Sample folk song created to promote literacy and language learning in Andhra Pradesh, India.
Ivica's Notes
(newest on top!)
- 29-30.07 Taj Mahal and Agra trip
Rajiv and another guide came to pick us up at the Shiva Hotel very early in the morning. This time TCS provided us with a air conditioned mini bus with two quite young drivers. The road to Agra was much better than the one to Jaipur, and with Rajiv every trip is more interesting as he explains us the history and the present of our whereabouts. Again we were arranged at the
5 star hotel and after the lunch we headed for Taj Mahal. Security was fierce, but the Taj Mahal's experience one remembers for life. I agree with
this blogger's remark:
"The Taj Mahal was quite beautiful though not as stunning as I had expected." Still, the marble carvings and precious stone inlays are unbelievable as well as the calligraphy on the walls. I took many photos so check them in the
photo gallery... We had a nice presentation of the
marble crafts (I bought a black marble jewelry box for Barbie), and textile (again I spent a fortune here).
Immediately after reaching the hotel I ran to the health center to have an ayurvedic massage (
Pizhichil). That was so relaxing experiance; I was so relieved of stress that the dinner and a long shover just introduced me to a long sleep
Next day we visited the Soami Bagh Samadh mausoleum of Huzur Soamiji Maharaj (Shri Shiv Dayal Singh). Construction of this mausoleum/temple began in 1908, and is expected to end in next 30 years (is the followers continue donating money at the current level). Rajiv took us to another emporium although I asked no to take us to another traditional indian shop (for tourists), but this time nobody bought anything. Finally, we reached the hotel, had a swim in the pool (from this day Tulga can swim!), I finished writing postcards for friends and family, had lunch and left for Delhi.
Now read some more about the Taj on wikipedia:
- 22-23.07 A weekend in Jaipur
- 17.07 To Khan Market with Tulga
Khan Market is more expensive than most of the markets in Delhi (
flickr photo) therefore you can mostly see tourists, diplomats and upper middle class indians checking this place. We visited several sportish shops and finally we havocked a Levis store...
- 16.07 Avoid Karol Bagh market on Sundays
As all the tourist guides point out that Karol Bagh has a big market worth seeing I went for a long walk around my hotel's neighborhood. The market consists of many narrow streets full of clothes, shoes, used mobile phones, junk food joints etc. It's a cheap place, you can hardly find items too expensive for Europeans, but still I found nothing worth buying... Maybe it's because I really hate shopping, maybe because of the Sunday crowd, maybe the heat...
- 15.07 The trip to Jaipur is postponed - Snow Crash is finished
Nobody from TCS informed us about the fact that the trip was postponed for the next weekend, so I could have planned something for the weekend. Maybe it's for the better, because I woke up with a soure throat and a headache, so I needed a good rest. I took few aspirins and stayed in bed reading. I finished Snow Crash and was quite disappointed at the end. The book had few great ideas:
-
- the human brain has some deep structures (=infrastructure) for some memes (ideas, group of ideas, faith, religion) => it is possible to write viruses for the brain itself
- metaverse (a virtual habitat for the educated) was nicely imagined and described
- couriers and transport (very stylish for gadget lovers)
- no central government (Mafia, the Chinese, Vietnamese, USA) - no one has a full control (postapocaliptic world)
Still, the writer is not as good as I expected, he just doesn't have enough street-level experience and slang knowledge for that "punk" part of the "cyber-punk" genre. Next, in writer's vision, future is about America only. This book has enough pages to accommodate much broader picture of the future world, but the writer decided to spend more time on interpersonal relations between the characters (=melodrama?). Therefore, this is good material for a futuristic-drama-action movie, but as a social critic (=punk), futuristic vision, inspiration for hacker actions (cyber freedom) this book isn't very useful.
- 14.07 From today I am not with Barbara anymore...
From now my darling is to be called Mr. Sc. Barbara
Well done Barbie, you rule!
- I met Patrice's friend Supreeth
It isn't that easy to travel around Delhi. To reach Supreeth's office I took the Metro, and that part is great, but later my auto-rickshaw driver had quite a problem finding the right address. Luckily S had his own car so later we could move easily.
S is much younger than I expected (25) and works in a small start-up IT company (after working for yahoo, monster.com, sarai) and had a wikipedia open on the screen when I came
After we introduced each other S phoned some friends and we all went to Cafe Morrison to get few drinks before happy hour (50% price reduction on booze) finishes. There we met two great people: H works in a non-profit dealing with informal work, and Saurabh is Delhi coordinator of the advocacy campaign for the Right to Information act (RTI). I believe they are all enthusiastic about their work and everything so it was fun to spend some time with them. We had some (spicy) chicken and vegetables, drunk beer; later we moved to Dili Haat and had some Kashmiri food. Unfortunately, as I'm not allowed to stay out as long as I wanted, S took me to the hotel around 23:00h. But I hope to see this people again!
French revolution, Ivica graduated, this is a day we celebrate
If you ask me what has changed in the last year I could hardly answer. I started working on faculty on "IT & society" but it's not a full time job. Faculty did a move towards my employment, but the Ministry is yet on the move. I still spend most of my time in Rojc working in Zelena Istra and Monteparadiso Hacklab (from last month I'm on a wage too).
Maybe the best thing is that I finally have some proof that living in Pula was not such a bad idea:
- Croatian Happy Planet Index (HPI) results better than USA or UK!
The Happy Planet Index is an innovative new measure that shows the ecological efficiency with which human well-being is delivered around the world.
More in
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- 08-09/07/2006 Weekends are for chillin'
This weekend I stayed at the hotel, reading, working on the laptop, just resting... On Sunday monsoon finally arrived, so the temperature fell for about 5-6 degrees. But in the cyber caffee it's still impossible to work with this heat. The noise coming from the cooler is annoying, but the heat is almoust unbearable. So I better go to my room to see this football match everybody is talking about. I'm sure Italy will win, but still, the score is not the only thing why people watch sport matches. Or is it?
- 07/07/2006 Food's getting worse, must do something about that
Just as more guests are coming to the hotel, the food is getting worse. Today we complained about the quality of the food to the TCS crew, but I don't expect much will change - the hotel manager just wants big profits. So tonight five of us did a Friday afternoon "giro di Connaught Place" which finished in a very popular texaslike restaurant where we had some MEAT
In, like, 30 minutes I ate lamb burrito and more than litre of drinks, so I felt like dying. But only for 15 minutes, by the time we got back to the hotel I was reborn. Prince offered some King Fisher beer, so we ended up in his room discussing my future role as a Cote d'Ivoire consul. In this world EVERYTHING is possible
- 06/07/2006 TCS: Spreadsheets + Bangladesh teachers
We finished the training on word processing and moved to spreadsheets. There I've got more to learn so I'm more interested now... TCS (and our hotel) are hosting another batch of participants, this time they are all from Bangladesh (around 100 participants). The food in the hotel just got worse, so we'll have to place a complaint to the TCS crew. I skipped the dinner to go to the cyber cafe (finally I found a place that doesn't close at 21:00h) where I was chatting with Barbie, patching the apache and twiki, etc.
- 05/07/2006 Last Indian hangout with Boris
Tomorrow Boris leaves for vacation, but still found some time to meet me. He took me to the India International Center to see Bharatnatyam recital by Padmini Sirish from Chennai, disciple of guru Shrimati Narmada. There's no point in me trying to describe the dance, I can only tell you that i felt my work is soooo dispersed and superficial after seeing what years of practice can produce...
We didn't have much time, so we visited a close by market and had a fast dinner. I ate chicken stick and tried Boris's paneer stick + a very sweet Indian dessert called Gulab Jamun. After spending last few days with Boris, I got more confidence in exploring the city, so I believe I'll try to go out more next week, if the monsoon will allow it.
- 04/07/2006 Meeting the ambassador, strolling through Delhi
Today I visited
Croatian embassy in the A-15 West End. The Pula and Rab posters greeted me from the walls, then I was introduced to what our compatriots do to promote Croatia in the 1 billion people's country. And they do just fine! The ambassador met me before going to the USA's 4th of July celebration; although in a hurry he spent few minutes in a pleasant chat about Istria, future social and economic revolutions and related topics
Boris invited me to his house for dinner, where we enjoyed discussing India, spirituality, homo ludens, and several other "white men topics" (politics, freedom, power,
leadership, domination and authority) while having a mushroom soup and an experimental pizza
Later we had a walk through an artist's settlement and visited a nice park with Mughal architectural remains.
- 03/07/2006 Why we hate Mondays? We just do.
Weekend is meant to make you relax and gain some energy for the following working week. Hmmmm. I was so tired (after waking up at 6:50 and going to TCS) that I decided to stay home for the afternoon nap. After lunch I had a short sleep and went working in the cyber cafe. There the temperature is around 40 C, but I must do several urgent tasks for Green Istria and MP Hacklab, read the emails, write the documentation for various projects, etc.
Boris invited me to his house in the South Delhi so after using the Metro to reach the Central Secretariat station I rented a three wheeler! It was my first ride with that vehicle, but it was fun!
Check the
autorichshaw photos...
Boris visited Himalaya mountains recently, so he made a short photo presentation for me to immerse imagine this incredible experience. Later we visited another market place with good book store (Boris check
this out), PVR cinema, small shops, had a good coffee (a rare thing in India where tea is preferred) bought some tea to take home, and had dinner in a Indian restaurant in Connaught Place. As I didn't know that last Metro train goes at 22:00h I came 20 min late! Luckily, I found a very good three wheeler driver that took me to the Karol Bagh neighborhood and my hotel without much effort. What a day!
With a excellent guide everything is great!
Rajieev came with a taxi and took us to several places: Jama Masjid, Gandhi's cremation memorial place, monumental Indian Gate, Presidential House and Parliament, Bahai Lotus Temple. We also went to lunch and shop (I ordered a black kurta pajama). Just check that day's
photo gallery...
- 27-30/06/2006 Not much to write about: courses + work
Last tree days nothing much happened; every day till 14:00 we're at TCS - afternoons I've spent in the hotel or in the cybercafee - working. The course is kinda too basic for me, but our lecturer is a sftwr developer so he shows me some tricks I don't already know. It's good that we're a small group, therefore, I can freely ask questions when I need to...
Tomorrow, we have a trip planned to visit various places around Delhi. We start very early, so I think we'll have the chance to see many of the Delhi's famous historical spots. The camera is ready, so, expect some more photos coming soon...
- 26/06/2006 Heavy rain anounced the monsoon season: Indians are happy about it
After a month of 40+ degrees C, Indian people are
VERY happy about monsoon rains dropping the temperature. My roof neighbours were
washed away under shelter, the trafic was very slow and everybody was washed skin deep but I also saw several kids playing joyfuly in the rain today; . In two-tree days monsoon will start, only to last till October!
- 26/06/2006 The course has started: Day one
Although three participants still have not arrived, Tulga and & were offered some lessons today. The level of couse is a bit to basic for me, but I'll catch some tricks which I missed when learning alone. Today we talked about the
operating systems (software acting as a interface between the user and computer) and
word processor (guess wich one!). And yes, I finaly understand WHAT "random access" (in RAM) stands for! :-P
- 24-25/06/2006 Two days with Boris
Boris is about to leave for holidays, so Yesterday we'd met at the entrance to the METRO (the Delhi tube is very nice!), and had a short drive around the "diplomatic areas": Iron Gate, british colonial parks, dropped for few minutes in
The Imperial hotel and than had a very pleasant lunch near the Connaught Place. Today we visited two markets and Dili Hut (
photos to follow) and continued the Delhi-by-car route around parks and embassies... Boris, thanks for your time + ideas!
- 24/06/2006 The photo gallery is available
You wanted to see some photos, so check my
Delhi photo gallery. On
first photos made on 22.06. you can see my hotel window view. I feel odd sleeping in a climatized room, only 20m distant from this people, sleeping on the roof of the street restaurant!
- 23/06/2006 A short visit to TCS
Battulga (from Mongolia) and I visited
TCS today, to see what we can expect @ the course. The taxi driver made a mistake with the TCS address, so he took us to the satellite town of Noida where TCS has their headquarters. Instead 1/2 hour it took us 2 hours to reach our training facilities (Sikandra Road, New Delhi). A free trip to Noida, is was
Anyway, TCS builing has 2 computer labs, a large office room with a dozen cubicles, a conference room, and few more smaller spaces. On working days lessons will last for 6h (morning shift = 08:00-14:00, afternoon = 14:00-20:00). But as we're still waiting for 3-5 participants, we're starting on Monday... So, in the meantime, I'll check what's going on on the streets of Delhi...
- 22/06/2006 New Delhi - a permanent sauna :)
I arrived at the Indira Gandhi Airport in the night, around 3:15. But as soon I left the building the "sauna smell" came to my senses... Although it was night, the temperature was like 30C! Hotel crew came to pick me up, so I didn't have any trouble, what so ever. If you need to contact me, the hotel is called EUREKA CROWNE, tel. (009111) 414-521-34 (room 106). See where it is on
Google Map.
The course starts tomorrow at 10:30, so I have some time to buy adapter 4 my laptop charger, walk a little, change some money and eat some curry
- 21/06/2006 Half a day tour in Istanbul
The flight for New Delhi was scheduled for the afternoon, so I rented a guide and had a nice tour to the Istanbul's historical remains. I took some photos, but don't have time to put them online right away. The link will be added...
- 20/06/2006 Hello from Istanbul, Turkey!
I'm quite tired from the trip Pula-Zagreb-Istanbul so I'll be very short. I found the free wireless network on
Ataturk airport but had to leave for the
Color Hotel... I've just found an unknown network accessible from the hotel room, but it's quite slow and unreliable. Anyway, I have to go to sleep so that I could wake up early, and have a fast walk through the Instanbul city center...
- 19/06/2006 The flights are booked, the visa is issued
I fly from Zagreb to Istanbul, where I'll sleep over for the night. The arrival time in Delhi is 02:30h on 21st Jun. I can only hope that Mrs. Sharma (International trainings coordinator) will send someone to pick me up, and give me the ride to the hotel... Keep your fingers crossed!
- 16/06/2006 It's confirmed, I travel to India for 6 weeks!
I've just received a phone call from the Indian Embassy in Zagreb, confirming that I'm awarded with a
scholarship from the Indian goverment by which I'll be visiting New Delhi. From 22 Jun - 02 Aug I'll be enrolled in a
computer course at
TATA Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS is Asia's largest software company with US $2.97 Billion for Financial Year 2005-2006.)!
CasoniVecchi
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