And snow!
The snow in the first weeks of winter brings hope to the people of Helsinki - that this winter will be better than the one from last year which in their Finnish minds was 'too warm'!
This winter is one of change. Yet again.
Last winter was one that has perhaps changed my Life forever - in many ways than one - and Helsinki was just one of them.
This winter - I start with a simple change - I am moving apartments - and moving to a beautiful apartment in the North of the city.
It has everything my current apartment has - a sauna, a great kitchen - my sanctum santorium,and more - its bigger, its got tonnes of plants and the view 
from the balcony is spectacular! It's by a beautiful River. And it's by the Bay.
Right outside my home (would-be) is a running track that circles a wooded area and a stone's throw away is the river.
Serendipity led me to this place and how!
I have been searching for an apartment for sometime now. When one Sunday, I was helping a friend move some furniture. We dropped off another friend who was helping out (
and who was visiting her mother in the same neighborhood) and I remarked 'Its quite a nice place, wouldnt be a bad place to live in'.
Imagine my surprise when two days later, I land up in the very same neighborhood, looking at Suvi's apartment.
Anyways - I intend moving in after I return from India.
India!
10 months. And a sea-change in my outlook to Life later, I am heading back to India.
Albeit for a short while.
I have just agreed with my bosses to return back for another stint - a whole year!
As I look forward to my new apartment and the continued explorations of new attitudes, hobbies and friends, I am looking back at the year and wonder - what if the year before had turned out different? What if 2007 was different?
But thoughts aside - here is to a Year of Change.
Summer’s come and gone
And Autumn has come upon Helsinki
The leaves from the trees are dropping with as much speed as the clothes did during the onset of summer.
It has been a long hiatus.
With a very very busy vacation – catching up with old friends, seeing the old in new ways…a post was long pending – especially the uploading of many beautiful pictures of many beautiful places and things.
But it seemed like all that energy was reserved for the Vacation and the return to Helsinki after 16 days on the road brought with it a quietness.
But the Quiet Moment has been welcome – after the Busy Moment. It almost felt like the chrysalis.
And a very timely one.
Have you ever felt that way before?
And now I feel new – all over again.
A bit tempered, more grounded and.
Quiet.
Posts and Photos will follow.
About Rome – a city that was grand
About Paris – a city that still is
And About Contact Improvisation – finally, a dance form that has taken my fancy.
Nuuksio National Park
Well - not really a hike, more like a Nature Walk.
Last weekend, a couple of friends and I set out at 10 in the morning to Nuuksio.
Antti is a practicing psychologist who also teaches at the local university and Jarko is a Chi-Gung Trainer.
A chance conversation at a party a few days ago led to the Nuuksio National Park - also known as Noux.
Finland has some really amazing hiking trails. and the Great Outdoors is greatly enouraged as a form of recreational activity.
And Nuuksio is perhaps the one closest to the Helsinki city. More a Nature walk, it has jogging and cycling tracks. It also has a trail for horse riders!
Just before we started off on the main Walk, Jarko also took us to a more private one - a private hill of sorts so to speak.
When I asked about the appropriatness of entering private area, Jarko replied that 'Nature areas' are pretty public - meaning even if a Finn owned a forest area or an island, other Finns have complete right to walk around...they dont get stopped. If you wanted to camp overnight you could, but sometimes it may be appropriate to speak to the owners. But there you go - complete freedom to walk the trails!
Our day comprised walking to three destinations - lakes to be precise. The first was a larger one, and there was already a family there by the time we reached the spot. After a brief rest there, we then moved onto the second one.
Here, the two of them had no inhibitions getting out of thier clothes to do a little skinny dip. Nudity is not a problem here - with the sauna culture and is pretty much a done thing.
I was too Indian to try anything :)
Enroute to the third lake, we also climbed this little hill and actually took the time to stop for a while and rest. It was a most beautiful experience - where all you could hear was the wind amidst the trees, a few birds...and this bee that kept buzzing around me!
It felt so wonderful, I think we even nodded off to sleep for a while.
When we went down to the third - and I decided to take a dip (with my shorts on, of course)... and for those who know I dont swim - i pretty managed to get wet...the water was just right - about 18 I would say. Another break through - my first Finnish Lake Dip.
:)
Here's the official website with maps and directions to get to Nuuksio -
Getting to Nuuksio - Maps and Directions
The story begins with a group of friends heading off to the airport to greet some friends. And the chatter is filled with references to love lost, love won, mis-understandings and The Group.
It does lend itself to a certain 'hot pakora' and chai (Or Beer and Pakora) mood.
The movie meanders through a story that at times seems familiar and at times has its surprises.
I didnt realise it - but somewhere along the way, I caught myself being interested in the lives of the people in the movie...being empathatic with this one, or angry with that one.
Thats a sign of a good movie.
The cast is an interesting mix.
As for The Friends - you can find atleast one person in your life who resembles atleast one of the characters...making it easy on 'Acceptability Scale'...an easy-going narrative style.
The Ratna - Naseerudin banter brings that light hearted fun at the right moments. You begin to forward to these as the movie progresses.
"You can take the Rathore out of the Ranchod, but you can never take the Ranchod out of the Rathore!!"
Here's a YouTube video of a restored Streetcar (more than a 100 years old!) on a tramline...and you would agree with me when I say that - its more ínteresting to ride a charming old tram rather than a mariginally more functional modern one!
ver 200,000 commute using trams on a given weekday! Over 40 %!
The metro is another popular mode of transport- quite the thing, very quick - frequent.
Trivia- Over 50 Million people use the Metro every year!
or takes you down to the stations (this takes a minute to reach the bottom!) and we have trains every 4- 6 minutes.
with the more expensive desígner ones costing about 2000Euros.
I bought mine from a friend...almost for free :) And no, its not designer...but it does get me around.
Saw this buggy and three more at The Aussie bar : )
The kids love thier skate boards- at every corner and plaza
Horses??...:) Naaah- just a larger than life poster :)
Over several days, I have taken photographs around the city - and they are all uploaded here.
You are welcome to check them out - leave a comment on the blog though, if you'd like to.
The Helsinki Diaries 1
The Helsinki Diaries 2
It was a long Saturday evening. Late night movie, crashed at a friends house. Woke up at 9 to a friends call - 'Hey we are at the Harbour - headed to Estonia...do you want to join?
Sure I wanted to!
Took me 60 min to get home,wash up and head to the harbour...on my trusty bicycle.
Passport in hand, bicycle in the parking lot, I bought my ticket to Estonia on a cruise.
We spent the entire day at Tallin, the capital city of Estonia.
Here's an interesting trivia - Skype - that ubiquitous interent software - came out of Tallin !
'The Old Town' is the most 'touristy part of Tallin - and thats where we headed as well.
Here are the pictures from that trip.
Mediterranean France has all the promises of the Mediterranean - Sun, the Beach, Good Wine...
A chance workshop at the IBM office took me to Montpellier - a small French town off the coast of the Mediterranean.
The town just has 200,000 inhabitants but it does feel a lot more than that - with all the around.
The town predominantly is a University Town - but also has some large companies. IBM had this huge Center where they conduct Research, used to do some Production work and now have large facilities for Benchmarking etc.
We were taken around the Center and our host - a super die hard fan of Super Computing had words of praise everytime he took us to show a new server. He would walk us by a Z series server and mutter - 'Very Impressive, Very Imressive' in a most French manner - and mumble 'How Beautiful' on and off. One would think that the young frenchman was referring to the French Women that we got to see later in the evening!
And of course - he pointed to the Blue Gene and said - thats the one that beat Gary 
Kasparov - with a look of a proud father...and he couldnt have been more than 25.
After our meetings on day one, we got to go out for a bit and I managed to do my touristy thing - of taking a few pictures.
Here's where they are all uploaded.
A smallish town - not too crowded - you could really enjoy the Mediterranen town in a most relaxed manner. The people are friendly, beautiful and pleasant.
One of the town's attractions is the 18 century Aqueduct that used to supply water to the town's populace. I managed to catch the main Aqueduct in the evening sun - and it looked so beautiful...
We did have our customary beer at the Plaza next to the Palace of Comedie - and to have the warm Mediterranean sun graze your skin was a welcome change from the Cold Finnish days (!)
We finished the day by going to Dinner to a restaurant by the Beach - hmmmm - and it just 
couldnt have been better - Wine, the warm sea air and the beautiful sun set - reminded me so much of Goa actually!
Dinners are always the most interesting times after a meeting with clients - because it is the time for people to let thier hair down - not that the Finns do it much ...especially with work - colleagues...but we did.
I had some interesting conversations with some of the folks who were there. There was a Finn lady with a 21 year old son and we talked about marriage, living in and settling down - how like a mother to say that - but it just goes to show - parents around the world share the same feelings, concerns and hopes about their children! We were talking about Living In and it was interesting to hear that she would be concerned if either of her children (son or daughter) were to tell her that they were getting married without having lived with the companion for a while!
I also discovered that the Summer House culture is very big in Finland.
Everyone has a Summer House!
It's usually away from the city, is by a lake...every Finn is proud to have one! And like I read by a famous Finn Architect - "Summer houses are very personal - they are like journal entries."
:)
Another interesting gentleman I met at the workshop was ...lets just call him Steve.
Steve is a mid 30's professional in IBM. Conversation led me to find out some interesting things about him - Studied Chemical Engineering in graduation, Computer Science in his masters and
his PhD in Speech Recognition; Not to forget that he worked in a bar between courses, has been tinkering with bikes and has built many of them by hand - and that he loves Indian food (Go Curry!) and cooks well!
Here's to more traveling - and I hope to visit Montpellier again - its a very beautiful place and I wish for each of you to be able to visit it sometime!
Juhannus (Midsummer Festival)
