Ride of a lifetime…

Last year was a very significant year for me.  I became a Canadian citizen.  It was great to become part of the land that feels home.  I always wanted to do “something special” to celebrate this change of guard (if I may say so) and there were lots of things running through my mind.  A year before I had been at the finish line of “Ride to Conquer Cancer” to welcome my friend after his 200+ km ride.  I had instinctively signed up for the next year’s ride.  This was my “something special” moment.

The 2014 Ride to Conquer Cancer ride showed me the best of this country.  I had to raise $2500 to take part in the ride.  People from all walks of my life including my family, friends and co-workers helped me reach that target.

The ride day showed me the generosity of the Canadians.  Together, we raised more than $7 million. It was great to hear from cancer survivors and to see first-hand how the money we raised is changing lives.  The ride showed another great side of Canadians on how they supported the cause.  There were people old and young standing in the hot sun all along the ride, cheering, high-fiving and supporting us.

The ride was grueling with lot of ups and downs (literally) but there was no better feeling than finishing the ride and seeing my family/friends cheering for all the riders at the finish line.

I understood the meaning of being a Canadian citizen that day.

PS:  I am riding this year too.  If you would like to donate, please click here

What if you were 100 years old?

What if?  Is it too far-fetched to think?  But just assume, you were 100 years old.  How will you want to lead the rest of your life?  Will you take the risks that you didn’t take when you were 20 or 30?  Allan Karlsson took that one final risk in Jonas Jonasson’s The Hundred year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared.  He always took risks in his life.  He was born in Sweden but he lived all over the world.  He met with interesting people wherever he went, a little too interesting people but then that’s fiction.

Source: Amazon.ca

If Allan was reading this post, he will say cheers with his glass of vodka, “Cheers to living your life.  Go travel, meet new people, follow some adventures, take few risks and jump out of that window when you are 100″

Doodle-e-Gaudi

Impact of Google’s doodle of Gaudi’s art work doesn’t come remotely close to the impact the man made on the city of Barcelona. It’s hard to think of any other International city that was influenced by actions of one man (or woman). Visiting the La Sagrada Familia had no spiritual meaning to us but seeing the detailed art-work of the Gothic church was an amazing experience. The incompleteness of the church represented life, a work in progress.

He will live through his words

There are some people who make sure they fulfil their purpose in life. Dr. Gurcharan Singh was one of them. He lived a humble life in Patiala but he worked tirelessly on his life’s mission to preserve and document Gurbani from a historical perspective. He was the one who embraced technology and stressed the need to preserve our language in its original form for reference by future generations. He was currently working on digitisation of old manuscripts of Guru Granth Sahib where people from all around the world would send him scanned copies of the manuscripts and he would painstakingly go through them and compile it for documentation purposes.

When I met him two years ago he was very excited to show me his collections. I still remember him showing me how he has been documenting Farsi words that have been adapted into Punjabi. It was amazing to see him excited about his work even though he was in his 80’s. The only regret I will have is that I could not spend more time with him. Dr. Gurcharan Singh passed away peacefully in his sleep on Jan 22, 2013.

It’s a great loss to the punjabi culture but even greater loss for his family because at the end of the day he was a loving father and grandfather who instilled the value of education and work ethic to his children and grandchildren. He will live on through his work and through his books.

Tired in Madrid

We reached Madrid tired from our trip around Spain. The only thing we did was to eat Churros with hot chocolate and visit one last museum to see Picasso’s greatest work during Spanish civil war. We also strolled around a park that had nothing special but it was nice to just relax from the craziness that was our Spain trip.

It was one of a kind adventure that had everything. We started with a stroll around Plazas of Madrid, went through one of the best train rides to Zaragoza, ran through train station of Zaragoza because we were busy visiting one last monument and almost missed our train to Barcelona, had one of the craziest taxi ride to our hotel, hated the hotel in Barcelona, loved the craziness of Barcelona, changed to another hotel, absolutely loved the flamenco dance, had one of the best road trips besides Costa Brava region, got lost in Valencia, played in one of the biggest food fight in tomatina, visited the surreal town of Cuenca and ended back where we started in the Plazas of Madrid.

To end with a cheesy Bollywood-ish line, Zindagi na milegi dobara, so do visit Spain.

Tomatoes, tomates everywhere

Eyes covered with swimming glasses, wearing throwaway t-shirts, shorts and shoes we passed through the narrow alleyways of Bunol to witness the madness called “La Tomatina”. There were people all around waiting for the trucks filled with tomatoes. The alley towards the street where the trucks pass was steep and people in the houses above were throwing bucket full of water on us. We saw the trucks but were still far away. Within minutes we saw crushed tomatoes on the street rushing towards us like a pool of water after the monsoon rains. Then the people started coming down pushing us towards the walls of houses. We continued our march with tomatoes flying towards us. Few tomatoes hit our faces, we grabbed ones in the alley and threw back at people. We finally reached the street, the trucks were gone but people were playing in the puddle of tomatoes. It was the best party we ever went to.

PS: Still covered with naturally sun-dried tomatoes. It’s time to take a shower and again lose oneself in the streets of Valencia.

Lost in Valencia

Driving in Spain is awesome. What’s not to like about mountains on one side of the road and ocean on the other. We took the scenic route instead of their express highway from Tarragona to Valencia. There is certain charm about passing through small Spanish towns where the only way to communicate is via International sign language. There is also a charm about getting lost in roman cobbled streets of Valencia.

We eventually found our Bed and Breakfast with people from all around the world getting ready for the Tomatina. Bring on the tomatoes, I say !!

Hare Ram Hare Krishna

Walking on the one of the most famous strips in Europe, La Rambla, we hear a familiar sound coming from the other side of the street, “Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, Hare Hare”

This is Barcelona, a city so different from Madrid but so similar to New Delhi. We knew we were here for a wild ride when our cab driver started driving without a seatbelt and care in the world. Breaking all the rules is one of the rule of the city. Yet there is something charming about the city. There is just so much to discover. We are here for two days but need a lifetime to discover the city of Gaudi.

Hunger games or Marigold

She is watching ‘Hunger Games’ on the flight. I am watching ‘The Best Exotic Marigold’. Amsterdam, here we come.

How do you say tomatoes in Spanish?

Here we are sitting at the airport for our flight to Madrid via Amsterdam. Actually it’s just me, Mrs. H is in a spa. The weather in Calgary is beautiful and hopefully Spain won’t disappoint.

We have been waiting for this trip for so long, since our wedding anniversary when Mr. GPS gave us the ticket as the anniversary gift. After that I happen to win 1000 bucks at work to make an experience come true (Tomatina !!). Spanish classes, booking tickets, applying for visa, booking trains and cars and finally packing till the last minute. It’s all coming together. See you all on the other side of the world.

Tomates…now that should be easy to remember.