The Trip that was not to be ...spiced with some Memoirs from Past...

This is usually not an earthly hour to do something like blogging; Instead one would be doing his morning ablutions. I guess there was something in me that prompted me that i should write this blog now and not later. Yesterday i had a real bad experience. I don't know if i should say i was lucky or unlucky, because even after it happened i am not convinced that it happened in the best possible way the whole thing could have turned out.

The incident:

Deepak suddenly plans that he should get adventurous in his last weekend in Germany and plans a trip to Prague. Why adventurous? I have not traveled a lot, though i like to travel and not tour. There is as much difference between a tourist and a traveler as there is between Toilet cleaner and Holy water. I would blog about this sometime later in future, when i have the self-conviction that i qualify to be called a "Traveler" and not a "Tourist". Back to where i started from, after getting this idea to visit the czech Republic, i made some quick check on internet...Ok tickets in there are not expensive, getting in there and stay there are the things i should worry about ...again these are signs of a tourist not of a traveler...

I book the hostel. Thanks to hostelbookers.com...Book my shared travel or "Mitfahrgelegenheit"....All done. Deepak is happy. Comes back home...Declares to everyone that he is going to Prague...By some stroke of luck his dad asks if his visa is valid in the foreign country...My dad and I have forgotten that even Germany is foreign to me, because i keep coming here every now and then, I speak German and I feel good here. I check the VISA and it sweetly tell me...

 

Gultig in : Deutschland

Valid in : Germany

Q:But this is a WP ( Work Permit) should it not be valid in Prague?

Ans: Yes it is valid...But after it is stamped...

Did i get it stamped...?

Only applied for it...will take a long time for it to get stamped !!

Shit!!

With utter frustration and after a long chat with the Buergerburo ( State Office) officials, I realized that going to Prague would be only ok, if i would risk being caught by the police in Prague on a check.

Then later in the night followed a reverse of what happened in the morning...

Cancelled the hostel, Canceled the shared travel...and finally cursed my stupidity...

 

In contrast to my misadventure even at traveling even a short distance...Stuttgart Prague is about 400Kms...I found something interesting...about what my acquaintances have been doing...

My last blog post talked a bit about my adventures in the once populated, most civilized and well known online Social networking civilization called "Orkut". After becoming nostalgic and also after getting back the names of some of buddies from college, the names of whose had been eroded away by the river of time, i used my best friend to find more about them. This best friend, know-all is called "Google"...

Here is what i came up with :

One of the college friend "Googie by nickname and Gautam by real", took up a world tour..Check out his blog here..http://googiegoesglobal.com/

Then i checked the blog of another cool guy...Susheel Siddesh. This dude is really impressive. Has a patent. I think has traveled around India and Europe...Has done some serious biking on both the motorized and Non-Motorized versions, is really a genius when it comes to Embedded systems, Is extra capable when it comes to sarcasm, is your money's worth if you ask him to play hockey with you, is capable of learning practically anything...and yes eventhough i have never known him well as a person, but still i admire him for what he has achieved...

Here is his blog....

Why this unprovoked poking into others blogs? Well they are out there to be read...:-) Also i feel it is a great learning experience for me; As i mentioned earlier that i have come to believe that i don't have any passion in the post here. I just hope that the achievements of some of  my past college fellows, inspires me to go one step ahead and breakfree from my mundane way of living and do something quite different...:-).

Some others from my college who are doing something unique:

Vittaldas : http://vittaldas-prabhu.blogspot.com/ - nice place to read some wonderful short stories

Kalalog : http://kmaheshbhat.com/ - One of the best digital artist i have known, also a avid biker, supreme coder and Linux guru for mere mortals like me