Through the looking glass

Here is a letter my uncle wrote to the PM. I hope you all can understand the terror and grief people are experiencing as a result of these attacks... LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER Dear Mr. Prime minister I am a typical mouse from Mumbai. In the local train compartment which has capacity of 100 persons, I travel with 500 more mouse. Mouse at least squeak but we don't even do that. Today I heard your speech. In which you said 'NO BODY WOULD BE SPARED'. I would like to remind you that fourteen years has passed since serial bomb blast in Mumbai took place. Dawood was the main conspirator. Till today he is not caught. All our bolywood actors, our builders, our Gutka king meets him but your Government can not catch him. Reason is simple; all your ministers are hand in glove with him. If any attempt is made to catch him everybody will be exposed. Your statement 'NOBODY WOULD BE SPARED' is nothing but a cruel joke on this unfortunate people of India. Enough is enough. As such af...

I just finished packing for my trip to Europe and I took a mini break to hang out with my Ba (grandma). I went into her room to say good night and I caught her eating a caramel by her bed so she started giggling. She is so cute and funny. I love chatting with her before she goes to sleep. We always tease her about her dentures and she has had them as long as I have been alive. When she takes them off before bed I used to make her say "mathematics" because it sounded like "mafamafics". I got a kick out of that! I actually just made her do it again for old times sake. I get so worried about her and find myself getting sad when I think about how old she is. Sometimes I come home and find her sleeping (she sleeps all the time) and I will just unknowingly stare are her breathing pattern for a good 5 minutes. I am sure it is because I fear something happening to her during her sleep. I know death and illness are both natural things but I still get anxious relating these...

This Hawaiian word literally means "hole". Puka goes a long way in describing Hawaiian cuisines. Hole in the wall places are the best place to eat here. Today Marshall took me to this place "You Hungry?" and we had the traditional plate lunch. I got ahi tuna with sweet wasabi sauce. Nothing about it was healthy but I was very satisfied afterward (I was not hungry after). It was this fried tuna steak covered with sesame seeds and this green sweet wasabi sauce. I had brown rice with panko bread crumbs with it along with macaroni salad on the side. Shit was delicious! I am also in love with Genki sushi and I think we are having my good bye meal there tonight. Today, Mar had the day off and he took me to the Byodo Temple in the morning and then to Manoa falls in the afternoon. At the temple there is this giant bell you strike with a log which is hanging from the side. Apparently when you strike this bell you release bad spirits. Well me being the dumb ass that I am... p...

Vienna is GREAT! It is like a little bit of Florence and Prague with its own unique influences. It reminds me of what I am missing in America because one street will have tons of shops and it will end in front of a huge gothic church. it just makes everything that much more spectacular. Yesterday, we had started a very long but fun day. We woke up early and headed down the main street for some early morning shopping. As some of you may know, I collect logo shirts from every country/city I visit and I was determined to find something from Vienna... and I did (you will see). Then we headed to the history museum of Vienna because someone from job recommended it to me. It set the stage for most of the history of Vienna so we were somewhat prepared for the rest of the sightseeing ahead of us. After the museum we went to the Karslplatz to see the Karls church. It was very pretty with a huge green/teal dome. The inside had intricate paintings and a lift to take us to the top of the church. A...

The A's stand for Aussies and Austrians. Everyone here is awesome!Last night we went out to a bar called "torino" in venice and we stayed out pretty late. we had some wonderful wine and met some wonderful people. We met three Australian girls, one of them, named loren, who told us all about australia. she is a teacher and to get to work she has to travel 4 times a year by two planes. very crazy. she teaches in a small aboriginal community. it was fun getting to know them and we all exchanged information. The next day we woke up and left early for vienna. we arrived after a 10 hour train ride but we had the whole cabin to ourselves. we met a young man on the train who asked us where we are traveling and we said we were from america. he told us how lucky we were and how he wants to come live there one day. he said "here is the rest of the world and america is a world of its own". kind of puts in perspective how lucky we really are. anyway, vienna is HUGE! anyway ...

Apparantely, yes there is. it was actually the first established ghetto in venice created during 1516. it also was used actively during the second world war. so today i went to visit a jewish ghetto but that is not the only thing. the day started with our last shopping trip around san marco. i got some ciao ciao and ciao bella shirts... my favorites of course. and i got some cool glass rings made from venetian glass. then we went back packed up because our train leaves early tomorrow morning for vienna. after we took a long walk to the ponte rialto which looks like the paintings of venice. the canal runs through it and there are shops and restaurants all along the canal. we walked from the ponte rialto to the jewish ghetto where we saw that museum of the ghetto. it became almost quiet and scary immediately. it was interesting. then we headed to the accademia museum and saw paintings by titian and bellini. it was nice. the best part of venice is walking into the little shops and getting...

Ok so I am back at it again... Europe Part II. For those who do not know I am going to Venice, Vienna, Budapest, and Zurich. I am very excited! We left on Sunday after a fun saturday in NYC with Neesa and Arti. The plane ride was umcomfortable because the kid behind me kept kicking but it was still great b/c I was flying here! We got to Zurich and took a trian to Santa Lucia, Venice. It is sooo beautiful here!!!! The water is a pretty green and it is breezy/nice. The first night we walked to the Piazza San Marco and found a nice restuarant to eat. I got back into the groove of saying "ciao" "grazi" "prego". It is so much fun to use my limited Italian. Today we took a vaporetti (water taxi) out to the island of Murano to see the glass blowing factory. I bought a little gondola made of glass for my apartment. It was neat to see it again just like the time I went to Caracas, Venezuela. Tonight we plan on meeting a friend at this club called Piccolo Mondo. Tom...

We have officially been away from the beach for about 4 nights now and although I miss it a bit I am glad to be sight-seeing again. The Greek islands were amazing. Amit and Thy helped me learn how to snorkel better and I went out with them a few times. It was great. There was this one point in Ios where the water was about 3 or 4 different shades of blue and we snorkled out. In the shallow water it was clear blue and there were a few fish here and there but then suddenly there was a huge drop and it was dark, dark blue and there were tons of fish. It was a bit scary and I did not go out very far at all from that point but it was still cool to see. From Ios we went to Mykonos and just hung out there. The boys rented scooters and ATVs (spelling?) and we went around driving. It was pretty cool despite my fear of ATVs. There was this one really steep hill that we could not go up so I let Amit go by himself and I waited down for the rest of them. While I was waiting a nice couple offered to...

I have about 2 minutes so i will make this quick. READ the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons if you are at all bored. I have been reading so much and I got through two Dan Brown novels, one Ken Follet novel (The Key to Rebecca), and i am on to King. I am so glad I can finally read for my own pleasure. BTW i am in Mykonos right now and the water here has so far been the best. Pretty soon we will be off to Prague, Amsterdam, London and then HOME! I will update later! Neha, I am so glad you are ok. Love you all!

Yah-sas from Greece. Athens was cool but nothing can compare at this point with the beauty of the cyclades islands. the crystal clear blue and green water of differing shades set against a mountain backdrop with with and blue houses atop the ridge... simply magnificent. i can't believe i am actually here cause most of my life i thought i would only hear about greece and not really get to visit it. We are in Santorini now and we are leaving on wed. for Ios and then leaving on sat. for Mykonos. Today, we took a boat tour of the islands in the Santorini vicinity. We went to the old volcano which endured the most powerful explosion in history. to hear about the history of the formation of these islands was very interesting. the guide said it was loud enough for everyone in the world to hear it three times and that it was 100 million more times powerful than Hiroshima. i was amazed. then we took the boat to hot spring water where we actually got to jump off the boat and swim to the hot ...

Yup... the moment we landed in the city of Patras Greece it hit us! WE ARE IN GREECE! we have been waiting for this moment to come and we have entitled our Greece experience "the Greece Giddiness" (If u are reading this Lori then I plan on attacking a lot of places we have learned about in class). How is everyone? I am doing well. We are planning on spending 4 nights in Athens and take various day trips to place like Delphi, Cape Sounion, and Corinth. On the 4th day we plan on going to the Cyclades for about 10 days. We are very, very excited. I am just so happy to be here. The people are so wonderful and amazing. It has been great. We got here by ferry from the Italian port of Bari. A funny story I have to tell... I am not that big on gambling but I guess I am lucky because I won a poker tournament on the ferry and I got lucky with my first (and only) chance at the slot machines! It was fun just to say I did it (don't worry mom and dad i am not a gambler in any way). Gre...

No matter how many times I will go to visit Vatican City it still takes my breath away. I just find that place amazing. All the art, symbols, masterpieces, architecture... everything is just beautiful. It was scorching hot but we loved it nevertheless. Yesterday, we also went to the Forum, Colosseum, and the Palatine Hill. It was really cool being there after learning so much about it. Today we went to the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum, and St. Peters Basilica. Now we are just roaming around as we have to catch an early train to the Italian port of Bari because we are going to GREECE! I get so excited when I talk about it! We have actually alotted about 2 weeks in Greece so we are spending 4 days in Athens where we will be taking day trips to places like Delphi, Marathon, and Sparta and then we are heading out to the Cyclades for about 10 days. So ready and so excited! til next time... bbye!

Rome is HOT! Such a huge and amazing city I can't believe I forgot so much about it already. Yesterday, in Florence, we went to the Duomo, Cathedral, Boboli Gardens, and walked around the city. We went to most all the piazzas and they were beautiful. Florence is still my favorite place. At night we had a nice dinner and then we went by the river on the ponte vecchio to see fireworks. Apparantely, yesterday was a holiday in honor of a saint and there was a huge parade and huge soccer/rugby match at the end. It was interesting to see the parade (we did not get to see the match). Florence was fun as usual. This morning we caught an afternoon train to Rome and it was hectic but I am glad to be here. You know backpacking can be a pain but I am still appreciating every minute I have over here. It is just a once in a lifetime experience. Next year I hope Neha will take a vacation with me out to some of these islands (you have to come with me!). The hostel I am in now is called Bella Roma ...

Hello from Florence everyone! It has been way too long since I have updated and I have so much to tell everyone. Last I left off I was in Barcelona. We really all just chilled on the beach and relaxed. On our last night we went to the Plaza de Espana and saw the fountain there with the amazing light show. It was magnificent (I am running out of words to use to describe Europe). The next day we left for Cinque Terre. Let me tell you all what my book says "In the five fishing villages of Cinque Terre, man and nature have worked together in harmony to produce a place that sweetens and soothes the spirit". They were not telling a lie. Cinque Terre is like walking into the middle of a romantic novel description of Italy... it is even more than that. The 5 towns are so beautiful and it is like each one is its own little paradise. We were in the most touristy of the 5 towns in Monterosso. What is cool about Cinque Terre is that you can hike up the mountains to the other villages (ot...

Hello all! i am still in Barcelona and I have just returned from the beach. Tomorrow we plan on doing a lot of sight-seeing. On the 20th we have averted our plans and are not going to Nice. Instead we decided to go to the Italian Riviera at Cinque Terre. It is supposed to be this place where 5 small towns meet and you can do hiking near waterfalls. It is supposed to be beautiful and soothing... so off we go. I have learned as part of this backpacking experience that roughing it out can be very fun. Living in a bad hostal is not as bad as i thought because you meet all sorts of amazing people. The people from Spain are extremely friendly and laid back and all the other backpackers we meet are so much fun to hang out with. We have been having a blast here! The reason I am writing is because I had an interesting experience today at the metro station. We just finished booking our trains to Cinque Terre and we sat down to eat lunch when we met this guy named Lenny. Todd had actually given h...

Hello all! I am writing from Barcelona, Spain. I am very excited to be here and I am sure those of you who read my blog are excited for a new posting. The reason this is entitled as it is because all we have been eating are croissants and jamon (ham). It is the cheapest and we are all cutting back where we can... haha. So if you want to eat like a true backpackers go grab yourself a jamon and croissant! Ok time for an update... Last I left off we were in Sevilla. It was pretty there and really quaint. The streets are like a labryinth and we got lost many times. Our second day there we decided to take a day trip to the southern coast of Spain to a town called Cadiz. Cadiz has a local beach called playa de victoria which won the bandera azul (blue flag) from the EU. It is known as one of the beast beaches in Europe. It was absolutely gorgeous and we enjoyed a day to relax from all the walking and traveling. We came back that day and went to bed early to head off to Granada the next day. ...

Hey guys! I made it to Southern Spain and it is really pretty. It is a little city with tons of small, crooked cobblestone streets designed like a maze. It is fun to walk around except when it starts to take long and it gets frustrating. We went to see Reales Alcazar and that was nice as well. I can´t talk long but i wanted to update and say hi! I am off to Barcelona in a day! Love you guys...

Try saying that instead of ¨say cheese¨next time you take a picture. Man am I loving Europe! I arrived in Spain today after a long but fun train ride from Paris. Ok let me fill you guys in. Last I left off I was telling you about how we were planning on seeing the Lourve, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Pantheon. We made it to all three but with very sore feet. Our bodies took a toll from the 10 hours of walking we did the day before. The Pantheon was a nice place because it provided us with a cool atmosphere. In the Pantheon there are graves of famous people like Emile Zola, Rousseau, and many more. It was interesting to see. It was just a beautiful building. The Notre Dame Cathedral was obviously really beautiful. For some reason I find cathedrals really relaxing and beautiful. The stained glass painting are breathtaking and so peaceful... makes me even more excited for my travel to Italia. The Lourve was HUGE!!! I mean it is on its own another city. We didn´t get to see all of it but ...

at least that is what my shirt says. hey guys! i miss u all but i am having a fantastic time. the airplane ride and chunnel ride was tired but it was still cool. oh something i learned... backpacking is NOT EASY!!!!!!!! i almost collasped b/c it is sooo heavy but i am definitely getting stronger each day. the first night in paris we took a long walk to the seine river and then got some crepes from a street stand. it is really awesome being here. Paris is AMAZING! the people are friendly and do not gawk at the tourists. the place is like the best of all my favorite cities plus more. there is so much diversity and the atmosphere is really relaxed. anyways... we walked for 10 hours yesterday and saw centre george pompidou, picasso museum, eiffle tower, arc de triomphe, and so much more. everything is just like people desrcibe it. the tower is HUGE!!! today we plan on seeing the lourve, notre dame cathedral, and do some shopping. Tomorrow we are off to versailles which is supposed to be re...

I am sitting here in my basement and I am getting more and more excited! People always dream and talk about how they will one day drop everything and go to Europe... and I get to make that dream come true! Finally, years of saving up and it is going to be spent on the most amazing trip of my life. True I am going with 3 interesting men and NO girls (where my girls at?!?!) but I love them so it's all good. I will try to keep this updated as much as I can and I will post pictures. E-mail me your addys if you want postcards ( amisha01@yahoo.com ). Love you all and wish me well on my journey to... EUROPE!!!! WOO HOO!