Trip to Arthur's Seat

I have been in Scotland for almost a month. And finally I got a chance to move my lazy self and give my self acclaimed athletic body some exercise. This weekend I went for a hike on Abbey hill and Arthur’s seat. Abbey hill lies on a ridge that runs east from Calton hill to Meadowbank. It’s a small Plateau outside the heart of city.

The main points of attraction of this part of the city is a huge Football ground, the Scottish parliament (Considered to be on of the few modern buildings in Scotland) and a castle, where the Queen stays in Winters.

A view of Abbey hill and Arthur’s seat from the base.

The 3 people are standing on Abbey hill and the Cliff at the centre of the rift is Arthur’s Seat. The top of the hill is 256 metres, i.e, some 800 feet, not a very difficult hike, but a beautiful one.

This is a football ground at the base of the 2 hills. One of the guys was flying a kite when I shot this picture from Abbey Hill. You can even see the twine in the picture.

Abbey hill actually offers one of the most beautiful views of Edinburgh.

Me and Srini at Abbey hill, and moving towards Arthur’s Seat. You can see people and trails in the background.

View of Abbey hill from Arthur’s seat.

View at the top of Arthur’s Seat.

The winds blow quite strong at this height. Your hands get pretty numb even on a sunny day. Arthur's Seat is one of the seven hills of Edinburgh and looming over the city which offer many different walks for everyone. Without question the best views are to the west over looking Edinburgh Castle, Old Town and the New Town. If you turn your neck by 180 degrees, you can see the horizon and the sea blending together.

Me and Srini Standing near the Disc.

The Disc shows the height of Arthur’s Seat and the same for other hills in Edinburgh. An interesting piece of information if somebody loves hiking.

This is me and Srini at the top of Arthur’s Seat. The winds are pretty fierce over here, something around 30 mph even on a normal day.

There is also a small lake at the base of Arthur’s hill on the other side. The perimeter of this lake is used by a lot of Joggers.

Me and Srini sitting at a bench on the lakeside, oogling at girls.

Thillai, standing near the lake.

I like this picture. Even though there was no AF lock on Thillai’s camera and I wanted to keep the trees in the back ground as the centre of focus, Thillai is quite sharp. However he wasn’t very happy with the picture.

Me & Thillai, near the lake, but on the opposite side.

Lake is a main attraction point for Swans, and they do sometimes venture a bit far....

Me & Srini, sitting near the lake, on the road

Overall it was a nice pleasant trip. Not too demanding physically, but quite refreshing. I have some more pictures, and will upload that soon.

I wonder!!!

The tender whispers from your Lips,
The soft wisps of your brown hair,
The black night in your eyes,
The rude smile of yours,
And the mad laughter,

The way you see me and ignore,
The way you brush away my approaching hand,
The way you try to make me see sense,
The way you keep your distance,
And the way I am crazy about you,

All force me to stop,
to wonder why am I not asleep,
at 1 O'Clock in the night,
thinking where will this take me!!!

Sea Virus

"I knew I should never have gone below but I did,
and the fug of bilges and wood caught me aback.
The sheets of my heart snapped taut to breaking,
as a gale stronger than longing filled the sail inside me.
To be shot of land and its wood smoke!
To feel the keel cold in a current!
To see the mast inscribing water like a restless pen writing a fading wake!
Its true, I'm ruined.
Not even peace will do to keep me ashore now.
Not even you."

- Gwyneth Lewis (The first national poet of Wales)

Love in a Time lane

I am standing here in the drizzle, waiting for her. I zipped my jacket and clutched it close, the wet red roses even closer. I dipped my hand to the inner pocket of my jacket, fumbled with the cigarette pack, and extracted one. While still struggling to find the lighter, I glanced at my watch. 15 minutes more. Though I consider punctuality as a virtue, I was never successful in adopting it as an idiosyncrasy. And here was I today, full 15 minutes earlier.

I was finally able to light the cigarette. I inhaled the lungful of smoke. It wasn't the first; but it was surely one of those very few times in my life, when I have been nervous. I could feel the time slowing down, eventually stopping. I could see each rain drop slowly sailing through the air, falling to the eternity, before hitting the ground. I was happy.

The exhaled cigarette smoke hung in the wet air, blurring my vision. This helped me in boarding the train of my thoughts to the past.

She worked with me. I haven't known her for ages, but unless I make a conscious effort to realize this fact, my wretched memory makes me feel the opposite. What I mean to say is, I feel that I have known her since ages. She is very pretty. I am not very good at describing beauty in words, considering the fact that unlike her I never prepared for GMAT or GRE. Of course, I am planning to do so in the near future, but till then, I can only say, she is very pretty. Ok, to be a little more poetic, let me say she is as pretty as an angel.

I was never a sucker for beauty. To me, the sense of humor, the presence of wit, the courage to withstand your decisions and some grey matter in the top floor always mattered more. And slowly as I came to know her, I found she has ample of all these. This made my feelings for her even more dense and viscous.

Finally one day after praying to all my idol superheroes, including Batman & Superman, (P.S - I have been a die hard fan of Superman, since childhood, however the Hollywood movies they make, do no justice to my favorite superhero) I gathered enough courage to ask her out for a coffee. And the mistake which I committed in dutch courage brings us to my present situation. Needless to say I was very nervous, and had cold feet; of course the weather was also playing some part in this.

A bright 'Hi' from the familiar voice, snapped me back from the heavens of my thoughts and dumped me in the chilly reality of today. She was looking Beautiful (Please notice the capital B). She gave me her all time, to die for smile, and ordered a cappuccino. I glanced through the menu, and then asked for the same. I didn’t wanted to take any chances today, even if it meant sacrificing my regular Espresso.

I gave her the Roses.

"Oh they are Lovely" She said.
'Not as lovely as you look'; my heart was screaming, but fortunately my mouth has a habit of malfunctioning on such occasions.

We got talking, regular things ...Some of them quite boring. I consciously stopped my self from bringing up any topic which had the slightest technical angle, knowing that she hated all computer talks. In midst of Coffee, I blurted out what I felt for her. I was waiting for her reply, expectantly. That was the last thing I remember.

I glanced at my watch again, and realized that it was close to half an hour since she had left. I fumbled in my inner jacket pocket once again, and lighted up the cigarette. I crammed my hands deeper in the pockets, and asked for an Espresso, from the passing waiter. A drop of rain grazed my eye, rolled down my cheek and hit the pavement below.

She had refused in a polite but very firm manner. She was seeing some one. What could I say to that? She had offered me her friendship as a token of 'no hard feelings'. I had smiled and said nothing. She was sympathetic. "You will forget me with time. Time heals everything. Just remember Time is a great healer".

The waiter bought the espresso. I placed the change on the table, and got up. I gulped my espresso, and threw the cup in a bin. I may have been a familiar customer to the waiter. The coffee was extra strong, which made it all the more bitter. 'Appropriate', I thought. Suddenly a thought occurred to me; this was the second occasion when time was stopping for me in a single day.

I got up and started walking. The rain drops making a beautiful noise as they plattered on the cobblestones. I was still cursing the time. Only if it had stopped before, so that I could be the guy she was seeing. But then again, would it have changed anything?

P.S - The writing style of this story is inspired by a book called "Einstein dreams" by Alan Lightman. Its a nice book, worth reading.

P.P.S - The motive of writing this story, is to be decided by the subjects of the story :))

My Adventures in Scotland

It’s my first day in Scotland. I de-board the plane and slowly move toward the exit, trying to absorb my surroundings. My body is a little cramped after the 10 hours journey. Oh, I forgot the one hour spent in travelling from Heathrow to Edinburgh. But the journey was uneventful, except perhaps my encounter with the nurse at immigration counter.

I had dutifully got a chest X-ray, but my ignorance led me to place the report in the check-in baggage, instead of my hand baggage. The nurse was pretty furious, when I told her the reason, for my not having the x-ray. Her reply was “ Oh I hate you college kids. You guys forget something everytime”. Amused at her comment at my being a Kid, I tried to remember when in the past had I been called one. When I told her that I wasn’t a College student, and had come here on a project, she gave me an even nastier look. “ I have 9 people who are ill, and they can be rightfully called as patients, so you have increased my work, which I could do very well without”. I didn’t reply anything and waited for her to stamp the papers.

The chilled air snapped me from my retrospective memories, I had reached the Airport exit. Reality dawned on me and the first thing I did was to reach for my Cigarette pack stowed away in my jacket. I was quite happy, seeing the slightly chilly weather. However, my happiness was short lived when I couldn’t find the book of matches in my jacket. My jacket had 5 pockets and I searched every pocket at least 4 times.…that makes it 20 pockets.

At this point of time, my highly intellectual but completely disoriented brain was analysing a highly complex problem. What if there would have been 10 Pocket in the jacket? Would the probability of finding the book of matches increases by any factor? Well, I know I might be boring you by this complex stuff, naturally its not meant for you, Its significance can be truly realized only by highly mathematically oriented, logically streamlined intellectuals researching for a book of matches. Oh did I say research, I meant search! Ahem…I hope you will pardon me. My brain was again calculating the probability of... Well, Never mind.

Hmm...coming to the grave problem in hand, I Searched frantically for some saviour who would be killing himself while smoking. All scholars, can actually ponder on the irony in the previous sentence, the rest of my dumb friends can read on. Somehow found such a person, of course, as the fate would have...She was a girl. My naturally shy self was a little hesitant asking a girl for a light. However, steeling my nerves, I overcame all my fears and for that fraction of moment, I became the deadliest warrior that ever walked on the face of mother earth. “Hello, err..err...Miss...I am sorry to ...But can I ask you for a Light?” And as they say, the brave conquer all... And I finally got a Light.

So after the back-breaking fight, I was standing there in full glory, enjoying my cigarette. Of course the adventures of the bright Indian Techie, in Scotland didn’t end here. But then, as they say, was another day.