Monday, May 26, 2008

An ocean of memories- Farewell Queen City!

When I arrived in Cincinnati on that balmy night in the summer of 2005, little did I know that this all American city in the mid west would be our home for the next three years. Well, time has literally flown and as I find myself days from leaving this fantastic city, I look back on my time here. Though professionally these were my most languid years, yet personally I think I definitely enjoyed my stay here.

We lived at the Harper's point community in Symmes township, nationally known for its excellent school district. This is a fantastic location,you walk across the street from the apartment complex and there are shops,restaurants, saloons...in short everything. There is another shopping complex right next door appropriately named "The Shops at Harpers Point" which houses a Kroger for grocery needs and a host of other shops and some very popular restaurants. All major brands, be it Best Buy,Circuit City,Sam's Club,Costco,Meijers... are right on the main Montgomery road, all within 5 mile radius.There is the excellent Bethesda North hospital a stone's throw away. If you want more choices, you could drive a couple of miles into Mason which has the picturesque Deerfield township center with a great array of shops and restaurants. In all the places I have lived in the US, I have never come across such easy access to all conveniences one needs in daily life. My work was only 4 miles away in Mason. So the setting couldn't have been any better.

Another fantastic place which we frequented during our stay here was the Sharonville park- over 700 acres of lush greenery housing a lake,beautifully maintained grounds,a golf course,fishing and picnic areas and the ever so popular children's play area.All this less than four miles from our home. Cincinnati's park system is enviable- thousands of acres of greenery and lakes with walking trails and picnic areas for families. The much bigger Miami Whitewater park is also nearby.

Downtown Cincinnati offers many great outdoor locations. The Cincinnati Museum is a spectacular structure which offers visitors various displays round the year and also houses the breathtaking Omnimax with a gigantic 360 degrees screen. I have seen some memorable nature documentaries here. The Titanic display which I blogged about in 2006 was also here and featured actual artifacts from the most famous ship in history.

The Newport on the Levee - the Ohio/Kentucky riverfront is also gorgeous specially in summers. It features an array of shops and restaurants on the riverfront offering picture perfect views of the Cincinnati downtown. You could drive into Kentucky and enjoy scenic views of Cincinnati across the river.There is the famous purple people's bridge which is a complete pedestrian zone and also offers climbing for a fee during summers. We spent many a pleasant summer evening enjoying a stroll here.

The Khron conservatory was another of my favorite places with its annual butterfly and flower show being a crowd puller.Cincinnati's zoo - the second oldest zoo in the nation is also fabulous though it was not a pretty sight watching polar bears in climate controlled areas when the outside temperatures soared.Another very popular retreat - the Paramount's King's Island entertainment park in Mason is also stupendous though we never made it there.

Every summer Cincinnati hosts the Western and Southern financial Tennis tournament featuring the top players in the world.It was a privilege to watch some of the biggest names in Tennis live here-Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Serena Williams. Also got to see Sania Mirza playing Patty Schneider here back in 2006. The two regrets I have is I missed an opportunity to watch Tiger Woods when he played in Pittsburgh in 2007 and never made it to the Indy500/F1 in Indianapolis- about a 100 miles or so from here.

We also made several long weekend trips in and around- to the Cumberland lakes and forest,the enchanting smoky mountains and national park in Gatlinburg, Tennessee,the Memorial day trip to Sandusky and the Put-in-bay island in 2007,Hocking hills, the Red Indian serpent mound, the riveting Air Force museum in Columbus....

Cincinnati in winter is also very nice because it does not get pounded by snow as much as some of the other states. It does get very very cold but during my time here there were only a couple of snowstorms every season. I did get caught in traffic during one of those and it took me a marathon three hours to complete the four mile journey home!

I had a wonderful time and would love to be here sometime again.Though I was itching to move from here for a while, it was more due to professional reasons. Over the remaining few days I plan to take pictures of all the places I talk about here and do a picture blog and also video tape the local area.

Thank you Queen city,the wonderful people I met here, the friends we made...you all are part of a memory which will last a lifetime.Many years from now I would love to come back and visit all these places where we spent these memorable years.

So long Cincy...be well...Adieu!

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Two immortal songs



One of the most poignant songs ever penned and even more poignantly rendered in the immortal voice of Kishore. The lyrics are a microcosm of life itself, the entire fabric of life with its bitter sweet memories,the tears and the joys. Though in the context in which the song was portrayed it was more a case of betrayal of trust and its eventual fallout. It reflected on the tragic realization of a life wrecked by a seemingly plausible truth which turns out to be a fallacy.

Its one of my all time favorites primarily because of its philosophical undertones, an almost biopic canvas that it paints.

I would have been tempted to lament the lack of creativity amongst today's musicians in producing such sublime quality. While true to some extent, I know that's not the case because I stumbled on to this. Need I say more?

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Not enought wheat?

When I stopped by the local desi store to get stuff, the owner had an interesting story to tell. Apparently the Indian Government had banned all wheat exports citing domestic shortages. The US farmers dropped wheat and grew sugarcane instead the last season. The plum ethanol prices must have been too lucrative. So with no in-house wheat production,America imported wheat from countries like India to satisfy the McDonalds and the Pizza Huts.

The Indian Govt has its own ridiculous policies which led to a wheat shortage with the end result that there's not enough for national consumption. So the Indian Govt went ahead and banned all wheat exports. There you see, I got my 'flat' world moment!

So now we have to make do with wheat produce from Canada. Its not exactly 'aata'- some strange concoction called "durram atta' . Even the price of that has gone through the roof from $9 to $18 . The American farmers have planted a huge winter wheat crop this season and the prices are expected to get restored later this year. But till then expect to shell out more on your pizzas and bagels.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Team India not for the weak hearted!

So here I was, a day night game on Saturday night. Following cricket from USA is a challenge with time difference making sure that games are on in odd hours. A Sunday afternoon start in Adelaide means a 10:30 PM Saturday night start for those of us on the EST timezone. India's series down under has been one heck of a series so far for all sorts of reasons. Enough has been said and written about the test series so I won't get into it here again.

The win at the MCG last Sunday meant sky rocketing expectations for us Indian fans. However, having followed the trials and tribulations of the Indian Cricket team since early eighties I well know how misplaced those expectations are. India dealt the first blows in this game reducing the Aussies to 73 for five. Hayden,Ponting,Gilly,Symonds- all the big guns gone without hundred on the board. The young Indian pace attack led by the gangly Ishant seemed unstoppable. Would we do the impossible- beat the Aussies in back to back games in their own den? The plot seemed too good to be true. Sure enough, just when it looked like we would do the Aussies some real embarrassment, we took off the foot from the pedal. Clark led the fightback with the lower order and Aussies ended up with 203 on the board.

By this time it was already 2AM and I decided not to be drawn into the heart stopping Indian batting. I guessed the ball was gonna swing and 204 wasnt that easy. It would be a tragedy to follow the game into the wee hours of the morning and end up on the loosing side. Decided to catch some sleep and when I checked back in the morning, sure enough there it was- 50 runs thrashing as Aussies even won a bonus point. I should have known, maybe I did. I am glad I chose to see the best part of the match and slept through the disaster. Oh well...on to the next match. Win or loss, I remain a cricket addict.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

A million mutinies?

I was extremely saddened to read about recent reports where North Indian workers in Bombay were attacked by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS). This is apalling, a proverbial black mark on a megapolis like Bombay which takes pride in being a melting pot of cultures. Apparently the grouse of Raj Thakeray and his goons was that labor migrants from Bihar and UP were creating lots of turbulence in the city and stretching the city's infrastructure to the point of no return.

Though there is some truth in the matter, migration across countries as well as within is a universal phenomena. People will try to flock to a place where opportunity and a better life beckons. But as a citizen of the Republic of India, the constitution gives me the right to be free to pursue my livelihood anywhere within the nation. It should not matter where I come from. In return one should be willing to abide by the law. If the migrants from UP and Bihar are creating a law and order situation its got to be addressed by the State Government and not through some self appointed son of the soil who is clearly trying to canvass support by playing the regionalism card.

One of the shining achievements of India as a nation post independence is how we have managed to survive as a democracy despite our myriad cultural differences. The disgraceful Bombay episode is a potent threat to the democratic fabric of the nation. Just the other day I read that the Kannada activists attacked and destroyed public property at a Bangalore railway station. These useless goons need to be severely dealt with. If we are saying that Bombay is only for Mahrashtrians, Bangalore for Kannadigas, Chennai for Tamils, then its simply going to be suicidal. More and more Indians now earn their livelihoods abroad. What if every country follows suit and throws us out using similar logic?

At a time when India is better placed on an economic scale than ever before it would be disastrous to let petty things like regionalism take over. Hopefully this too shall pass.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

M for 'Multicultural'

I was in a dial-in training today where the presenter- a Danish guy mentioned how Indians have a peculiar way of shaking their head to signify a "Yes" or a "No" which is mighty confusing!. He mentioned this in the context of working in a multi cultural team. This is indeed true, working on a team with folks from diverse cultures often presents some amusing moments. I worked with Brazilians on a project and trying to understand their heavily accented English was quite a challenge. I think it was difficult for them too, one of the guys mentioned that for some reason he found it much easier to understand me on the phone than in person. In time though I found that it got better. Also being exposed to varied regional undertones in which English is spoken in India was a big help because it meant I was not so much used to a particular accent. The case was entirely different with Americans on my team. For them it was nearly impossible to get what the Brazilians were speaking though.

Talking of accents, as is the standard practice on the phone, you spell out a password with an example for each alphabet- You would go "A for apple, C for Cat and so on and so forth". Have heard some interesting ones there- "X for whatever, K for King Kong"!!!

Though the cultural diversity across the world is the cause for unrest in many cases, its never lost on me that however different we may perceive ourselves from other societies and vice versa, the universal constants of family,friends,work - things we worry about and live for remain the same. We are not that different after all.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

20 Mile House

There is this beautiful historic landmark called "20 Mile House" on my way to work. Its a small building more like the taverns you read about in old stories. Stopped on the traffic light bang opposite this nostalgic place, the electronic sign caught my eye a few months back. It said "We were here before you were born, 1822". Some research on the internet revealed that the 20 Mile House traces its history back to 1822, when it operated as a stagecoach stop and tavern. It was well known for its Irish coffee and cheese wheels. The place had closed down some years back.

Some days later while again stopped on the same light I read on the electronic sign that the house was open again and would serve dinners and cocktails like the old times. Who doesn't love a little bit of history? Certainly I do. I get an eerie feeling on passing such an old place everyday which was hard done by modern times but glad to know I can have dinner in a true blue American tavern of the 1800's.