Living to everybody's expectation I should say. Really, it is time to be on diet again to maintain it!! If still you think that is not my stomach, here is one more snap with a face.....ofcourse my face......
Monday, January 12, 2009
Six packs no kidding!!
After a long time; I did get the shape for the imaginary six packs. I should really say, it was not as easy as it looks. It never is. Getting many to believe that I have six packs is another story all together. So I thought, I should put some snaps of it, as no one believes me. I was actually going to post my second part of my Israel trip. But this got into my mind, so here goes. As the snap is from an angle, the snap does not underline the packs totally; but u can get an idea of it!! :) :)
Living to everybody's expectation I should say. Really, it is time to be on diet again to maintain it!! If still you think that is not my stomach, here is one more snap with a face.....ofcourse my face......
Living to everybody's expectation I should say. Really, it is time to be on diet again to maintain it!! If still you think that is not my stomach, here is one more snap with a face.....ofcourse my face......
Monday, January 5, 2009
Discover Israel!!
Finally, coming back to India is like, coming back down to earth. The Israel trip did keep me on my toes and found me wanting at lot of occasions, where I was not upto the mark in terms of my working capabilities. But it did allow me to look at the pros and cons of say Mumbai with respect to Tel Aviv. Taking nothing away from Mumbai, as it is the city I have been in for quiet some time and consider it to be truly my home.
Tel Aviv is a wonderful city, so clean. I have not seen many cities around in the world, but I consider this as really a awesome city with responsible citizens. I would like to underline the word responsible here. Got to say, it is the people who have kept the city so clean. There are separate dustbin's for plastic cans and normal rubbish. I was taken aback by the fact that these citizens are so meticulous in throwing away the waste. The plastic cans are sent for recycling and the normal rubbish is used for many useful things. This Dustbin, shown in the picture is the recycling bin. In India, the plastic is separated by the rag picker or the bin collector.
Thinking back at this trip, I did get in some rather interesting snaps like this one of the mug. I could never find a reason for such a bizarre object. All the mugs used in Israel have two handles. I could never find a reason for this.
Shifting our attention to traffic and rules. I did not see one person, breaking the signals. I don't know how the things work down there, I mean the fines and bribes. I think the fine for breaking a signal must be too high. I did see police catching and fining people for improper parking. And the Zebra crossings. If there is a pedestrian crossing traffic light, all the people crossing the road wait for it to turn green. If there is no traffic light, then the pedestrian gets the first preference. All the motorists and cars stop for them to cross the road. Unbelievable, I was in a taxi and it was at 60 km/hr. The taxi-driver sudden stopped with a screeching halt and allowed a person to cross the road. This I can never imagine in India!!
The cars and bikes I saw here is so advanced. They have all advanced features like GPS, leather seats, power windows, etc. I think for all this to come to India, it will take another 10 years. Not to forget the currency. It is shekel here. One shekel is almost 12.6 rupees. I did get some time to make a snap out of some typical notes. One US dollar is around 3.91 shekel, although it stays around 3.5 mark. The person on the 100 shekel note is Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel. The International airport in Tel Aviv is also named after him. "The Ben Gurion international Airport"
The food; being a vegetarian is not that tough. Got to say, spicy food is very difficult to get, but if you are on a non-spicy diet, it is aplenty. It does get quiet bland, after some days, but I did not have any problems with food. I used to eat a lot of salad and many fatty substances, still I did not increase my weight at all. It was the same when I got back to India. They have a special bread called Peta bread, which is the great specialty of Israel. Check my appetite for lunch.. :) :)
I will continue this blog as a two part series, with places I visited in my next blog.. Till then L'hitraot ( which means see you soon in hebrew, the local language of Israel) :) :)
Tel Aviv is a wonderful city, so clean. I have not seen many cities around in the world, but I consider this as really a awesome city with responsible citizens. I would like to underline the word responsible here. Got to say, it is the people who have kept the city so clean. There are separate dustbin's for plastic cans and normal rubbish. I was taken aback by the fact that these citizens are so meticulous in throwing away the waste. The plastic cans are sent for recycling and the normal rubbish is used for many useful things. This Dustbin, shown in the picture is the recycling bin. In India, the plastic is separated by the rag picker or the bin collector.
Thinking back at this trip, I did get in some rather interesting snaps like this one of the mug. I could never find a reason for such a bizarre object. All the mugs used in Israel have two handles. I could never find a reason for this.
Shifting our attention to traffic and rules. I did not see one person, breaking the signals. I don't know how the things work down there, I mean the fines and bribes. I think the fine for breaking a signal must be too high. I did see police catching and fining people for improper parking. And the Zebra crossings. If there is a pedestrian crossing traffic light, all the people crossing the road wait for it to turn green. If there is no traffic light, then the pedestrian gets the first preference. All the motorists and cars stop for them to cross the road. Unbelievable, I was in a taxi and it was at 60 km/hr. The taxi-driver sudden stopped with a screeching halt and allowed a person to cross the road. This I can never imagine in India!!
The cars and bikes I saw here is so advanced. They have all advanced features like GPS, leather seats, power windows, etc. I think for all this to come to India, it will take another 10 years. Not to forget the currency. It is shekel here. One shekel is almost 12.6 rupees. I did get some time to make a snap out of some typical notes. One US dollar is around 3.91 shekel, although it stays around 3.5 mark. The person on the 100 shekel note is Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel. The International airport in Tel Aviv is also named after him. "The Ben Gurion international Airport"
The food; being a vegetarian is not that tough. Got to say, spicy food is very difficult to get, but if you are on a non-spicy diet, it is aplenty. It does get quiet bland, after some days, but I did not have any problems with food. I used to eat a lot of salad and many fatty substances, still I did not increase my weight at all. It was the same when I got back to India. They have a special bread called Peta bread, which is the great specialty of Israel. Check my appetite for lunch.. :) :)
I will continue this blog as a two part series, with places I visited in my next blog.. Till then L'hitraot ( which means see you soon in hebrew, the local language of Israel) :) :)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
My Israel trip
Just was wondering what i should put as the title. Then I thought I should stick to the customary default title as it was my maiden trip outside India. To be quiet frank, I was not very overwhelmed by the fact that I was going abroad. Infact I surprised myself, as I did not get excited. I took it as just another trip. It quiet did not dawn into me, I mean the significance of this tour.
I packed my bag; just like another trip. Went around picking things and carefully noting everything, so that I dont miss anything. I do it meticulously every time. This time was no different. Even after all this meticulous crap, I forgot to bring my USB cables to transfer photos for my digital camera.
After all this, let me tell you that it was an official trip. So there was work and inbetween fun and not fun and inbetween work. The flight like all the international flights, was early in the morning. Had to get up early and get to the airport well in advance for the vital checks. Carrying a passport for the first time; thinking about how the journey would be. Will there be lot of checking, how will the new country would be. Its a nice feeling, which struck me somewhere when I was on the plane.
First stop was Istanbul airport. The stopover was 2 hours and then the next flight to Tel Aviv. The Alaturk Airport of Istanbul; was huge and with its duty free supermarket was splendid and cool. They only accepted Euro there, which was a little heavy on the pocket. Istanbul airport is very near to the sea. Awesome skyline, marvellous build and very cool interiors. Finally people, the girls were very stylish. I did not see one girl without a stylish dress. Sometimes it was the hair; sometimes it was the shoes.
A totally different culture as compared to Indian dressing I should say. Even the taxi guy wore denim jacket with a cool goggles. The office was not far off from our hotel. Stayed at Ramat Gan, office was in Tel aviv. Amazing roads and awesome road discpline, very knowlegable pedestrains crossing. If there are no traffic lights for pesdestrians, (zebra crossing everywhere) pesdestrains get the first preference to cross roads. The motorists stop for them, it is an amazing site to watch.
Then the food, even if you are veg or non-veg, you have a lot to choose. But the diet here; if you dont stick to vegetables, will result in obesity. Lot of pizzas, loads of cheese and all fatty foods. Exercising is a must, no wonder people here have bicycles to travel. I must add that the roads here are not completely flat, they are very steep at some places and going up in a bicycle is not easy.
It has just been a first few days here in Israel, it has already proved to be a majestic experience to see the other world. So far, the work has kept me busy. I will make time to go out and see the beautiful landsides and places of Israel. I would have loved to add some photos, but for the transfer wire. I will try to get some snaps from somewhere. Till my next blog......
I packed my bag; just like another trip. Went around picking things and carefully noting everything, so that I dont miss anything. I do it meticulously every time. This time was no different. Even after all this meticulous crap, I forgot to bring my USB cables to transfer photos for my digital camera.
After all this, let me tell you that it was an official trip. So there was work and inbetween fun and not fun and inbetween work. The flight like all the international flights, was early in the morning. Had to get up early and get to the airport well in advance for the vital checks. Carrying a passport for the first time; thinking about how the journey would be. Will there be lot of checking, how will the new country would be. Its a nice feeling, which struck me somewhere when I was on the plane.
First stop was Istanbul airport. The stopover was 2 hours and then the next flight to Tel Aviv. The Alaturk Airport of Istanbul; was huge and with its duty free supermarket was splendid and cool. They only accepted Euro there, which was a little heavy on the pocket. Istanbul airport is very near to the sea. Awesome skyline, marvellous build and very cool interiors. Finally people, the girls were very stylish. I did not see one girl without a stylish dress. Sometimes it was the hair; sometimes it was the shoes.
A totally different culture as compared to Indian dressing I should say. Even the taxi guy wore denim jacket with a cool goggles. The office was not far off from our hotel. Stayed at Ramat Gan, office was in Tel aviv. Amazing roads and awesome road discpline, very knowlegable pedestrains crossing. If there are no traffic lights for pesdestrians, (zebra crossing everywhere) pesdestrains get the first preference to cross roads. The motorists stop for them, it is an amazing site to watch.
Then the food, even if you are veg or non-veg, you have a lot to choose. But the diet here; if you dont stick to vegetables, will result in obesity. Lot of pizzas, loads of cheese and all fatty foods. Exercising is a must, no wonder people here have bicycles to travel. I must add that the roads here are not completely flat, they are very steep at some places and going up in a bicycle is not easy.
It has just been a first few days here in Israel, it has already proved to be a majestic experience to see the other world. So far, the work has kept me busy. I will make time to go out and see the beautiful landsides and places of Israel. I would have loved to add some photos, but for the transfer wire. I will try to get some snaps from somewhere. Till my next blog......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
