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..