Author: Akhil Nanda

I am Still Trying To Write ...

Bungee Jump!

Adventure is something, I look forward to every now and then. 


Nine years ago, when A friend of mine was introducing Bungy Jumping to India, at Rishikesh With Master Jumpers from New Zealand, place where it all began. Rishikesh Bungee was 83 Mtrs (240 Ft) 


Nine years ago, I couldn’t do it as I was recovering from a so-called facture. 
But, now Nine Years later when the second Bungee jump was coming up and is now up at Goa, Mayem Lake. I made my mind to do it. 


Day of Bungee:

We were twelve of us who were going to Bungy jump. I was slotted as the 10th Jumper. 
The excitement and the thrill to just fall off 165ft (55 Mtrs) that’s like falling from an Eighteen Storey Building was something I couldn’t wait for. And as we began walking towards the cliff (Platform) I began asking all the previous jumpers, What exactly happens? Do you get Jerks? Is it scary? As far as safety was concerned I did not have any doubts about it. The team had an experience of 80,000 jumps in the last decade in India itself. My concern was actually nothing. But, was just curious as I hadn’t experienced a fall from this height, Speed was something that I had always experienced. Sitting on roller coasters.
We finally reached the platform. The Jumpers are all gearing up for their Jump the experienced jumpers from our lot too, were slightly nervous. And I was just wondering, Why can I not yet feel anything? So One by one everybody jumped. No, I really did not see anyone jump.

Now it was my turn. 


I was harnessed. And have gone through a double safety check and according to my weight, an elastic rope has been clipped to my feet. The Master Trainers are then aligning the rope according to my weight. 
Slowly, Slowly, I make my way to the edge. Here I was a little nervous, as the master kept telling me to move ahead, Where I thought if I move another step ahead, I would fall. Well, Yes that’s what I was there for but…
One of the trainers is instructing me to focus on the two trees out there, without looking down. 
And the moment had come 3…2…1… 
I Jumped, Not knowing where I was going to fall. The Re-bound (Hanging in the air for about a minute) Was more scary for me than being on the edge. Nevertheless, It has been one of the best experiences of my life so far and has earned me a certification that I’ve Got Guts!!! 
So if you too have Guts!!! Or want to challenge any of your friends,
Head to Goa or Rishikesh to Experience A Fall where you can Literally bounce Back. 

Check out the link below to know more about the where you can go for Bungee.

http://jumpinheights.com

Hyderabad!!

 

City Of Pearls –  Known Because of the trading of Pearls and Diamond. 

Today Hyderbad is also known as an IT Hub & the first city in the country to have IKEA- The Swedish Furtniture store in the country.

Earlier this month.I had travelled to Hyderbad for the  second time and until then had no idea about the City,Trafiic and the distances between each of the places. But, Had heard about the Hyderabad Biryani was one of the delicaces of the city. 

 Hyderbad biryani was invented/Introduced during the Nizam Period. 

Nizam was known as the king of Hyderbad. The Current Nizam is Mukkaram Jah and he is the Grandson Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII and has been the nizam since 1967 and is the owner of Falaknuma Palace which is now leased to Taj hotels. 

The Palace has 60 Rooms, And a dining Table  that can seat 101 guest. And is also the world’s largest  Dining table. A Dining Table   made of a single piece of wood. And the Acoustic of the Dining room is so good. You can hear each and every guest from one end to another.

Hyderbad besides the Palace is  also known for  it’s main landmark that  you can identify to begin any conversation with  the local. The first one being Charminar.Until very recently I wasn’t area what Charminar  signifies exactly. Did you know it is a mosque?And the second The Golcando Fort. I am sure the name sounds familiar. The Indian kids have learnt it in History books. 

Besides some historic Palaces and Landmarks the city also has the biggest single rock statue in the world.18m Tall (54 ft) and weighs  around 450 tons-Monolithic Buddha Statue!

Kohinoor , a 105 karat priceless diamond is one of the most expensive diamonds in the world is believed to be mined in Hyderabad too. Now How many of you knew that ? 

The city is also known for the world’s Biggest Film Studio. Ramoji Film City . A sight that Is the only faint memory I had of the city.Which I visited after 20 years.

And last but not the least. The worlds biggest snow world theme park.

And with India – Myths & Believe are always part of the travels and its believed 

A fish medicine prescribed by the Bathini Goud brothers to asthma patients claims to fully cure asthma. This magic fish medicine is only served once a year in the month of June. This medicine is believed to have cured a million patients suffering from asthma.

Hyderbad besides the mining diamonds,is   been mining business students  from  top business schools like Indian School of Business, IIT and BITS.

 

Russia!

The Moment we landed, and got off the aircraft, walking towards the passport control. We knew we had arrived and waiting for Russia & Russians to welcome us. 
At the passport control, the representative kept scanning the passport and kept looking at me, without my glasses, with my glasses and what seemed to bother him the most, I believe was my Red Yankees cap. It had been fifteen minutes both my parents were now cleared, It was only me from the family that was waiting to be cleared and I guess because it was my first visa on my new passport and that too a Russian, that bothered him way too much,I guess that he couldn’t find anything more suspicious besides my “Red Yankees” that he finally set me free. And that was my “Warm welcome to Russia” 
Moscow is the capital of Russia and is named after the river  Moscow and pronounced Moskva.
The city famous landmark includes the Redsquare -The name Red Square has nothing to do with communism but derives from the word “Krasnyi”, which meant “beautiful”.
St.Basil Cathedral that was made by Ivan the terrible one of the landmark that is recognized as Moscow. The story goes Ivan the Terrible blinded the architecture after he constructed the st. Basil Cathedral. Another interesting fact about the cathedral. It was painted white to match the colour of Kremlin, the word ‘kremlin’ is used to describe a castle or an important Russian fortified complex. But, in 1700 the colours were added. And since 1990 St.Basil Cathedral has been part of Unesco Heritage Site. Moscow’s sightseeing is all around the red square, making it accessible to walk around all the sights. 
The other beauty of this city and country lies deep down underground. “The Underground Metro station” is a sight in itself with the detailing in design to the colours and style of each metro station being different right from the ancient design to the modern design the metro stations are all worth visiting. 
The Escalator lye minimum 150ft deep to 300ft.
The St. Petersburg Admiralteyskaya metro is   2nd deepest in the world.
Russia as a country was even more challenging than Japan, As here they just couldn’t understand English one bit. 
It’s a fact there are around 11 million more women than men.
We used the local “Gett” App Uber for Russia and the drivers too couldn’t understand anything, we had to always stay stationed around hotels like Four season & St.Regis to have our drivers meet us. Else we would have been fleeced and literally being taken for a ride. Traffic in Moscow is so bad that wealthy Russians hire fake ambulances to beat the jams.
St.Petersburg after being in Moscow for the last five days, we travelled to st. Petersburg- Was once named Petrograd  ‘Peters’ city but in 1991 it was renamed to its original German name “Sankt-Peterburg” in English it’s pronounced “Saint Petersburg”, It’s also the  Cultural capital of Russia with a lot of Museum’s. 
 The hermitage museum is one of the world’s largest art museum. Where even if you spend a minute admiring each art piece, you will take eleven years to see the complete collection. 
50 cats are employed in the State Hermitage. To protect the items from rats and mice.
Saint Petersburg will remind you a lot “like Venice” “Budapest” a little like  “Prague” “Germany”  and “ Amsterdam” With the bridges and the water all around The Neva river and Fontanka River. The Kazan Cathedral is best viewed from Dom Knigi “House of Books” Singer Cafe. 
The Midnight cruise from one am to two forty am is the best way to see the city by night, you can see the drawing bridges not one but a couple of them. And enjoy the sunrise at three am.
Interesting Trivia about Russia:
  • It has more time zones (11) than any other country, but only nine are used now.
  • The first railway of Russia appeared in Petersburg
  • Christ the Saviour Construction of the temple lasted for almost 44 years: it was founded in 1839, and consecrated – in 1883. It’s a unique cathedral with a height of 103,5 meters, The temple is visible from any point of the city, its bell ringing was resounded far beyond Moscow. 
  • The Hotel Astoria in St.Petersburg is where Hitler planned to hold a huge celebratory banquet once he’d conquered the city
  • Writer Alexei Tolstoi gave the cellar its name as he and others looked for a cultural refuge in the city, saying “Why are we running around like stray dogs?” And the name stuck.“The idea of the cafe was to establish a place where young creative people, maybe not always well-known, could get together, talk to each other and become inspired to create something.”

Lonesome!

I often go to coffee shops and sit by myself on a table. But,Whenever I have visited and just sat at a coffee shop,the waiters and service people keep asking me if anyone is coming or for that matter the other people out there wondering if anyone would be coming before they could grab the chairs for their friends or business meets.Go into any Starbucks, and you’ll probably see two kinds of tables: round tables and rectangular tables. There’s a reason for the round tables. According to Reader’s Digest, the round tables are supposed to make you feel more at home when you’re by yourself.Then why do the service people question,When you are by yourself at coffee shops or for that matter restaurants.Why can’t I go to restaurant and occupy a table and have a meal by myself. I mean,Where in The rule book is it written,That you need company to enjoy a meal? I completely understand it’s considered logically that meals are eaten together,But haven’t you heard or experienced teenagers eating meals by themselves when watching television or streaming online websites ?Is it to difficult to accept and welcome people who are loners.Is this a reason why a huge number of people around are preferring to order food online and be socially isolated rather than going out and enjoying a meal at the restaurant or cafe and experience a meal with all their sense being involved ? The Visual appeal,The fragrance,The taste and the feel of the meal with the freshness sizzling around. I completely understand occasionally this would not make sense commercially,But you don’t have to be rude to the one’s who would be having meals by themselves.

In the miso soup !

The author Ryu Murakami is another author from Japan and is no way related to Haruki Murakami who has had many well known books written to his name, and have also been adapted to movies.

Ryu Murakami has written quite a few books “Audition” and “Piercing” are two of his other popular books apart from “in the miso soup” written by Ryu Murakami. 

The other two books too like the”In the miso soup” are centred around the dark backdrop of Japan, disillusion, drug use and Murder 

The book  titled “In the Miso soup “ is a apt title  for  two reasons – One because the character compares his life with the miso soup and phara phrase  the quote “I’m in the miso soup myself- Just like those bits of vegetable. I’m floating around in this giant bowl of it, and that’s good enough for me. 

And the other  the book is titled “In the miso soup” because the character’s  purpose to visit Japan was to find out what the people who eat the miso soup on daily basis might be like.Again to Quote from the book. As he once ordered it in an  America  restaurant and was intrigued  about it. He decided  travel to Japan. 

The moment I read the title of the book and turned over to read the blurb mentioned below,I was interested in reading this book. . 

It’s just before New Year, Frank an overweight American tourist, has hired kenji to take him on a guided tour of Tokyo’s nightlife.

But, Franks behaviour is so odd that Kenji begins to entertain a horrible suspicion : His client may in fact have murderous desires. 

Although, Kenji is far from innocent himself, he unwillingly descends with frank into an inferno of evil, from which only his sixteen year old girlfriend, Jun, can possibly save him.

Yeah, It’s a coincidence that this is my second book in a row from a Japanese author. But,The Japanese authors have such interesting storylines ,written in a captivating way that you become so engrossed in the storytelling, you only want more and more of it.

The book is written in three chapters. 

Chapter 1 – Describes and establishes what the story is about – The beginning of how the characters meet. 

Chapter 2 – The relationship between the two and why Kenji becomes suspicious  about his client. 

Chapter 3 – Is the reason behind why  one  should read the book. 

The Book highlights the American and Japanese culture,What makes each different and similarities amongst the two. The ideology between the two nations amongst the locals and the identities each of the nation has created for itself. 

Since the book was written long back ago, You might agree/disagree about some of the points discussed. 

“In the miso soup” Is a crisp, well written physiological thriller set in the dark backdrop of Japan,that you will only put  the book down once you read it.