Good deed or not!

        I was using my new shades from fasttrack today.The one I had  was more style and din't protect from dust so just got the one's which cover the eye fully this week.So, i went with my dad to the mall next evening .I had worn new goggles and a head scarf to protect from dust(its common to look like daaku these days to protect from dust in Blr roads).Since it was to be a short stint to buy gift vouchers , my father decided to park across the mall.Since he decidedly hates the circles we have to go to park in the mall.
       He dropped me at the gate and went to park across the road.Since parking is crazy here, it took him sometime to park and cross the road. Meanwhile i was waiting with my scarf and goggles.I was standing still and thinking something.Basically was spaced out in my thoughts.I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder.I was like "wat, wat ,wat" ..How dare, who the hell in my mind..I turn and see some old gentleman.Then he started pushing me across the road .I was like "wat the hell is your problem".He was like " i was trying to help you cross the road".I can cross myself thank you is what i said.
    He looked stunned..apparently my goggles and still stance gave him the impression i am blind.Then we laughed and he made himself scarce.This made me wonder.How many of us really help someone who cannot see.We might help them cross the road, but why not help them crossing the real darkness by pleading your eyes.

The Oz experience- The end

       I did see few more places, but there is not much historic places there.But i loved Sydney was its clean , very hep and fun. Work was also hectic as there were unexpected issues occurring everyday. But final week it was fixed thankfully.I came across some preconceived notions about India.
      During my induction at the client place, the Oz lady was talking about "what to do if you see a snake"( yes !snake!it was remote office!) .Fire exit etc..There were 2 other ladies with me , a Chinese who had snake phobia who kept stuttering snake snake. Other was an asian who was probably born there as she had accent. I was just smiling and nodding when snake part came.But the asian lady said "you must be used to snakes as you are from India". I was stunned , "not in office" was my reply :D
      Also on my last day i was thanking the ladies in cafeteria, who made my vegetarian wrap and coffee everyday.One lady finally asked where are you from . I replied i am from India.She started gushing about how nice Indians are , how family oriented etc..She told me she learnt "aloo gobi" from her Indian neighbor .Also same neighbor asked her if she needed any help when she was unwell.I felt good after this, anyways i was feeling happy as it was last day!
     Then again i spoke to the bus driver as i was early( it was a different driver, the regular guy was very uncommunicative , i had not seen him utter a word in all the time i was there).This guy was probably very old , in his 70's maybe.I told him it was my last day and i will be going back to India.I told him did not like the 5PM closure in Australia! As back home everything opens till 11PM. He was like when i was young and in Brisbane things used to close by 4PM. Then i agreed that it was good thing as people got more family time.
     Another incident was near Opera house.I had gone there for the third time as it was a place worth going again and again.I was just walking from train station to Opera house .I heard a "how are you doing " from a middleaged handsome Aussie guy.Since i was anyways leaving next day , i responded with a chirpy very good.Then he attached himself to me and we got talking about culture, Bollywood etc..The delhi rape incident also came in discussion , i avoided talking on it as it was something i did not know what to talk to a foreigner. I walked around the botanical garden next to Opera house.I said bye to this nice gentleman called Ian and went back to the hotel for my packing.
      I also visited Toraga Zoo to see some Aussie animals like Kangaroo..also i had seen other  places around Sydney already. I couldn't go to other cities, but Sydney was fun!I boarded my flight to Singapore, again had a 2 year old noisy kid next to me .She was travelling with her grandpa to Cochin.I was trying to help them , but lost my patience later with the kid and watched few movies.          
          Singapore to Bangalore flight was uneventful, it was delayed as a connecting flight from Jakarta was delayed. They falsely told "technical fault" and delayed by 2 hours. Finally reached Bangalore, and it was very humid and raining! There ended a lovely experience, i don't if i will ever go again there or not, but atleast i have added one more country in my travel list! And i traveled by myself everywhere all alone!So no more hangup's about exploring alone! I made a small collage about it.

The Oz experience-Part 4

       Well, you might be wondering did i do anything else part from work.I did manage to go and see blue mountains before it caught fire later that week. It was an amazing place and the guide was a 95 year old guy who ran faster than anyone in the group! There were people of all nationalities. I did interact with few of them , there was a Taiwanese gentleman who was also there on office work. A Korean family , american woman, German teenager, an strange Indian and few i can recall now.
       American lady and husband has long distance relationship, she was describing that to the other Indian in the group. The Taiwanese gentleman wanted to talk but Japanese girls treated him like a leper.I talked to him a bit, he was working in insurance and was there for 15 days. German girl was on break year working/travelling Australia.She was like 6 foot tall.I usually avoid people with negative tendencies in beautiful places.The only other Indian seemed like that kind of person.He was cribbing and complaining , he had issues with other religion/his company/ people, i got fed up and avoided him after that.He was sitting next to the German girl in the bus, whenever he talked one sentence always crept up "she is so tall, my god" .Lol!  We stopped at Leura for lunch

  http://www.bluemts.com.au/info/towns/leura/

    The guide boarded us in a ferry which left us at Darling Harbour, i saw a mademe Tusssad's here. I also saw Starbucks finally, it was so chilly that i did not  mind 20 mins wait for my hot chocolate.It was an amazing place, and well worth the travel.
     The same weekend i went to Bondi beach with a new friend Aslam (who was there again from an IT company!) ,i saw Bondi was more of a show off place with Reebok all over the place.Indians avoid getting tanned so i was sitting in shade and people were sun bathing. Also went to opera house and saw fireworks and the show, it was 100 years of navy week there.(lucky me!).This is where i had met Aslam, who had Indian look(you never know its Indian or srilankan or wat), we got talking when he asked me to take a touristy pic of his with Navy people! He was again from India but been abroad for many years, currently was working in Bangalore.It was really amazing to find another Indian who actually was not robotic and uttered non slangy and  non accented English! :)




      

The Oz experience-Part 3

First day at client

       I went to the client place through the bus provided by them.As usual there was an Indian waiting, i asked him is this the place.He responded so vaguely.I don't get the way people behave here ,nobody cares about anyone else.I still can't get over this.
      I went for lunch and got into this weird room ,where the door was hidden, well i am new so maybe it did look foolish from people who go there everyday's point of view.He commented, hope you know where to piss.And a lady next him commented "how can you be so dumb".I was stunned,i just felt real bad after sitting down.I was contemplating on the rudeness.I know it looked like dumb generally, but do they have to shout it out loud.I felt like crying for a minute, though i rarely cry.Anyways, i have moved on.Its the first time i have faced open rudeness so that's maybe that's why.Its not really related to racism, its basically bad manners

Week 1 highligts
       So far the week has been ok. Yesterday i got pecked by a bird in the head!imagine that and nobody cared.I came to bus stop to catch the bus.Thankfully came to the correct place and got in.There as Indian standing ,i had asked him if this is the place.Even though it was to same location he din't utter a single word.
     I had gotten something packed from hotel yesterday and tried to heat it, the paper caught fire.Thankfully a maybe Indian person was near microwave, and put the fire out .Before the fire alarm could be triggered.Everyday almost missed fiasco is happening and now i feel project is really jinxed.

The OZ experience- Part 2(Unsophisticated)

       Few of my mannerisms might be considered as unsophisticated here maybe, like i asked for drinking water at hotel reception.He was like madam you can drink tap water.I was like "are you serious" .He was like "1000%" .Another incident is like i asked for handwash at the Taj Mahal eat out in the mall, he smirked and told me in fake accent "we don't have handwash here, use tissue and sanitizer".I was wondering how the oil of masala dosa comes out.These things work for
non Indian food.
       I am having a hard time understanding the accent sometimes.Its manageable though since they speak slowly and people are quite friendly.Maybe i am new to non Asian culture.I just realized that this is my first time out of Asia.
   Today in the train i saw few teenagers like 13-14 year old, talking loudly and using the F word so many times.Also people are loud sometimes on the road.A sudden hoot from the back sacres me from my contemplation.I am a bit scared to interact with people here after the stories the media printed.I was standing away from the platform as there a case of Indian being pushed (Its strange that incident came to my mind when i stood there).
   This is my first client side work.So i might sometimes not know how to interact.Not that i don't know how to talk, rather do's and don't's of how to get things done and handle pressure.I will probably learn in a day or two hopefully.
    Dany turned out to super cool, and a fun person.Though unlike Japanese nobody goes out of their way to help in Australia.I see lot of Chinese here. I feel travelling abroad changes your perception and you become a more cosmopolitan and broad minded individual.

The OZ experience- Part 1

         It all started one Thursday, my director called me and suddenly smiled and asked "want to see opera house" .I looked at him baffled and said "why not". So i was told that i need to go to client location in Sydney for a month and i better start my visa process asap. I also came to know 2 people who were scheduled to actually go, met with unfortunate circumstances. I was joking that i hope i stay alive to go to Sydney.Within a week i got my visa, which was unexpected as i was expected to go immediately.I did the booking etc by myself as we have this self service portal.Its very good, i had super choices of hotels , but alas i chose the one which needed minimal travel to client place. As i was not planning to drive in Sydney,i took in Mantra Paramatta as the client bus started across the hotel.First 2 weeks i actually kept a journal! I will just copy paste that, i am too lazy to make it past tense now!

 First few days
      Bangalore to Sydney, as usual the seat next to me was empty.I had to sit quitely.The gentleman next to it was probably an American, he started watching movie on his ipad before the flight took off and slept after that.He was least interested in talking.So i got busy with my Kindle and read one novel.The flight landed in Singapore on time and it was very easy to go to terminal 3 by a train.
       Here i was all alone at Singapore airport, i had sometime to kill before my flight to Sydney.All these duty free shops, i didn't venture there, as all this stuff would be cheaper in India anyways.Moreover  i did not want to carry anything now.I saw few Indians, there are a lot of Australian young couple with young children or very old couple.Some were busy admiring their Paris pictures on ipad. Again a 5 year old kid called Jasper was my neighbor on one side in
the flight.He and his father were travelling alone and his father kept him entertained.Again they did not talk much ,i wonder if everyone in Australia will be so uncommunicative to non Aussies.By now i was gasping to talk to someone.
       I took a cab to Hotel and it was Bangladeshi gentleman who was driving it.He looked very Indian.He asked me "where are you from "and lot many questions.I answered them.Then i asked "are you an Indian" ,i don't think i will ask again this one for sometime.He said close enough "your neighbor" .I thought maybe Pakistan, he was from Bangladesh. Saturday i just slept and ordered some pizza through room service.Sunday i woke up and ventured out to the nearby Westfield mall.I did not buy anything as we always buy useless stuff initially, i will wait to check out again and buy later.I ate masala dosa at Taj mahal express as i could find that a very safe option.After that i ventured to many stores to find a adapter, but alas it wasn't there in the mall.Fortunately a small store owner could locate it for me!
       I then came back to my room, got bored and went to an Indian restaurant and took a take away of fried rice to my room.It was huge quantity.Maybe i will store it in fridge and eat later as i detest food wastage.There a microwave here, so probably will heat and eat.Waiting for tomorrow as to check whats happening at customer place.I will be visiting them tomorrow.