ICELAND – Land of Fire and Ice

A Time like no other, in The Land of Fire and Ice, of Vikings and Elves, of Ethereal Beauty and Self...

When you travel, there is always an internal brawl between, exploration and convenience, between the curiosity and the safe haven. The decision to test this boundary has been by far one of my finest travel judgments. A solo travel to Iceland just before the much awaited summer sets in. A very ambitious route resulting in broken dreams and harsh realities was lurking, but nonetheless, something unique which only travel could offer.

Landing into Reykjavik, the northernmost capital in the World, gave a brief glimpse of what was to be expected. As a welcome gesture, my first tryst would be to wait for the bus in the isolate bus stand and braving the chilly and strong wind. My small backpack would surprise all my lovely hosts, as to my not-so-smart survival choices. Reykjavik has a popular nightlife image and it sure does live up to it and more. A Friday night to remember, with smiling faces and incredulous eyes, on meeting someone from a far away land, in a non-touristic time of the year. With around 70% of the population residing in Reykjavik, one can only imagine the nature of the rest 30% of Icelanders, quite brilliant.

After coordinating with two fellow travelers, we hired a car and drove straight to the Blue Lagoon in Grindavik. This was where 80% of all tourists to Iceland visit, and for a good reason too. As touristic as it may seem, it is a worthwhile visit, esp with the water properties and the contrasting mystic surroundings.

The Golden Circle, was one of the most stunning touristic trails I’ve ever been on. This comprises of the Thingvellir National Park, the Geysir and the Gulfoss. The National Park is a great spot to start off and is a good walk, especially when the weather is kind enough. The Geysir or Strokkur is quite an experience with the natural phenomenon which lends its name to other such lesser famous cousins. The highlight of the trail though was the Gulfoss waterfall. Worthy to its name the ‘golden falls’ is simply stunning with the sheer volume and landscape of the waterfall, which left me awestruck. It was out of a fairytale book and the rainbows did confirm that. I have to confess am not much of a waterfall fan, maybe am baptized post this, or maybe not, as the benchmark is set too high for now. I could have stared at the gushing candy-floss laden water movement for as long as possible. Other stops included the Kerid volcano and the Skaholt church.

The next day my German co-traveler and I, set out on a road trip of the Southern Coast of Iceland. The map drawn out on a piece of paper by my local host was one no travel book or any amount of research would have delivered. The weather had been extremely kind to us throughout our time, without which am sure the experience would have been very different. A few things one needs to remember for a road trip in Iceland:

1. Always close the door behind when you get in or out of the car, don’t let the wind take over, or you would be having quite a chilly ride back home and an expensive bill to pay. Just in case you take it as a joke, it’s a stickered in the vehicle by the car hire agencies.
2. You will come across sights, colors, images and landscapes which will leave you spellbound, literally. So don’t get deterred and keep your eyes on the road.
3. Every sight might take you into Westeros or the Nights Watch and you might feel a bit part Thronies. Don’t be too harsh on yourself; the Wall is probably right around the bend. The Mountain is definitely Icelandic.

The Southern Coast is littered with amazingly beautiful waterfalls, terrain and coastlines and I can only imagine what the rest of the country holds in splendor. Though what trumped it all, was a local secret (shared by my host) of a thermal pool somewhere inside the mountains. We decided to take the plunge and find it, and weren’t we delighted. After walking through streams and river beds, we came across a thermal pool on the side of a mountain, not conspicuous and yet the most striking feature around. After finding it, we surely did take the plunge into the warm water surrounded by dominant overbearing mountains all around. An experience like no other, a feeling inexplicable.

The Southern Coast is such that, you can stop every 7 minutes and you’re allowed to just drop your jaw. But weather and time is of essence. Skogafoss, the next waterfall on our map, reignited my recent love for waterfalls. Skogafoss, not only made me believe in fairytale and school drawings, but also in the fact that unicorns and elves exists. We witnessed a mélange of multiple rainbows, playing along with each other while some fortunate humans could just stare. Another sight I couldn’t get enough of, and was pinching my way through.

Our other stops included Eyjafjallajökull (the glacier which everyone knows, but none can pronounce), Dyrholaey, Vik and Reynisfjara. The latter being a heavenly black sand beach from an era long gone by. The comfort relationship between the water, black sand and the beautiful shining volcanic rocks were quite a sight.

The most scenic, ethereal and memorable trip of my Life yet. The Icelandic people and sights are etched in my memory and soul and let’s just say I’m a Fan and I will be Back for more and…

Yes as they say ‘Winter is Coming’…

My Tryst with the US of A

US never featured in my top 5, of places to see, or for that matter, even top 10. It was one of those ‘has to be done in your Lifetime (at least once)’, but no timeline within the timeline.

But I believe every country has its time charted out. US for me was Now (March, 2013). A country which every Indian, especially with our generation mates, already knew well in their head, with its multiple association and touch points which he is constantly fed. The music, the movies, the brands, the bands, the faces, the lifestyles, the media, the farce, the values, and togetherness and so and so and so on…

After spending copious amounts of ‘quality’ time in the continent of Europe, international travel takes upon extremely uncalled for weighty expectations. The history, the architecture, the variation and the splendor of Europe leaves such an indelible part upon your travel quota of mind that subconsciously you would always expect to visualize fascinating landscapes, awe-filled architecture, the beauty and the apparent differences in thought and language every hundred or thousand miles.

This thought followed and haunted me during my initial time in US too. Some said it wasn’t fair on the ‘free land’ to be compared to the beauty of its developed cousin across the Atlantic. I let my mind play the judge and jury.

USA as we see on the map is a massive chunk of land. When you start exploring the place, it seems even more enormous and vast in its expanse. One cannot say US is like this or that, unless one truly covers each significant part in some way or other. Stephen Fry’s 50 States might help. It’s like visiting Delhi and Goa and commenting and distributing views on the entire country of India. I can only speak on what I saw, the routes I took, the people I met and the places I ended up. It is such a mix of various races and tribes, roots and inspirations.

If the World only recognizes the riches, bling and envious lifestyles of the Americans, they’re partly right. There is a great deal of struggle which takes place within every city, within every soul, like every other place. They don’t take things for granted and hard work is something which they live by. They do possess a sense of ignorance, which could prove to be rather arrogant and annoying to foreigners. This could be because of two reasons, the size of their country and the reckless and established media houses they have unknowingly given shelter to. There is too much happening within the country itself to keep some 400 odd million people occupied. For them, travel means New York to Florida and New York to California would be assigned as international travel. Abroad would denote Europe and lately global matters would mean anything to do with China. Lives, cultures, beliefs and struggles of other countries are oblivious to them and to some extent maybe they’re not to blame, the system is. The Americans who have travelled to other parts of the world do realize and recognize this. Their world starts from the East Coast and ends at the West. So when the leader of the Free World (in this case the World is US) cites that the people are under threat, it is only them, as they cannot fathom the troubles elsewhere. They cannot be bothered. Security of its citizens could mean prying into private lives of innocent beings elsewhere. But this security is for the good and that is a prevalent and disturbing belief, unfortunately it ignores the other part and the cost attached to it.

A conspicuous lack of cynicism resides in the people of US. This proves to be highly contagious and hence respectable. This also reflects in their movies, music, sports and to my surprise in every day to day activity and role. A lot of scenes would also seem straight out of Hollywood flicks. Society is a mirror of the arts and art a mirror of society.

Music and Sports form a very significant part of their lifestyle whether it is the Basketball stars and the sold out MSG, Yankee stadium venues or the uber-cool youngsters in Brooklyn and The Bronx feeling the Hip-Hop beats via their Beats headphones possessions.
You cannot exist in US without a car, barring a few cities like NY maybe. It has the pimped up Cadillac and Ford Pick-ups and a country always full of Autos. There exists hence the strongest lobby ever in the Auto Industry. This poses quite a limitation.

I have come to the conclusion (personal nonetheless) that the most naturally aesthetic parts of the country lies in its national parks and mid west pockets. The concrete cities do not offer the visual brilliance and pleasing vibrancy of European cities, except maybe 2 sights. One is the landscapes of the city of San Francisco and the other is the infamous Manhattan Skyline. They do though offer a million eateries and franchise joints laid out across its highways and neon lighted strip bars. Everything in this land is MASSSIVE and EXCESSIVE, whether it be the Detroit cars or the cities or the portion serving size at the diners.

Well, no one said that The American Dream was miniscule in any measure.

BUDAPEST…Road Trip Part III...

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The drive from Bratislava to Budapest was definitely not a boring one. There were sufficient amounts of banter manufactured by us and enough material also delivered to us. The landscape according to us seemed fit for the Jurassic Park live shoot set, even with the constant reminders of going slow as deers could be running along with us. Whoever said deers could run fast, eat this.


Hungarian as they say is one of the toughest languages in the World, and they were not kidding. In a word there could be 3 or 4 consonants in a row and its impossible to pronounce them with the near to perfect grammar classes fed into our young minds. So another topic for some laughs. There were signs which we read as the following: ‘Do not Jbkhjdiahdia’ or likewise.

We left straight for some kebabs and the walk in the city after checking into our hostel. It was really cold and windy and the layers were not helping. But Budapest was looking splendid, am sure as it always does. We walked on one of the bridges and then by the beautiful architectural structures and the river Danube. It was a perfect setting with the sun setting. The city glowed in resplendence against the scatter of colours in the sky. It seemed like the city as made for exactly these colours, the reds and oranges against the eye-pleasing structures of Buda and Pest, and the beautiful flowing Danube. At times the camera just can’t capture the moment and the wonder, no matter how good you’re with the instrument. After making peace with what we could capture on Japanese made memory sticks, we headed to the city centre.

The city centre of Budapest is not as splendid as its other European cousins, it still has a strong and continuous throng of tourists, and hence very lively and vivid. We then tried some local Hungarian cuisine, most notably the ‘Goulash’ and the Hungarian beer. We also met an unforgettable and interesting character on the roads that we badged as one of the best salesman we had encountered. He obviously thinking we were the perfect customers for his wares. He to show his desperation also came into our restaurants to remind us of the offers. Post dinner we just as usual partied all night long, completing our dream of partying in 3 different cities in 3 countries in 3 different nights. Mission Accomplished!!!

BRATISLAVA…Road Trip Part II...

It was target 1 of 3 completed. The minutes of the underground plan/actual agenda is as follows :

‘Party in a different country every single night for 3 days’

Vienna was crazy, but Bratislava was next. For us it was about doing justice to the new country which was going to receive us, with open arms and war

ning highway signs. Hence a previous night of nocturnal activities could not stand for excuse enough to leave late and miss out on time to explore our new territory. Note: even with 2 Brazilians and 2 Indians we managed that. Now that is what I call sheer Achievement!!!

Second Halte :BRATISLAVA | SLOVAKIA

The only picture of Bratislava I had was that of creepy, gory and gothic images from the movie ‘Hostel’. That is not a good reference point to start with, trust me. The drive from Vienna to Bratislava even though was only 1.5 hrs, was anything but boring. The distinct change in landscape and the GPS reminding us of Eastern Europe, kept us well occupied and on the lookout. We had no clue and expectation set for the time and journey from here on. This being the exact reason, for my interest in travelling to the ‘less preferred’ eastern side of this developed continent.

Throughout the time in Bratislava, we did manage one consistency, one storyline. The title being, how and where would our body parts land up at the end of our time there? As funny it may sound, it was not, quite obviously. The city was real small, that being another topic of laughs [there never was any dearth of that]. The city seemed quite deserted throughout the day, a bit owing to the grim weather conditions, but still unusually sparse and silent in a spooky nature. But somehow we were happy consciously as this is what we expected, and of course a bit anxious too, as that is also what we expected. After the lovely expectation setting with the city, we thought of exploring the same, after checking into our ‘Hostel’. There was a nicely situated castle which overlooks the city as most of them do. The view was fantastic from there with the river and the trademark skyline available for appreciation. We also made an excellent decision of satisfying our stomachs at the Castle Restaurant. And what a meal it was!!! Fantastic food and even better ambience. Natan, the quintessential Brazilian could not decide where his focus should be directed at, the 2nd main dish which he had ordered or the lovely dame who got him the 2nd dish. I don’t really blame him though, it’s tough.

Let me dedicate one para to Natan and his penchant for eating. He deserves this honour in my blog space. The guy consistently ate a lot, and even more surprisingly felt hungry quicker than most of us, who managed to eat only half of what he did. Well that doesn’t really add up correctly. Hence jokes of the nature:

1. Natan ate all the people of Bratislava as we hurried him for breakfast at Vienna.
2. Hungary our next destination had been named in his honour for his favourite pastime; so and so forth

After visiting a gothic looking church and its surroundings, we headed for an even more brilliant meal [if it could get any better, it very much did so]. This was a Brazilian restaurant called ‘RIO’, which they stopped claiming once they found out they had amidst them 2 hard core Brazilians. Nonetheless we did many firsts at that place. I tried Cachacha, the local Brazilian sugar cane liquer. Augustine tried the Absenthe ‘Green Fairy’ and well Natan stuck to his heavier 2nd main dish again. Overall time and money very very well spent, in amazing amounts of quality liquor and heavenly food. By this time there were more people out on the streets than we had seen in the entire day in the city. This was unbelievable. It’s like a huge movement of people had taken place post sunset from some unknown corner.

We then headed back to our hostel to quickly gear up for the much anticipated nightlife of Bratislava. But there had to be some amount of drama. So all of us came to the conclusion that in order to fully and solely enjoy and absorb the nightlife we must at least catch up on 30 mins of sleep. Bad Decision!!! The funniest part being, everyone knew that. We did our best to avoid our desire and penchant to sleep, by taking cold showers, etc, but to no avail. A 15 minute power nap turned into 1.5 hrs of deep slumber. I woke up just for a moment and realized that we were missing out on the moment of the nightlife in Bratislava as tomorrow we had to head to Budapest. Tonight was the night. Somehow managed to wake up and made others realize the same.

Once we were out in the streets, everything was back to normal after a few jumps and swigs of beers. All senses restored. Bring it on.

We headed straight to this recommended club called Nu Spirit which was a 5 minute walk. It was in an underground tunnel with a long bar. With a good mix of club and house music blasting from perfectly placed speakers, with a screen showing a live feed of some other party also. It was turning out to be a great night. But we had no clue how crazy it was about to get. After a couple of beers I made my way to the restrooms. And what do I find an adjoining tunnel on the turn of the restrooms. This was a second dance floor with a complete different set playing. A more psychedelic EDM based set. And this was the video feed playing in the first floor. Crazy. This was more of a dark sound and the previous one more morning. The setting very much similar.

When I introduced the other 3 to this new universe, they too went ballistic. The tunnels being so thick, there was no interference of music. The best addition to the night was yet to be made. They had a guest DJ for the night, from Prague, by the name of DJ Trava, which in Czech translates to grass or weed. This ‘old man’ or veteran really belted out some psychedelic tunes, tunes and beats which really teased and played with your mind. The alcohol obviously helping his cause.

The party people too were really the happy kinds and really mingling and ready to enter into a conversation. An unexpected situation did take place though. One of the girls I was talking to was a member of AIESEC in Slovakia who was trained by a guy called Vijay, whom I had trained in AIESEC in Kolkata. This same guy was there in Bratislava 2 weeks back. I mean this really flipped me. We partied till 5 and decided it was time to look ahead to Budapest and hence must call it a night. But Bravo Bratislava!!! We came with no expectations (and a bit scared) and left with real fond memories and an eagerness to visit again.

VIENNA…Road Trip Part I...

Well all my journeys of my last time in Europe had been penned down or rather typed, at least the ones taken on land. All, except one, that being Norway. Many a time I thought about completing the log, but just couldn’t . As the cliché goes, at times you just can’t put experiences and feelings into words. You might put them up as photos. Kodak would still exist if they would have used this Copy.

So I shall today not attempt once more on beloved, gothic Norway. I shall start on my second leg in Europe, that of March 2012 and so on…this time the first substitution is that of Deutschland for France and the second one being that of Munich for Marseille.

After watching ZNMD, almost every boy in India wanted to do an All Boys Road Trip in Spain or anywhere like Spain and call it Spain. The girls included, but with girls of course. But we had to better it and HOW:

1. We add an extra person
2. We make it 2 Indians and 2 Brazilians
3. We make it unknown and mysterious Eastern or Central Europe instead of predictable Spain
4. 4 days, 3 cities, 4 countries
5. Mission statement: Every night party like no tomorrow in a different country for 3 nights…
6. Attend office absolutely sane after this rendezvous

First Halte: VIENNA |AUSTRIA

We reached Vienna amidst a bit late as per schedule as we left Munich late [courtesy: 2 Indians and 2 Brazilians]. We checked in straight into our hostel guided to us perfectly thanks to Emily our best friend in the journey. Post dumping bags and freshening up, we headed out to the Vienna city centre.

First things first – Food. Three of us sat in an outdoor cafe while Augustine set out taking pictures in the rain, excited about visiting his second country in Europe, understandably so. An incident occured where in all the forces of the Universe, or similar, came together. Natan was talking about food, Chinese and jeans. Just then a Chinese waiter with a glass of beer spilled it on Natan’s jeans. His first reaction being – I hope you’re not charging me for that one and second a grave look at me. Flashback : a conversation between us before leaving on whether he should carry one pair of jeans or two. On my persuasion he just carried one. Now he sorely missed his other pair. Post the ‘lovely’ lunch, Natan went to buy a new pair of fresh and dry underwear and jeans. Myself, I went straight to Zara for satisfying my fetish for Kravatte.

We then headed to the infamous Sacher Cafe to try the famous Sacher Torte. Right outside was the Opera theatre and a few salesman dressed as Mozarts and Orchestra players. We got in an interesting conversation with the head salesman and he succeeded in selling us the idea of attending the opera in the Golden Theatre which would start in exactly 15 mins. This was definitely not in our crazy party plans. We bought the tickets and gladly chatted for a few more minutes and then hurried to the Opera theatre.

As expected we were late to enter and had to wait for the first song to finish. The best of it all – we had seats on the stage, right behind the orchestra and next to the choir singers, overlooking the packed house, obviously dressed inappropriately. From the moment we entered to the time we left the theatre we were just enamoured and gripped by the beauty of the venue, the heavenly notes and compositions of Mozart which were beautifully executed and the 3 main people:

1. The constructor;
2. The main male opera singer ;
3. The gorgeous and elegant main female opera singer

They were just simply master of their art and were unbelievable in their own ways. The singers at times were producing vocals of pitches and ranges unimaginable of the human vocal chords, holding the audience to ransom in the mesmerizing magnificence. After all we were in the seat of Western Classical music and Opera in the World, on the stage right next to them. It couldn’t dare be anything else. In the end it became one of the highlight of our trip and a decision we didn’t regret making at all as a deviation.

We then headed out to survey a few nightclubs and grab a bite. We then returned to the hostel, freshened up and headed out to this one street with all different clubs and pubs in a line. Partied till 5 and then looked forward to Bratislava and trying to wonder how it could get any better.

Hero of the Day

Jump to October 28th, 2011

DELHI, WE ARE METALLICAAAAA!!! As James Hetfield in his trademark, ever enchanting scream addresses the thousands of rock fans gathered for a worship well deserved at both ends. The setting couldn’t be more apt. The winter mist looms against the backdrop of lights, show and the ‘four horsemen’.

How big is this? Well if you’re a true rock fan, it’s blasphemy even to make an attempt to answer such a question. Sometimes gravity cannot be explained, it just needs to be experienced. So I’ll obviously keep it at that. There’ll be many though who would be attending because well

1. they have heard of a Metallica song , the ubiquitous Nothing Else Matters at some happening joints in the city
2. an international act is performing in our Sadi Dilli, or,
3. because it’ll be ‘not so cool’ to be left out from the most talked about event of the month, or
4. simply because Sunny and Bunty from the neighbourhood are also going.

Most of the young students and urban professionals of India’s english music following population did start with the likes of Bryan Adams [ Delhi’s missed out on this, ‘Sad but True’ ] and Michael Jackson, and then maybe moved onto bands like Bon jovi, RHCP and Guns and Roses. The next step was vital and defining though.
Metallica is like a band, pun intended, which separates the religious metal and rock listeners from the alternative ones, quite distinctively at that. If it gets into your blood it’s like the perfect launch pad for more great music and opens up into the spectacular world of Iron Maiden, Slayer, Slipknot and the list continues. Metallica seemed like a bridge to me, perfect, a threshold, a brilliant one, for the next level.

After live concerts of Roger Waters and Iron Maiden in India, this is definitely the 3rd most significant concert for us. It would have been a dream come true if Jason Newsted could have been witnessed too, with his powering bass lines, but then we would make do with Robert. After headbanging on their audio files a million times over, gaping in awe at their concert DVD’s and S&M performances, and singing in tandem at rock pubs all over India, this is pure Salvation, closest we can get to it, and no one’s complaining.

I can’t wait for that unnamed feeling, of those almost synchronized movement of heads to Lars’ thundering drum beats or thousands gripped by insanity air guitar-ing along with Hammet’s riffs and a loud vocal of Hetfield’s ‘Seek and Destroy’ seeming like a Dolby Surround sound in open air. There will be many a beautiful evening in Delhi this winter, but this one will be Special, Time will March On this October evening and rightly so.

I will be there, and am sure many of you, my metal head friends will be too, celebrating while our heroes take us through a trip. I will feel like the ‘Hero of the Day’ and am sure each one of you will too. Metallica maketh our Dream come True…finally…

Getting lost within myself
Nothing matters, no one else
There is nothing more for me
Need the end to set me free

1. Kolkata (Calcutta), India


2. Darjeeling, India


3. Paris, France


4. Barcelona, Spain


5. Rome, Italy


6. Marseille, France


7. Bruges, Belgium


8. Bergen, Norway


9. Munich, Germany


10. Berlin, Germany


11. Stockholm, Sweden


12. Kalimpong, India


13. Pune, India

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