A Day in Seattle

I visited Seattle Friday last week on a official trip with my CTO Srikanth of Apere inc. We were done with our work by 2 in the afternoon so we decided to get a glimpse of Seattle as we had to return the same evening, so thats what we did. we went on top of the famous Seattle Space needle . And we could see Seattle from one point. Here are some facts about this great city.

Christened "The Emerald City", Seattle is known as one of the most livable cities in the world and actually receives less annual rainfall (36 inches) than New York and Atlanta. Surrounded by lakes, rivers, Puget Sound, and mountains, Seattle is a recreation enthusiasts' dream. In the summer, water sports are only 10 minutes away and winter sports, such as snow skiing and snowboarding, are only 45 minutes away.
The greater Seattle area is home to 2.7 million people. Microsoft, Nordstrom and Starbucks coffee are based here. Seattle is also known as the birthplace of the recent crazes for grunge rock and espresso coffee. This area is the home of baseball's Edgar Martinez, glass art's Dale Chihuly, musicians Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Queensryche, Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart and Kenny G., software giant Bill Gates, maestro Gerard Schwartz, actor Tom Skerritt, writers Ann Rule, Robert Fulghum, and Tom Robbins.

Quote of the Day - Édouard Schuré (French Author)

"Modern man seeks pleasure without happiness, happiness without knowledge, and knowledge without wisdom."

Well I guess we all should look within to findout where we are heading. Yes we all want that elusive happiness but the irony is, unfortunately we don’t try to find this within us. We prefer to wonder around at lengths and beg for an answer with strangers, the so-called preachers, swamis, the astrologers and what not. But Mr. Édouard Schuré has summed it up so well. I thank him for this beautiful quote, which is nothing but “Our Plight in a Nutshell”. He teases us with his quote and points to what we don’t have in our personal libraries filled with scholarly creations and treasures of knowledge and technology , “Life in a Nutshell”.

Railway Station a glimpse of India Today and Yesterday

Indian railways is well known as the arteries and veins of India. It is the largest serving rail network in the world. But this blog is not about the Indian Railways but it’s about the station. The center of action, the gateway to the world of Indian Railway.

The Railway station, many of us as kids were fascinated by the very thought of going there, even now it makes me nostalgic and takes me back into my childhood. A railway station is a small world in its own right with its inhabitants and aliens, that’s us the visitors or the travelers.

When you enter a railway station in any part of India, it has its own culture which is unique to the railway station, but at the same time it carries influences of the local culture. The changing times , taste and culture is well reflects in a railway station more then any place. This makes a railway station all the more interesting.

The first thing that hits you when you enter is people … people and people…
But they are the very essence of it. This is the place where all of us are on the same platform “literally” J . The rich, poor young and old. You would not find this fusion anywhere else, in any city or place.

As you stroll through a platform, of course with constant nudging and squeezing you kind of lose yourself in this ocean of people, your ears reverberate with the constant chanting of food sellers, the “Chai walas”, the vada pav, dosa, idli, juce , minireal water, coffee you name it. Your eyes will get used to the constant movement of the men in red , the men in brown and the men in white, the porters who we all know as “the kuli” , the railway lines men and the famous Ticket collectors. (TO BE CONTINUED)