2008 Tick-Tick 2010

It’s last ½ an hour of year 2009!! And here I am wishing you a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year ahead.

2009 came with a solid bang of Recession and whole world was shaken up. My small world was also shaken up with the recession. On positive note, recession taught lot of things. What helped me in this difficult time is ‘friendship’. Many extended their helping hand in this difficult time.

I am sure many of us must be thinking if 2009 was not there at all. Well… 2009 is already thing of past now. Let’s hope New Year will bring more hopes and more happiness in our life like never before.

We had a nice get together at Panda's place a day before new year's eve. Please see the slideshow below.


-AbhiShilpa.

WINTER

Sunny days are gone and winter is back in Canada. I am sitting in a site office (a trailer) in Northern region of the Province. More closer to North Pole, compared to my home town. The winter has just began and it has already taken a wild look. Temperature is constantly below -30degrees…. With wind chill… below -45. The temperature struck to record breaking -50degrees few days back. Here is the link to the news… click here… (scroll down and read additional information).

Site has been closed for work and craft has been asked to proceed to Christmas vacation. Slight exposure to this weather will lead to frost bite to exposed skin. We need to be confined to our trailers or houses, be in car or in mall!! Santa is coming with lots of snow and chilly weather!

Merry Christmas to you all.

-Abhijit.

Diwali and Thanksgiving

Wish you a Happy Deepavali and Prosperous New Year ahead.

This Monday, 12th Oct. was a holiday for 'Thanksgiving' here in Canada. I enjoyed the holiday as any other holiday, without bothering what and why the holiday was for. One of the colleagues was talking to me in office, after the holiday, about his Thanksgiving…. he enjoyed the Thanksgiving with his family and had ‘Turkey’. Turkey is kind of ‘must’ for thanksgiving!! Also he mentioned that Thanksgiving is at the end of Harvesting season!!! OH WELL…… I suddenly realized our Diwali celebration also happens to be at the end of Harvesting season…. what a coincident!! And this year Diwali is just 5 days apart from Thanksgiving.

Last year I related Halloween with ‘Pitru-pakshya’ now is the time for Thanksgiving to Diwali. Is this just a coincident that we are related some way or other with these continents? (Since British ruled most of these continents/ countries)? Whatever it may be this coincident amazed me.

-AbhiShilpa.

Daylight Saving in Canada.

As winter is approaching, I was wondering when Daylight Saving will ‘began’? And when I have to adjust my watch… so that I won’t be late for my office!!

Out of curiosity I checked on Google for Daylight savings and got some information which cleared my myths and assumptions. First thing, Daylight Savings have ‘Start and End’ pattern. Hence Daylight Time will ‘end’ this winter and not 'began' as I was thinking initially. Second thing… Daylight Saving Time Starts or Ends on Fixed Weekends and at fixed times rather than Fixed ‘dates’.

This information was new to me and hence thought sharing with you all. Hope to have some addition to your knowledge too. Read on the information from net below.

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In most of Canada Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00 a.m. local time on the second Sunday in March. On the first Sunday in November areas on Daylight Saving Time return to Standard Time at 2:00 a.m. When Daylight Saving Time begins turn your clocks ahead one hour. When Daylight Saving Time ends turn your clocks back one hour.In Newfoundland and Labrador Daylight Saving Time begins one minute after midnight(12:01 a.m.) local time on the second Sunday in March. On the first Sunday in November areas on Daylight Saving Time return to Standard Time at one minute after midnight (12:01 a.m.) local time. Eastern Standard Time (EST) becomes Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), and so forth. Some areas of Canada not using Daylight Saving Time include, Fort St. John, Charlie Lake, Taylor and Dawson Creek in British Columbia, Creston in the East Kootenays, and most of Saskatchewan (except Denare Beach and Creighton).
NEW! In 2007 Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. This pattern will be followed by all provinces which observe daylight saving time and each province has amended their legislation to reflect this change. Previously, Canada had observed Daylight Saving Time from the first Sunday in April until the last Sunday in October. This change in Daylight Saving Time will keep Canada's Daylight Saving Time pattern consistent with the United States which enacted into law a broad energy bill that will extend Daylight Saving Time in the same manner.
Canada uses six primary time zones. From east to west they are Newfoundland Time Zone, Atlantic Time Zone, Eastern Time, Central Time Zone, Mountain Time Zone, and the Pacific Time Zone.

Year (DST Begins at 2 a.m.; DST Ends at 2 a.m.)
2005 April 3 -October 30
2006 April 2 -October 29
2007 March 11 -November 4
2008 March 9 -November 2
2009 March 8 -November 1
2010 March 14 -November 7

Note: Newfoundland and Labrador Daylight Saving Time begins and ends one minute after midnight (12:01 a.m.) local time.

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/north-america/canada/

-AbhiShilpa.

Engineer? What the hell is that?

It was my dream (oh! say a wish) to work at Fort McMurray… at the heart of Oil & Gas development! Less did I know how different the world will be here. Apart from atmosphere, which is extreme in this region, the people are also very different and some times extreme too. I, now-a-days, am coming in contact with different people with different backgrounds than my regular contacts (white coloured)…… yesterday I was exchanging greetings with a person and he asked me, ‘what do I do for leaving?’ I said… I am a Civil Engineer!!... “What?? What the hell is that?” Was the question from other end. And he started asking in depth about my work. Initially I thought he must be trying to fool me around… but then it was clear to me that he is from another part of the world than I am. Holly crap!! He was a Heavy Hauler Operator!! You probably will ask... what is this Heavy Hauler Operator? I will just say… they are the richest service-persons around here…. highly paid!!

Well long story short….. you never know, what you should expect from the person opposite to you!! And you will be caught by surprise many a times!

-Abhijit.

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day.

15th August is marked as an Independence day in India's history. I used to get happy, in my childhood, on this day... no wonder since it was a no school day. Slowly I started understanding, what we are celebrating.... an 'Independence' day. That takes me back to Non-Independence era. And when I reads about that time.... 150 years of ruling... 4 to 5 generations of slavery.... I am certainly not happy.

India was not united when Britishers ruled the country. Whatever the case, it makes me sad on this day. We, Indians, fell short to get rid of outsiders for such a long time.

On this day we shall assure ourselves not to get into such a big mistake ever again for next generations. Remember we have not yet reached 150 years of Independence!! Be united and be disciplined.

Jai Bharat.

-AbhiShilpa.

Sikome Weekend

Calgary is hot now-a-days and getting hotter day by day. People are crowding at lakes and beaches on weekends.... so do we. This time we decided to go to Sikome lake which is just 5 minutes drive from our home. It's an artificial lake... which means the lake is filled with forced water supply. 5 families were sufficient to enjoy the Saturday evening. Here is a slide show of the picnic.

-AbhiShilpa.

Health Care Insurance.

Health care insurance is always a topic of discussion. Especially when one strikes with some serious ailment. Since, in general, we keep healthy and keeps away from serious diseases... we seldom bother for it in day to day life.

America is now struggling to get their Health care system 'set' and out of the flaws. Obama looks determined and also worried at the same time for the Health care in America. While talking about 1 trillion dollar spending on Health care insurance Obama mentioned... "That's real money, even in Washington," he said. "But remember: That's less than we are projected to have spent on the war in Iraq. And also remember: Failing to reform our health care system in a way that genuinely reduces cost growth will cost us trillions of dollars more in lost economic growth and lower wages."... You may right click here and select 'open in new window' to read more about the NEWS.

Find here a link to the video documentary expressing Health care issues in America. The video is 2 hours long and is informative. It compares various Health care systems with few other nations. It's good to have knowledge about it. Right click here and select 'open in new window' to watch 2 hour long and informative video.

Friends, here, I will like to encourage you to leave your comment(s) on the posting... suggesting what Health care insurances we must have? And what we shall avoid? Which insurance company is better? Where we shall be careful, while opting for an insurance? Your feedback will help many others... so do leave your comment(s) about this serious issue.

-AbhiShilpa.

Lilac Fair- Calgary.

Spring is 'on' and Canada is gradually coming out of it's den. Now series of celebrations will sprung up all over the cities. First in the series was Lilac Festival, here in Calgary. Lilac is a name given after a tree of flowers. This tree flourishes only for a week or two in a whole year and this festival is exactly placed in that period. As a matter of coincidence we have a Lilac tree in our backyard.

Last week on May 30th, three families went together to this Lilac festival. We started early in the morning so as to attend the Parade, which is the main attraction of the day. Lilac is just another 'fair'. I compared this Lilac to fairs in India and I found it very similar. The slide show below will give you proofs of the similarities. Lilac is little sophisticated version of Indian fairs.
Never the less, find below videos and slide show of the event. Sure you are going to enjoy it.

-AbhiShilpa.

It's Not All About Money, Honey!!

Fourth month of sitting at home. Apply-apply; no reply.... Though I received one or two interview calls; those did not materialized... In this arid recession time, I got an opportunity to do some freelancing. After years of working with MNCs and doing typical office job, this opportunity brought me new challenges. The job was to 'Review and Recommend' repair measures to balconies of old structure. I had to take help of 'friends'... though I was technically OK; I required help for documentation and legal formalities.

For the first time, on Sunday, May 24th, I used my P.Eng. stamp. And Monday I got my first pay check of the recession time. Though money is not a matter of interest here, satisfaction do. This job was like few droplets on hot sand desert for me. It gave immense pleasure, momentarily though!

It's not all about money, honey!
-Abhijit.

Johnston Canyon.

Back in India, a hill or a mountain means a Temple or Mashjeed. Here in Canada (or any other country other than Asian countries) hill means hill and mountain means mountain. A natural beauty takes precedence over anything else. Last Saturday, group of five families made to Johnston Canyon Trail. The trail was easy and very scenic. Nature takes priority here and all efforts are made to preserve nature and not to leave human 'footprint' at these places. To large extent people do follow the instructions to preserve nature.

Families of Panda, Mishra, Singh, Savai and Kadam were together to enjoy trail and Pav-Bhaaji. Trail had three destinations out of which we touched two.... Lower Falls and Upper Falls. The falls were beautiful... the sound of water was feeling the atmosphere. Mountains, green trees and stream flowing-by with group of friends around was a perfect combination for enjoyment.

A small break at Banff Garden and we started back to Calgary around six in the evening.

Twelve hours of enjoyment will be sufficient for few more days ahead.



-AbhiShilpa.

Badlands- Drumheller.

Last Saturday was very nice atmosphere to go out of Calgary. As Calgary was raining and was boring sitting at home. We took a trip to Drumheller- A Place Of Dynasore Museum. It was very pleasant atmosphere there and so enjoyable. We travelled around 150-160km from our home to reach Drumheller. As we reached the city, we noticed the soil was totally different there and the change was noticeable. You can observe this change in the slide show below. The main attractions of Drumheller are Royal Tyrell Museum, Hoodoos, Smallest Church in the world, Horse Thief Canyon, Coal Mine Suspension Bridge.

Hoodoos were really interesting to see. You can see the photographs of Hoodoos at the end of Slide show below. Hoodoos are natural formation of soil columns over the period of time due to erosion by flowing water. This area is rich for coal too. We could see coal bands (layers) on the hills.

Overall it was nice and enjoyable trip.

-AbhiShilpa.

Bright Day.

Now a days only few days are bright and rest all are darker. Last Saturday was one of the 'brighter' days. We, AbhiShilpa, visited Prince's Island (generally known as Princess Island), which is located in Calgary Down Town. It was our first time in last 2 years, of our stay here in Calgary, that we were visiting this garden. The Island is very beautiful and very cute, small patch in the middle of Bow River. The Saturday evening was very enjoyable and we felt fresh visiting the garden. The quacking of ducks, running squirrels, couples in love, joggers on track, kids in full swing, a group playing cricket, someone dipped into a book, dog walkers and couple like AbhiShilpa... simply enjoying all this. We are determined to visit this place quite often now.

Have a look at a glimpse of the garden. Enjoy the slide show.

-Abhijit.

Padawa- Hindu New Year.

Yesterday, 27th March 2009, was Hindu New Year (Padawa).

As per the ancient literature this day is known as Birthday of mother earth. As per the Vedas the life of the earth is predicted to be 4.32 billion years and as per recent technology the life of the earth is predicted to be 4.6 billion. Given the choice I will love to believe our Vedas... as I think Vedas are more accurate and more developed than recent technology. Well....

Seven families met on pot-luck and celebrated this New Year at Pasalkar's house. It was fun filled evening with variety of food and variety of games to play. Hope this New Year (Padawa) will bring Happiness and prosperity in everyone's life.

-AbhiShilpa.

Nano- A Grocery car.

Tata's Nano is making headlines everywhere. And all are wondering if this car will come to our country? As a down side, Nano has no safety features, no power steering and max speed of 70 km an hour. This car is best for Indian people for short and in city travel... I believe. City like Pune will surely adore this car and I can visualize Pune's roads getting more congested with Nanos.

Nano has hit the news in Canada too. Right Click here and select 'Open in New Tab' Or 'Open In New Window', to see the news video.... be patient with the advertisement and you might not continue with more videos lined-up next to Nano News video.

Cheers.

-Abhijit.

Spring.

I have nothing to write, except some small-small things.

Spring is here. And everyone is eagerly waiting for summer. For last few days the temperature been so weired. For some days the temperature was about -30degrees and suddenly next day it was +7degrees! We, AbhiShilpa, went out for a walk that day. Some guys took their motor bikes out and started roaming around. Young... adolescent were shouting and enjoying out on roads while keeping car window glass open!

Now again, the temperature fall down to -7degrees. All are waiting for May to come and waiting to come out of the holes!

Sitting here, I can oversee the LRT parking lot. Today the parking lot is quite empty. Why? Oh yes... from today they (Calgary Transit) started charging for parking. Cad 3 per day. People are indicating and showing that these charges are unreasonable. ....... the parking lot is quite empty on the first day of the charge collection.


-Abhijit.

Good Or Bad? Gandhi and Mallya!

I am not sure if it is Good Or Bad! Gandhi-ji's belongings are now in Vijay Mallya's possession and will be handed over to India soon.

At first instance, I was glad and felt good. Then I started thinking how those belongings were not in India but elsewhere. Indian governments all efforts went futile and those heritage items were put on 'auction'!!!! Vijay Mallya, not for the first time, brought back those heritage items for 1.8 million dollars.

Bravo! Salute to Mallya.

Now Good or Bad...... Mallya is famous for his liquor business.... Kingfisher!! And so many other businesses!... shall I talk about Kingfisher calender? Gandhi-ji.... bapu-ji were against alcoholic beverages!! Ironically king of liquors brought back his (Gandhi-ji's), now heritage, items back to India.

Time has changed and most of us uses alcohol with caution..... shall we say cheers on return of Gandhi-ji's belongings to India??

Mallya also has got Tipu Sultan's Sword and other items back to India....... First up all, these items are stolen or looted from India and we kept mum!! .... Kohinoor..... it is still not back to India..... Mallya, please try for this item too!! I am not fan of Kingfisher however if yo are doing these things then I will buy at least one bottle of Kingfisher for these good reasons!!

Bravo!!

-AbhiShilpa.

P. Eng.- Alberta

Amidst busy day, today, when I checked on web... I found my name in the list of P.Eng. Those who are not aware.... the long form of P. Eng. is Professional Engineer. 'P. Eng.' is a designation with responsibility, without which you are not considered as 'Engineer' (termed as Specialist or Technologists otherwise) in Canada. This P. Eng. is from Alberta province. And one need to have separate P. Eng. in every province if he/she has to work there.

Finally!!

It was long awaited certification. It took longer than expected... around 15 months from date of exam... in normal scenario it should take 4 to 7 months!! Uhhh...... it was long awaited!!

-Abhijit

Jay Ho- Oscar Nomination.

'Have you heard Jay Ho? It's superb! Simply Superb!' A friend of mine was telling me. 'Do you want to listen it now?' 'Oh wait.... If it is so great then let me give justice to it and I will listen to it at my leisure.' I replied.

Since then I listened 'Jay Ho' repeatedly.... I liked other songs from Slumdog Millionaire than Jay Ho. Oh yes! May be I do not have ear for music! I was curios to know 'why Jay Ho is nominated to Oscar now?', 'there must be something which I am not able to understand.' And let's find it out.

I went on to Google to find out.... out of search results I read Shekhar Kapoor's article on his web page. To my surprise, he also has similar views for Jay Ho and in his openion A R Rahman has created far more better music in the past... he also has a point, 'we (Indians) shall not depend on West World's certification for any one's talent.' I totally agree to this thought. We,.... WE, are far better in many sectors than the West World..... why do we forget we have cultural base (sanskruti) since more than 1000 years. This West World do not have Cultural base and their history goes only for few hundred years.

We need to come out of Western Hype and have to project our own self to the world. Let's judge world's music and other things and let's issue awards and certificates from India! Why not? Are we not deserved? Are we not capable? Are we not united?..... United???... hmmm..... Just think!!

-Abhijit.

Leisure Time

Time is passing by. It's a third week at home.

Shilpa had 3 days holiday and 3 days just flew away with friends. Had some light moments on Ice Skating rink with friends on this Sunday. This was my first visit to Ice Rink and it really tempted me to go skating. May be in future sometime I shall definitely try. This time I am behind camera. Find below a slide show of the moments!

-AbhiShilpa

All In A Month.

January 2009 was a toughest month of the life time..... my life time!! Why? Probably you know it..... but let me reiterate it for you. After USA recession it is engulfing Canada too. Many Oil & Gas companies started Lay-Offs. I also got laid off.
I used to hear about lay offs in USA. The figures were in thousands. Reading news, never gave a feeling.... how it is. Being in the soup.... I felt the heat.
The good thing is that lot of friends came forward and extended helping hand to find alternate job or to suggest alternate ways of income etc. Whether things are working or not.... important thing is, having a helping hand at difficult time.
Thanks to all for your continued support.
-Abhijit.

26 January.

We all know 26 January as a Republic Day for India. The same day is Birth-Day for Shilpa. Her B'day was celebrated with friends at home and with a colorful cake having colors from Indian flag.

Last few days were busy days and hence this post is little late after b'day.

Here are some pictures of the b-day.

-Abhijit.

Dola Re Dola

Here is a video of the dance which was performed on 27th Dec 2008 in Year End Celebration.

Enjoy the performance and do not forget to leave your encouraging comments.

Note:- To get the better quality Video please turn "Scaling" to "Off" available on Right Top Corner of Maximized Video.

This group dance is performed on 27th December 2008 in Year End Celebration held at Willow Community Centre.

The dance was performed by Neha, Sneha Sakshi & Dipal.

This video is 4 min and 47 seconds long. 3 video cameras were used to shoot this dance. To edit the video it took more than 9 hours in total. If we had proper editing and mixing tools it would have taken much-much more less time and efforts. Well.... this information is just to let you know the efforts taken and nothing else.

Kudos to all girls too. Nice perforance.

Video Edited by:- Shilpa Kadam
Left Camera :- Suraj, Right Camera:- Pallav, Central Camera :- Abhijit.

-AbhiShilpa.

Dreamland

Telkikar family was with us on last Sunday, 11th.

Dr. Telkikar who is now retired is visiting his son here in Calgary. He presented us an invaluable gift i.e. a book written by himself, named Dreamland..... Dreamland is collection of his memories while he was visiting America for the first time. Dr. Telkikar had very successful career as Doctor and has spent most of his time in cities like Mumbai and Pune (not to forget he purposely got transferred to his home town to serve his people from Nanded). And this book, he has written from a villager's point of view or say common man's point of view.

We, AbhiShilpa, really appreciate his new venture, writing and publishing a book. We, here, want to encourage him to do some more in the field.... we are here to follow your footsteps.

-AbhiShilpa.

Year End Celebration 2008- Dated 27th Dec 2008

Hello all,
Sure, we all enjoyed the Year End Celebration here in Calgary. Total 34 families were assembled at Willow Park Community Centre on 27th Dec 2008. On behalf of Organising Committee, we, AbhiShilpa, are posting the Slide Show of the event below. We need your valuable feed back about the event and any suggestions for future events from you. Please leave your comments by clicking on a tab "Leave your Comments Here" located below this posting. We expect comments from all 34 participating families. Those who have already communicated their feedback may copy-paste their e-mail contents here again so that everyone can read it. The comment section of this blog can be used as Discussion Thread.

If anyone want to be Anonymous then this facility is also available while you post your comment.
Other readers may also leave their comments.

Please enjoy the slide show. The Photographs were taken by Anbu Chezhianc.

Wishing You A Happy And Prosperous New Year.

-AbhiShilpa.

00:00:01 Hurrey..........

00:00:01 and it's New Year!!!!! Happy New Year to you all.

We, AbhiShilpa, Vipin-Sapana family and Vikas, enjoyed the 31st evening with snacks like Batata (Aalu) Vada, Idali Sambar-Chatni and Shev Puri etc. We watched Ghajini (hindi movie) on this New Year Eve.

It was Marriage anniversary of Sapana's parents on 1st of Jan. And it was celebrated with cake at mid-night. Find some snaps of last night here. You can see me, Abhijit, flexing some muscles, in Amir Khan style!!! (Something for your giggle)

-AbhiShilpa.