub, it was a real MESS. It was too big for me to take it in my mouth in the first place. And it was too damn spicy with all the chilli mayo and jalapenos!!! Taste buds have had quite a change in about two years time and spice levels had come really down. Spent another five minutes cleaning up the sub to take out the unwanted bits and pieces to wash it down my stomach. Some of my colleagues who were there gave those looks which said –‘Oh you are too fussy with food’!!! Can’t complain much on the looks and comments here now as I am fussy with food. But then wasn’t angry or unhappy at the end. I did enjoy the sub at last; clubbed with a browse and a ten minutes google chat with nephew who was telling me his holiday plans.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Name and Place
What is it that you should look for in a name?
- meaningful?
- Stylish?
- Easy to use?
- Adaptable in any part of the world?
- Traditional; adhering to culture?
- Religious?
I think it depends on how you look at things and how you want to be looked at by others. My name being one of those traditional names from India is quite popular in my motherland. But then now being in England, English and of course most of the non-Indians find it difficult to pronounce in the first place. But then I always educate people to get my name right. If someone asks me the meaning I think I am proud to say I am named after the goddess of wealth and prosperity. And I have never tried to shorten it to Leks, Lax or ‘L’(though there had been friends who used it that way); somehow I feel it is a question to my identity. But can’t really say it is a bad practice to shorten the names especially to those who have incredibly long names with unusual syllables.
I don’t really think there is a problem is clarifying your name twice or thrice to someone who has not heard the name before; there is absolutely nothing to be shameful about that. It is their ignorance and you should still be proud of your names. I don’t understand why people take strenuous efforts to change their names once they are in a new place. I don’t think it is worth changing your roots (especially if it is your dad’s name or family name) just for the convenience of other people and that you are in a different part of the world. I have seen British getting confused with pronouncing British names; and same with Europeans. So its just there everywhere. There is definitely a way to get around it.
There are these wise people who name their kids accordingly which are justifiable to an extent. Just because you know the kid is not going to spend a significant time of their life in India they don’t really see a point in going for a proper Indian name. They just name it conveniently for the use of non-Indians (and Indians). But then I personally feel you are then disadvantaged with the choice of some of the beautiful names you can go for.
- meaningful?
- Stylish?
- Easy to use?
- Adaptable in any part of the world?
- Traditional; adhering to culture?
- Religious?
I think it depends on how you look at things and how you want to be looked at by others. My name being one of those traditional names from India is quite popular in my motherland. But then now being in England, English and of course most of the non-Indians find it difficult to pronounce in the first place. But then I always educate people to get my name right. If someone asks me the meaning I think I am proud to say I am named after the goddess of wealth and prosperity. And I have never tried to shorten it to Leks, Lax or ‘L’(though there had been friends who used it that way); somehow I feel it is a question to my identity. But can’t really say it is a bad practice to shorten the names especially to those who have incredibly long names with unusual syllables.
I don’t really think there is a problem is clarifying your name twice or thrice to someone who has not heard the name before; there is absolutely nothing to be shameful about that. It is their ignorance and you should still be proud of your names. I don’t understand why people take strenuous efforts to change their names once they are in a new place. I don’t think it is worth changing your roots (especially if it is your dad’s name or family name) just for the convenience of other people and that you are in a different part of the world. I have seen British getting confused with pronouncing British names; and same with Europeans. So its just there everywhere. There is definitely a way to get around it.
There are these wise people who name their kids accordingly which are justifiable to an extent. Just because you know the kid is not going to spend a significant time of their life in India they don’t really see a point in going for a proper Indian name. They just name it conveniently for the use of non-Indians (and Indians). But then I personally feel you are then disadvantaged with the choice of some of the beautiful names you can go for.
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Miserable day of the Year – Jan 19th, Blue Monday
Yesterday morning when I was having breakfast it was told in BBC that psychologists and day experts say Jan 19th is the Blue Monday – the most miserable day of the year. And we scoffed at them saying every day is glorified with some term. I was on relatively high spirits for the start of my Prince2 course. However, the day turned out really miserable for me; an absolute nightmare.
It was raining in the morning. SreeRaj dropped me at the station and I boarded a train to Leeds at 7:45 am. As the course was happening with an external trainer in Leeds I had a map with me to locate the place when I reach Leeds. And I had a well set buffer time as my training was supposed to start only at 9:30 am. The train was on time and I managed to get hold of a priority seat and was very comfy and slowly gone to a nap. By the time I opened by eyes there was no one in train and my mind was on a shock, ‘God, did I reach London?’ I thought I had slept off and reached the final destination of the train. However, I managed to get out and it was only York – only half way through. The station was crowded and from the announcements I got to know that there were no trains running to Leeds due to some fatality. Instead they have made arrangements with coaches to take passengers to Leeds. And we were to board the coach from outside the station. I walked out of the station for coaches and found out that there was a HUGE queue in the form of a flock. Not on the ‘survival of the fittest’ mood, I waited with patience for around 20 minutes there to get in and by the time some coaches have left. It was really a test of patience in freezing cold.
Then there comes the next announcement that rail services will be resumed shortly and no more coaches will be running there after. So I got into the station again and the direction was to board the train in platform 5 to Leeds. By the time it was already 9 o clock, and I got into the train, sat there for around 10 minutes and there you get the next announcement that next train to Leeds departs from platform 7. Good God I thought and walked over to platform 7 and boarded the train there. As soon as this was done all the passengers were directed to move to Platform 9 for Leeds trains. By this I have lost my hope as I was sure I was not going to make it on time for training. Walked over to platform 9 for the train; this didn’t work out as well and another announcement came that transpennine express to Manchester Airport via Leeds leaves shortly from Platform 11. The mob including me rushed to platform 11 now and boarded finally. This train was over crowded and I had to walk the whole stretch of the train to see if I can find a place to sit. Well, the walk was not in vain and got a side seat in the table near a huge man (somehow no one wanted to sit there as you get only a portion of the seat as the other guy occupied more than half of that seat too). All these happened within 20 minutes and by that time everyone in the train was frustrated making calls to their work place cancelling meetings and appointments. I was a bit relieved, ‘Oh, not just me!’ However despite all hopes the train started only at 10:30 am and all were stuck as if in a big tunnel, it was not a pleasant thing to happen on a Monday morning. Meanwhile four different reasons were given for this, ‘Fatality, Signal problem between Church Fenton and Leeds, Signal problem to leave York station, Signal problem to enter Leeds station’!
Meanwhile I get a call from my colleague saying that the course is cancelled as the trainers were off sick. As soon as she hang up realised I didn’t have my office laptop with me and its better to go home and work from there. The train doors were locked at the same second and I couldn’t get out. All I could do was to travel to Leeds now. Reached Leeds around 11:00 am, got in to office and explained the miserable story to everyone. Meanwhile one of my colleagues checked online and told me that I have a train leaving to my home station in the next 7 minutes, otherwise only one after 2 pm. It was another marathon now to ran back to station and catch this one. However, this bit was not bad and I did manage to catch. But, by this I was shattered and couldn’t even sleep because of the frustration. This train ran late for another half hour and I reached Northallerton around 1 pm. I was literally in trains from 7:45 am to 1:00 pm. So, how can I not agree to the predictions of Blue Monday! It definitely was for me!!! However, the second half of the day was relatively better.
It was raining in the morning. SreeRaj dropped me at the station and I boarded a train to Leeds at 7:45 am. As the course was happening with an external trainer in Leeds I had a map with me to locate the place when I reach Leeds. And I had a well set buffer time as my training was supposed to start only at 9:30 am. The train was on time and I managed to get hold of a priority seat and was very comfy and slowly gone to a nap. By the time I opened by eyes there was no one in train and my mind was on a shock, ‘God, did I reach London?’ I thought I had slept off and reached the final destination of the train. However, I managed to get out and it was only York – only half way through. The station was crowded and from the announcements I got to know that there were no trains running to Leeds due to some fatality. Instead they have made arrangements with coaches to take passengers to Leeds. And we were to board the coach from outside the station. I walked out of the station for coaches and found out that there was a HUGE queue in the form of a flock. Not on the ‘survival of the fittest’ mood, I waited with patience for around 20 minutes there to get in and by the time some coaches have left. It was really a test of patience in freezing cold.
Then there comes the next announcement that rail services will be resumed shortly and no more coaches will be running there after. So I got into the station again and the direction was to board the train in platform 5 to Leeds. By the time it was already 9 o clock, and I got into the train, sat there for around 10 minutes and there you get the next announcement that next train to Leeds departs from platform 7. Good God I thought and walked over to platform 7 and boarded the train there. As soon as this was done all the passengers were directed to move to Platform 9 for Leeds trains. By this I have lost my hope as I was sure I was not going to make it on time for training. Walked over to platform 9 for the train; this didn’t work out as well and another announcement came that transpennine express to Manchester Airport via Leeds leaves shortly from Platform 11. The mob including me rushed to platform 11 now and boarded finally. This train was over crowded and I had to walk the whole stretch of the train to see if I can find a place to sit. Well, the walk was not in vain and got a side seat in the table near a huge man (somehow no one wanted to sit there as you get only a portion of the seat as the other guy occupied more than half of that seat too). All these happened within 20 minutes and by that time everyone in the train was frustrated making calls to their work place cancelling meetings and appointments. I was a bit relieved, ‘Oh, not just me!’ However despite all hopes the train started only at 10:30 am and all were stuck as if in a big tunnel, it was not a pleasant thing to happen on a Monday morning. Meanwhile four different reasons were given for this, ‘Fatality, Signal problem between Church Fenton and Leeds, Signal problem to leave York station, Signal problem to enter Leeds station’!
Meanwhile I get a call from my colleague saying that the course is cancelled as the trainers were off sick. As soon as she hang up realised I didn’t have my office laptop with me and its better to go home and work from there. The train doors were locked at the same second and I couldn’t get out. All I could do was to travel to Leeds now. Reached Leeds around 11:00 am, got in to office and explained the miserable story to everyone. Meanwhile one of my colleagues checked online and told me that I have a train leaving to my home station in the next 7 minutes, otherwise only one after 2 pm. It was another marathon now to ran back to station and catch this one. However, this bit was not bad and I did manage to catch. But, by this I was shattered and couldn’t even sleep because of the frustration. This train ran late for another half hour and I reached Northallerton around 1 pm. I was literally in trains from 7:45 am to 1:00 pm. So, how can I not agree to the predictions of Blue Monday! It definitely was for me!!! However, the second half of the day was relatively better.
Thursday, 15 January 2009
3 more days for PRINCE2
The countdown has started for Prince2 course – 3 more days! And that generates a heat now as I have only started the pre-reading properly this week. There was a time in life when I could literally do a whole text book the day before examination which was sometimes referred to as ‘mugging up’ or been called as a liar for saying I did it only last night. However, things used to work then. But now, there is a limit to which I can take in I guess. I keep on reading the junk but nothing gets registered and there is absolutely no point in that. Having done say a 40% of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) manual by now I am unsure if I can finish off the whole thing in the next 3 days. Especially 2 days being weekend when nothing happens really!
I have tried a sample question paper of 15 questions out of which I scored a 9 which isn’t very disappointing, not very promising too.
I wonder why I opted for the course early this year. Not the right time due to several reasons; but then earlier the better and it is done then. I am trying to ponder with the manual at nights this week, but then really get switched off with everything in a couple of a hours max. I wonder how I used to stay awake the whole night before exams in the past. I hope I can still do a bit of it in the next two days; I have to as I don’t have a choice. What happened during the last week is if I make my brain work for more than 2 hours then I need a ‘quality’ break and this has resulted in watching two good movies. Slumdog Millionaire and A Wednesday! Wow, they were both very good and was a bit of relief from Prince2.
But then reading is not getting on a fast track. If I do a fast track I struggle to get them! I had collected the manual in December thinking that I will work on it during the break. But I had completely forgotten about this until second week of January when I saw one of my colleagues reading it. Again, I started on a slow pace and now I am scared to take sample tests as I havnt done the reading in the first place and has a fobia towards a ‘not pass’! Got to crack this one in three days somehow. The manual is a best medicine if you have a sleeping problem. The fact is I enjoy various aspects of project management starting from initiation until closure and you experience, learn and practise as you do the work. But the theory is so damn dry on this and various terminologies do confuse you at times. And obviously having a problem with choice and part of the test being multiple choice I just hope and pray it is not going to be a piece of nightmare.
Though you are a professional and trying to improve your area of work through a specialised training, the moment you know you are going to be tested based on a exam with a course and pre-reading you get back to a student mind set. And it is much more important here to pass the exam. The start of 2009 is a bit demanding I guess; but no complaints as I have a million reasons to be happy about 2009.
I have tried a sample question paper of 15 questions out of which I scored a 9 which isn’t very disappointing, not very promising too.
I wonder why I opted for the course early this year. Not the right time due to several reasons; but then earlier the better and it is done then. I am trying to ponder with the manual at nights this week, but then really get switched off with everything in a couple of a hours max. I wonder how I used to stay awake the whole night before exams in the past. I hope I can still do a bit of it in the next two days; I have to as I don’t have a choice. What happened during the last week is if I make my brain work for more than 2 hours then I need a ‘quality’ break and this has resulted in watching two good movies. Slumdog Millionaire and A Wednesday! Wow, they were both very good and was a bit of relief from Prince2.
But then reading is not getting on a fast track. If I do a fast track I struggle to get them! I had collected the manual in December thinking that I will work on it during the break. But I had completely forgotten about this until second week of January when I saw one of my colleagues reading it. Again, I started on a slow pace and now I am scared to take sample tests as I havnt done the reading in the first place and has a fobia towards a ‘not pass’! Got to crack this one in three days somehow. The manual is a best medicine if you have a sleeping problem. The fact is I enjoy various aspects of project management starting from initiation until closure and you experience, learn and practise as you do the work. But the theory is so damn dry on this and various terminologies do confuse you at times. And obviously having a problem with choice and part of the test being multiple choice I just hope and pray it is not going to be a piece of nightmare.
Though you are a professional and trying to improve your area of work through a specialised training, the moment you know you are going to be tested based on a exam with a course and pre-reading you get back to a student mind set. And it is much more important here to pass the exam. The start of 2009 is a bit demanding I guess; but no complaints as I have a million reasons to be happy about 2009.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Start of 2009
Gone are the days of 2008. And now it is 2009!!! Time just simply flies. I have a special likeness for New Year too!
The year 2008 had been really great with us and family, touchwood! And I am looking forward to 2009.
The start is quite good; back to office after the long Christmas and New Year break, still in the hang over I would say. But then work is kicking off well in New Year, projects are starting up, meetings and discussions, keeps me busy through the day with not much time to complain.
The weather has become terrible in England with snow, ice and chilling cold. And is on severe weather warnings everyday! I check everyday before I get out of home if the trains are running and it will be nightmare if they don’t especially in the evenings. And most of the trains are delayed, cancelled or stuck! Despite all these the rail ticket prices have gone UP to around 20%.
There are a lot of bugs going around, winter flu, winter vomiting bug, diarrhoea and even chicken pox. We had been the victims of winter flu early in November and guess that’s the only reason we were saved during the break. Most of our friends had got either one of these; and we stayed away from bugs! So many of the holiday plans were cancelled and it was a quiet one, quite relaxing though!
On an economic perspective 2009 is not predicted to be a great one as recession hits badly. Many shops are on closing down; having been for one of the closing down sales for Woolworths we were on a shopping spree and picked up a lot of junk (from clothes to post-it notes) which we would have never bothered to have a look if it wasn’t for ‘sale’. Oops, it was a purely a stupid shopping spree! However, realising this effect we have decided to stop going for closing down sales (at least for the next couple of months!!!). But, rest of the sales this year for Boxing Day and New Years was not as great as expected. Favourite brands did have sales on, but most of them were ‘upto’ 50% ones. None of the decent things came for a good 50% off. May be it is just how I look at it; I had expected some of my favourites to come down to half price. Having roamed around Debenhams for a couple of hours on Boxing Day I couldn’t find any good deals of my interest. May be it was just that I was disappointed as some of the dresses I expected to come down didn’t!
New Year brings me back to a student life for a month again. I am on my Prince2 Practitioner Course from Jan 19th and have the exam on 23rd. Have a lot of pre-reading to do, have just started with the introduction chapter and I realise now it is high time. May be I should sit with it straight for say a good 3-4 hours; probably then will get the hang of it. This is a two part exam with a foundation and practitioner. I could have done it any time of the year, but then earlier the better; and you are done with it. And it is closely aligned with my work as well; so I expect it to be a good value addition; and of course looks good in CV.
Will come up with a bit more of news later! Happy New Year!
The year 2008 had been really great with us and family, touchwood! And I am looking forward to 2009.
The start is quite good; back to office after the long Christmas and New Year break, still in the hang over I would say. But then work is kicking off well in New Year, projects are starting up, meetings and discussions, keeps me busy through the day with not much time to complain.
The weather has become terrible in England with snow, ice and chilling cold. And is on severe weather warnings everyday! I check everyday before I get out of home if the trains are running and it will be nightmare if they don’t especially in the evenings. And most of the trains are delayed, cancelled or stuck! Despite all these the rail ticket prices have gone UP to around 20%.
There are a lot of bugs going around, winter flu, winter vomiting bug, diarrhoea and even chicken pox. We had been the victims of winter flu early in November and guess that’s the only reason we were saved during the break. Most of our friends had got either one of these; and we stayed away from bugs! So many of the holiday plans were cancelled and it was a quiet one, quite relaxing though!
On an economic perspective 2009 is not predicted to be a great one as recession hits badly. Many shops are on closing down; having been for one of the closing down sales for Woolworths we were on a shopping spree and picked up a lot of junk (from clothes to post-it notes) which we would have never bothered to have a look if it wasn’t for ‘sale’. Oops, it was a purely a stupid shopping spree! However, realising this effect we have decided to stop going for closing down sales (at least for the next couple of months!!!). But, rest of the sales this year for Boxing Day and New Years was not as great as expected. Favourite brands did have sales on, but most of them were ‘upto’ 50% ones. None of the decent things came for a good 50% off. May be it is just how I look at it; I had expected some of my favourites to come down to half price. Having roamed around Debenhams for a couple of hours on Boxing Day I couldn’t find any good deals of my interest. May be it was just that I was disappointed as some of the dresses I expected to come down didn’t!
New Year brings me back to a student life for a month again. I am on my Prince2 Practitioner Course from Jan 19th and have the exam on 23rd. Have a lot of pre-reading to do, have just started with the introduction chapter and I realise now it is high time. May be I should sit with it straight for say a good 3-4 hours; probably then will get the hang of it. This is a two part exam with a foundation and practitioner. I could have done it any time of the year, but then earlier the better; and you are done with it. And it is closely aligned with my work as well; so I expect it to be a good value addition; and of course looks good in CV.
Will come up with a bit more of news later! Happy New Year!
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