Uncle Sam! Yeh Akash ka jadoo hai!

I got reminded of a claim by my friend of nearly drowning him. The sequence of subconscious thoughts that led me to get reminded of that drowning event is quite nice.

The immediate thought is that of a lady walking across the corridor. She was wearing a skirt which looked like the beach wear in the beaches of Goa. And the reason to think of Goa beach and no other beach was I suppose the movie I watched on Saturday. It was the hindi movie "Dil Chahta Hai". I've recorded the movie in the Sky Box and now would be able to watch it as much as I can!

Talking about the drowning event, it happened a day or two after Sep 11, 2001. Rick and me went to Goa and it was Soham Pablo's idea of we joining him for visiting a beach in goa along with his classmates. The sea was calm and I encouraged Rick to get a bit deeper into the sea. Little did we realize that there was a tide rise. All of a sudden we realized we were being pushed by the waves. I managed to cling on to rough rock, while Rick almost drown himself. He shouted help in Bengali and at that moment his face was funny. And I could not resist laughing. I laughed partly because, Rick claimed that he knew how to swim I did not know how to swim. Despite that, he claims that I drowned him! Whew!

This day last Month...

I gave a good bye to the city of Hull and started my never ending adventure of living in the town of Cheltenham. It has been 1 month and Cheltenham has something special everyday in offer for me even till date.

There are loads of activities pending to be done while living in Cheltenham like visiting Snowdownian Mountains in Wales, Cotswold country side, Forest of Dean etc. I am not hurrying up with these things due to the fact that I am confident of staying in Cheltenham for more time surely.

Some disappointments have occurred like missing the Fairford RAF Air Tattoo, Cancel of the Walk upon the Cleeve Hill previous Sunday, Missing the International Music Festival. But, more will come for sure and atleast I hope not to have disappointments.

The Spa Town

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK is where I have relocated myself from Hull, East Yorkshire, UK. I had never expected such a nice welcome from this little expensive town of Cheltenham. And, I was in surprise to realize later that Cheltenham is not just the centre for Cotswolds but also very much central to all the major cities like Bath, Bristol, Birmingham, Swindon, London. I was in surprise although I was warned by my friend in Hull that Cheltenham is an expensive place to live in.

The first realization came with a £2.00 per week higher bus fare than Hull. The second one came in when I very narrowly escaped the tragedy of my colleague. My colleague came into the town in the evening and literally struggled to get an accommodation for that night. Luckily, with the impressive help of Tourist Information Centre of Cheltenham, I got an accommodation almost immediately.

A week later all the struggle sounded funny with the meeting of my friends at the Balti Fusion House (North Indian Specialty Restaurant), who were extremely helpful in arranging for a cheaper temporary accommodation and later a very impressive permanent accommodation.

Added to these sweep of luck, came the fact that the colleague who is also my housemate is a pure vegetarian who prepares awesome south Indian food. I don't remember eating non-south Indian food at home from the day I came into this new house. What more satisfaction than getting to eat south Indian food and living with a cordial person? The land lord is another person to mention who has been extremely good.

And it does not stop here... I get to play (or at least be a scorer) in the local Cheltenham Asians Cricket club home and away cricket matches. Also, get to join the family get together of some Indian Families (in particular, a Kannadiga, with whom I get to speak Kannada). And also join for the Badminton Games at the Indian Cultural Association every Tuesday and Thursday!

Well, it seems like most of my wishes I made in Hull is coming true. The coming Sunday, I am arranging to hike the Cleeve Hill in Cheltenham (7.6 miles walk only). And, this was the start I was expecting to have in regard to the trekking, walking side of my hobby.

Also, I learnt and played Poker with my colleagues, which has completely changed the idea of work and fun the British people enjoy. It feels good to have been welcomed so well by this little beautiful town.

Hoping more will follow...