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A longing for a foreign trip was the primary motivator for planning the trip to Dubai. Though Dubai only made it very late to the list of candidates but having a close friend at Dubai and the comfort of rich hospitality sort of makes it easier. Also the fact that its not too far from Delhi and would involve least hassle in terms of Visas, helped us to seal the deal. We played frugal and decided to spend only 3 days, hoping that it would be enough.

Dubai Marina
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And so the monsoon has come back. It is truly the most beautiful and sublime act of nature if we ignore its capacity for destruction. If in mood for destruction, it doesn’t leave anything or anyone. Disintegrates city life, with flooded roads, railway tracks and drains, mudslide and what not. Not only cities it creates havoc on mountains with heavy landslides, road blockages and the plains with unwanted floods.
But but but. Who regrets its arrival ? Not me. The farmers are happy; the birds start singing, peacock dancing and kids have whale of a time. The monsoon is widely welcomed and appreciated by city-dwellers as well, for it provides relief from the climax of summer in June.

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It was seven years back… we took off from New Delhi airport and I had embarked on my very first plane ride. We were going to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur.

We board the plane and find our seats. Clamp on our seat belts and wait. The plane gives a shudder, pulls back and taxies slowly to the runway. Here it stops for a few moments and then with a fast run lifts off. The buoyant feeling is wonderful.

Jurong Bird Park
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The first time I went abroad was in the year 1995 when Kuberan was a consultant to UNDP in Vietnam. It was an experience extraordinaire and I would like to share it with you all in different postings in this site.

Vietnam is a beautiful country. The country is shaped like an ‘S’ curve, almost like Italy. The total length north to south is 1650 km and its width stretching from east to west is 600 km at the widest point in the north and 400 km in the south and just 50 km at the narrowest part in the middle. Hanoi is the capital city and has an incomparable combination of tradition, elegance and progress. Everything about the city fascinated me. But the Cu Chi Tunnels in the South was so different and exclusive that I felt it has to be given priority in my mention.

A Typical Flower Market In The Morning
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