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.

Last summer trip to Niagara/Marineland

We had taken the season pass to Marineland and we can visit as many times we can this summer. Marineland will close during winter from October onwards. Also, from next month onwards the autumn followed by severe winter would prevent us from making any trips. So, we decided to visit both Niagara and Marineland for one last time on Sunday Sept 10 and do some of the stuffs which we had missed before.

The weather was perfect at 26C but was bit nippy and we drove
first to Marineland. We saw the Splashing whales which we had missed last time.

We dropped by the Dolphin show at King Waldorf's centre.
We decided to watch it upclose so that we get a very good view.


It was lunch time we had good chapati rolls and curd rice prepared by Archana. Then we decided to go around and do some rides.

Saanvi loved the boat ride pretty much and it was one of the rides where she is allowed to sit. Pach & Archana mustered enough courage this time to do the rides which they had missed last time. First we went to the dragon ride, swings and then to the roller coaster ride.

Saanvi enjoyed her first encounter with deers in the deer park.
Last time when Shibani was here we weren't lucky because all the
deers were standing by the wallside due to light drizzle. Saanvi
was not afraid to meet the deers. She touched them, pulled their
tails and also chased and ran along with them. She enjoyed it pretty
much.

After that we continued our towards Niagara falls to take one final glimpse. We had left the "Journey behind the falls" the last time. Basically, this takes us very close to Canadian falls. There is also a tunnel from where we can see the falls in its majestic force coming down. It was good to experience it once.

On the way back we stopped by restaurant Bombay Bhel in Missisuaga where we had dinner thali. On the way home we saw the full moon and Saanvi sang some of her favorite rhymes including 'where is thumpkin'.. and by the time we reached home it was close to 10PM.

Joy in Toronto

I was pretty happy to meet Joydeep (Joy/Jodu) in Toronto after close to 3 years. He had come on just a single day business visit to CIBC bank to give a presentation. I met him at Comfort Inn hotel on Thursday 31 Aug. The next day was Friday and in the evening I picked him from his office. We had dinner at Chef of India and visited my apartment.

The next day was Saturday. It was sick weather in Toronto (cloudy and raining) and spoiled our three day Labour weekend plans of going outside. We had breakfast at Burger king, visited Eaton Centre and then went to CN tower. We had a glimpse of city from a good height. Afternoon, we had lunch at Saravana Bhavan in Missisuaga and dropped him at Airport around 3:00PM.

Joy gifted me white Jubba-Pyjama which can be seen in the picture here.

On the way back from Airport dropped by Pachs house and then we all went to Fairview mall to do some shopping due to Labour weekend sale.. We couldn't find anything that useful to buy. Later went to Udupi Madras Cafe in Missisuaga for the dinner. Pach had got a fat pay hike previous day and we were all pretty happy about that.

Ganapathi Bappa Moriya @ Toronto

Just few days before the festival, I was thoroughly disappointed since I'll be alone this time here in Toronto and Bhavana/Shibani at Bangalore and we are not celebrating any festivals together. I had just then got the good news that Shibani did pretty well in Maths exams and I believe Bhavana had been to my parents house in Bangalore where they all celebrated together. My joy knew no bounds when Archana invited me to join them for the Ganapathi puja in their house.

Pach & Archana had decorated the small puja place and it was all setup by the time I came to their house. We did the puja and listened some good Ganapathi songs on our laptop. See the pic of Saanvi in the traditional dress here.

Later, it was cooking time and Archana was getting ready for the naivaidya. She had prepared Modakas which I believe is deity's favorite. We did puja and then followed by a fabulous lunch. I had a pleasure of eating atleast 5 Modakas myself. Thanks for Archana's generous serving and Pach not liking sweets as much as I do ;)

Evening, we went to Siva-Vishnu temple in Rivalda/Sheppard/Weston road. The temple was small in size but we went at the right time when they were decorating the lord and maha-mangalarathi was being done. Saanvi was totally dazzled by the Temple bells that were ringing non-stop and she clinged onto me tightly. We came back home after the visit. It kept me busy and happy the whole day which otherwise, I would have been in sad state and sleeping at home !

Scenic Caves at Collingwood..

We decided to visit finally the Scenic caves [on Saturday Aug 12] at Collingwood. We had missed it previous time because by the time we reached it was closed. Scenic caves are part of the beautiful blue mountains where we had Skiied last winter. The weather was pretty good but the Barrie highway 400 was pretty busy. It was a stop-go traffic and it almost took an extra hour and half.



Our first stop was ofcourse our regular Tim Horton's in Barrie. We had the French vanilla coffee to start off. We drove past the Barrie beach where Saanvi played in the water for sometime.. But looks like she didn't like it that much because of sleepy mood.


We continued our journey and finally reached the scenic caves around 2:00PM. The first thing we did ofcourse was having lunch. Archana had prepared Chapathi-Dhal and I my favorite & easiest Vangibath. We had a good lunch and then hiked towards Scenic caves. The Scenic caves aren't really big caves except for couple of them. On the top we could see the Georgia bay and the blue waters. It was good to hike through the lush green rocks in between.

We had taken a combo ticket along with Mini-Golf. So, when we came down the caves we tried our hands at golf. It was a mini 18 course golf and was fun. Pach scored 64 and was clear winner. I scored 68 and was second followed by Archana at 73.



We then went to see suspension bridge. It was a small bridge but
we could see it sway as we crossed the bridge.
It was almost 7:00PM and it was time to close. We hurried past to our cars before they shut the doors.



On our way back we stopped first at SunSet point and then at Wasaga beach. The Sun was setting and we caught a very good glimpse of the setting sun in its orange color. Wasaga beach was pretty good. The sand on the beach was silky and as we watched the sun just disappeared far away. We started our car to head back to home which was other 2 hour journey.




On our way we stopped at Pizza Hut near Hwy 26 & 400. Had a
good dinner and headed back home. It was yet another good and memorable trip.