A Star Studded Trip :)

It started as another normal day at office !! Late night flight and all usual stuff just before I entered the departure lounge of Anna Intl., terminal.. Things turned around.. Had a glimpse of the newly wed star couple in the airport.. The groom is a local cinema star himself and the bride is a growing cine star / model !!

Coincidentally the bride is the ex. of my close friend.. Called him to tease "where the hell are you when your ex., is on the way to honeymoon !!" He wasn't very happy still trying to hide his hard feelings :P

As I boarded and walked through the B-Class section of the flight, there was the team that clinched the "Champions Trophy T20" title a couple of nights ago.. Yes.. The NSW Blues.. I was browsing and walking through the B-Class as slow as possible.. My eyes were browsing for Lee.. I always liked him except against India :) There were Hauritz, Hughes and so on.. But no Lee.. Little disappointed but have to head forward since B-Class is not my place :P

Getting into the economy section, I am seated in the first row.. Incidentally across the B-Class section just infront of my seat was a famous south indian actor with an unnamed heroine !! Now thats some news for the press :) I wasn't really interested in talking to him since I'm not an ardent fan of film stars except a few.. But I do feel disappointed for not able to meet Lee, the pace hero I always like..

Overall it was a star studded flight till Singapore.. Oh how can I forget to mention the other rising star, the one writing this blog :)

See you soon with something else interesting folks..

Where is Germany ??

"Hey Sree".. Turned back to see my colleague Wang wanting to ask something to me.. He was framing his sentence as usual before talking to me.. (If this is new for you this is how south asian ppl speak English)..

"You want something CM ??" This is me.. His full name is CM Wang.. Don't ask me whats CM !! I can't pronounce..

"Sree.. You know where is Germany?".. I didn't expect this from CM at the middle of a busy day's work.. How in this world CM wants to know where is Germany ?? I want to confirm.. "CM can you come again?".. "You see Germany.. Where is Germany? ".. This time I heard it pretty well.. "Its in Europe" was my reply.. I guess thats a fair reply..

Its CM's turn to get shocked.. "In Europeeeeee... " there was a big question mark behind this phrase !! I'm pretty sure you know.. I scored the highest in Geo in my batch :) I assured him again "Yeah CM.. Im sure.. Germany is in Europe.. "

Now CM became a little lighter.. "Sree.. You are joking !!".. to tell the truth this hit me like a bullet, atleast I should be respected for topping a boring subject :) .. "C'mon CM why do I lie ? I'm not joking.. Germany is in Europe.. I can prove it with a world map !!" Now thats too big a sentence for CM to understand.. So again explained it slowly..

This time CM got it.. "Oh no no.. Not germany.. I asked about Germany.." I know off late CM is loaded with work.. But never thought it would affect him so much that at the middle of a day he wants to know "Where Germany is ? "

Now I'm a bit annoyed.. "CM are you trying to pull a prank against me?" Again prank is too tough a vocabulary.. Gathered myself and asked.. "So CM what do you want to know? Can you be clear?"..

This time CM doesn't want to miss it.. Opened his telephone guide and showed me a name.. Everything got cleared in one shot.. "Jeremie went out for lunch just now" was my reply.. Guess you got which Germany he was searching for..

Taxi No 272..

"Ni hao" - the customary wish in mandarin.. It started as an usual taxi ride back home after a strenous day in office.. A little unusual was the chauffeur (He deserves a word better than driver).. Its all conversation after that.. "Me japanese.. U indo ??" (You can guess that)..

This guy is well rounded with knowledge spanning from Indian curry to pretty mumbai models with attractive eyes. Its not just the spicy stuff he knew but also "India say English Get out !!" - Thats pretty impressive from a guy born and brought up in a pacific Island..

Few questions about "How do you like taiwan and stuff.. " .. Its been 15 mins now and we both never felt we can understand just 1% of each others language !!

"My baby speaks English".. I saw pride in his eyes.. May be his kid is in school that teaches English I told myself.. "I five...five.. U??" .. He meant to ask my age.. "Aa Su Ce" - I let out the few words I know in mandarin which are ofcourse numerals.. "Very godddd" - This is him.. Must be happy to hear mandarin from me..

Then came the shocker.. "U 24.. My baby 24"... Oh my god then I understood his baby is 24 now and he couldnot find a better word than baby in English :) "My dad also five five" I explained him.. and a loud laughter filled the small cab.. It doesn't make much sense but remember these are two humans trying to express themselves without a language.. It was fun for sure..

Its been 40 mins now and my regret for not bringing iPod to burn time was long gone.. I was enjoying the conversation for sure.. Good things end soon.. Its my hotel and wished him bye.. I know this chauffeur as "Tsai yi tin" now.. Sounds good huh..

Did watch taxi no 272 leaving my eyesight for a while before retiring to my room.. Probably the best taxi ride I have ever had..

Athelete from Azerbaijan..

I last remember myself finishing at podium in a 100m dash was when I was 3.. May be this is the reason why atheletes are ppl with superhuman power to me.. And that too ppl with disabilities performing this "superhuman" stuff are really the heroes of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.. BTW if these names sound strange to you they are the "Creators of Superman"..

Being inside Taipei's Intl., airport waiting lounge I was figuring out a way to kill some time.. n across the world there is one symbol which always helps to do so.. A symbol of a maiden with fish body in green.. You must have figured it out.. Yeah StarBucks.. The usually overpriced coffee shop gave me a one+one free offer that day when I was alone and not much hungry !! Believe me its really embarrassing to sit alone with one coffee in each hand :) Next target is to look for a place nearby someone so that I don't look wierd with 2 coffees in hand !!

Surprisingly my attempt placed me near a Superman.. Now would you believe I met superman in the waiting lounge ?? Yeah I did.. Muqaffa (The only part I ustood in his name) is definitely one with the standards we were jus discussing.. I'm not a very good conversation starter.. But the looks of Muqaffa (An Eurasian face) convinced me to speak English with him ( May be frust of 15 days)..

Embarrasment is when you "Hi" someone and it just fly away in thin air !! No replies.. "May be he is not interested" I told myself and drowned into my first blogging attempt.. A couple of mins and I felt a gentle hands.. yea u guessed right.. This time my neighbor "Hi-ed" me.. I was remembering myself for the past few days in his sign language..

Coming back to senses where in this world "atheletes - starbucks - a hi to a stranger" these are connected ?? Lemme tell u.. Im so lucky n more than being proud to share a coffee and hi with a stranger who is a olympic athelete - for tat matter even better a deaflympic athelete.. Never really ustood his signs in the short conversation we had.. but this Super-man really left an impression that "Nothing stops u when u r willing to take a high jump to keep ur country's pride high.."

Left the place with the confidence that oozed out from his eyes I saw thru his "Fingers around his eyes" sign !!

Land of Dragons, symbols and Colors..

"Welcome to Taipei Taoyun Intl., Airport.. The local time.... " the sweetness of a south asian female voice brought me back to life from deep sleep.. In the arrivals ambassadors for the 2009 deaflympics were in high action.. "Smiled to myself" - Im going to be the same in this land of symbols where spking English is like speaking Icelandic in Indian streets !!

For those who complaint abt the martian fares autos and taxis charge in India, welcome to taiwan.. This place is no diff if u r not a lil careful.. 6 hrs of flight and 1.30 hrs of high speed rail (THSR) journey took me to my destination "Tayih Landis" and the rest is history..

A few mosquito coils and was thinking abt my past an year back and where life has taken me now.. Quite a good number of turns ironical to the THSR tracks I travelled a few mins back.. Coming back from utopia, my body alarmed for something to burn up.. Again ter were a lot of symbols between myself and dinner... And then the familiar symbol of 2 3 circles over a blue rectangle !! Oh yeah.. Atlast a Dominoes pizza.. Ordered a pizza after 10 mins of struggle and ate it in 5 mins :)

Alarms ring and snooze.. After goin this routine for about 3 times I came back to life.. 2 30 hrs time diff can cause havoc to your sleep.. Can u imagine waking up at 5 30 am in India :(

Picking up a taxi to office, not sure what to say to the driver !! And finally he embarrased me by wishing "Good morning"... Few hours of silence locked up a lot of energy in me and I let out once I heard a wish in English.. Never thot the driver can spk only 2 sentences in English.. GM and hello !!

Taking a taxi back home at night was more fun.. After 10 mins of struggle trying to explain my hotel's name to him had to crank up my sluggish mind to find a way.. The key card !! Oh yeah it has the hotel'a name in Manadarin !! Gottcha.. We both had a smile and he let out a few more symbols frm his mouth "$%#^&@(!" If u wanna know wats tat hav to ask him.. Cos it sounded the same way it was written here to me !!

Ofcourse life is not a bed of roses.. Office hours keep up this saying !! Hi-tech gadgets and clothing which is inspired by "Pardas" in muslim countries for a change in white color kept reminding me "Until I'm here u r not on a holiday trip !! "..

Weekend was a "PITA"* sleeping the whole day in my suite.. Being in the comfort of my feather bed was better than struggling with signs !! But natural instincts never die.. Can't lock up myself for more than a day !! Exploring the place was serious, funny and sometimes seriously funny..

Can't control laughter when I saw this "Doctor (Animal)" which is supposed to mean veternerian !! And a shop that sells "Ennear cothing" and I guess a reasonably educated person can u'stand what they sell :) The best english joke I heard here was "I break my dentist when I am 7" !! My colleague want to mean he broke his tooth when he was 7 !!

I wouldn't rate ppl with their english.. If so my fellow countrymen would be rated just slightly better.. The quality of ppl here stand in their politeness annndn willingness to help strangers.. I wouldn't expect a 60 year young man to walk 1/2 a km just to show me the way anywhere else..

Right now I'm back to the place where I first saw the land of dragons, symbols and colors.. "Flight no CX 432.... " - probably the same south asian female voice.. Its time for me to check in.. C u soon with a few more experience soon folks..