Monday, December 29, 2008

snow capped

Wednesday, December 24.

It was our first of a long 5 day stretch of holidays. It was Christmas eve. It had rained for the past few days and the weather in Cyprus could not have been better, not to forget the chill which the rains brought. Deva, Vinay and Sarvo in 1 car and me and Punit in another headed off towards Troodos mountains. With jackets on and mood full of enthusiasm we steered ahead.

After an hour of driving we reached the Troodos town. And were thrilled and over-joyed to find snow. Tonnes and tonnes of pure white snow. We headed to Mt Olympus and and put our foot in the snow covered mountains. Vinay had floaters on instead of shoes. He was not able to bear the cold. Actually none of us were. He went back in the car. We 4 went some 10 metres above on foot. But that was it. It was awesome but was getting increasingly unbearable. We clicked a few pics here and there and went back to the comfort of the car.

Later we went back down to the town centre to fill our stomachs but could not find any restaurant serving veg food. So we headed back home to Limassol. This time, punit sarvo and myself went along a different route. And as we learnt from experience, this time the drive was smooth and without any brake fails.

All in all, it was one of the most enjoyable and memorable days in Cyprus.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

my tryst with cyprus cars and police.

December 17.

It's been more than 3 months since i arrived in Cyprus on September 6. My time here has been full of experiences some good, some not. Many more incidents have occurred which have not yet reached the blog, some of which may never even reach here. There are many moments that came till date which I would treasure my lifetime. Some of these were owning a car, moving into our home, driving at 160 kmph, sight seeing with friends, bowling nights, the fridays at amdocs and so on. Probably as you know or might have guessed, that i have quite a fascination for cars and driving. Two of my posts on the driving experiences and this one's title may perhaps bear testimony to this fact.

Speaking of cars and driving, my drives here in cyprus have been eventful to say the least. Many incidents (or accidents) have occurred and many more may follow suite. I was in the rental car which Punit, my friend gave some finishing touch. I guess he probably did not like the front and so decided for a makeover by ramming it against another car. We got away on that by paying the damages but needless to say, job well done Punit.

When sarvoday, chintan and myself headed to polis, a place beyond paphos, nobody would have imagined that it would be the last drive of that car. The car engine just could not handle the heat and bid adieu to us. It cost sarvo and chintan their first car and they I believe would have entered the guiness records for buying 2 cars in 1 month.

Moving on, when sarvo and i headed towards the trukish cyprus, we were again caught by police at various points on both side but were not troubled much.

But luck never stays on your side all the time. One fine morning while driving towards office, i got caught for driving at 80 where the limit was 50. Had to shell out 40 euros and got rewarded with 2 points. Paying fine at the police station was quite an experience in itself for which by the way, i even got a letter (i suppose receipt but useless as it is in greek).

This was certainly not the last i had seen of the police. Returning late night after a very tiring and frustrating day (my friends here would know why) was stopped by police in the bylanes. But this was just a routine inspection. He did not understand our Indian license but seeing the amdocs id around my neck, he probably did not get suspicious and let me off without bother.

More was to come. One night when sarvo and i went about one of our night drives (or better put - to buy milk ), we were again stopped in some small bylanes of the city. Since i had been stopped earlier, i was calm and knew that this wouldnt last more than 2 mins. But the officer had other plans. Being a friday midnight, he suspected we were drunk and he asked me to give an alcohol test. This was certainly the last thing on my mind. Needless to say i passed with flying colors, and we went about (buying milk).

Time for some bad ones as well. While reversing one night at McDonalds, I went more than the space behind
permitted and the car rear hit a pole though it did not inflict any damage.

2 days ago, while going home after an early morning shift, my mind drifted away, broke a parked car's mirror. I did get down to look and find the owner and cover up the matter, but since there was no one around, i went on to home.

All in all, my drives in cyprus have been eventful, and hope only pleeasant more drives to follow.




Tuesday, December 16, 2008

a stone on the road

The title of this post may seem strange at first. For the characters involved, i believe it will bring a smile on their face. A scary smile.

November 15, saturday midnight
.

punit,chintan,sarvoday,devashish and myself perhaps were destined to experience the incidents of that night. At 1 am we picked up deva and a pile of logs and sulphur cakes (to light a bonfire) from his home and head towards Troodos mountains. It was a cold chilly night. We were 5 in the car and going uphill at a good speed of 60-70 kmph for quite a while. When the steep climb started, i switched the car to power mode to get more revs and get us up. There was a chill in the air and dense fog which reduced the visibility to barely a few metres. I switched on the hazard lights and was giving dipper signals at a good fast rate just to be more cautious. The mood inside the car was full of fun and enthusiasm, good music and excitement to reach the top and have a great time. Driving in the fog was a first for me but everything was going good. Or in hindsight now, everything except the car engine. Little did we realise what made the fog so dense and reduced our visibility was not fog alone. It was also the smoke bellowing out of the engine. We smelled something burning and then our eyes went to the heating indicator and our jaws dropped. It had almost reached its top. I stopped the car there, openend the bonnet and thick dense smoke gushed outside. Had we not stopped there!!!.

We had coolant and water with us and we poured that into the radiator. I parked the car aside. We were still about 4-5 km away from the Troodos top. We got down and played football in the middle of the road. Probably would have been hired by a good EPL club had they seen us. Moving on, Sarvoday took out his camera phone (N-82 to be specific since he brags about it alot) and started with the proceedings. We clicked a few pics here and there and after about 35-40 mins we resumed our journey ahead. We managed to reach the top without any further trouble. Now was the time for the bonfire and bonhomie. We got the bonhomie not the bonfire though. The chilly wind would just not allow the logs to catch fire. 5 brains could not light a wooden log and we call ourselves engineers. So we just tried and tried till we got tired and fed up of those logs. So we just went back into the car for obviously it was more comfortable than staying out. Since our bonfiire experiment failed and it was 4 am and the degree dropping further, we decided to head home to Limassol much against the wishes of some daredevil (dont remember who were they) guys who suggested to wait till sunrise.

There were 2 roads that led back home. We took the other road, longer and a little more treacherous path. This time it was downhill and by physics the car gathered good speed even when my foot was off the gas. We did not know how to drive downhill. I drove in low gear for a few minutes and then switched back to normal driving gear. Little did we realize, that this small mistake of shifting gears would prove so disastrous and costly. The driving gear and downhill combined to give a very high speed to the car. The car would touch 70-80 kmph with no foot on the gas. It was dark, cold and to be honest, i was scared about driving downhill as well at such high speed. To counter this speed, i put my foot on the brakes. This again proved to be a big big mistake.

The brakes did manage to get the speed down to 45-50. But the brakes were burning out because i had pressed them on throughout the drive. They were wearing out but we did not realize it. All seemed good but the fog had reduced the visibility so much that i could not see a big stone in the middle of the road and drove the front left tire over it with a thud sound. This shook us all. A few metres ahead, i stopped the car on the side and we got down to check. The tire rim was damaged. But more shocking were the brakes. The brakes had become red hot. I took reverse after stopping for a while and that was the most horrific moment of that night. With the gear in reverse, a downhill road the car started gathering speed even though the brakes were pressed hard. The car was not stopping. I put on the handbrakes and brought the car to a halt.

The brakes had failed. On seeing more closely, the front left tire was also flat with rubber pieces coming out.

We tried to contact the speed fire towing service but he was reluctant to believe us and come to pick us up. Through him, we managed a taxi to come and get us. Punit, chintan and deva left in the taxi towards home to try and get help for me and sarvo who stayed back with the car. It was about 6 am. Sarvo and i tried to put on the spare tire but we were unable and how we thank god that we decided to stay there instead of going in a car damaged and without brakes. We managed to get the towing truck come and collect us and the car. At 9 am the truck came and loaded the car behind. Now we were heading back home safely. When we saw the road through which we returmed, we realized how bad it could have been had we not stopped there.

We reached home safely on sunday morning after spending a chilly 3-4 hours in the car. The bonfire did not happen, the bonhomie was ruined but we were spared living to tell this tale, safe and sound.

That stone on the road.


Sunday, November 9, 2008

2 friends...650 kms .. 18 hours...the drive of my life...

November 8 12 30 am in the night...

me and my friend sarvoday decided to take the wheel and go on a night drive...i took the steering...not knowing what journey would unfold..from there on..after driving for abt 10 mins...we decided to hit the highway and head nicosia the capital city....so i stepped on the gas...(even though was fined 2500 rs for speeding the previous day)..and touched the highway...heading towards nicosia ..a good 85 km covered in 45 mins...was a chilly cold night..thank god we had woollens...there sarvo took the car and we roamed in the city...for some time...finding place to park...we bought something to eat and drink...and then we took off for the turkish republic of cyprus..not knowing the route we landed up outside the nicosia jail...first...and then outside a UN post..with 2 soldiers carrying guns and looking at us...we showed them our passport and they gladly helped us on our way....reached the turkish cyprus border at 3 am...and the police guy checks our docs...and asks ..what the hell were we doing there at 3 am...unfortunately the guy who does car insurance for the turkish cyprus would come at 7 am...so we head back to the town centre...i said lets go home but sarvo insisted we had come all the way not to go home...so i agreed..and we slept in the car till 7 am...got up and freshened ourselves..bought snacks...filled petrol and went to the turkish gates...did insurance..got visa..and entered an unknown place....not having any map..with no cell coverage...but we went on....saw turkish flags on all lamp posts and almost all buildings there...saw a mountain with turkish flag in huge imprint on it...they actually carved out the flag on the mountain....took a left and reached the higway...sarvo had the wheel...and we went on for abt 100 km...reached a military base...where the soldier looked suspiciously...we showed our docs and were left with no trouble...so we drove on..and reached a small village..with small mountains on one side and ocean on the other...a place of beauty....we took the car on the kaccha mountain roads...and the car happily obliged...had some food and then took on towards the nothern most tip of cyprus..driving and driving at abt 100 kmph for 2-3 hrs..later we reached what is perhaps without any doubt the most beautiful place i have ever seen till date in my life...the parallel road along the ocean the valleys and mountains and trees on the other side....nature at its best to thrill us....what joy....
at abt 3 pm..decided its time to head home...sarvo drove till the turkish gate..where in between we were stopped by police for routine check....at the border i showed my passport which had the turkish visa paper seeing which the officer got angry and said not to show him anything turkish else he would shoot us dead..got scared ..said sorry and he left us....reached the town centre...at 5 pm ...freshened up...filled petrol...i took the steering..sarvo was too tired...so went backseat to sleep...
nothing bad had occured to us or the car...was a perfect trip till...
at the highway...me tired but awake and in control of the car..sarvo sleeping behind..car at 120kmph...pitch dark at 6 pm evening...nice music..and suddenly the handbrake lights start glowing....got so scared..with me alone awake...on the higway dark at 120 speed....but i kept cool....checked the handbrakes...other brake..reduced speed a little..and found out only problem with the handbrake indicator...nothing to worry..but those 5 mins were scary and tense...
reached home at 7 pm....took a bath..and hit the bed....and woke up today 9 nov at 8 am....and so the drive of my life...came to a happy ...wonderful..end.....

Thursday, November 6, 2008

2 months away

November 6 , 2008

Woke up at 7 : 10 in the morning. got ready for office...went in the living room..and my eyes looked at the calendar...november 6...2 months away from home...2 months away from family..from friends...from india....
getting used to the feeling that i m away here in cyprus for a reason..to shape my career...to enjoy what life here throws at me....and i m enjoying.....enjoying life at amdocs...and life in cyprus..the places..the places..my car..the night drives....but all this without my family..and friends of tsec......TSEC....the reason i m here...used to crib about college when i was there...but now i realize how much TSEC has given me back....wish to quote a line from an album called college days by Gaurav D..(an ex student of TSEC)..
" I m really gonna miss this place...
I m gonna miss my college days..."


Monday, November 3, 2008

from india to cyprus

September 6, 2008 - 7 : 55 am

That was the time i took off from Indian shores
to a new unexplored and unheard of destination called Cyprus to kick start my career.

Lots of firsts happened to me on that day. First time i saw the Mumbai international airport, first time i sat on a plane (to be honest i was nervous and that too on a window seat), my first departure stamp on passport, holding foreign currency and plenty more. By the way, cars are not the only thing that experience traffic jams in Mumbai. Even planes were in a long queue all awaiting their turn to fly high.

Landed at Bahrain airport in about 3 hrs time. Bahrain airport is a heaven for duty free shopping. You practically get everything there from neeedles to bikes. And Indian airports are not the only ones announcing in Hindi. I was shocked to hear Hindi announcements at Bahrain. So Hindi is famous outside Inida also.

Got a call from home at Bahrain and then realized how expensive ISD calls are even for incoming. 1 min talk cost me 100 bucks and went into negative balance. But never mind.

So then reached Cyprus - Larnaca airport at about 5 pm India time. Then came the realization why people crib about airliners. My first journey abroad and i lost my bag thanks to gulf air. Anyways more surprising was the number of people handling the arrivals at Larnaca. Only 8 -10 staff was managing the entire arrival section. Talk about efficiency and cost cutting.

From there on had a 1 hr bus ride to Limassol where Amdocs is located. Limassol is a small city famous for its beaches and shopping and discs. Went for a walk in the evening to see what is it like being away from home.

Thankful to my family and friends who encouraged me and supported my decision to tread a different path. This would never have happened had it not been to them. Thanks to Amdocs as well.