America went into an economic depression. Indian firms started feeling the heat, and layoffs are a routine affair now. Mumbai saw the worst terror attacks India has ever seen. America got a new and very dynamic leader in Barrack Obama. India sent a mission to the moon. India managed a nuclear deal with the US despite the left’s best efforts to disrupt the deal. Manmohan Singh managed to last his entire term in office.
In sports, China celebrated its coming-of-age party in the shape of the most lavish Olympics ever. India managed to win not one, but three individual medals. Vishwanathan Anand became the undisputed world chess champion. Recently the Indian cricket team walloped England.
Hopefully 2009 will be a little less eventful. Hopefully the economic situation will improve. Hopefully India’ will keep going on the road to progress. Hopefully the elections will give us a stable, strong government that will work on improving the infrastructure and keep up the GDP growth. Hopefully the terrorists will get jobs that lead to retirement and give up their guns for keyboards and mice.
Happy New Year everybody! Hopefully the new year will bring cheer and good health to our lives.
Here’s some pictures taken from all over New york city to brighten up otherwise dull times.
One of the highlights of our Las Vegas vacation was a trip to the Grand Canyon. Special enough to get its own post.
The Grand Canyon is one of the great natural wonders on the planet. It was formed by the Colorado river cutting through the surrounding terrain, over the course of millions of years. Located at a short few hours drive from Las Vegas, this is a must see sight if you are traveling to that area.
One added bonus en route is the Hoover dam, one of the marvels of modern engineering. When completed in 1935, it was the largest concrete structure ever built. At its base, the dam is 200m thick. That’s two football fields of solid concrete.
Anyway, we decided to cut short the travel time. We took a helicopter trip offered by papilon helicopters. They would fly us to the canyon in about 45 minutes, land on the canyon floor(!), and get us back. We would get to see the Hoover dam as well, and all this would be done in about 4 hours. You could call it a time saver. You could also call it a wallet buster.
This was the Ecostar helicopter that flew us from Boulder city to the canyon.
We took a trip three months back recently to a city called Las Vegas. Here’s my little travelogue.
Just in case you didn’t know, Las Vegas is a city famous for certain establishments called casinos, where innocent people empty their wallets in the belief that they can actually make money just playing games. Smarter people know that everybody loses to the casino.
Fun Fact #1: It’s estimated that every day Las Vegas casinos give away $3 million of freebies (more than $1 billion per year) just to get customers through their doors.Another matter that those billion dollar freebies result in many multiples of that in revenue.
Grand would be understating these casinos. They are huge. The nicer ones are pictures of opulence where the super rich gamble away their hardly earned dollars. Many of these casinos are based on elaborate themes to model famous cities such as New york, Paris, even Venice.
Here’s the Luxor which is built to look like an Egyptian pyramid.
The Rockefeller Center is one of the tallest buildings in Newyork standing tall at 872 feet. A place where you can gain a real perspective of Manhattan.
Central Park is larger than two of the world’s smallest nations. It is almost twice as large as Monacoand nearly eight times as large as theVatican City.
Central Park constitutes its own United States census tract, number 143. According to Census 2000, the park’s population is eighteen persons, twelve male and six female, with a median age of 38.5 years, and a household size of 2.33, over 3 households.
July 4th. The American Independence day. A day for barbeques, picnics, family get-togethers, and fireworks!
The Macy’s ‘spectacular‘ has been a Newyork tradition for the past 32 years. This year we decided to watch it from Roosevelt Island, which supposedly offers the best views of the show.
In the middle of East river between Manhattan and Queens lies a little island called Roosevelt Island. One way to reach this island from Manhattan is a tramway, one of the few in the US.
Here’s a brief account of our trip to this nice getaway. All pictures were taken by me…feel free to compliment me on my photography skills.
South point on the island gave me something that i havent encountered often in Newyork – Silence. Its like a little oasis of desolation right in the middle of one of the noisiest cities in the world.
I also shot a video on the way back. Watch out for the shiny Newyork lights, traffic on FDR Drive, the nicely lit Queensboro bridge, and loudly talking Newyorkers. Alas, i didnt make any noise so you wont catch me there
How to get there: Tram Station on E60th street and 3rd avenue. Your metro card gets you a ride.
Right here in Newyork’s backyard exists a quaint little neighbourhood called Jackson Heights. Sometimes also known as Little India. A visit there and you actually feel like you are in some Delhi market. Chandni Chowk anyone?
Here’s some pictures of this great Indian getaway.
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