New France blog on Wordpress

I am starting another blog for my France tales and escapades, starting now, since the whole France episode actually started in the end of November for me...
Anyway this is the link to my France blog "indianwanderinginfrance"

And sorry Blogger, but i had to switch to Wordpress, seeing as I already contribute to noisypilgrims which is wordpress based, and discovered their interface to be much better! Im still going to continue with this blog though...at the same old irregular pace!

Toulouse! (somewhere there atleast!)

TOULOUSE!

finally we have been allotted our academies, and i have been placed in Toulouse! This is a city in the south of France, which is best known for being the hub of the aerospace industry in Europe, including the HQ of Airbus. Toulouse also has a large student population. l'Academie de Toulouse is a big one, and I could be in any little town/village in the general vicinity of Toulouse.

In the preferences which I filled out in our application form, I put Toulouse as my 1st preference (2nd Grenoble and 3rd Orleans Tours) and to be frank, im a little bummed about Toulouse, since its far from Paris, and it hasnt got the Alpes or the Loire valley (my 2nd and 3rd preferences!) and after sending in the form i did some research and realised that i wanted either my 2nd or 3rd preference more than Toulouse...but i hope Toulouse will still be a rocking place for me to spend 7 months!

So what if i get to go to Paris only a couple of time? i will be closer to the mediterranean sea (which was a big magnet for me!) so i can go to Nice/St. Tropez/Cannes. i will also be close to Spain and Italy. So this puts Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, and Venice on the cards for sure! London is a sure thing...wherever i may be. i know i seem fussy, cause i should be thanking my lucky stars i even got selected to go to France as an English Assistant, be happy that my first preference has been allotted to me (tant pis que jái choissi sans bien reflechir!) and celebrate the fact that IM GOING TO FRANCE! EUROTRIP!!

Anyway, I will be teaching lyceens - equivalent of classes 9 - 12 in India. good luck to me! (im a little nervous!) and i will be there for 7 months, so its back to India on 31st April 2011.

much excitement! wake me up when september ends!! (cause we leave in the last week of sept). wait wait wait wait...of course there are all the logistical issues to sort out now - waiting to find out my exact assignment, then figuring out where i will be staying, what to take and what to buy there, how to carry money, getting my hands on enough money to carry, etc etc etc!

France!

its been ages since i posted anything, which is strange since the last 2-3 months have been full of new developments, important ones affecting my future very closely!

First things first - Im going to France!! I applied for the Assistants d'Anglais program 2010-11 and got through! so from October 2010 to April/June 2011 I will be in La France!

I have been looking around, and hoping i get some opportunity to travel to Europe without emptying my pockets, and presto! it arrived in the form of the Assistanat program! All I have to do is get on a flight (paid for the the embassy!) and go to France! well...teach english to school kids for 12 hours a week. and get paid a pittance. YAY! I have loads of free time, and plenty of school vacations to travel around France and Europe!!

I am yet to find out where in France I am going though - my preferences have been given as Toulouse (to be close to the south so that I can travel to the Mediterranean coast, Spain and Greece!), Grenobles (so that I am close to the Alps, can go trekking and skiing), Orleans-Tours (so that I can be close to Paris, and explore the Loire Valley, visit vinyards, check out many castles which are world heritage sites).

(more on this later)

Second things second - I got through NUS (national university of singapore) for LLM! but first things are first, so IM STILL GOING TO FRANCE!

rest later..

Rafting trip

FINALLY!

Last month I went white water rafting at Bheemeshwari, which is around 120 kms from Bangalore, on the banks of Kaveri river. It was an exciting experience on the whole, since it was different, and I had been dying to go rafting for ages! BUT (there is always a ‘but’!) it was more like a boat ride! The rapids at bheemeshwari are small and tame, and it is a perfect place for beginners who are a little scared. It’s a perfect place for a fun day trip though!

Now that I have had my first taste of river rafting, next time I would rather go for something more exciting, maybe Dandeli, Coorg, Hrishikesh or Ladakh in that order! (dream on dream on!)

Anyway, as a day trip it was great fun! We, namely, mithila, govind, vinay and me hired a taxi, and took off! I look forward to many such day trips. Or longer ones!

journey on board the BIA-7A

aloha ppl who dont read my blog!

i have been working for 3 months now (tadaa!!) , and i have been commuting on my bike (a bajaj Wave, now replaced by kristal or something!). anyway, i have spent 4 years in pune commuting up and down all over the city by bike, and i was very much looking forward to the fairly decent public transport in bangalore to come to my rescue, and give me my much desired escape from riding a bike.
however, unfortunately, i had to conclude that BMTC had failed me, since there is no direct bus from my house (domlur) and my office (palace road), and changing buses takes too much time. there is a bus 331-A volvo which goes to shivajinagar, but that bus plies between shivajinagar and ITPL based on the assumption that people travel to ITPL in the mornings and return to shivajinagar in the evenings! since my travel direction is the opposite of this assumption, this bus is not available for me at a convenient time. i am fated to travel by bike everyday...

but now, thanks to the new airport which cannot even be said to be in Bangalore, BMTC has started a volvo bus service for airport passengers - which was recently also opened to 'within the city' travellers. A new route, 7A was introduced, which is convenient for me, since it starts from HSR layout, and goes to the airport via kormangla, ring road, Airport road, trinity circle, cubbon road, raj bhavan, golf course, windsor manor, mekhri circle, hebbal, BIAL.

BIA-7A comes right outside my house (under the flyover) anytime between 9.15 - 9.30, and reaches my workplace in half an hour. another 5 minute walk takes me right to office! i was pleased to learn about this route, but since return is inconvenient i still use the bike :(

however, on some days, such as today i do travel by 7a!!

At 9.30 AM most of the public sitting inside 7A (which isnt much) get off at various points such as trinity circle, ulsoor, cubbon road, golf course (yours truly!). after a brief chat with the conductor i found out that at this time, there arent too many airport travellers, but they come in later in the day. I have begun to see some regulars on this bus, and im glad to see that this new route benefits many others like me!

3 cheers to the Volvo bus revolution in Bangalore!! im so excited that everytime i see something big and red (or even orange and blue these days) on the road, i crane my neck to read the number and route, always hoping that one day some new route and its convenient timings will give me my much-awaited freedom from riding that darn bike!!

On becoming an Advocate

well...the latest news is that, around 10 days back my final results came out, and im now officially a lawyer!! i even managed to pass with First Class in final year, and overall for 5 years.
the next step is getting myself enrolled at the Bar council, so that I get a "sannat" to practice in the court, ie, i can appear before a judge only once i do this enrollment. the necessary forms have been submitted, and the enrollment is tomorrow! its pretty exciting! i will officially become Nandini Devare, Advocate! good luck to me for that!

on other fronts, work is going well...it has been 25 days (with 4 days off in the middle while i went to collect my result in Pune). I work in a firm called Ashira Law, which is mainly a litigation firm, which does civil matter, a few criminal matters, and a bit of corporate law work as well. Its a great experience for a rookie like me, since i can dabble in all sorts of work and decide which work is best suited for me. or decide that none of it is suited for me, and do a different masters altogether!! :-)

looking forward to the very 1st paycheck from my very first job!

my month off

the month of may was my month off before entering the big bad professional world, and boy, did i make good use of it or what!

after visiting Calcutta from 19th to 26th April, i came back to Bangalore (travelling the 36 hours alone by train!). went to innovative film city for a day.

paid an action-packed visit to Chimu in Hyderabad from 13th to 20th May. got to meet her kiddos finally...the younger one really keeps everyone on their toes - a real destructive chap, friendly, naughty, playful and hyper! also got to meet some friends in Hyd, including one who got married recently, and whose wedding i missed due to those damn exams!

Returned, and immediately went for a trek to Shingani Gudda through Bangalore Mountaneering Club (BMC) on 23-24th May weekend. recovered from the trek, did the Sunfeast 10k "Majja run" for 5.7k on 31st Sunday, and started work on Monday, 1st June!

what a month! im glad it worked out the way it did, especially since i was pretty bummed out about the North East trip getting cancelled. oh well...i shall plan my honeymoon to the North East for sure! few years to go for that!

Shingani Gudda is a peak a.k.a Buddha's peak. it is located near Dharmastala (some 250 kms away from Bangalore). the homestay (www.streamofjoy.com) was calm, beautiful, lush, green, eco-friendly and SIMPLY AMAZING!
the climb up to Shingani gudda was tiring. its 16 kms totally, and it was too humid. it also got sunny on the top. but it was a good time to visit because of the occasional rain...the greenery made up for all the humidity!

the river walk, and general playing around in the river (aka stream of joy!) was the best part! bamboo rafting, lying down in the rapids etc were some of the best experiences i have had!
too bad that camping out in tents got cancelled due to rain, but i did sleep in an open hall in a sleeping bag, so that was also good!
Mithila and Govind are the best companions one can ask for ...both so adventurous and nature loving!

i had a great send-off from the student world to the working world!

looking forward to the next part! first two days have been good so far!