My New Car

Well.. I was tired of travelling in the bike without a car and the monsoons made the matter worse.. So, I finally decided to buy the car even though my favorite Linea was still not launched in India. Me & Pach set out on a series of test drives and I finally settled on Honda City. Pach wanted me to buy a diesel car.. But none of the diesel cars interested me and their prices were exorbitant as well.. Honda City was smooth in changing gears and was perfect for city driving with good mileage. Here comes our new car on this day.

In the weekend, me & Pach set off to JC road in the weekend to get all the accessories fitted. We planned to go on a long drive coming weekend in our new car.

Visit to US

After my return from Chennai, joined a new project in Bangalore. Immediately, had to visit US on a business visit to a storage company. My travel plan : San Francisco -> Pleasanton (CA) -> Rockville (MD) -> Nashua (NH) -> Cambridge (MA) -> New Jersey -> Bangalore

Left Bangalore mid of June and took the flight to San Francisco. Had a opportunity to meet my good old colleague and friend Vivek. He had come to Airport to pick up and dashed to his house in Fremont. It was a lovely house. Manju had prepared good dinner, ate that and crashed.

Next day, we went around one of the parks where the previous colleagues had get-together. Evening, checked into a hotel in Pleasanton close to office. Mohan joined in as well.

Had been San Francisco. Even though had seen it many times before, just went around the city. Golden Gate Bridge is always inviting and drive over it is so fun. on a nice sunny day, it was at it's best. Visited, ChinaTown and drove around the city.

Took the flight to Washington D.C for Rockville next day morning. Luckily, Prasad Inchal was staying in German Town near Rockville. It was a pleasure to meet them in their house with lil' Aryan around. Renuka prepared good north karnataka food for dinner. Also, came to know Siddeswar was also in German town and it was pleasure to meet them as well.

After couple of days stay in Rockville, headed to Nashua in New Hampshire. Took a flight to Boston where Amanath also was in same flight. We both drove down from NJ to Nashua. stayed there couple of days. Good thing about NH is that there is no sales tax. All items we buy will be on the same price as listed without any additional taxes. Did some shopping in Nashua Pheasant mall & shops around.

Mohan had got his car and from there drove down to his house near Hopkinton, MA. In the weekend took a train and went to Boston for sight seeing. Senthil was staying in Boston and we both went around the city.

Next day, we drove down to Cambridge and after meeting during the weekend (July 4'th) took a flight back to Bangalore.

Visit to Chennai & around..

I had to visit to office in Chennai after my return to Toronto to complete the TOI formalities and handover my responsibilities to new PM designate. Bhavana & Chibi planned to visit me over the weekend of April 13-17 and we had good fun. The guest house is pretty new one and had excellent facilities like a resort... We spent good amount of time doing shopping since we had buy some jewellery and dresses.. We also decided to visit Saravana Bhavan & Murugan Idli shop for lunch while we were shopping..

One of the days we planned to visit Mahabalipuram and the beach.. It was good to see the great rock carvings by the erstwhile Pallava kings. We visitied the five rathas, Shore temple and few other caves too.. Shibani enjoyed walking on the beach while the waves swept her feet..



We decided to drop visiting Pondicherry and do it later sometime when we have few friends with us..

Mungaru Male..

We decided to watch some movie [Sunday 08, April 2007] since it's been a long time we had watched a movie in the theatre.. Yes, for a change it is a kannada movie which we heard was doin' good and was running almost 100 days and still house full.. Shibani didn't want to sit in the theatre for that long and opted not to join us.. So, it was just both of us and went to nearby theatre to watch the movie.. Needless to say, we didn't get the tickets since they were all sold out in the morning itself.. I decided to shell out 5$ for two tickets (cheap isn't it compared to us/canadian movies) and got the balcony tickets for the first show.

Now, coming to movie.. I should say we made a good decision of watch a entertaining kannada movie after a long time..The film is mostly shot in the rainy season in the Karnataka's visually stunning Malnad area. The film rocks because of the fantastic photography. One could see the Jog falls in it's majestic splendour from different views/angles including the top view.. The music is pretty good and then there is energetic artist Ganesh ( of Comedy Time) whose television work has already rewarded him with a big fan following. This is supported by veterans like Anantnag, Jai Jagdish..

Shibani's 7'th Birthday..

Well.. I should say she had been waiting for this day immediately after her 6'th birthday previous year.. To add to that, I had told her that I would return before her birthday from Toronto made it still special.. She was counting every day and the first thing she did everyday after waking up is to find out when I would return and how many less days for her birthday..
There was nothing special and it was usual family get-together.. Shibani's friends Mahima, Arjun, Gowri etc had joined us to wish her happy birthday.. I was extremely happy to invite Pach-Arch and Saanvi too.. It was the first time they were visiting our house and it made more special for them to join us on this ocassion.. Shibani cut the cake and was happy to look and play with all the gifts she had received. In the morning too, she had been to school which happened to be the last working day for this academic year. She had distributed the chocs which I had got from Zurich and I believe everyone liked them since they were different..
End of the day, she was the most happiest and cheerful girl ;)

Goodbye Toronto

It was now my turn to bid goodbye to Toronto on March 23, 2007. one & half years of stay finally coming to an end when I decided to go back for personal reasons. I liked the city very much and I should stay the stay has been very memorable and special to me. Some of the things which I liked in Toronto & Canada in general are :

1) Excellent planning & infrastructure.. The city is planned in grid form and we can see roads criss-crossing from North-south and east-west of the city.. The buses (TTC-Viva) ply on the complete length on these big streets. In addition to that, the metro(subway) train services on critical artery of the city provide the much needed mass rapid transport system. One can reach any corner of the city easily without a car !
2) Clean drinking water and electricity available throughout.. I didn't see a single minute of power-cut any time. Also, easy availability of hot-cold water everytime.
3) Experience the vagaries of nature : One can experience all the weather conditions - spring, summer, fall, winter.. The winters especially the snow is a great experience. I really enjoyed it a lot.. The fall colors provide a great sight throughout the country side.
4) Great shopping - easy access to shopping malls and internet shopping makes it easier to order any product of choice
5) Easy access to internet - High speed internet available easily which makes everyone connect to the web, download anything of our choice easily.
6) Large Indian/sub-continent community - Being multi-ethnic city we do not feel out of place.. We have numerous south-indian restaurants, movie theatres, temples etc..
7) Great road network - I loved driving on those highways.. I know it is quite monotonous and boring but the great road network cuts down the travel time and we are able to travel almost of 100 of KMs in quick time.. Since, I loved driving long distances it was pretty nice experience however it lacks the challenge and the varied landscape as in India..

At the end of it, we still would miss the social environment and the great tropical weather of India.. I'm heading home now after close to 1.5 years being away from my family..

My birthday in Toronto..

It was just one day before I was suppose to depart Toronto.. I was overwhelmed by the surprise gesture bestowed upon me by my team members.. After returing from the Sun sponsored farewell lunch in afternoon, we gathered for the cake cutting and later played TT for the last time..

Parents visit to Toronto..

I was very happy to invite my parents to visit Toronto. [Feb 02 - Mar 23] It was also a dream come true for them too and everything right from boarding plane to visiting Walmart, highway driving, Niagara falls was a great experience for them. They thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the stay and wished that they could have stayed longer. We visited all the places in and around Toronto namely the CN Tower, Niagara falls, Malls - Eaton, Fairview, Subway/Street car experience etc.
I had a good company at home and great mom's food for two months of their stay here. It was really most memorable time in my lifetime.

Winter Magic Niagara falls

Niagara falls is pretty awesome in any season. However, during
winter and at sub-zero temperatures we can seem some part of it
getting frozen and still huge quantity of water falling. I was very happy to witness the winter magic this year and below are couple of snaps.

Winter Fun in Toronto..

We were eagerly looking forward for the great snow in Toronto so that we all could experience it as well as get an opportunity to have some fun in snow.. Yes, the weather didn't disappoint us.. Even though snowing started a bit late this year but started after Jan 15 and didn't stop snowing.. The next snowfall was bigger and better than previous one and I thoroughly enjoyed it.. The Wipro gang had gone to Lakeridge ski-resort where we had opportunity to do skiing, Tubing and various other activities.. It was real fun and we enjoyed a lot..


I also had joined the Ice Skating classes in this winter.. The class duration was just 8 classes... I missed couple of classes at the end of it I was able to balance, walk on ice with skates and do a bit of sliding.. It needed a lot of practice to do skating and even though it looked so simple wasn't that.. The ice rink was outside and cold weather would let our spirits futher down..

Auto-show in Toronto..

Well.. Every year we have Auto-show in Toronto (Metro Toronto Convention Centre & Rogers Centre) sometime during second week of February... Last time I had missed it and hence was looking forward to be in the show this time around. I had opportunity to touch and feel some of the great cars and newer models/concepts which are yet to come by.. The cars & bikes were really good looking and I had particular interest towards the convertibles which I liked the most.. We took snaps by sitting in some of those cars.

Most Wonderful time of the year..

Yes.. It is Christmas time and it is the most wonderful time of the year in Europe and the Americas. Toronto was all set for Christmas and we could see this in all the shopping malls and main streets lighted for christmas. Even, the FM radio continously plays a lot of christmas songs. Some of my favorite songs have been : Last Christmas I gave u my heart, Let it snow, Jingle bells etc..

As I mentioned, the malls are really decorated with lighted christmas trees, Santa claus posing with childeren and all the shops giving discounts and attracting lot of customers. The Eaton Centre at Yonge-Dundas in downtown Toronto is really attractive at this time of the year.

The old City hall which is one of the Toronto's prominent building was this year illuminated by French artist Xavier de Richemont. Richemont uses video projections to illuminate the hidden structural and architectural aspects of Toronto’s City Hall and its exquisite Romanesque Revival craftsmanship including the distinctive clock tower and the grotesques. Below are some of the illumination Pics :

The new city hall also called Nathan Phillips centre hosted musical shows and Cavalcade of lights. The Ice Skating rink in the front of the Nathan Phillips centre was all lighted and lots of people from small kids to old persons were seen smoothly skating on the ice. We could just watch them move along. In the night, there was fireworks.

Toronto's multicultural neighbourhood like the Greektown, Little italy, Bloor-yorkville and other were all lighted for Christmas and a nice to see them.

K-A-N-K

Yes.. it was alvidha time on 15 Dec 2006 for the Pach, Arch & Saanvi as they bid final goodbye to Toronto. Pach arrived sometime in 01 feb 2005 and Arch/Saanvi 01 Apr 2005. So, it was close to 2 years now in Toronto. Below is the snap which were taken in front of their apartment (30, Gloucester Street, Apt #610) just before departing to Airport..

I was feeling very bad to see them go since I would be lonely here at Toronto. I would be missing all the fun & trips we used to have. Pach was an excellent project team member and a great friend. I would be missing him both in & out of office. Anyway, they have some great plans lined up in year 2007.. Here's wishing them the best in all their ventures in the coming year.. Also, I just hope the days tick off as quickly as possible so that I can return to Bangalore as well to see my sweethearts.

Let it Snow ! Let it Snow ! Let it Snow !

This year we are not really feeling pinch of winter here in Toronto and much of Canada as well.. There has not been snow fall in the two months both in Nov & Dec 2006.. In fact, most of the people were wishing for a white christmas but again this year it is a Green Christmas (8 out of last 15 Christmas have been Green). Well, our hopes of seein', touchin' and playin' with snow are temporarily on hold.. We are keepin' our fingers crossed and hopin' that atleast in the months of Jan/Feb we'll have some good amount of snow to see..



We had first snowflakes on Dec 05 and after that none seen till end of december. Below are couple of snaps taken near our office. The pond on the right in the picture below was frozen and we could see the tree branch or a stone thrown on it would just slide instead of sinking.

Lakeridge Resort

Let's make a trip, to remember - from January to December.... Pach was leaving on the coming Friday i.e on 15 Dec. This time as I mentioned in my previous post, we didn't have much snowfall in Toronto.. Saanvi didn't have opportunity to touch and play in Snow... So, we decided to visit the nearby Lakeridge resort (on Sunday Dec 10, 2006) which was at a higher altitude and there was good snow there.. It was a Ski resort and we could see lot of people Skiing there.. We hurled snowballs at each other and took some good snaps..

On our way back we had a peek at Chalk lake, Ski-Dogmar resort and had our usual french vanilla cappuccino at Tim Horton's along with Timbits/Butter Croissant/Bagel..

SantaClaus Parade

Toronto hosts lots of festivals and parades throughout the year. Each one has different themes and is enjoyed by all people. I believe the SantaClaus parade started in year 1905 in Toronto and has continued ever since. I had missed this parade last year but was lucky to see the same this year. This year the parade was on Nov 18 Saturday. The weather was bit nippy but there were quite a lot of very small children and adults waiting on the pavements of the parade to see their favorite characters passing by. The tableu's had lot of popular characters like Dora, Barbie & dancing princess, Clifford etc.. See below some of the snaps.

Nature's Spectacular Display of Changing Colors..

Well.. The people in in cold countries experience all kinds of weather. Summer, Winter, Fall (Autumn) & rains/snow.. Whatz awesome is the the nature's display of vibrant colors which makes the entire area look so beautiful.

As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees "know" to begin getting ready for winter.
During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along. We just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.

The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves. It is the combination of all these things that make the beautiful colors we enjoy in the fall.

We visited Halliburton/Minden highlands this fall to see the beautiful colors. It was a three day weekend and we planned to visit this on a Sunday (07 Oct 2006) . It was a beautiful drive and we had pleasure of seeing some good scenery.

Saanvi's 2'nd Birthday at Toronto..

Saanvi celebrated her second birthday here at Toronto on September 28. Last year, I had missed the fun since I came to Toronto only in mid-October. We had a grand party at 30, Gloucester street, the apartment party hall where Vijapur's reside in Toronto.

The party was pretty good. The Wipro gang in Toronto had dwindled this time since many of them had gone back to offshore. But even then, we had Kalpesh, Anil Reddy/Swarupa (departing Toronto next day), Sthanu with his parents, Shekar/Kavita, Shekar's Sis/Bil, Viren, Gayathri, Anil Kalli, Saanvi's parents (Pachu/Archu) and last but not the least photographer Roopesh uncle.

The kids had good fun. We were playing "Finding Nemo" on the giant TV screen for people to watch. Since, it was Friday evening, it took sometime to start off since everyone had to come back from office. First we had the traditional Arati session where the ladies performed arati and wished Saanu. This was followed by blowing of candles (by archu/pach) and cake cutting.


Click HERE for more photos.

The menu was delicious with not many items but good enough for the party.. This time Archu prepared most of it herself with couple of items we ordered. We had Samosas, Chuda(Avalakki), Dahi Vada as starters. For the main course we had Naan, Aloo-mutter, Channa dal (from Mistaan), Jeera rice, Jilebi, Salads and ofcourse the bday cake.

Yes, everyone had good dinner and after some fun they are went back to their homes.. Also, today it was officially confirmed that Pach would be leaving Toronto by mid-December back to India for good. I would personally miss such a wonderful couple very much, which means it would be a terrible and lonely winter for me here in Toronto !

Happy Birthday Pach..

Pach just completed 29 revolutions around the Sun on Sept 22, 2006. He had cut the cake exactly at 00:00 hours on 22 Sept. After coming from office that day in the evening, we celebrated again by cake cutting. We went for dinner to "Brar restuarant" in Brampton. It was good restuarant with lot of items in buffet.

Muskoka - The land of Lakes

Muskoka located 2 hours north of Toronto is a vast district of shimmering lakes, thundering waterfalls and sheer granite cliffs, aromatic pine forests and dense maple forests that turn crimson and gold in the Autumn.

We visited Muskoka on Sunday Sept 17. The weather was rainy/cloudy for most part of the previous week. But on Sept 17 it was beautiful weather with 26C. So, we decided to drive up to this beautiful place.We drove past Barrie, Gravenhurst, Bracebridge. We stopped at the Lady Muskoka but cruise ride was 3 hours and we didn't take that. Instead, we decided to drive and stop at some scenic points around the lake.


We first visited the Muskoka falls. The falls was good but
we had a take look beneath the bridge. We stopped by Muskoka lake a took couple of snaps.

We continued further to place called Port Carling which is small on beautiful town on the lake. We did a mistake of not packing food this time. We decided to have it outside since we had to start early too. That decision was wrong and we had to be just contend with donuts & pepsi.



Me & Pach in shorts. In Mysore parlance people would say as
"Cheddi Chikkana". In the coming weeks it would be winter and we can't afford to wear shorts any more. This I should say is the last outing wearing shorts in Canada.





I took this nice picture of Pach family. It is generally difficult to capture Saanvi's attention while taking pictures. She would be looking at totally different direction than we want her.






We continued further and stopped by at Barrie. We just relaxed by the lake simcoe in the evening watching the speed boat rides. Saanvi was happy to see a duck family wade through the lake. Then me & Saanvi played the stone throwing game - who would throw the farthest?

It was time now to head back to Toronto. We started on the Barrie highway back. We were damn hungry and were looking for options to eat. Thanks to Saanvi we decided to go back home and Archana decided to quickly prepare Rice/Dhal. She gave us refreshing and much needed Strawberry milkshake and while we were taking a look at the snaps the dinner was ready. Oh my gosh.. We just quickly gobbled up the food to satisfy our full day hunger.

The autumn (fall) has begun in Canada while we look forward to go on a long fall ride towards Algonquin park.. Keep yourself tuned for further updates.