Vikram Goyal's Weblog

The last few days have been busy, what with the working week starting and all. So no blog entries about this visit to Copenhagen. However, some facts and observations about Denmark in general and Copenhagen in particular.

(Please note: These are just observations, nothing more, nothing less).

1. I am going to get fat eating all the danishes. They are sold everywhere, in speciality shops, from roadside stalls, from supermarkets, from 7-11's. The chocalate danishes are the best.

2. Beer is cheaper than water. Just accept that and drink whatever you fancy.

3. 7-11's sell alchohol.

4. You can get Ben and Jerry's icecreams in Denmark. Why can't we get them in Australia?

5. Trains don't necessarily run on time. Most are atleast a couple of minutes late. Prepare yourself accordingly.

6. Smoking is allowed almost everywhere, in trains, restaurants, bars etc. I found this surprising, coming from a place where there is a total ban on smoking in public places. In trains, there are special smoking coaches.

7. Almost all trains, even local ones, have special coaches where you are allowed to have food, bring dogs and as I said earlier, smoke.

8. They show the latest series of Lost on TV here. I am jealous and was petrified that I had seen something that I shouldn't have, so I switched off the TV and didn't open it for another 2 hours. Why can't we have the latest series in Australia?

9. There are around 4 TV channels, which show a mix of Danish, Swedish and American TV. The American TV is in English with Danish subtitles.

10. Wireless Internet is available in a lot of cafes. Some are priced, that is, you have to pay the cafe owners who then give you a password to access it. It is pretty costly this way. There are free Internet cafes as well. Look for the WI-FI sign on the door. I think, that the ones that charge have the sign 'hotspot' on the door.

11. The Hot Dog stands sell some great ... well.. hot dogs. When you ask for a 'Hot Dog', it normally means the 'Hot Dog' with the works. It costs about 20 kroner (=2.50 USD) for one. Great value.

12. Most Danes speak English, and it is true what they say in the Lonely Planet book, you should show an effort to speak a little Danish. Learn to say 'Tak', which means Thank You and better still 'Maange Tak' which means, Thank You very much.

12. Danish people are very friendly and go out of way to help you, especially a foriegner. They will immediately switch to English if they realize that you can't speak or understand Danish.

13. Copenhagen is very beautiful indeed and whatever you have heard about it is probably true.

More to come ...

Posted by vikram at 06:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today (27-Nov-05), we had to change from the hotel and check into an apartment block nearer the University, where we are supposed to be working. This was a privately leased apartment arranged through a bed and breakfast company over the Internet.

We arrived at the apartment right at the appointed hour, near a cafe called Pussy Galore's, but waited for more than half an hour like idiots while the locals buzzed around us, looking at us suspiciously. Some were helpful, asking us if we were lost, as at times we were pouring over a map making sure we were at the correct address. We were at the correct address, the host was late.

The host arrived and apologized for being late, saying he had a late night. Hmm.. alarm bells rang immediately in my head. It didn't help that the taxi driver on the way had said that the suburb we were driving to was a ghetto. Although, I didn't feel unsafe, I had an uneasy feeling from the start.

Worse, the apartment was on the fourth floor. There was only one room with two single beds in it. Finally, finally, I asked him about the Internet, something promised to us in our confirmation, while making the booking. Internet? What Internet? His dumbfounded expression matched my mounting frustation with the place. I was uncomfortable with the place already and lack of a promised commitment made me snap. I immediately told him that we wouldn't be staying if we didn't have the Internet. He left saying that he will check with the office and confirm.

Of course, he never rang. I rang him after an hour, after I had convinced Damian that it was a bad idea to stay there. Although, he wasn't convinced, he went along. We trudged out, trying to find a cafe with Internet so that we could make a booking at the hotel that we had left. In all that time, I tried ringing the main guy through whom we had made the booking, several times, but his phone was always switched off.

After half an hour of walking the streets around Pussy Galore's, we finally found a cafe with Wi-Fi access. We immediately made the booking with the original Zleep Hotel, a hotel that we had left in the morning, and found that the price was now cheaper than our original booking. Go figure!

Meanwhile, the host rang me and told me that he would cancel if we were ready to pay 200 USD. $200! I was angry beyond belief. So we went back to the apartment, collected our stuff and asked him to meet us at Pussy Galore's so that we could tell him that we had made a booking elsewhere and would be leaving now.

When we arrived, he met us and apologized for the problem. Meantime, Damian was wavering between staying at the apartment as he really liked the area and it was closer to work as well. So, to cut a deal, we decided that Damian would stay at the apartment, and I would go to the hotel. Of course, as soon as we said that we may still keep the apartment, he wanted us to confirm with the main manager. Of course, the manager was now available on the phone!

Anyway, I am now back at Zleep and Damian is at the apartment, the host keeps his deposit and everybody's happy.

Posted by vikram at 07:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)

With a city as big as Copenhagen, it probably requires more than a week to justify all its glorious museums, historical sites and cultural artefacts. So after taking a detour to Malmö, Sweden, yesterday, we embarked on day two (26-Nov-05) of a more detailed tour around the Copenhagen city (Do read the first day around Copenhagen).

We started again with Strøget but instead of going right to the end, we decided to take a detour at the Georg Jensen store and turned right into Højbro Plads, which is like a square with fountains, street performers, musicians etc. There is an immense statue of the founder of Denmark, Bishop Absalon on a horse (Ok what’s with the idea of putting everybody on a horse?)

Just next to this statue, a store was stocking up on Christmas trees (I think these are Christmas trees!).

And here is another shot of the statue, this time, from the front.

As you can see, Christmas is definitely in the air (It is late November!)

Moving forwards from the statue, you cross a bridge over a canal. Both sides are quite picturesque. Here is one shot, where I forced Damian to include me in.

And here is a shot of the other side.

The area that we crossed into over the bridge is called Slotsholmen, which is where Denmark’s government sits, including the parliament and the bureaucracy. The main building is called Christiansborg Slot, and this is like an old palace with a museum underneath, stables on the main ground and government offices over it. Here is a shot of me in one of the guard cubicles at the entrance.

We didn’t actually go to the museum as we decided we will take this site in when we buy the Copenhagen card, which gives free entrance.

Moving on, to the left of Christianborg Slot (when facing it) was a spectacular building that I later learned is called Børsen. Even more surprising is the fact that it is actually a stock exchange, constructed in 1620s, and still functioning, making it the oldest stock exchange in Europe (God which is the oldest stock exchange in the World?). Just look at the front of this building and you will realize what I mean.

Moving behind this building, we crossed another bridge over a canal to get to what is known as Christianshavn. Here is a shot over the bridge of some office complexes (I think these are office complexes).

Moving straight on this bridge and going nearly till the end, we turned left and walked about 250 meters to arrive at Christiania, a social experiment that has had mixed results. Since I don’t know much about Danish history and whatever I know has come from Lonely Planet guidebooks, I can’t really explain the rationale behind this place. Take a look at this photograph, which is at one of the entrances to Christiania. This may give you an idea about what this social experiment is about, and why it is controversial.

The people of Christiania proclaim themselves free of Danish laws and don’t pay taxes or rent and the sign leaving Christiania says it all: “You are now entering EU�. Here is the front of that sign.

Photography inside is banned, and perhaps for good reason. Once thing that I noticed was that there was a heavy presence of police inside, with groups of several men travelling together in an obvious sign of authority.

With this interesting side tour over, we travelled back to Nyhavn about which I had talked in my first post. This time, we walked back to the second bridge over the canal (with a detour to a bakery where I had another one of those yummy danishes), and took a water taxi from there. We paid nearly 32 kroner for a ride of 2 minutes and cursed ourselves for being stupid.

This time, I was ready to take pictures of Nyhavn. Here are some samples. Note that the sun was out, the first time in three days, and with it, there were a lot of people on the road (it was also Saturday).

A gorgeous building right at the end of Nyhavn. Don’t know what it is although the name at the top may suggest something.

Almost right opposite to that building is the house where Hans Christian Anderson, the famed author of ‘The little mermaid’, amongst other classics, lived and wrote most of his works.

The area is lined with very colourful, very Danish, buildings surrounding the canals. Here is a look:

And another:

We had already been to Nyhavn on day one, and didn’t want to stroll through it again. So we decided to take a short walk to the residence of the ...

.. Danish Royal family, called Amalienborg Slot. The residence is actually made of four separate identical grand mansions overlooking a common square. Since the buildings are occupied by the Royal family, you can’t go in them, except for one, which conducts guided tours. You can of course, stand in the square in the middle and take photographs. Here is one in the square.

You can only see two residence in this picture to your left and right. The big dome that you see in the background is a church, and I will get to it later. Also, notice the
Statue with the person on horse (Sorry no idea who this person was). Here is a frontal shot, where you can see one of the other mansion.

Of course, what would a royal residence be without changing of guards ceremony? It starts at 12, but don’t worry if you miss it, as it not much to write about. Here are a couple of shots anyway.

Now back to that church that I talked about earlier. Turns out it is called the Marble Church or Marmorkirken and the dome that you see is massive. Here is a shot of the dome from the inside.

The church interiors are very impressive and stately. Here are some more shots.

Out of this church and by now getting hungry, we decided to go to Strøget to an all you can eat pizza place. I didn’t like the place much, but for 49 kroner, I couldn’t complain. On the way there, I noticed that the fountain area between Strøget and Nyhavn had been constructed into an ice skating ring.

We were running out of ideas about what to do in the city, since a couple of things we wanted to do after we got the Copenhagen card, and that would only be possible the next weekend. We decided to take a canal tour of the city, as it is was inexpensive (50 kr) and lasted for some time. The trip was a good idea, and it starts at the top of the Nyhavn area. The boat that you travel in has a top made of glass, so you can see all around you. Initially I decided to stay inside because the wind outside was making it too cold, but there were some very loud tourists inside who were making it difficult to listen to the commentary by the tour guide. I just couldn’t fathom why they would pay good money to take a tour when they weren’t really interested in it. So I decided to go outside and take some pictures as well. Here is one at the starting, can’t recall what it was exactly.

Or the next one.

These are some sculptures made by refuges from former Yugoslavia made with the help of the International Red Cross.

This was an indoors golf course.

The name on the building is a sponsor.

The next snap may have to be taken from the front. This is the famous little mermaid statue.

Apparently, the head of the mermaid is not the original one, as vandals have broken it twice.

This is a smaller replica statue of David by Michaelangelo himself.

Finally, a view of some of the expensive boats lining one of the internal canals.

Once the tour was over, we decided to kill some time in Nyhavn at a bar, drinking more of Denmark’s own Carlsberg. However, dusk settled fairly quickly, bringing with it tiredness. We walked back to the central station, interestingly passing the red light area. There were as many Indian eateries in this area as there were ahem sex shops. There is a relationship here but I can’t seem to work that out.

Posted by vikram at 06:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (4)

Being in Europe makes you realize how close every other place is, relative of course, to how far every place is in Australia. By taking a 30 minute ride on the train, we could go to another country, so that is what we decided to do, on our second day in Copenhagen (25-Nov-05). We decided to take a train ride on the Øresund Bridge that connects Copenhagen with Malmö in Sweden. The train ride was pleasant but boring till Damian asked me if I had brought my passport. I hadn’t. The simplicity of being able to go to another country which felt like going from one Danish city to another, I had forgotten to take my passport. With panic setting in and visions of guards dragging me in chains back to a plane to Australia, I kept convincing myself that I had a Schengen visa, which entitled me to travel anywhere within the Scandinavian countries. Still, the visa would be of no use if I couldn’t prove that I had one. So a jovial visit to another country was going to turn into a nightmare and I prepared for the worst.

The Malmö station approached and Damian and I got out, expecting to see an immigration counter or something similar. However, to my immense relief, there was no sign of a border post or anything like that, and you could just walk out of the station. I found later that I don’t need to carry my passport in the Scandinavian countries, if one of them has granted me a visa for the region. However, it may be prudent to carry it, just in case.

There was a tourist section at the station, and we decided to get some information and maps from there. The section was immensely helpful, and in some very impressive English, the gentleman helped us get started.

Once outside, I got my first feel of the Swedish winter. I may have been just 35 minutes from Copenhagen, but this place felt much colder, if that was possible. The wind was icy and I was more than glad to have put on a warmer coat. The temperature reading at the top of a building shows what I am talking about.

We walked out of the station, and across a canal, into the Stortorget, which is like a city square. It has impressive buildings surrounding it, but the architecture resembles most Danish buildings, which Lonely Planet informs me, is because this area used to be once a part of Denmark. Some photographs from this square, including the one above showing the time.

The last I found to be really impressive in real life and somehow the photograph doesn’t capture the true essence.

Moving onwards and to the right is the area known as Lilla Torg, which is a much smaller but stylish square, housing some well known restaurants and cafes. But what was more impressive was the cobbled streets, which make it look more European/Italian than Denmark, and if there are any such streets in Denmark, I am not aware of them as yet. Here is one such photograph with me shivering in front.

We then decided to move towards the west of the city where there is an old castle called Malmöhus. On the way to it from Lilla Torg, we passed some very pretty buildings and parks, and here are two photographs from that walk.

The actual castle was far from impressive, and looks like an old industrial warehouse surrounded by a moat. Look at this snap for what I mean.

When we reached it, it wasn’t open and we had time to kill before it opened at 12. There is supposed to be a museum inside with an aquarium and other interesting tidbits. By this time, light snow had started and we wanted to rest and get ourselves warmed up. Opposite it, was a small building, which, we later found out, was the Kommendanthuset (The Commandant’s house), but now had been turned into an eclectic café. See what I mean by this picture that I took of its exteriors, looking from the castle.

The fact that I saw an Indian rickshaw outside it, speaks for itself. Inside, there was a mixture of colourful art with a social message, but we just decided to hang around till we could get warm. None of it made any sense to us but we were happy to be saved from the elements outside.

After a little rest, we decided that we would proceed to the technology museum, which was a stones throw from the castle. The ticket to the museum included the price for entry into the castle which was just as well. However, the museum took most of our time, nearly 3 hours, and afterwards, we couldn’t be bothered going into the castle. The reason that it took nearly 3 hours in the museum was because it had a good mix of technical, automotive, train, naval, scientific and photography sections. Here are some of the snaps from inside.

A real Swedish submarine called U3 (or is that the type of a submarine?). We went inside it as well.

Various aircraft parts

View from the top down of a number of old style automobiles

Some well preserved motorcycles and scooters

Part of the photography exhibition, probably a children’s play area with a theme

A pumping machine, for well… you know what..

Some more snaps from the photography section

Overall, the museum was ....

... fabulous. My only complaint is that several explanations around the museum were not in English. This is fine I guess, this being Sweden, why should they bother with providing English translations. The problem was, there were several exhibits that were in English. Now, going from one exhibit to another proved to be tiresome, not knowing whether the next one would be in English or not. As I said, only a small complaint.

Tired of roaming the museum, we decided to walk to the main shopping district, which starts from Stortorget. I think the street is called Södergatan. It’s a bit like Störget in Copenhagen. Here is a snap at the start of this street with curious metal creatures, getting ready for the shopping district, no doubt.

This is a fashionable street, and at it’s end is another square called Gustav Adolfs Torg. A little further up is another canal, which in a way marks the end of the main city centre. Here are a couple of pictures from here.

The snow, as you may see in the last picture was coming thick and fast. Needless to say, I was freezing my pants off. Also, by this time I was starving like mad. So we decided to walk back to the Södergatan and had lunch at a place called Harry’s. This was an interesting experience, as the waiter here didn’t quite understand us. I generally found people in Malmö not very conversant in English, except at the tourist centre and museum. This is not a complaint, only an observation. We struggled to make the waiter understand we wanted some lunch and if we could see the menu. Instead, we got told two words ‘chicken’ and ‘beer’. We were happy with that selection, and nodded to it. As it turned out, the ‘chicken’, wrapped in bacon, and served on a bed of potatoes with a slightly sweet gravy, was absolutely delicious and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

Lunch over, we headed to a nearby church as our last stop in Malmö. It was quite beautiful and here is a picture, but by this time, I was too tired to remember place names, so I am not sure which church it is.

My brief sojourn into Sweden was over, and we trudged back to the station for an uneventful ride to Hotel Zleep in Copenhagen.

Posted by vikram at 06:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (3)

This week I am in Copenhagen (Kobenhavn in Danish), Denmark for some work related to these guys. This is my first trip to Europe and there is a bit of a disappointment in doing it without Shellie, as Europe comprises a bunch of very romantic countries, Denmark especially, and Copenhagen definitely.

The flight here was torturous. Nearly 8 hours to Singapore from Brisbane, a wait of around 5 hours and then a marathon 12+ hours to Copenhagen. The onboard on-demand entertainment system was very good, but how long can you watch it without making your eyes go crazy? I had a terrible terrible time trying to sleep and it didn't help that a couple of families around me were travelling with kids.

My first impressions of Denmark were not good. Specifically, the arrival section of the Copenhagen airport is old. The floor is old rustic timber planks and resembles something done in the 60's. The arrival and departure areas could do with a bit of modernization to account for the heavy tourist traffic that it receives. I kept thinking that the airport resembled very much the small airport in Penang, Malaysia.

Of course, all this changed the minute I was out of customs and into the main airport area. It was modern without being plastic. We (I am travelling with a colleague, Damian) had to wait around in the airport for a little while because our flight arrived at around 7:30 AM, and the check in at the hotel wasn't till 10:30. So we sat in a cafe called the Hans Christian Anderson cafe in an upstairs area. This is where I had the first of what I am sure will be a thousand more danishes, or the way they are called here, wienerbred. This was a chocolate danish and one of the best I have ever had. It was soft, tantalisingly sweet without being overly so. We also had coffee and fresh juice and had a nice view of the outside. Here is a shot that I took of the outside.

And here is Damian enjoying his breakfast..

We decided to catch a train to the hotel, instead of a cab as trains leave regularly from within the airport building itself. Can't say I wasn't disappointed, as I was looking forward to travelling in style in a Mercedes taxi, as all taxis here seem to be! The train ride was quick and comfortable and it was only when we came out of the train station at our destination that I realized, that it was bitterly cold outside.

The Weather channel at home said that the temperature in Copenhagen would be 4 degree Celsius. What it failed to mention was that it would be 4 degrees, without the benefit of a Sun, and with winds blowing at a furious pace. I freezed everything in my body in the short walk from the train station to the hotel.

The hotel is called the Zleep hotel. It is a cut above a hostel, but the staff are friendly, the rooms are clean though a bit bare, and they have free Nintendo Game Cube for everyone to play in the common room. Here is a picture of my room:

Essentially, as you can see, there is a bed and a table and chair. The bathroom is on the side behind the door.

This is a shot that I took earlier in the day outside my window.

The bathroom offered a curiosity. The shower, was in the middle of the room, with a shower curtain around it. The curious part was, that it had no taps to turn the shower on with. After arriving, when I decided to take a shower to get rid of a day's dirt, I stood in the middle of the bathroom, naked and shivering, for about 5 minutes trying to figure it out. After much strain on a jet lagged brain, it occured to me, that in some environmentally friendly manevoure, the hotel staff must have decided to keep one tap for both the wash basin, and the shower. This proved to be true, and in quite Ikea (I know it is Sweedeish) simplicity fashion, I had to switch the tap in the wash basin which was a meter away to get the water. This meant, that I had to run back and forth from the basin to the shower, before I could get the water to the right temperature. It was only after I had showered, did I realize that I could have just tested the water in the basin, and then witched it over to the shower.

A quick breakfast followed, where we had some delicious breads topped with some cuts, chesses, and chesse spreads. I hated Pumpernickel at home, but loved it fresh here. Not bad considering that the origin of the word seems to be 'to break wind'. :)

We travelled to Copenhagen city by train, except this time, I thought I was ready for the cold. But the temperature had dropped by the time we got to the city, which was really only 10 minutes away and here is the proof:

See that red line on the right of the picture. It says that the temperature was 3 degrees. Brrrr.. cold.

Although smiling Damian doesn't seem to mind in this shot in the front of the Copenhagen station:

We decided against going to the famed Tivoli Gardens on our first day here, instead, deciding to walk around the city without any plan. In principle, this sounded good, but after a 24 hour flight, with jet lag settling in, and a cold that seemed to freeze my brains, I felt more than a little tired at the end of the day.

We started by going straight to the Town Center, where there is a big tourist centre, it's modern exterior almost out of place with the traditional buildings surrounding it. Here is a bad picture of me shivering in front of the town center:

The town center is also the entry point to the longest pedestrian shopping street in the world, the Strøget. It is quite faishonable, with a mix of simple stuff and high end designer wear. Of course, it is not just clothes, but a lot of other stuff is thrown in. If nothing else, it is a good site for just strolling around, and watching the (very attractive :)) people go by. By the time we started on this street, I was shivering like crazy, and just couldn't be bothered to take my camera out, so no photographs from here.

After finishing with this street, a block away is the Nyhavn (New Harbor), a pictureseque canal area. The buildings on each side of the canal make for great contrast, but once again, I couldn't be bothered to take the camera out. So here is a link to some pictures. Finally, Damian took my camera to take a snap of these horses.

I had enough, so we decided to step inside a bar and drowned some beer to warm ourselves. Here is a shot of half empty glasses..

On a side note, here is a snap that I took earlier, near the town center, of the advertisement for Carlsberg beer, the only beer that you should be drinking in Denmark. :)

In the form of lunch, we decided to have some Hot Dogs from a stand and needless to say, they were fantastic. I also wanted to grab some more danishes, because I was determined to try every danish offered by this country, and therefore we walked back to Strøget and picked some up from a bakery. Needless to say, they were delicious to the last morsel and I am going to be ever grateful to my employer for having sent me here.

By this time, jet lag was catching up fast. It was only 2 in the afternoon, and we knew that if went back, we would fall asleep within seconds. To keep us awake longer, we would have to occupy ourselves with something else. We therefore went back to the town center, and caught a bus to the Carlsberg brewery, which was an interesting ride in itself because it took us around some of Copenhagen's suburbs and it was interesting to see the sights and sounds of Copenhagen, without the added tags of tourist attraction. Already I think that it is such a wonderful place, and I loved to see the area away from the hustle and bustle.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. Here is the trip around the brewery told in pictures. BTW, the trip now costs 40 kroner each, lonely planet notwithstanding. You still get 2 free beers at the end, and because we complained about the price, we got an extra one for free..

Me shivering, still happy to get inside..

Old cars in the brewery

Damian just before stepping in

Me near the massssssive bottle collection

Outside, on the way to the stables

Damian trying to spook the horse

After this, we headed back on the bus, and went to Mcdonalds on Strøget. This was the worst customer service experience in Copenhagen so far. The store was filthy, there was dirt on the floor everywhere, the upstairs toilets were neglected. When I got to the counter, I waited a full 10 minutes (I am not kidding) before my patience ran out and I had to interrupt the two girls chatting behind the counter to take my order. I knew the staff knew I was there, the store manager at the back had seen me, the staff cooking had seen me. There were people in the line behind me waiting to be served. Yet, none of the staff bothered with taking the order. Very very disappointing. On the positive side, the cheese sides were nice. The chips and the burger ordinary.

Dinner in, tiredness sweeping us in circles, we headed back. It was still only about 6, and we decided against all odds to try and stay up a little longer by playing some games in the common room. This lasted for about 15 minutes, when I gave up and staggered to my room and sank in the bed for a well deserved rest.

Posted by vikram at 03:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (3)

Hmm.. have been thinking of the title of this entry for quite some time, and that's the best I could come up with. On the weekend, despite Shellie's protests, I rented SAW, the movie written by two Melbourne based guys James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Leigh acts in the movie as well while James Wan is the director.

I was quite surprised with the movie. It was quite good and didn't have that much of gore as I was expecting. Oh there are a couple of scenes, but the essence of the movie is on story telling. I think a lot of people are turned off wanting to watch it because they think that it is a slasher flick, while it isn't. The problem there is that it has been promoted that way, and I think that says a lot about the marketing.

Saw II has come out as well, and I hear that Saw III is in the works, already. Hmmm.. milking it for all it's worth if one thing.. but wanting it to be the golden goose another.. Move on guys.

Posted by vikram at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With a prayer on the lips and a burning desire in the hearts, Australia played the game of a lifetime to reach the soccer world cup in Germany next year.

Australia scored once in the first half with a skilled goal and held on tight to enter the extra time. They were clearly the better side than Uruguay and came out hunting in the second half. Unfortunately, neither the second half nor the extra time gave them the goal that they were looking for. But more importantly, the fragile defence held on to deny the Uruguaians the crucial away goal.

Then came the penalty shootout and amazingly, Aussie goalie saved two shots, while Australian captain Viduka missed his own penalty, but it didn't matter in the end.

Watching world cup next year takes on a whole new meaning... Go Aussie Go.

Posted by vikram at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

I was driving to work today and there was a promotion on radio by Channel 7 for the new series called Headland. The premise of the show seems to be on 'cheating partners, an isolated community, a person in a coma, and a night to forget'. And oh, it is brought to you by the same people who have also brought you All Saints, Home and Away and Blue Heelers. Right, more reason not to watch it.

There is so much consternation in the Australian media over why local dramas fail. The list of locally produced drama that have bitten the dust is a mile long and I don't understand why the networks don't learn any lessons from the failures. How much of interest is 'cheating partners in a community with a person in a coma and a mysterious night to forget' is to primetime viewers? These are all topics of interest to daytime soap watchers, even Home and Away timeslot. Not primetime.

We hardly ever watch any Australian made drama series. If you think that me being Indian has anything to do with it, think again. My true blue Aussie wife wouldn't touch it. I even try and cajole her into watching an odd episode, but as soon as she knows that it is an Aussie drama, she runs the other way. And it is not just her. All her friends can't be bothered.

I am sure that all the producers, writers, actors etc must work very hard to get these shows on air. A lot of money is being thrown at them to make the next hit Aussie show. But there is no creative spark in these shows, there is nothing that makes me connect with them. The last show I tried was with 'Last man standing' and after watching a couple of shows, I turned off. It was all so ... predictable and stereotyped that it made me yawn. Is that show on anymore? I am sure I will be saying the same thing for Headland in a couple of weeks. Sorry.

This is not to say that all Australian shows are bad. Australian comedy, reality and other genre fare much better in my books. Just the drama category is a throwaway. Wonder why.

Posted by vikram at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (3)

I am watching the Australia Vs. Uruguay World Cup qualifier live from Montevideo and I must say that I am quite disappointed with the Australian performance. 4 years on from the infamous qualifier for the last world cup, and I was hoping for a much improved showing, even a winning one. The score now is 1-0 in favor of Uruguay and about 10 minutes are left and Australia look at sixes and sevens against the naturally gifted Uruguayans.

What has the Australian Football association done in the last 4 years? Haven't they learned anything? The team looks out of touch, their is no cohesiveness, there is rank bad passing and they never looked like scoring a goal. The only positive that I can see, is that they haven't conceded as many goals as last time, when by memory, they lost by 3-0.

4 years on and nothing has changed. If this performance is anything to go by, you won't be singing 'Waltzing Matilda' at the next years World Cup either. It's a pity as all soccer needs to succeed in Australia, is a good performance by the national team.

Update: Post match, the players, the experts in the studio and the interviewers are just happy that Australia conceded only one goal as opposed to more. Hmm... Australia won't get to the World Cup with that attitude. 4 years in the making and they are happy to come away with "just one goal"? Yes, it's better than 3-0 but hey, Australia didn't score. Conceding less goals doesn't win matches. Scoring goals does.

Posted by vikram at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (8)

We had some Gold Class upgrade coupons to go see a movie for over two months now. Initially, we couldn't decide which movie to go, so they didn't get used for a month. Next, I saw a promo for a new Jodie Foster movie called Flight Plan. I admire Jodie Foster and her acting skills and the movie premise sounded nice, so we decided to wait to use the coupons till this movie was in the cinemas.

I must say, the wait was well worth it. The movie was very good, the acting is great and the Gold Class experience was fabulous.

Flight Plan's story is simple. A woman (Foster) is flying back from Berlin to New York after her husband commits suicide by throwing himself of their apartment. She is travelling back with her daughter who is six years old. Her husbands body is on the same plane in a casket. As soon as the plane is airborne, Foster and her daughter both decide to occupy some empty seats at the back of the plane to stretch out. Foster wakes up a little later to find her daughter is not sleeping with her. Initially, she thinks that she must have gone to the toilet or found some kids to play with in other areas of the plane. She searches frantically, but finds no trace of her. She gets the flight attendants involved in the search who also can't find her. Finally, she raises an alarm with the Captain and a flight Marshall is also involved in the search.

Everybody initially believes her and tries to locate the girl. Finally, a flight attendant looks up the flight manifest and notices that there is no mention of her daughter having checked in. Disbelief sets in with a panicked Foster trying to convince everyone that she did indeed carry her daughter on the flight. It gets worse as none of the passengers around her remember her with a six year old girl.

The true story unfolds as the suspense over the missing girl in a plane makes people nervous, uncomfortable and fidgety. Foster plays her 'a panicked mum' role very well, and it is almost a carry on from 'Panic Room' where she played a similar role.

The acting from the rest of the characters is adequate, but the star of the movie is Foster and she has the maximum screen time. The direction is first class, and the movie comes out as a tight thriller with no loose ends (none that we could pick).

Oh.. and the Gold Class experience was fabulous! Bit expensive, but the 180 degree reclining seats and the seat service well worth it. You are treated like royalty and it feels good. As they say, if movies are a journey, travel first class. Or something like that. :)

Posted by vikram at 09:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

even if it comes from an unexpected source.. Australian Idol contestant supporters cry foul because Daylight Saving robbed their fav Dan England of a spot in final three with a difference of just 27 votes. I say, whatever the reason, bring on Daylight Saving in Queensland!

Posted by vikram at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

I had to ring 3 (Mobile phone operator) last night because I was annoyed by the lack of coverage in our home. As expected, the call went to Mumbai. The first operator on the other end gave me his name as Steve. Trying to be friendly, I asked him his real name. He said it was really Steve as he was a Catholic. Bemused, I continued to complain about the coverage. Since, he could not resolve the issue, he transferred me to the technical department, where I got connected to a 'Chris'. Again, wanting to be friendly, I asked him about his real name. His reply? 'Chris' was his real name. He was a Catholic too!

Ok. So this is stupid. Finally, when I had to talk to a supervisor at 3's call center in Mumbai, I was talking to an 'Aaron', again a Catholic.

Memo to Hutchinson/3: If you ever come across this blog entry, please take this seriously. Stop with this erroneous habit of declaring your religious affiliations just to continue your work. This is dangerous and unethical. Not only are you giving out wrong names, but you are also outright lying to your customers.

I know there has been a lot of bad press here in Australia about call centers. Most of it is tabloid mish mash. Most normal people realize the need for outsourcing these jobs and accept them, as long as they think they are being looked after. If you start to making reactive changes based on these tabloid reports, which come down to outright lying, you will start to turn more people against you rather than sympathize with you.

Technorati Tag: Call Centers

Posted by vikram at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

OK, so my earlier post was supposed to be a post on how Indians don't acknowledge other Indians in foreign lands and my own experience with this strange going on. But suddenly, I am getting more heat from the Amway/Quixtar crowd. There are 2 comments from one person running the Quixtar Facts website. There is so much traffic on my blog because I have got linked to it from a Quixtar Chatter site.

So let me clarify.

I am not an Amway/Quixtar basher. However, my experience and opinion of them is not good and is unlikely to change. Like bland green tea, I accept that they exist but they are not my cup of tea.

Early 1999, Cleveland public library, I was browsing for some books. A smart young Indian man approached me with the 'oh so original line' of "Are you from India?". I fell for his idea of making money by growing a network of buyers. I invited him home and he explained the business to me. He used every trick in the book with the now classic Roy Kroc (McDonald's) franchise thing (I see they still use that line!). I was convinced. What could be easier than convincing my family and friends of this unbelievable way of making money? Right? Wrong!! Luckily, a quick chat with another saner friend made me realize what I was getting into. Thankfully, he is still a friend.

I won't go into more details as to why the Amway/Quixtar doesn't work for me. Suffice to say there are others from India and others all over the place.

Recently, a colleague has joined Amway Australia. I told her my experience about the organization. She still tried to recruit me. This is what it does.

Posted by vikram at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (2)

Came across an interesting post by Arzan Sam Wadia on what happens when Indians see other Indians on the road in a foreign country via a link from Amit Varma.

I have some experience in this area.

When I used to work in New York, I used to walk from the PATH station inside the WTC (this is before 2001) to the last office building on Wall St every weekday. The walk took me across a couple of blocks where I would get a chance to say hello to the street stalls manned by Indians. Most (All?) of them were Gujaratis and it took me a while before they acknowledged me for someone other than a person buying a newspaper or a coffee (Mind you, the coffee and hot dog vendors were mostly Spanish, at least at that time).

The vendors got friendly after a while. It just took time. It was the high end job workers who I found to be the most supercilious in their attitude. A lot of it was to do with the "What the hell is he doing here" attitude. They thought they had done well in life and it should be their domain.

The troublemakers were also the overbearing friendly Indians as they invariably turned into an Amway horror story. Sorry, but Amway is just not my cup of tea and just because I am from India doesn't mean that I will want to fall for it.

Here in Australia I see some of the same thing here. I nod and smile to most Indians. I feel like an idiot when they don't smile back or stare at me blankly. It sort of makes sense. Just because we come from the same place doesn't make us friends. But then, I nod and smile to most people like a zombie :)

I was on a trip to Melbourne the other day and I could not escape the number of Indians that were there. Most nodded and smiled. Some, especially those who were working the simple jobs (cleaners, guards), avoided eye contact. The guilt of doing a simple job, the fear of being judged? I don't know. If anything I have learned living out of India, is that no job is too small or simple. It just doesn't pay well. :)

Posted by vikram at 09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (11)

Wow. Never would have thought that the sentimental favorite would go on to actually win it. I had my bets (only theoretically and in the Office comp) on Vinnie Roe. But what do you know. More than half way, Makybe Diva was nowhere in the race but came back strongly at the finish to make it three in a row, with a good distance between itself and the second placed On a Jeune.

That is amazing. That is one amazing horse. Comparisons to Phar Lap are justified.

Technorati Tags: makybe diva Melbourne Cup Phar Lap

Posted by vikram at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Then sing for it

Posted by vikram at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)